Neque y mad neque- paige

1)    What were the rewards of interacting with the kids at Neque y Mas Neque?

A reward for me during our time at Neque y Mas Neque was when we were sitting there and the girl who was next to me grabbed my hand and placed it on her shoulder. I felt that this girl was in need of physical affection and I was happy to be there for her in that moment. I have always known the power a smile can hold, but especially yesterday I was able to connect to these children with just a smile and laughing. The children at Neque y Mas Neque may not have homes filled with laughter and love, so if I am able to provide them with a short sense of those feelings I will feel fulfilled. I hope that when we go back on Thursday we are able to connect with more children and be able to learn more about their lives. I am so excited to help with the Mother’s Day crafts and hear more about the culture surrounding Mother’s Day. 

2) What were the challenges you encountered when connecting with the kids, and how did you overcome these challenges?
The obvious challenge I encountered at Neque y Mas Neque was the language barrier; however, I do not feel as if there was that much time to speak with the children anyways. A challenge for me was dancing with the children and trying to engage them. The machine activity may have been a bit too complicated for them, so it was difficult to engage some of the children. Especially the older kids did not want to play some of the games and they were almost in the mindset of being ‘too cool for school.’ This is something I would like to work on for tomorrow when we go to the school. It is a challenge for me to volunteer with these children and not think I am being a white savior. After talking with Wren about this last night I have come up with the conclusion that what we are doing is existing with the children and not just doing something for them. I never want to be the person running into a new environment and taking control over the situation, trying to tell everyone what to do, appearing that I know what is best to do. At Neque y Mas Neque what we are doing is more of a participant role, and not dictating the agenda and conversation, which I feel is less white savior role. 

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