Work hard, play hard...

Our theme for the weekend!

It was a holiday weekend here in Colombia and having had a long and arduous work week, we (volunteers) were looking forward to enjoying some time off and making the most of it

Prior to the weekend some of us had been talking about places we want to see and things we want to do before we leave.  Our wish list included a visit to the seven waterfalls of Chinchara, a nearby town located an hour away from Ibague, and a night at the stadium for a live soccer game.  Manos Amigas does not have any organized weekend events which gives volunteers freedom to plan their free time as they will.  This weekend we managed to cross both items off our wish list.

Triki, triki Halloween...

quiero dulces para mi...y si no me das... te arranco  la Nariz!

Happy Halloween!

This past weekend little monsters witches, heroes and disney characters took over the streets of Ibague singing Halloween Colombian riddles and seeking for something sweet.  Eventhough the official Halloween day was Monday, side celebrations took place all over the weekend including ours. 

Sad endings and new beginnings...

This past Friday we said goodbye to one of our dear and long term volunteers, Holly Wheeler.  During her two months with the organization, Holly dedicated most of her time to teaching English to several different groups of children and young adults. 

Where are we on the map?

While most of us may know where our country is located geographically, the kids from our program may find this question difficult to answer while others may limit their knowledge to the Americas. 

Thinking of creative ways to teach kids geography and have them learn more about our world, the idea of painting a mural came alive. 

It's not disorganized just chaotic in an organized way

If you have voluntered with us you probably know I am referring to our Manos Amigas library's organized chaos.  Some of the cost of volunteering goes to providing educational materials for libraries at each of our centers (Huellas de Amor, San Jose & Manos Amigas).  Thanks to this fund and also to donations from former volunteers, we are lucky to have our library stock with most of what we need, the key is finding it. 

Less is more...

This was the message our kids received today during a two-hour ''Earth Day'' presentantion from Enertolima, a private energy company dedicated not only to make a profit but also to raise awareness on energy savings and overall global resources.  

Farewell and a heartfelt thank you...

This week we said goodbye to three of our volunteers: Gabrielle, Nicholas and Jesse. 

Jesse James

Gabrielle Thick

Nicholas

Where are they going next...

Foreign Cultural Exchange Day!

Let's learn about England...

 A few weeks ago, one of our in-house volunteers proposed the idea of having a day for cultural exchange.  The idea (which had previously been done once but left forgotten) focused on giving kids the opportunity to know where volunteers come from and learn more about their country's culture, language, traditional food, geographical setting, sports and overall general information.

Meet our current volunteers...

Say hello to Holly, Gabrielle, Nicholas, Jesse, Max and Karla...

In the next few months, several updates will include in-house volunteers and so we thought it would be appropriate to let each of them introduce themselves.  And so, without further a do here they are:

For the love of Art!



Proud Artist

 

If you have been following us on Facebook you probably already know that last week we welcomed back our Art Teacher, Renan Lebollo'ch whom we affectionally refer to as Ren.  Originally, Ren came to Colombia as a volunteer.  During his time as a volunteer, he made a great impact instilling in kids a love for art. 

One Hundred Years From Now...

"One Hundred years from now

it will not matter what kind of house you lived in...

what kind of car you drove... what your bank balance was...

what will matter is, that you were important in the life of a child,

a mother, a lonely senior

and that you helped make a difference in their future
and that of their families."

--Adapted from a quote by Forest Witcraft

Welcome to Let's Go Volunteer and Manos Amigas Association's first blog post.  We are really excited to finally get on the wagon of blogging and we hope that through it we can keep you updated on recent happenings, future events and some of the daily and fun activities that take place within each of our grassroot programs.