Countdown to camp- from Jess

Several days out from camp, we are gearing up for the long, but extremely rewarding week ahead of us. Kay and Zoey returned from their travels this past week and we immediately got down to business. We briefed them on the previous weeks events that entailed many poetry activities for the girls, as February’s theme was poesía. Throughout February the girls wrote poems, read works by local and international poets, attended some of the events that Granada’s annual poetry festival had to offer, and to conclude the month, we had a poetry recital where the girls shared one poem they had written throughout the month. This was a great final touch; the girls were excited to share their hard work and we had a good turnout, some parents even attended.

Tuesday practices have been catching on, the afternoon session more so than the morning at the moment, but attendance only seems to be growing. On Thursdays we split up into small groups and go visit some of the local schools. We are attempting to hand out fliers to all of the girls explaining what Fútbol Sin Fronteras is about and what activities we offer throughout the week. We have also been visiting a local school in our barrío on Thursdays to teach a morning gym class. This entails a warm up, a soccer drill or two, and then a game. The kids really seem to enjoy it and we are currently looking to integrate into more schools in such a manner. FSF has made a name for itself on Saturdays, we have been getting a great turnout down at Malecón. The preparation the coaches do prior to the practices has been great to see, they have been fairly organized and enthusiastic on these days. After practice is the time for “cambios” where the girls are able to exchange their points for some gear from the bodega. This is a fun time to be around the office because they are so excited to pick out what they want. And with the newly organized (for the time being) bodega, it is a lot easier to find what they are looking for.

Let’s move on to this month; all of us volunteers are excited about the ‘health’ theme. Suyen, Cindy, and Cesar have been fantastic with the girls at night. For the first gathering of the month, Cesar and Cindy took the niñas over to Hotel Con Corazon’s rincóln to read the hungry caterpillar...they absolutely loved it. Meanwhile, Suyen has been talking and doing writing activities with the grandes that involve how our bodies change once we get into adolescence and how we can better prepare for these changes. It seems to be a breath of fresh air for the older girls to be able to talk about these subjects and ask questions without feeling uncomfortable.

Lastly, there are 6 of us volunteers here now, as Alex arrived yesterday. Every time there is a new volunteer the girls get very excited. With all of the volunteers coming in in this next week, energy is high and anticipation is great. All of us here in Granada are very much looking forward to this next week and we are hopeful it will be another success!!!