Mexico

Articles / Volunteer Evaluations

	I have now been back in England for two weeks, and find myself constantly reminded of my time in Mexico, and looking back over an incredible and varied three months. In particular I have been affected by the children I worked with on my two projects in Vallarta, and am hoping that at some point in the near future I will be able to go back to visit. When we first arrived, we were met by Greta at the airport and taken to our host families who we were to stay with for the first week, as previous volunteers were finishingtheir final week in the apartment. Although I wasn't at Justina's house for very long, I had a lovely time with her and her family, ate some delicious home cooked Mexican food and was made to feel very welcome. It was great having Jenny with me for the time I was there, as the language barrier was a bit awkward at first, as I only had some very basic Spanish self taught from CDs, and we did not begin lessons until later in the week, but it wasn't long before I found myself picking up various conversational phrases and vocabulary which helped a great deal. At the end of our first week, Justina took us to Chimo where her husband lived and worked. This was especially interesting for me, as my original project would have been located here before a change of circumstance led me to be based in Vallarta. The journey was over an hour by bus and water taxi, and there was a huge contrast between the busy city atmosphere and the very traditional fishing village. Although I wouldn't change the experience I had for anything now, I could see the appeal of spending three or six months in such a tranquil environment. After a week of getting to know our way around the city, and being shown around the various projects by Greta, Laura, Donna and I moved into the Apartment in the second week, and started work on our projects, as well as beginning our Spanish lessons. Lupita the Spanish teacher was great- I had never found it easy to pick up languages at school but the combination of her patient and fun teaching methods and being surrounded by native speakers every day meant that I began to feel a lot more confident within the first few weeks. I worked on two different projects. In the mornings, I helped out the orphanage which is really a children's refuge. Many of the children have living relatives who for various reasons- whether it be due to financial difficulties, legal obligations, or in the worst cases abuse and neglect, are unable to look after them. There are just under 50 kids in residence at present, ranging from a year old up to about twelve. There is also a transition house in the city which is home to five teenage girls who have moved on from the refuge itself. Despite their individual stories and traumatic backgrounds, the children I came into contact with on a daily basis were incredible. Funny, independent, caring, intelligent and loving. Obviously, there are those that can be naughty, and the occasional fight is only to be expected, but in general they were great fun to be around. My jobs during the day included cleaning, washing up, serving breakfast and lunch, ironing, bathing and clothing the toddlers, helping out with the babies in the creche, and keeping an eye on them all during play time. There are several volunteers who help out, including myself and Donna from Outreach International and over the weeks we began to initiate games and toys that encourage structured play, such as drawing, reading, card and ball games, and also a parachute which they loved. The time in between breakfast and lunch could sometimes seem very long, as there was no formal structure to this part of the day and while it isn't easy to constantly find new ways to entertain the children, many of them often wanted to sit and chat, be pushed on the swings and generally were just happy for the friendship and attention that volunteers could bring. In the afternoons, they attended school- and I have been particularly impressed with the way that the needs of individual children has been catered for in terms of the schools chosen for them. They are also regularly seen by physiotherapisst, who use massage for relaxation, and have teachers who attend on a daily basis to assist with homework. The facilities at the refuge are very good, and they receive funding from an American foundation, as well as through donations from the public. All the children are well fed and there is a stimulation room for various activities including music and art. There are several paid members of staff, but volunteers are needed as a support, and there was always something for us to do. Over the three months I became very attached to the kids, and really enjoyed the occasions where we were able to take the kids out on days out- when I was there we took them into town for tacos and ice cream, saw them perform at a fundraising event and spent a day with them on the beach, which is one of my favourite memories of the trip. As my Spanish improved, communication with both the children and staff became a lot easier and after a while I felt as though trust and friendship had built up. My last day was extremely hard, both me and Gina (another volunteer) were in floods of tears as we said goodbye to a group of the most amazing children I have ever come into contact with. My other project was more akin to my original plan to volunteer at a school, in that it involved a more formal teaching environment. The School of Champions is part of a project which aims to help feed and educate the children of families who live around and work on the city rubbish dump. Although there are no longer people living on the dump itself, many adults in the area- one of the poorest parts of Vallarta- rely on the tip as a means of employment. There are three different projects- a day care centre, the school of Champions, and an evening feeding programme, which I took part in my second week here when my Spanish lessons clashed with school time. This involved taking basic food packages out to the houses around the dump, and to those working on it in the evenings- up to 200 people a night. Since my third week, I worked in the afternoons at the School of Champions. I'm not quite sure what came to mind when told that I would be helping out at a school for the children of the families who work on and live around a city rubbish rump, and during an afternoon at there it is easy to forget the poverty in which the majority of them live when faced with a class of as many happy, eager students as might be found at any school. The main difference is that "The School of Champions" is elective, with classes in English, Maths and Computers taking place outside of normal school hours, allowing children from third to sixth grade the chance to further their educational opportunities. I help with afternoon English classes for the third and fourth grade, meaning that we had the youngest students whose previous exposure to English was in some cases almost non existent. This by no means hinders their enthusiasm for learning however, and any observer couldn't help but smile to watch the strain with which thirty hands shoot into the air to answer a question, help distribute hand outs, or take part in a game. The classes follow a set curriculum of lessons, focusing on units of key vocabulary and grammatical acquisition on daily worksheets, to which we link a variety of games, puzzles, activities and songs. In the time that I have been there, both classes have enjoyed 'Hangman', 'Pictionary', 'Simon Says', 'Twister', 'Bingo' and 'Blow that Fish', as well as various ad-libbed games made up on the spot!, with songs including the now popular "I am a champion", invented by teacher Tessa Roberts to teach the verb 'to be'. Some of the kids are more focused then others, and some days it can be harder to keep their concentration, but the classroom atmosphere remains constant in its positivity, as does the school in general as a whole. It is not only educational needs that the project address, the dedicated mentality continues beyond the lessons themselves. After school, the children are given food, juice and milk, and most weekends they are taken to a Downtown restaurant for pizza. During my first week in Vallarta, I took part in the evening 'Firefly' feeding programme which provides food for families in the area near the dump, an experience that has combined well with my work at the school in terms of gaining an insight into the community there. The two projects were very different from each other. At the orphanage, I felt as though my main purpose was as a care giver and friend to the children, as well as a general assistant in the refuge itself. The children there are in an institutionalised environment, which is a difficult situation to come to terms with, but they are often taken out at weekends for trips to the beach, swimming pools, and various local activities, and they are very well taken care off. At the school, my position is more of a formal one as a teaching assistant, and the children attend voluntarily. There is a great deal of communication between the school itself and parents. I learnt so much from my time away, formed some amazing friendships with the three other volunteers I went out with, and had some great experiences during our free time taking partin the numerous activities Puerto Vallarta has to offer- horse riding, releasing baby turtles, the zip wire canopy tour, quad biking, snorkelling, not to mention the fantastic food,beaches and night life on offer. At times, the city did sometimes feel quite touristy, especially during our last month in December, when a lot of Americans and Canadians make their way down to holiday during the winter months, and in some ways this occasionally distracted from getting a feel of proper Mexico. However, the fact that Outreach provided Spanish lessons, and the opportunity to live and interact with host families (Jenny stayed for her entire time in Vallarta with Justina's family), as well as the sense of community that you getfrom volunteering at the projects on offer, meant that we were able to get the most out of our experience. Meeting Mexican people meant we were invited to parties and celebrationsoutside of the normal tourist spots. The time that you have on a voluntary project is your own, and you only get out of it exactly what you put in. I feel that the four of us whospent three months there together were very like minded in our desire to make the most of every opportunity presented to us, and the best advice I would give to any prospective volunteer would be go out with the most open mind possible, with a dedicated attitude. Outreach International provide you with a great starting point- through the de briefing sessions, providing Spanish lessons, having Greta as a reliable and friendly contact in Vallarta, and sorting out accommodation. The rest is completely up to you. I will never forget my three months in Mexico, and am more than willing to speak to anyone who is thinking about going or would like some advice on the projects I took part in.

• Evaluation by Emma Burgess

	I absolutely love it out here!! So much so that I tried to stay out another month, however US visa's are literally impossible to get out here!! So sadly coming home on original date! The project is fantastic, very hard work, but almost exactly as I expected it to be! The children are naughty 85% of the time, but we're working hard to improve their behaviour - even enforcing simple pleases and thankyous has been a huge achievement!!! I found the nuns very scary initially, but they're definitely a lot friendlier now. The orphanage is definitely the perfect place to practise my spanish too, it's come on leaps and bounds since I've been here! Just generally confidence with speaking etc... Apart from the project, we've all been pretty busy!! We try to go somewhere new every weekend, and have had the best of luck with accommodation, food, everything!! so far we've been to chimo, san blas, tepic, guadalajara, and yelapa, all of which were amazing.

• Evaluation by Sophie Barr

	Introduction Spending three fulfilling and exciting months of my life in Mexico is something that I will never regret, and I feel that I will remember it with fondness for the rest of my life. I met some amazing people and did some fantastic things which will stay with me forever. The Orphanage I was initially shocked at the state of the orphanage, and not in the way that would probably be imagined. It is so clean and the children appear to be very well looked after. It is situated around a small courtyard, which was being redone while we were there. It is very pretty, and the views from the top floor are absolutely beautiful. The orphanage is surrounded by wonderful mountains, and is only a bus ride away from the sea front. To get to the orphanage we had to ride the buses every day, which at first were pretty scary, with people hanging out the door, high speeds beside cliff edges, broken seats and floors, and smashed windows! However, I soon get used to them as with most things in this wonderful country, and realised that things being half finished and always late was just the way of Mexico. The Madre's There are 5 Madre's (Nuns) that run the orphanage. The head nun is called 'Madre Maria'. She is an interesting character to say the least. I found her extremely difficult at first, as she was very critical and watched everything we did like a hawk. However it is understandable as it is so important that volunteers know how to handle being around children. However, I learnt to deal with it and understand that her life has been given to these children, and everything she does revolves around their safety and happiness. Madre Chuy is another of the Madre's. She spends the majority of her time in the 'Lavenderia', where she proceeds to wash, dry and iron over 35 children's clothes every day. We found it was quite nice for her if we helped her in the Lavenderia with the ironing, to reduce her workload. I did feel, though, that the ironing was not as important a task as spending time with the children should have been for her. She was missing out on important time with the children by doing things like the ironing that could have been a lesser priority. However, it is hard to try and change a system that is already in place, however frustrating it may feel. Madre Marcela is one of the Madres that I didn't often see or get to spend time with. She is currently learning English and it appears that she spends the majority of her time in the middle of the day in classes. Madre Roma works in the kitchen, and she is the main cook for the orphanage. After speaking to her a few times, it grew apparent that she feels the other Madre's do not treat her very well. Madre Roma was by far my favourite Madre, as she was willing to put in the time to talk to us, despite the fact that we were not completely fluent in Spanish. She was fun to be with and I definitely felt the most fondness for her. The final Madre was Madre Lou-Peter. She spent most of her time upstairs in the baby room. There were 5 babies during our time at the orphanage, all adorable and surprisingly quiet for babies. Madre Lou-Peter is herself only young at 25 years of age. Being only 4 years older than me, I found I had a lot of respect for Madre Lou-Peter. All the Madre's lives are totally devoted to the orphanage, which is such a wonderful and selfless thing to do. The Madre's eat, sleep and live at the orphanage, and everything they do revolves around the children. I respect and admire what these people have given up in their lives, and only wish that orphanages were not needed all over the world. The Children The children are an amazing and interesting group of people. We spent most of our time with the toddlers, as they require a lot of attention. There were originally 4 toddlers, these being Juan Jose Isaac, Teresita, Angel, and Juan Pablo. However, Isaac returned to his mother 6 weeks into our time in Mexico, and Cynthia arrived mid February. In our last 2 weeks a toddler called Jarelly also arrived. A typical day at the orphanage would be that we would arrive at 9 am, and we would then proceed to bathe and dress the toddlers. This was one of my favourite parts of the day, especially when the children were in a good mood and would play in the bath and enjoy it. It was lovely to see the children get used to us and start to enjoy having us around to care for them, and this is especially relevant with the toddlers, I found a large part of my day was taken up with running around after a 2 year old trying not to let them kill themselves because they were so excited about being outside of their cot. It was so much fun, and we even got to see them start talking and walking, and learning to eat for themselves. It was amazing and something I will remember and cherish always. After we had got the toddlers up and ready, we usually attempted to start a project or game. This could involve playing with toys, painting, drawing, puzzles, book reading, and even singing and dancing. The more occupied the children are, the better it is for them because they are stuck in the orphanage all day, (the older ones go to school in the mornings) and it is so nice to be able to bring some fun into their lives. Next came lunchtime, which was always quite amusing. The toddlers seemed to manage to throw their food anywhere except in the direction of their mouths. Lunch was also about the time that the older children got home from school. The older children were a lot of fun and very lively. I once started a game of 'jump the broom', and for about 3 weeks after I regretted it as this was all I seemed to be playing! After lunch things often became a bit quieter. The 3 to 5 year olds would often play in the lavenderia with Madre Chuy, and the older children would be doing their homework, or singing along to songs. This was often a time when I would go and see the babies. They were adorable and one of the other things that I miss the most about the orphanage. It was so lovely to take them out of their cots, perhaps feed them, play with them on a mat, and general help them to move and develop functioning skills. One of my favourite babies was called David. He had Down Syndromes disease, and what is very sad is that he will probably never be able to have a comfortable or fulfilling life, as he will never receive the care and attention that he really needs. The rest of the day basically consisted of playing games with the children, letting the toddlers play outside under supervision, helping the older children with homework and other activities and maybe putting the toddlers to bed after tea time at the end of the day. I must not forget the nappy changing, not one of my favourite parts of each day! Overall, being at the orphanage and being with the children has made me realise that I would like to be involved in helping children who need it the most in my career. I obtained so much love and fulfilment from being with the children for as short a time as 3 months. I miss them more now that I ever thought I would and leaving them to come home was definitely one of the hardest things I have ever done. Puerto Vallarta During my time in Mexico I was living in an apartment in Puerto Vallarta (PV). This could have been a wonderful thing, or a limiting thing, depending on the way it is perceived. PV is a lovely place, but it is in essence a holiday resort, mainly for Americans. In hindsight, I think I would have preferred to have lived with a Mexican family, to enable me to experience the real Mexico. The beaches are also not that amazing in PV. However, we often decided to take a half an hour bus journey to Bucerias, as the beaches there were a lot prettier there. Shopping Puerto Vallarta has many main attractions. First and foremost is the shopping. I spent hours upon hours trailing the markets, bargaining with the locals to bring down their prices, despite my initial reluctance to do this. The jewellery is amazing, and there are so many weird and wonderful things that you can buy as presents, or for yourself. Nightlife PV is also, due to its holiday resort characteristics, very lively and fun at night. There are some really good bars and clubs where I had a number of hilarious nights out. My favourite place was called Paradise Burger, where we were often found taking advantage of the 2 for 1 offers on Strawberry Daiquiris, and listening to various live bands. The music here was definitely a highlight after listening to the awful American music that is played in every other bar! The Food I have to admit, one of the things that I was looking forward to the least was the food in Mexico. I am not the best with hot spicy food, so I was pretty nervous about how I would cope. The food is in fact lovely, and if not a little boring after 3 months of the same thing! It can be spicy, but not at all what I expected, and the spicy taste makes the food even more delicious. However, I had to get used to eating re-fried beans, tortillas, more re-fried beans, nacho chips, more re-fried beans, maybe some meat and peppers, oh and more re-fried beans. My favourite dish had to be fajitas, because I found that no 2 restaurants cooked their fajitas in the same way. They were always delicious, and I often went out to dinner knowing exactly what I was going to order, and feeling very disappointed if they were not on the menu! Suzanne Suzanne is the lady that took care of us during our time in Mexico. She is a lovely person, if not a little laid back, but this is just the way life is in Mexico. Her house is amazing, and it was hard to not take advantage of that fact and keep dropping around for a quick drink. But she was very welcoming and we were always greeted with warmth when we went to see her. She made life in a different country much easier to handle and enjoy. Other Volunteers (Going Out, Whale Watching, Sierra Madre) We went on 2 really good trips when we were in Mexico. The first one was a whale-watching trip, and it was a lot of fun. All the volunteers were there, and it was a chance to get to know each other a bit better, without feeling tired and miserable like we did on the outgoing plane journey. There was lovely food, free drinks all day, and we even got to see some whales. At lunchtime we stopped by a small cove, and some of us swam to the nearby beach. There was also the opportunity to go on a Kayak, or just swim in the water by the boat. All in all, this was one of my favourite days in Mexico, as it was very relaxing and pleasurable. Our last trip was titled 'Sierra Madre'. We were taken on a Jeep to what Mexico calls its 'jungle'. It is in fact just a lot of trees and a walk through these trees in search of nasty animals. We managed to come across a scorpion, and a baby tarantula. We also visited a traditional Mexican lady making tortillas at her home, had a barbeque on the beach and spent many hours drinking real Mexican tequila on a bumpy open air jeep. This was again one of my favourite days in Mexico, especially as it was one of my last days in such an enlightening country. Religion One aspect of life and culture that is almost always present in Mexico is the Catholic religion. I was constantly fighting to try to understand this religion and how powerful it has become in countries such as Mexico. We visited a number of churches and cathedrals, and something that always struck me was how magnificently decorated these churches were, when next door there could be a beggar or a simple shack for a home. A sad feature of Mexican culture that derives from religion relates to sexual activity and contraception. An overwhelming number of young, poverty stricken mothers appear to be present in this country. This is likely to be due to a lack of the use of contraception, due to the bible and religious beliefs. I feel that this is the cause of many of Mexico's downfalls, and a simple lack of education and heightened powerful religious views has contributed to unplanned pregnancies, the need for more orphanages, and also a perception that contraception is evil and a sin. The most frustrating thing regarding this is that there is relatively little that anyone can do to change such powerful religious influences. Travelling Around Mexico I decided that I didn’t want to be in such a beautiful country for 3 months and not experience a lot more of what that country had to offer. Two of the other volunteers and I decided to take 2 weeks off from the orphanage, and go travelling around part of Mexico. We travelled around central Mexico, to Mexico City and back again. I would definitely recommend doing this as Mexico has so many interesting and vibrant cities and villages to experience. My favourite places included Uruapan, where we visited the Volcano of Paracutin, the waterfalls, the national park, and an amazing artisan. Taxco was also very interesting. It is the home of the silver mines, and thus lots of silver jewellery shopping was embarked upon! Another incredible place was Teotihuacan. This is just outside Mexico City and is the home of the 3rd largest pyramid in the world, called the 'Pyramid of the Sun', and it's neighbour, the 'Pyramid of the Moon'. Travelling around Mexico was very exciting, and learned a lot more about the country by experiencing all the diverse and breathtaking places that it has to offer. Conclusion Being a part of the orphanage and being able to spend three months of my life in Mexico is an experience that I will never forget. The children that I met were so special and deserving, and I will always remember the three months that we shared together. Thank you for allowing me to participate in one of the most fulfilling and moving experiences that I have ever had.

• Evaluation by Jenny Crosby

	I want to say a massive thank you for giving me the opportunity to experience the most amazing three months of my life. It is impossible to describe what turned out to be the best three months of my life. If I would have known how much I would have loved it there and how quickly the time was going to go I would have stayed for so much longer. Working at the orphanage was such an amazing and rewarding experience. It is run by five nuns who look after the children and I am so honoured to have had the opportunity to experience this. The children are absolutely brilliant and not once did I see any of them without a smile on their face. Working at the orphanage gave me a real outlook on other people's lives and how they can still be happy after having so much hurt in their life. I really feel that I made a difference to those children's lives, we all did and I am so proud to be able to say that I did that. I met the most amazing people whilst in Mexico, everybody was so friendly. Everyday I would meet someone new, it was fantastic. I stayed in an apartment with three other volunteers and I gained so much experience and independence from it. I would bath the babies and toddlers, dress them, feed them, play with them, put them to bed help with cooking, cleaning, ironing and pick the older ones up from school. I never stop thinking about my time out there and I get really emotional every time I talk about it. Saying goodbye to the kids and the nuns was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. This is a once in a life time opportunity for me and the experience of it and the special bonds I built up wit so many people will live in my memory forever.

• Evaluation by Kelly Gledhill