I was there at Emma and Margarita’s house for an early January morning SKYPE conversation. The school in Guatemala, La Escuala San Carlos, had just gotten their TINFA kit that morning. At first, there was the usual problems getting the connection working. But after a few false starts, we got to meet our new Guatemalan friends.
What I noticed the most was how familiar the event seemed. Even though the conversation was all in Spanish, and I could only understand a few words and phrases, I seemed to understand everything. The basic format and etiquette of the meeting was really just the same as would occur in our own country.
All the people, from the principal, the teachers, the parents, and the children behaved just like we would. It seemed that everyone was a little dressed up to greet guests. Even though I was in the background, I felt a little embarrassed; I wished that I dressed up more myself.
The walls of the school were a bright sky blue. There were colorful little triangular flags strung up across the wall. And there was a homemade “Bienvenidos” sign decorated with what looked like “Charlie Brown” characters.
Emma began welcoming the assembly. There was Cesar, coordinating things on his end. There was the principal, Ms. Gladis Nineth Calderon Vasquez, formally thanking us for the computers and the partnership. There were the teachers thanking us for what will mean a lot to them. There were representatives from the parents letting us know how happy they were. All of them were a little nervous, as we would be. The parents laughed a little and looked back at the others who joined in a little laughter.
And then the children, in their clean white shirts, came up to speak one at a time. Of course, we all enjoyed the children. Of course, they were a little nervous and looked back to their friends for support. But they smiled a lot, and laughed a lot and told us that their favorite subject was math. (Were they instructed to say that?) There were boys and girls mostly around 10 or 12 years old. They seemed like such good, normal, healthy kids that we just had to love them.
The walls of the school were a bright sky blue. There were colorful little triangular flags strung up across the wall. And there was a homemade “Bienvenidos” sign decorated with what looked like “Charlie Brown” characters.
Emma began welcoming the assembly. There was Cesar, coordinating things on his end. There was the principal, Ms. Gladis Nineth Calderon Vasquez, formally thanking us for the computers and the partnership. There were the teachers thanking us for what will mean a lot to them. There were representatives from the parents letting us know how happy they were. All of them were a little nervous, as we would be. The parents laughed a little and looked back at the others who joined in a little laughter.
And then the children, in their clean white shirts, came up to speak one at a time. Of course, we all enjoyed the children. Of course, they were a little nervous and looked back to their friends for support. But they smiled a lot, and laughed a lot and told us that their favorite subject was math. (Were they instructed to say that?) There were boys and girls mostly around 10 or 12 years old. They seemed like such good, normal, healthy kids that we just had to love them.
Afterwards, walking down the street, we felt very very good, like we had just met some new good friends. And we really had. I assumed that everyone in the school community in San Carlos was feeling the same way.
I’m looking forward to doing more.