Organization: Emerging Voices

 

"In February 2011 a team of 12 students had the incredible opportunity to volunteer in Bogota, Colombia for two weeks. Arriving in the capital city after an exhilarating day of switching planes, hefty turbulence, and many security checks, we couldn’t wait to begin. After meeting Monica, the director of Emerging Voices, we all squeezed into a van and drove through the city to our volunteer home for the next month.

 

The projects were spread throughout all parts of the city and beyond its borders, requiring us to become well accustomed to Bogota’s famous Transmilenio public transit system. Team members were able to work on several different projects. Traveling an hour away to the city of Soacha, our team members created lesson plans and taught English to students at El Colegio Ricaurte de Soacha. One of our members even began an after school teaching lesson to a group of eager children and English teacher, and by the end of the week was able to set up future lesson plans and develop a structure for future volunteers teaching English.

 

Members also spent time developing educational workshops for children at a group home. The kids even taught some of us their games, and we gladly took turns playing everything! We learned so much from just being surrounded by these kids, and were humbled by their immediate curiosity and willingness to reach out and get to know us over the course of our stay. Every day there were new challenges to face and new ways of approaching situations, but we learned together and were thankful to be able to be part of the exchange of ideas, language, and love to create workshops that could continue to be used in the future.

 

An impromptu project that developed at the group home was also taken on by two of our volunteers. Within 4 days, they had organized and cataloged a room full of educational and children’s books in complete disarray and stacked boxes, into a full-fledged, color coded and systematic library that could finally be utilized by the children. Our volunteers were able to utilize their experiences and skills in order to meet a need of the community that was only realized upon our arrival. In the spirit of ASB, this project was completely spur of the moment and completed all within the duration of our stay.

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Our ASB members learned to adapt on the spot to unexpected and challenging situations. We were welcomed into many communities, schools, homes, and lives, and not only brought joy and knowledge during our stay, but more importantly learned incredible life lessons, attitudes, and skills that we will never forget. Bogota, Colombia is not just a far-off place of exciting possibilities and unknown realities, but a part of us that we lived through, learned through, and grew as human beings, students, volunteers, and friends."