Service Learning

Jefas de Hogar

Escuela Alemania, Valparaiso

The school that I taught at. It is an elementary school and cute little Chilean kids were always running around. The Municipalidad de Valparaiso received permission to use their classrooms for our English classes.

My student, Carolina. Throughout the semester I had a couple other students that came semi-regularly, including Erika, but Carolina was the only constant one. She has a fire in her to learn, as she studied and read on her own in workbooks she bought. Carolina always came in with new questions and was the best student I could ask for!

On my last day, we learned body parts. She asked me about the song "Baby Got Back", so we listened to it and she was able to translate it very well: I like big butts and I cannot lie.

She gave me a necklace as a thank-you for being her teacher, with a few tears as well! I won't miss planning lessons twice a week, but I will miss her! She was patient with my Spanish, as I was with her English.

-Fondo Esperanza-

Valparaiso Office

This is a classroom in the Valpo office, where classes about business tactics are held.

Emy (my service learning partner for the semester) with Veronica and Loreto, our two favorite women in the office. They were both so welcoming and enjoyed having us in the office!

Me outside the office.

Overall with the FE experience, I learned more about how microlending works. In the last month, I was able to attend a few meetings of the Banco Comunales, or groups of about 20 that receive the micro loans. Before that, we did a lot of administrative work (filing papers, running errands) which gave us a good foundation, but that got old very fast. Luckily we spoke up and they accomodated our requests willingly. FE is a great organization, they have in total 30,000 recipients in Chile who are small business owners, 87% women. I hope that CSB-SJU continues to send students to this organization, with a bit more guidance on where they are needed.

-I leave for Patagonia in 2 days!-