How Beautiful Is This Life?

That’s the name of a great bachata song on the radio a lot lately and it certainly makes a great title for a blog which is going to be about the past few days…

My nutrition class took their final on Tuesday evening and all did quite well. We had 10 women show up to take the test, 2 are Haitians who I had to read their tests to them because they don’t know how to read or write Spanish well though they both claim to understand it (though one really didn’t.) It was very difficult to give a test orally but obviously incredibly important for me to do. In that class period the class participants also filled out evaluations of the class, all saying that they’d had a great time, learned a lot and can’t wait to start on the next class. We’ll see if that enthusiasm remains. I have a feeling that might have been my only successful class with the health committee.

I also had assigned the delightful homework assignment of cooking dishes to share with the group, all of which featured our favorite food: green leaves. This part of the class period was extremely successful. The women were laughing, talking, comparing the recipes and eating their hearts out. All of the dishes were extremely delicious. A few women said that now, the class was worth it. I chose not to let my feelings get hurt.

The Sunday night before that class was also the night before the youth group’s final exam. (Both groups had to take an exam of what they’d learned up to that part, the nutrition class because we finished with nutrition and so that we can start with another class and the youth group so that they can be officially declared youth peer-educators and can start replicating what they’ve been taught among their friends and in other communities.) I’d invited two of the boys from the group who are very talented artistically to come over to work on a sign for the graduation. As the day grew, some of their friends started to show up and we ended up having quite a group of teenagers here. They asked me to play some American dance music and so I did my best with what I had, you’ll all recall that I’m not the biggest fan of American dance music, also my ipod hasn’t been updated since September. So I played some Ciara, Gwen Stefani, Outkast and whatnot… all of which came from mix cds you all have given me in the near past, so continue with that if you’d like the youths of my town to have any idea what youth culture in the US is like. Otherwise I’ll be forced to start playing Simon and Garfunkel and James Taylor. And no one wants that.

So the gathering turned into a review session and from that into a session on sex questions. At first everyone was really timid to open up and ask that question that they’ve been dying to know the answer to, but eventually they did and then I suggested they write the questions down and submit them to me anonymously and that idea was very well received. The question and answer session was fascinating and I was so glad to get to be such a key part of it. To show that there’s no shame in talking about sex, while also admitting to them that everyone feels that way, was incredibly moving. I also admitted that I’m not sure I’d be able to talk so openly in English about it, explaining that it’s more freeing to speak in Spanish about anything, especially sensitive topics. (It’s really true. It’s much easier to say pene than penis. Wow… I’m impressed I was even able to type it.)

So the next day was the big test. It was stressful to say the least but in the best sense. I knew they’d try to cheat and was amazed at the audacity they had in their methods. Wandering eyes, talking about the test outside of the classroom and at one point someone sneaked notes in to a girl who was still working. That was the bad sort of stress. The good part was grading all the tests while looking for cheaters in the classrooms and then giving a short test individually and running back and forth between all of the classrooms. My mind was in a hundred places and I loved it. Haven’t felt like that since college. Oh and then one of the girls broke down in tears because she knew she blew the test and the other kids were picking on her. Turns out the one that was being the meanest was a cousin and is 6 years older than her. I love these kids but sometimes they aren’t the most mature.

So I graded all the tests, many kids scored perfectly and then gave out stickers (thanks Mom) and their grades. Those who failed had to come study with me the next day, which they all did, and then we went over the questions they’d gotten wrong orally and they all passed. A few times I did wonder if I was dealing with someone with a learning disability, and I struggled to find ways to help some of the kids understand the concepts of the test, but as I said, they all passed.

Wednesday was the graduation and the party. I spent the morning cleaning the locations of the 2 events with some of the more involved kids and then waiting on my boss and some volunteers he was going to bring. They all made it in time and I was so thrilled to see them all. We told everyone to come at 2 so that we could start by 3:15. Two kids were the MCs and did a great job, another girl gave the welcome address, we had a prayer and sang the national anthem and then my boss spoke. He said some very inspiring things to the kids and the women, telling them this is only the beginning and they need to spread what they’ve learned with others. He also spoke of the place this country is currently and how much still needs to be done to develop it more. Then he spoke about me and thanked me for my hard work here and gave me much too much credit for all that we’ve accomplished in the community. I wish I had the language abilities to say how humble I feel sitting among these two incredible groups of community leaders and being told that it was me that did it all. Certainly I did something, but it took a lot of work, support, dedication, and also a lot of patience, from them.

Then it was my turn to address the crowd. I told them it was the result of hard work and dedication that we were there and that I was so proud. I told them I consider them all my friends and think they are incredibly creative, enthusiastic and intelligent. Then I presented the certificates to 30 youths and 10 women. Then the youth group got up and performed a surprise they’d put together, a poem that spelled Escojo mi vida. And then… they gave me a certificate! They said some lovely things, things like you’ve showed us what we can do here, God sent you here to us, you can’t ever leave us, we love you. I was of course very touched, but again, also very humbled.

Then we made our way to the other space to have cake and soon after started the party. It was meant to be a sort of small fundraiser and ended up being more of a community gathering with no entrance fee. I bounced all over the place getting the snacks and drinks for the guests as well as dinner for myself and 2 volunteers who spent the night and other odds and ends. Luckily the party was right across the street from my house. We closed up shop around 10:15 after about 5 hours of dancing. My 2 guests danced up a storm and were both a huge hit. I also danced a ton and had a great time. It was a very sweaty affair.

I’m not sure if you can tell from what I’ve written, but a lot of hard work went into the whole day and despite a few moments of being a bit stressed, it was all completely worth it and I was really on cloud nine. It felt so incredible to be celebrating something so important and I can’t tell you how great looking around the room at all of the teenagers of the community felt. They were all so happy, dancing and laughing and that was the whole point.