G.O. Ecuador Travel Diary Day 2 - Amanda Burks

Children playing during recess at the Working Boys' Center

Day two - Tuesday March 11, 2014

Today I shadowed one of the yearlong volunteers. We first went to her special needs class. The children aren’t really special needs; they are just at a lower level than they are supposed to be at. I worked with a little boy, helping him with his addition. He didn’t do the work unless I read it to him. It was like he was almost nervous to do it by himself. I worked step by step with him until he got the right answer. Some addition problems he knew right off the bat while, others he had to count on his fingers to get the answer. Even though it was a bit frustrating at times because it took him a couple of tries to get the right answer, I still didn’t give up on him. It was a learning experience for the both of us because I got to work on my Spanish while he learned to add. He would get so excited when he knew the answer right off the bat. Seeing him get excited because he knew the answer made me happy and proud.

After working with the special needs kids we went to the other center. At the second center we were teaching an English class. I worked with two boys and one of them was very eager to learn. I had a list of questions I had to ask them and they would write the answers in English. After he finished one question he would say “okay what’s the next one,” and was just so eager and excited to move on. When the other boy finished, he would show me his answers to make sure they were right and to make corrections. They were so eager to learn English and to practice it. They would ask me questions in English and then ask me how to say certain words in English. We complain about school and studying, but these kids want to learn. It was heart breaking today hearing that young girls were doing sexual favors for older men to make some money. The girls are so young and innocent it’s unreal to think that this is even going on. When I was their age I was still playing with dolls. They are only eleven and twelve years old. The part of the day that was heartwarming was my encounter with Melanie. I was sitting in the office and a random little girl just comes in and sits in the chair with me. She was shy but she would still answer the questions I asked her in a low voice. Melanie just wanted affection. It was pleasant just to sit with her and enjoy each other’s presence.