Los Patojos in Need

As mentioned before I´ve been volunteering at an after school program called ¨Los Patojos.¨ My final week is now coming to an end and it has been the funnest yet as I´ve finally been able to get the kids engaged with some english games they seem to enjoy.

The other day I had them play a card matching game. The idea was that each kid would start with a mis-matched set of cards and then have to trade with their class-mates until they had a set that matched.

At first they managed to mess the game up in about every way possible. Some kids got they idea and made their set quick, while others came to me looking completely dumbfounded and holding just one card with a loan english word written on it. Meanwhile the buissness men of the group were able to accumulate a whole stack of random cards and were brokering deals of all sorts with who knows what in mind. In the end they were all able to get a set.

I´m a abit sad to be going now as I feel like I´m just starting to get a feel for the different character traits and personalities, and learning how to make them respond. I´ve always felt like I was someone that would never forget what it was like to be a kid but have recently realized how quickly out of touch you can become unles you really immerse yourself into that childs world.

I like to sit back and try to guess what different roles the kids will fall into in the next five to ten years. Who´s going to be the ¨prom king and queen¨? Who´s gonna be in the chess club? And what the kid that thinks that the paint tastes like chocolate is gonna turn out like?

The organizzers at Los Patojos have recently asked that volunteers lend a hand in fund raising as the program is completely free to all the kids and funded entirely on donations. I´m usually pretty uncomfortable asking for money but honestly can´t think of a better cause. They are a registered non-profit so all donations are tax deductable and they run everything themselves so you know that donations will go entirely to the program. I´m well aware that now isn´t the best time to be asking for finacial aid of any sort but any little bit helps. You´d be surprised at how far just a few dollars can go down here.

If anyone has questions or comments about the program itself or the donation process please give me a shout. Dylan1121 at sbcglobal.net