Cáritas Madrid, Part II

Hello!

My time in Caritas has almost come to an end. I'm really going to miss going to the center after school to help the children. Even though they did not know me at first, we have bonded over these months. 

I have not worked with every single one of them, only with he ones that have English classes, but I have tried to talk to everybody and give them some advice and support when they need it. For example, the other day a child was working on his homework while the others were playing because they have already finished theirs. He was sad that he could not be with his friends, so I tried to cheer him up by giving him some tips on how to do homework quicker but with the same quality. The next time I saw him, he was done with his homework quicker and he was able to play with the others.

There is this on-going thing that the social worker at Cáritas does every week. His name is Javi and every Monday he does this really cool thing where he fulfills the dream of one of the students. Last week's turn was Maria and Mario's, they want to be astronauts. In order to made their dream come true, Javi brought his computer to show them the different galaxies, planets, and stars. They were really excited, and some of their classmates were scare that they'll be going into space. Someone pointed out that being an astronaut was really dangerous, but neither Maria nor Mario really cared about it, and I really admire that about them; they want to pursue their dreams even if they seem scary to some. 

Another thing that I have noticed is how the children treat me now as opposed to when I first began doing my volunteering work. At first they were too shy to even ask me my name, but now my name comes out as if they have known me their entire lives, which I love. They sure know how to make you feel at home and at ease. Before I started going to Cáritas I was worried that they might not like me, or understand me for some weird reason, but I think I was just scared of nothing. They have been nothing but accepting and supportive with my Spanglish. Sometimes I would want to say something but I cannot find the Spanish word for it, so I say it in English. They are really smart and they instantly translate it into Spanish and tell me the proper way to pronounce with an Spanish accent, not the Mexican one I'm used to. 

Sometimes if we have time at the end of the sessions, they ask me about my personal life, school, work, anything and everything that comes to their mind. They are especially interested in knowing how I moved from Mexico to NY, and how I learned the language. I think they are really lucky to be learning English right now because one can barely hear their accent when they speak. I sometimes have to correct them on the pronunciation, grammar, and structure of the sentences they try to write or speak. So just like they do to me in Spanish I do to them in English. 

Since not all of the students at the center take English, and I sometimes have to make it as a math or science teacher. Do not get me wrong, I love teaching them, but those subjects can still be tricky for a junior college student, especially when I have to translate everything I need to explain to them from English into Spanish. Even as a native speaker, it is difficult to find the right words to explain the nervous and endocrine systems. But they bare with me and my translations. Math is harder, though. The Spanish system of teaching math is different from the one in the US and Mexico, and sometimes I have to teach them an entire system because I do not know theirs. I sometimes ask the other volunteers to help a student with math so I do not confuse them with my explanation.

All and all, this is being an amazing experience and I wish I could stay here longer to keep going to the center. It's going to be hard to say good-bye but I'm confident one day I'll hear in the news that Maria and Mario made it to the moon. 

--Paulina Ochoa - F.