130 little adorable hellions Vs 7 Foreign Volunteers

So in this corner! Seven ideological, helpful, hopeful, enthusiastic, bright-eyed volunteers, covering the world from the US to the UK to Australia, with varying degrees of Spanish speaking abilities (“what does nada mean?” to understanding their swear words), varying degrees of teaching experience (“not so much teaching, but I’ve been in a classroom before?” to “the trick is to never let the kids see the fear in your eyes”),

In the other corner… 130+ adorable, innocent, 3 1/2 – 15 year old Galapagarians with varying English speaking abilities (from the complete blank stare to correcting our English)

The venue – Three open classrooms and a community playground in San Cristobal, Galapagos

LETS GET READY TO RUMBLE!!!!!

It was the kids that came out swinging making use of their home court advantage and the kindness of the volunteers to multiply their numbers from what was supposed to be four groups of 15 students each (5-6 years old, 7-8 years old, 9-10 years old and 11 and up) to an overwhelming 30+ students in each class. The sly youths also snuck in 3 ½ to 4 year olds with their parents claiming they were older. Not being old enough to know how to lie like their parents they were later caught, however it was too late, they had already joined the fight, and damn it they were too adorable to throw out.

It was also the 3-5 year olds that used their supposed innocence and their youth to deal some rather devastating early blows. In the classrooms they were uncontrollable and in the sports class even worse. It was here that during a perceivably well thought out game of duck, duck, goose that one of the cuter children snuck out a carelessly left open door. When Donny went chasing after the 4 year old the rest of the class used the “rope a dope” technique to split in to two groups and head out the other open doors. The other usually very competent volunteer (the wonder from down under (Australia)) was powerless to stop them. They made their way out to the playground (looked like more of a training area for American Gladiators) and started climbing on anything and everything over 10 feet high. One of the children Donny had to chase two blocks away and physically drag the child back to the school. The first two rounds (day 1 and 2) definitely went to the children.

However, by round three the experience and determination of the volunteers started to pay off. They used oldschool techniques that the children had never seen before; like making learning fun, lots of total participation activities, and tons of attention grabbing visuals. By Thursday the volunteers even got some extra backup, two new volunteers from England, and a projector which Brooke skillfully used to trick the kids into learning how important it is (especially in the Galapagos) to protect our environment. The fight was definitely taking a turn in the volunteers favor. On Friday the venue moved to a local beach were the volunteers organized a very successful trash pickup on the way to the beach (10 garbage bags in total), but the later part of the round switched sides again as the volunteers desperately tried to control the kids as children escaped the ever fragile Duck, Duck, Goose circle and stampeded for the ocean. All the volunteers could do was frantically continue their headcounts making sure no one was going under or being taken away by the circling sea lions. In the end I think everyone was accounted for and I know everyone had fun.

Friday was technically the end of the fight for Donny and Brooke. This was a good thing as we now have heard the children have organized a last ditch effort, bringing water balloons, paint, and shaving cream to class on Monday in celebration of Carnival / Galapagos week. When we visited the school the volunteers were covered in paint and soaked head to toe. The battle that is supposed to last for six weeks is still anyone’s fight.

Good luck, volunteers, you’ll need it.

An Outside Commentary: While this blog was written mostly in jest, the importance of this education should not be missed. Here in the Galapagos, possibly more than any other place in the world, it is critical that the youth understand the impact of their environmental footprint and learn to care for and preserve their islands as models for the rest of the world. We, with the GROW Initiative, have been fortunate enough to play a small part in making this a reality. Please see our GROW Initiative website for more information on this project.