The Journey of a Friendly Giant

While reading my friend Amber's blog post, I was nodding and smiling the entire time. Like her, I also love kids, and always have. My history consists of working at community centers, children aid camps, sport camps and summer adventure camps. Children inspire me with their shiny eyes full of imagination, dreams and creativity. There are so many things to frown about in this world, and the more we read the news and see how critical some situations are, the easier it is to see the world from a pessimistic viewpoint. A group of children will quickly remind you that there are many beautiful subtle details in this world that you should remember to appreciate. This past weekend I took a break from my weekend travelling trips and stayed in Guayaquil. I had a few meetings planned with a Canadian visitor, and was also asked if I could do a dynamic workshop with the Jardines Del Salado environmental kids club. The age group of the kids was from 7-12 years old. The goal of the activity wa...

Every country has their share of crazy drivers. But here in Guayaquil, saying "just a few" is the understatement of the century. My ears eventually got used to the constant sound of beeping, and people shouting out their car windows, but that isn’t my main issue. Many of the street lights don’t work, and most the ones that do, don’t have a “walk/don’t walk” sign. When crossing the street, whether you believe it’s rightfully your turn to cross the street, you always have to be alert. Many cars don’t follow the rules, and keep driving even when it’s a red light for them. Sometimes, in the center of Guayaquil, there are more than 20 people crossing on both sides at one time, but that doesn’t seem to faze them. They simply keep driving, and people are forced to suddenly stop before them, or run across past them to not get hit. The people don’t have the right of way, and are not “royalty of the road”, as I was taught in Canada. Here in Guayaquil, the cars are in control. I almost ...

Patience is definitely something I´ve learned and developed at a young age. In fact I’m pretty sure it´s my mother´s favorite word! Though in the past this annoyed me, I now see the value in learning how to be patient,  patiently . Some people understand the concept of patience, but they simply cannot wait to see the positive outcome of their patience, with patience. I always remind myself to wait, everybody has a pace, and mine may normally be much faster, however, it doesn’t mean it´s better. Learning to wait can only bring positive things, especially when it comes to international development and capacity building. I'm focusing on establishing relationships within the community that I´m working in before jumping into workshops. Slowly but surely I am getting a short debrief of the issues some of the women are facing individually. I have been documenting this and will keep my eyes wide open for any patterns in answers, and that will inspire the topic of my first workshop. I will...

"For every moment spent in preparation, an hour is earned"  - Paulo Cuello - El Alquimista I was recently asked, "How do you prepare for a trip like THAT !" So this post is for you my curious friend. Though I've been in Guayaquil for over a week now, the training I've received prior to my departure is an important part of my journey ahead. As previously mentioned, the training period was 3 weeks long and held at Niagara College.   There was a group of mentors, each of them teaching all of the interns’ different things in very different ways. The goal of this internship is for us young graduates to gain global experiences while gaining both Global competencies and development competencies along the way. (click on titles to see pages on both) The training and networking that has already happened prior to this internship has been very rewarding. During our training we did so many different things all related to our internships, we had the chance to experie...