Brazil A-Term - Day #2: Garden and Spanish by Bernardo Guerra

 We started our first day of work with a refreshing breakfast, ready to be productive. Our activities today included working in the Unbotelling Minds vegetable garden and Spanish lessons, both of which were with groups of young kids. We arrived at the Unbottling Minds headquarters at 8:30AM where we got to meet all the Worldpackers and Unbotelling Minds crew. Currently, there are six Worldpackers staying at the headquarters, five Brazilians from different places in Brazil, and one Angolan-Portuguese young lady. At around 9:00AM we started the first activity: working in the vegetable garden. A group of five kids showed up very early eager to begin. Fabricio and I along with three other Unbottling Minds crew members led this activity. We started off with something very familiar to the average Post Oak student, the kids themselves writing down and agreeing upon the community norms. 

After this discussion we planted nine letuces, nine parsleys, and nine asparagus. One of the Unbotelling Minds Volunteers specializes in taking care of the vegetable garden and all activities surrounding it. She gave the kids an introduction to how the vegetable garden works and instructions on how to properly plant and take care of the plants. Participating in this first activity taught me a lot. Through talking and engaging with the kids I learned about the very rough reality and situation that a lot of them are living in and how Unbotelling Minds helps them. 

After this activity had been completed we prepared for the Spanish lessons. Fabricio led the lesson, and I was his assistant teacher. Ten kids showed up to this activity. You would never think that Fabricio would make a good teacher and I would make a good assistant, but the whole activity was a fun learning experience for all the kids and Fabricio and I as well. In reality, the idea of the Spanish lesson and English lesson activities were made not only to teach these kids a second language but to also to educate them about different cultures and diversity while creating a fun, engaging environment.

Today was a productive, fun, and interesting day. I have learnt a lot about the community that I'm going to be working with for the next two weeks. The first time seeing the harsh reality that this community is living in right now came as a shock to me. Getting to meet all of the Worldpackers, Unbotteling Minds volenteers and the kids was a great experience on its own, along with the activities. Im looking forward to learning more about the environment, meeting new intresting people, and leading activities.