A Volunteer Success Story I had to write about myself

Working as an Urban Youth Volunteer in Paraguay can include a wide range of activities and volunteer Melissa Salamon is completing her service in Coronel Oviedo using that mentality to positively affect local youth. From the very start of her service she formed a youth group at a community center comprised of kids ages eleven to fifteen. The kids were cautious at first; unsure of the new American with the funny accent, but after a year and a half working together they have formed a close-knit faction focused on improving their community center and the community that surrounds it.

 

Members of the youth group participate in activities relating to health, self-esteem and leadership skills as well as creating their own projects to improve the community center such as planting trees and obtaining trash cans from a local cooperative. Together members of the group have raised money to go on outings by hosting soccer tournaments and raffles. Their cohesion was exemplified after the recent passing of one member when together they presented the boy´s family a banner covered in messages they had written expressing their sorrow for the loss.

 

In addition to working with the youth group Ms. Salamon also teaches in local schools where many of the members attend classes. In the high school she presents activities related to self-esteem, communication, gender relations, and HIV/AIDS awareness. Teachers from the classes with which she works repeat the activities with youth in other local high schools, therefore reaching a larger audience. In the elementary school Melissa is teaching computer classes to children who had never seen or touched a computer before but are now able to manage several programs. Ms. Salamon also works with young mothers to promote healthier lifestyles through cooking classes focused on vegetarian and soy recipes, as well as an exercise group that meets three times per week. Although her activities are varied and wide-spread Melissa has positively impacted the lives of many youth in her area. Their appreciation is often demonstrated not only in words but through behavior changes which will hopefully stay with them forever.

Juggling

Living in a different culture, working with people who speak a different language and trying to maintain a somewhat normal life is a lot like juggling you start with one and then you can add another and then finally once you´ve got that down you add the third. Due to the instant immersion in Paraguay over a year and a half ago I was tossed the first ball right away and quickly adapted to living within the Paraguayan culture. One ball is easy so right away a second was added, the language. Now this took more practice, but I am constantly getting better and always learning more. I also added that third ball awhile back when I moved into my own casita and felt the relief of freedom. I no longer hide in my room watching movies trying to escape Spanish and Guarani speakers and the entire juggling art itself. Instead I made friends and have a boyfriend and often speak only in Spanish the majority of the time. I also get to do fun things like rock climbing and training for marathons. Now although I feel like I have gotten the hang of three balls and sometimes think they could label me an expert at juggling, there are times when I have a bad day and I can´t handle all three and I keep dropping one or another. Some days my Spanish goes down the drain or I feel like screaming at every Paraguayan who hoots and grunts at me and some days I just feel like crying. I am pretty sure this one happens when I drop the third ball. When I feel like it’s too much to have a life and work and speak a foreign language. But these things don’t go away. They just continue and although I just want to hide under the covers and spend the day crying, the students and their excitement when I walk into a classroom keep me going. The kids are the ones that force me to get my overemotional self out of the bed and into the classroom.

Just last week I had a real reason to cry. Not because I couldn´t go out and get a veggie burger or because I hate the men with their stupid cat calls. One of my students committed suicide. Wow, suicide. This was the third funeral I had to attend in Paraguay but it the only one that affected me in a huge way. Dani was a 14 year old boy who lived with his grandmother, a younger sister and countless other relatives. His mother left to work in Argentina about 6 years ago and hasn´t returned to visit her 5 kids in over 4 years. But Dani seemed to be getting along okay. He was not overly outgoing, but he participated regularly in youth group activities and often played soccer with the neighborhood boys. Just the day before his death we planted trees as a reforestation project and he helped. I have spent the last week wondering how such a young person could make this drastic decision. I know a lot of people think about it, they might even attempt it in a call for attention, but to actually go through with it is incredible. No one will ever know for sure why this young man took his own life, but I am sure that he had lots of friends and family that cared for him and he will be missed. This past Saturday with my youth group we conducted a memorial type service for Dani during which we wrote messages to both him and his family. We then took the messages over to his family. I know that they appreciated this act because when I ran by that afternoon it was displayed out in front of their house. Just knowing this makes me proud of my group and the effort they put into it, even though it may have been awkward.

After talking with the group about suicide I hope that if there are others who feel the same desperation they will come to me or tell someone. Sometimes we don´t see the warning signs, sometimes there aren´t any. Suicide is much more prevalent in Paraguay than I had presumed. It seems to happen more often among the rich than the poor and may be due to American and European influence in which one is pressured to succeed. I hope that this one was the only one I will experience in Paraguay and the rest of my life.