Caminando Unidos

Thursday June 21, 2012  > Stephanie & Rachel

Today we visited an organization called “Caminando Unidos” which means walking together.  This was a unique school like nothing we’ve seen so far. The school was an alternative approach to other programs being offered in Cuernavaca. It focused on the creativity of the child and developing future leaders, then they incorporate the academics. Creativity is the only reward and the only punishment is not being creative.

The school, which was founded by a couple almost twenty years ago, and has grown tremendously, is based on several founding values including:

-          The biggest takes care of the smallest

-          The one who knows more teaches the one who knows less

-          Be impeccable with your words (be honest and true)

-          Take nothing personally

-          Don’t assume

-          Give 100% of yourself

-          The only reward is to learn

-          The only punishment is to not be creative

Today we watched several of the volunteers create fire from two sticks of wood. It took several tries and about four people until the spark finally began to smolder and ignite. The school explained that it had taken them almost 2 years to find the right combination of wood so that now they can create a fire in about 2 minutes.

The students of the school have a voice in what they learn. So as long as it’s creative the teacher will try to incorporate it. This school is ONLY supported by donations and doesn’t receive any government assistance. There are only 12 paid staff members; the rest of the staff is strictly made up of volunteers. 60% of the donations they receive are from people who donate every month; the other 40% comes from sporadic donations. Because the other 40% of donations has been scarce recently, the staff members have taken pay cuts in order to have money to fund the organizations need. The love and hard work that was felt at this organization was incredible.

To find out more about this group visit http://www.caminandounidos.org.mx/

Later in the afternoon our Fulbright group had a reflection session where we talked about some of our favorite parts of the trip. Obviously, “Caminando Unidos” was one of the favorite trips thus far, along with all the school visits we have done. This hour of reflection really showed how close our group has become over the last two weeks and how much we have learned in such a short amount of time. We are all looking forward to the next two weeks and learning even more Spanish and valuable life lessons!