Creating Social Value Blog / Service in Action

Alternative Spring Break: El Salvador

Monday:

Monday, the 16th of March, was our first day of work. We all woke up around 6am, had breakfast at 6.30am and left for the village in Ahuachapan around7.30am. There, some of us first bought some jewelries, aprons or other items made by the women of the co-op. Coffee was definitely the most popular product! We could either buy under the form of beans or grounded. I personally ordered three bags for my family.

After a short introduction by the president of the co-op, we decided to divide ourselves into two groups: the first one would teach youngsters in the morning and work in the afternoon while the other would work in the morning and advice women or other members of the co-op on their current businesses or ideas in the afternoon. I personally was part of the first group.

My group spent that first morning teaching fundamental terms such as entrepreneurship, mission statement, rocket pitches, cover values and others to five teenagers, using the book From Ideas to Actions. (One can download it here:http://www.fromideastoaction.org/). We also did some activities; for instance, we asked our students to circle ten values that were most important to them out of a list and then share with us. Overall, we had a great time sharing basic knowledge of entrepreneurship with them on the first day. Once the students left for school, we joined the group that was working and relieved them from their tasks.

After lunch, it was our turn to work on the site. Our main tasks were to pickax the ground and shovel the dirt. It definitely was an interesting experience! Besides performing our tasks, we also tried to communicate with Mario and Manuel, the masons, and with the family for whom Habit was building the house.

Overall, it definitely was a tiring and rewarding day. Not only did we teach important terms and explained what entrepreneurship was but also, we helped masons with digging the foundation of a house. Despite the heat, we put all our efforts in performing our tasks correctly because we knew that we were greatly helping the masons.

-Roxelene Wagner 2016′