Teaching entrepreneurship in El Salvador
The morning teaching group decided to teach the basic concepts of accounting. We explained the debits and credits involved in the various assets, liabilities, and equity accounts. Since this was the most complex concept we have covered thus far it took a decent amount of activities and examples to get our points across in a way that all of our four students understood. However, by the end of the session I could see our group on their way to becoming accounting experts (even though all of them swore it would eventually be the responsibility of someone else in their bakery). With an hour or so left, we decided to describe the components of a rocket pitch using one of the activities in the book. Luckily, Alexis, a Babson international student from El Salvador, joined us in volunteering and was able to describe the concepts in an efficient way. With her help, we felt confident assigning the students specific parts of the rocket pitch to prepare for presentation tomorrow morning.
For the second half of the afternoon the four of us went to a new work site. Our assignment here was to shovel sand into buckets and spread it evenly into the already finished concrete frame. Once compacted, these ingredients would compose the family’s floor. Curious, one of the children and mothers from a neighboring house came out to observe our work. The two women were very interested and grateful for all the work that Habitat has done for their community and were eager to share their stories and culture with all of its volunteers. They even brought out their week-old kittens for us to play with and hold.
Each day I spend in this wonderful community, I am so taken aback by the generosity and kindness that is imbedded in each citizen. Although it will be sad to leave tomorrow, I am excited to hear our students’ rocket pitch and experience one more day of this unbelievable culture.
Brianna Lynch 2016′