Sian & Jim's first weeks in Playa del Carmen community!
Our
volunteering experience began with a warm welcome from GVI in the form of a
welcome note delivered to our hostel the night before orientation; a delightful
and very thoughtful touch which gave us an overview of the week ahead. We met the friendly GVI staff and fellow
volunteers for orientation on Saturday morning then settled in to our
accommodation, all the while getting very excited about the following six weeks. The GVI staff gave us an excellent tour of
the local neighborhood, pointing out the essentials (laundry, bank, etc.) while
also giving us some hot tips on where to get the best local comida (food). To
top off an already brilliant day, we also discovered that we now live only a
short stroll away from one of the most beautiful beaches we’ve ever seen!
In the
following days we completed our introduction which included presentations on
Save the Children (the organization that GVI works with in Playa del Carmen)
and undertook a comprehensive course in emergency first response. We also began daily Spanish lessons with a
local language school which is an enjoyable and essential experience to get the
most out of your time in Mexico
Once we
completed the necessary inductions we started our work with the Ludoteca (the
education centre – also known as a toy library) - our first experience with ‘los
niños’. The children are absolutely
adorable and bursting with energy that we did our best to match! Activities
have included assisting the children with their homework, drawing and
colouring, playing games and a great deal of running around. Definitely enough
exercise to make up for all the tacos we’re eating!
At the end
of our first week we are equally as excited about our next five weeks with GVI in
Playa del Carmen as we were before beginning our volunteering. We have really enjoyed the privilege of being
part of the GVI community and interacting with the local people through working
directly with them and their children. We’re sure there are many more amazing
experiences to come!
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