brothers, Hernandez

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Day 329 - The brothers Hernandez




Image by LShave

A lot of great things happened today, most of which would have been very difficult to capture in a photo.

This morning, I began the day by spending time praying, meditating, and writing in my journal, which I've been doing a lot more of lately. I've written more in the past week than I have in the whole previous six months.

I left early, and hiked down to El Progreso. I stopped first at Milagro's house, where I met Ari. Milagro is one of the three girls that I helped get a scholarship, and of the three, I feel that she is the most deservingâ€"not only because her family is the poorest, but because she is the most outgoing and the hardest-working. We talked about her scholarship, and how Ari will be in charge of it once I take off. I then told her that I have a lot of confidence in her abilities, and that I intend to keep in touch with her over the next few years, making sure that she continues going to school, and that she continues applying for scholarships.

We left her house, and hiked down the hill to Maria's, where we had the same conversation. As we were leaving, her mom invited me to dinner next week. After this, we had the same conversation a third time at Leticia's house, where I was invited to lunch the following week.

I finally made it down to the school around 9:30, and got started teaching computer classes. After lunch, I cut my computer class schedule to be able to talk with my ninth grade students. Last week, I told them to write an essay answering the question, “What do I want to do with my life?” Today, I told them that in order to be able to accomplish the goals they wrote about, they need to have a good idea of who they are now, so they can see how to get to who they want to be. So, we talked about forming our identity, and self-esteem. We did a couple of activities, and then switched topics to something a bit heavier: sex.

Sex is rarely talked about in schools in El Salvadorâ€"the topic is generally left to parents, health officials, and a handful of NGOs. But a lot of kids have to figure it all out for themselves. With only an hour, I wasn't able to cover all the details, but I made a few key points:
-- Having children changes everything, therefore,
-- Having sex changes everything.
-- Don't have sex if you haven't thought about the risks and responsibilities.
-- Having sex is the choice of both partners.
-- Telling your partner “I don't want to” is the only reason you need not to have sex with him/her.
-- Using contraceptives is the responsibility of both partners.
-- Not having sex is the only 100% effective way to prevent pregnancy and STDs.
-- Sex is not necessary to show love, and can in fact weaken a relationship.

My students paid closer attention than they ever have before. At the end of the class, I told them to write down any questions they had and give them to me next week, when we'll go over them together.

As I was walking back, three of my eighth grade students, who are all brothers, were waiting for me on the road, where they asked me to take this picture, in a typical Latin American soccer team pose. I joked with them about how much better I am than them at soccer (a lie), then started the long hike back home.

Everything that happened today was a reminder of the trust that I have built in this community over the past two years. None of these conversations could have taken place when I first arrived in Torolaâ€"and I hope that the level of trust the community has in me is indicative of the level of impact I have had on them. I hope that I won't just be remembered as the gringo that got people scholarships, or that took people's picture, or that talked openly about sex. Instead, I hope that I'll be remembered as someone who came to love and to share with the community for the brief time that I had. And if the mark I have left here is even a fraction of the mark left on me, I will consider my time here a success.

The mechanisms behind evolution




Image by Colin Purrington

Need to lecture to people about the difference between evolution and the factors that cause evolution? Use the above, if you'd like -- I've added some notes to the slide to help explain it. The graphics are on the cute side to appeal to kids in the audience.

Note that genetic drift and mutation are both based on random events. Natural selection, however, is entirely nonrandom (only a select few leave offspring) but also entirely undirected (there is no puppet master controlling who leaves offspring, which is why it's not called supernatural selection).

Also please note that Darwin did not come up with evolution (descent with modification). His contribution was natural selection.

Mission to Kolkata




Image by el clinto

Some of the stills from the Faceless International documentary "Mission:Kolkata" which I just completed editing yesterday. The 35 min. doc follows the Faceless team comprised of the bands Anberlin, Showbread, the Classic Crime, Hundred Year Storm as well as various other do gooders (18 in all) from the US as we work with kids living in the red light districts of Kolkata, kids who are at high risk of becoming trafficked for sex if not protected and sheltered.

This project was my first to go solo, I've learned alot on this project and am excited for the next one. Look for this documentary to be available on the Faceless website as well as sites like Current.tv.


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