Over the summer a group of students took a service trip to Oaxaca, Mexico. The preparation we did took months, and it stretched much further than the 10 days we were physically in Oaxaca. The project initially started with seniors Andrew Rourke, Mahi Bhalla, Aiden Puthenveetil, and Coralis Colon. Later, we thought it was a good idea to bring two more people to even out the workload a bit more and Dylan Cardona and Julia Henricks seemed like a good fit because of how advanced they are in Spanish. 

The preparation:

We started preparing for the trip in December when we created  our organization’s name, mission, and vision. Our organization’s name, “MACA” stands for Manifestando Amor y Cariño en Acto, which translates to Demonstrating Love and Care in Action. 

Our goal was to the best of our ability teach  6-17-year-olds some English and make a positive impact on their lives. We also wanted to have a little fun with them and build connections with them by playing sports with them. 

We opened a GoFundMe, asking our friends and family to donate whatever they were able to. We ended up raising over $3,000. All the money was raised in order to get the kids essential materials they needed for school as well as sports equipment. We’re also still continuing to try and raise more money to send to Oaxaca. 

There are about five classrooms in their school. During the summer they borrowed the desks and chairs from another school in the area, but they didn’t have the funds for their own. They also have a basketball court in their school, but zero sports equipment. 

The service itself

When we arrived in Oaxaca, we wandered around different stores to find a few items to play sports with the kids. This included a soccer ball, a basketball, and more. Every day for about an hour we took a break from teaching them, and we played a sport with them. This gave the kids something to look forward to each day, and was an effective way to get some of their energy out.

Everything we taught in English included the names of sports, the equipment used in sports, pronouns, colors, days of the week, months, simple numbers, and basic sentences. Not only did we teach them, but we all started to build relationships with them.

“I did form a lifelong valuable relationship with one of my students, Luisito,” said Senior Andrew Rourke, a member of MACA.

The five of us seniors and one freshman in college who went on the trip got very close with each student. Every time we saw them, they would always wave at us and give us a hug.

“The kids’ faces lit up every time we walked into the classroom,” said Senior Mahi Bhalla, MACA member.

Being immersed in another culture:

When we weren’t teaching in the classroom, we got to learn about Oaxacan culture and the differences between life there versus life in Lake Forest. One immersive experience we had the privilege of attending was a Gelaguetza. A Gelaguetza is a festival that includes different age groups of talented dancers putting on an entire performance. There are multiple performances and they consist of different types of dances and comedy pieces. 

Another big part of their culture is alebrijes. Alebrijes are figures carved out of wood that are very precisely painted with intricate patterns. There is a large workshop downtown that makes alebrijes. One of the days we were there, we painted our own alebrijes -a great experience to learn what the lives of the painters are like. 

“Their art and music also amazed me. In the USA and in Lake Forest especially I notice we are very business, math, and science-driven. Yet, in Oaxaca,  they have a vibrant art culture that’s at the center of most of their everyday life. Even the young kids we taught were some of the best artists I have ever encountered,” said MACA member Julia Henricks. 

Our funny experiences:

In Oaxaca and other parts of Mexico, you can go to buy an animal at one of the outdoor markets. There were donkeys, dogs, goats, sheep, baby chicks, and more. We bought two baby goats at the market for about ten minutes then quickly realized that it was a mistake. After arguing with the seller to get our money back, Rourke quickly went and bought two baby chicks.

He brought the baby chicks back to where we were staying just to find out that they required a lot more attention than he thought. A few hours later we donated them to a local mini farm. 

After such a positive experience this summer, we plan to go back next July and hope to teach them some more English and maybe open the group to more people who want to make a difference in Oaxaca.