Day 9

Day 9: January 7th, 2019

The morning after we tubed the beautiful caves of Belize and zipped through the huge jungles around us, the real adventures began. We headed to Stella Maris School, where an out of this world experience awaited us. 
We woke up bright and early. Now this was a task that took us a bit of work, the tiredness of preparing about 6 hours earlier was still on our eyes. Although we were a bit drained from all the excursions, all of us students drove down to the school with excitement of meeting the beautiful students. When we arrived, we met the principal of the school and were able to have a tour of their campus by the reading teacher, Ms. Gentle. After a morning of greetings and little conversations with the teachers, staff, and students, it was time for lunch. 
After our bellies were full, we headed down to the classrooms and spent the rest of the afternoon observing the classroom, observing the way the teachers interacted with the students. We noted the things that we could work on with the students, and what training we could give the teachers to better provide communication between them and their students. 
Because we were given this opportunity to provide resources and assistance to Stella Maris, our eyes have been opened to the realities of the Belizean children that have learning disabilities, autism, cerebral palsy, down syndrome, cognitive issues, and many more disorders that effect their ability to communicate successfully in the classroom. Though we saw these hardships throughout the day, the one thing we did not see was sadness. These children, having faced all obstacles, remained joyous. They have been joyous lights that shine in any darkness, their kindness and welcoming hearts truly show why my classmates and I chose this field. We are excited to continue this week in any ways that we can help them, we have been given that privilege, and will not waste it. Tomorrow it begins. 
Best from Belize,
                  Amanda N Sandoval

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