Opening the Door: Children and the Environment in San José del Rincón: a collaboration between the Centro de ayuda familiar and Experiment Argentina

My two and a half months at Centro de Ayuda Familiar (Family Assistance Center) went by in the blink of an eye. My conclusion of the environmental education project, and more generally my entire experience in San José de Rincon, is that they were a success. It would be hard to say any less after working with such a hospitable and amiable organization and such an animated group of students. I would hope that the largest successes of the project are to come in the future, as more curious and informed individuals carry on with their lives, me included.
The project conclusions here fall into a few general categories, project structure, achievement of specific objectives, and personal assessment, and recommendations for future volunteers.

Project Structure:
As I had no structure given to me for the project, at first glance the task was a bit daunting. I was not sure what either Centro de Ayuda Familiar (CAF) or Experiment´s expectations of the project were, but it quickly become clear that there was a large amount of flexibility and room for creativity. In trying to get something off the ground, both of these were very welcome.
As for the timing of the project, it was helpful to have my first week at CAF completely without any agenda of my own. It was an opportunity to get to know the kids and to observe the daily flow of activity. Since the form of the project was still gelling, it also gave me perspective on what types of activities would work and what others would have to be adapted. Additionally, it was a chance to observe how the teachers organized and disciplined their classrooms. One of my primary goals throughout the project was that the staff not feel like I was trying to impose myself on their already existing structure. This week was imperative in seeing in what manner I could best fit myself into the organization as it already functioned.
With regards to the program´s organizational structure, throughout the entirety of the experience, my original written project overview proved invaluable. The initial creation of the overview, forced structure on what were a variety of diffuse ideas. Working by myself, it was beneficial to have something on which to maintain focus, measure my progress against and to with which to reassess. As the program began to take on a life of its own and as daily activities of the Center continued to go on around the project, I did have to have a great deal of flexibility with my original plan. Despite this, without a written plan, I would have begun to feel somewhat frustrated and lost.

In order to maintain some form of regularity and structure within a classroom where things tended to be relaxed and at times without much organization, I also found it helpful to create a weekly plan and take note throughout the week of what was achieved. But my primary advice to another volunteer would be to maintain a careful balance between complete willingness to change plans (as it will be necessary) and focus on the objectives of the project. Without an equilibrium point, frustration can easily erupt!
Other points for a future volunteer in this location to consider would be the age groups they want to work with. I chose to work with the oldest two classrooms. I did this not only because they had the highest amount of comprehension of the topics I was discussing, but also to decrease the number of students I was working with, due to the great amount of one-on-one attention needed during the project and to allow me to know a smaller group of students (23) better.

Specific Project Objectives
Of the six objectives of the project, it seemed something was gained on every front, with of course more progress with some than others. The original objective were:

•To develop student´s skill of observation, using the five senses, to make them more aware of their surroundings.
• To make students more curious individuals.
• To teach students about regional plants and animals, so they might value their local environment.
• To create greater self-esteem amongst students by showing them what resources they have access to which others may not.
• To help students recognize the importance of the environment and the services it offers them.
• To show students the role they themselves can play in protecting the environment (through reuse, greater care with their waste, etc.)

All of the planned activities of the project were attempted, some with more success than others! The two activities which seemed to surrounded with the largest amount of student enthusiasm, which greatly helped with achieving the project objectives, were the garden and the variety of five senses activities. For five to ten year olds, it seemed that these two areas were the most tangible and therefore the most effective.

Out of everything, the garden was the most fun and successful activity for all involved. We started out with out even a clue of where to put the seeds and ended eating a fresh salad with out lunch.

Details on whole bean sprouting project and garden.
Amidst many short activities, the garden also gave the entire education project a continual element. When plans for the day fell through it was nice to have a constant to fall back on.