Experiential Learning in El Salvador

Posted By: slammers
Date: 04-04-08
City: La Herradura
Country: El Salvador
Duration: 1 month
Category: Education, Economic Development, Public Health

What We Are Doing:

I am currently part of a team that is setting up an Experiential Learning Program in Central America. The program connects volunteers with an established, local, community development organization in El Salvador.

During the day, the volunteers will utilize their giftedness and expertise (Medical, Business, Education, etc.) to come alongside local professionals to assist them in their work. After work, the volunteers will get a true Salvidorian experience as they will be staying with a wonderful local family. We are helping the family get their new business off the ground (housing and feeding volunteers).

What Have We Learned:

The entire project has been a learning experience for us. Some of the major things that we have been learning are as follows:

Learn About The Culture - before we arrived in El Salvador, we were told that we were NOT going to "teach" or to "solve problems"... we were going to learn. I really appreciated this advise, because my default mode is to problem solve. I now realize that I would have created many more problems had I not accepted this advise and taken the time to learn about the culture and build credibility with the local people.
Partner with Local Organizations and Churches - I cannot tell you how important this has been for us. The temptation was to start our own thing, but there is no better way to build in sustainability and tap into the needed local networks. I am so glad that we were able to partner with both local organizations and schools as well as the church.
Ask the Community What They Need - this seems like a no-brainer, but we the best way to figure out how we could help the community was to simply ask the people. We asked the priest, the teachers, the farmers and the children, and before we knew it, there were a number of needs that were identified that we could help address.
Under Promise, Over Deliver - it is so easy for us to identify "simple" needs and proceed to assure a person, that we may never see again, that we can help. It’s important to keep our promises, not only for our own continued involvement in the community, but the ongoing work that is being done by our partner organizations and churches.

To Be Continued...

I will follow up with this posing to share what we did well and what we can do better after we have hosted a round of volunteers.

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