Today we met a woman named Cecilia and a group called Super Kids. Super Kids is an organization of students of all ages that promotes good self-esteem and learning English. It is a cool program because students teach other students, so it is empowering for everyone. The Super Kids were running late so we sang karaoke to pass the time. The first song was sung by Lemoni, Peniel and Ashley and they chose to sing ‘24 Karat Magic’ by Bruno Mars. Then Robbie went and decided to sing ‘Mad World’ which was interesting because although it is a really sad song, the way he performed it was really funny!
After a while the Super Kids finally got to the school and there were A LOT of them. I wasn’t expecting so many kids! The fact that there were almost 50 students did make me a little anxious. Although we are older than them, younger kids tend to be brutally honest and, here in Paraguay, I know I’m fascinating to most of them because of the way I look and the color of my skin. Those thoughts aside, all of the kids were super nice and smart. Some of them presented themselves and their organization in English, which was really impressive. Here we had about five kids, from ages 10-11, who have all lived in Paraguay, a country that speaks two other separate languages, and they were all speaking English! When they were done we played games and continued to have fun and interact with them.
In my opinion, the youngest one of the kids was the most confident. He danced and rapped in front of everyone! Then it was our turn to show everyone what we could do. I felt like being a bit bold so I joined Lemoni and Peniel. We rapped ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ theme song which was the most hilarious thing to me. We also got to teach the kids how to dance to The Tiburon – I’m not sure if I contributed much because I don’t really know it that well, so I was kind of learning with the kids. After the activities we all expressed how thankful we were and took loads of pictures — as always. The whole experience with the kids was extremely eye-opening. They all showed so much potential, and it was humbling to see that if even little kids can go and help others feel better about themselves, we can all do it!
The last activity of the day was to walk around Asuncion and explore the city’s unique street art. I liked how all of the street art was abstract and different from each other. In the middle of the self-led tour we paused to buy all of our final gifts from the tourist market. I really enjoyed this part because I was able to buy my mom the wallet she wanted! I also got some very pretty bracelets that will now always serve as a reminder of the beauty of Paraguay. Pressing play on our street art activity again we continued to walk around. This time we saw buildings painted exotically, with vibrant colors that made you feel curious and happy.
We ended the day at the Burger King in the mall (FYI — it tastes a lot better here than in the US!) Afterwards, we returned to the hostel and began to relax and unwind. We were exhausted from all of the walking. However, one thing I have learned on this trip is that as sleepy as I can get after a day of activities, I’ll never be tired of the people and culture here in Paraguay.
Lishanelly A., Potomac High School