Time flies, and 2019 is no exception! We’ve been slow with updates, however our delay doesn’t mean that things haven’t continued happening at Mentor a Mentor.
This winter we were beyond encouraged as we spent time in Chihuahua and Juarez City in Mexico with our partner sites, mentors and instructors. Here's what we’ve been up to and a bit on how contributions from our Giving Tuesday campaign are being put into action!
Juarez
Our visit to Ciudad Juarez confirmed the incredible impact instructor Daniel has on the children he teaches breakdance classes to. At the secondary school in the outskirts of Juarez we visited Daniel’s classes and interviewed both the direction at the school and students alike. We were met with a resounding affirmation of the value of Daniel’s work and investment in these youth. This school has had a hard time recruiting teachers to work there due to recent mass deaths from drug cartel violence in the area. The zone next door is known for drug dealing and abuse, and this school currently is the only one in its locale that has not experienced any violent encounters since it opened several years ago. When classes are out, Daniel’s classroom fills with children who come to learn breakdance-and to giggle, jump around, munch on treats and spend time together, keeping their focus on things that bring them life, and distracting them from the various wayward paths that vie for their attention as soon as they walk outside their school’s gate.
Chihuahua City
Our visit at Orphanage Casa Hogar Adonai was full of energy as the children decorated their home for Christmas in between Capoeira classes with instructor, Gabriel. They showed off their moves as Gabriel spotted them doing back flips, and the older boys put their skills to work in a Capoeira game!
Mentor a Mentor sponsored both instructor, Gabriel, and mentor, Raul, to travel to the North American Capoeira Games in Mexico City this March where Gabriel earned the award of best in his category-a huge achievement! The children at orphanage Adonai and all of us at Mentor a Mentor could not be more proud of him, and more grateful for his work teaching our youth!
A New Addition
Our visit to Juarez only confirmed to us that Mentor a Mentor’s work was just beginning there. Jaime teaches artistic classes at the secondary school. Over Jaime’s break between the morning and evening school sessions, rather than go home to rest he takes out chess sets and opens his classroom door for children to come in and play, learn, develop their critical thinking skills, and again keep their focus on something positive rather than being susceptible to the negative external influences that surround them as soon as their school day is over. We believe Jaime should be compensated for his time, mentorship and investment in these youth, as well as receive support in making his courses consistent and offer the opportunity for students to set a goal of competing beyond their local chess tournaments. We are proud to have Jaime join us as a Mentor a Mentor instructor, and beyond thankful for those who contributed to our Giving Tuesday campaign to make this possible!
Check out our Support page if you're interested in helping make these instructors’ work a consistent reality.
Como siempre, gracias por todo.