Being rich is not about how much money you have, but how much you can give

By: Linda Koch

The second part of our International Service Project took place at Volcanes Primary School. When we arrived, we had the honor of meeting Arthur, the Director of Volcanes Community Education Project.  A fantastic speaker, his story of how Volcanes Elementary School came about would bring tears to your eyes.

Arthur noticed that families were living at the local garbage dump. After witnessing such sorrow, Arthur knew he could make a difference, and as a result, he dedicated his life to breaking the cycle of poverty. He started off by providing snacks to students at local elementary schools for recess time. He decided that it wasn’t enough to just provide food and wanted to provide an enriched learning experience to them as well. This goal was highly ambitious, but with determination and heart, he eventually turn a vacant building into a school. Many children finally got the opportunity to learn and succeed in life.

Currently, Volcanes has a morning and afternoon program with over 200 students in each. As the school continues to expand, they wanted to build a kitchen (cocina) so that parent volunteers could prepare breakfast for the students and a storage room and office (bodega) for the afternoon program principal. With the three days that we had at Volcanes, the key role that we played was to get those two projects started. From there, parent volunteers will continue to work with the contractors to complete the cocina and bodega.

Motivated to make a difference, our team wasted no time in helping with the construction of an on-site kitchen and storage unit. The first task was to move a heap of bricks over the fence. The contractors expected us to take the entire day on this task, but with a group as determined as ours, we were able to work efficiently and effectively, getting the job completed within 3 hours. Then, with pick axes, a sledgehammer and shovels, our group was asked to build a long trench. In the blazing hot sun, our team took turns digging through ground, hacking away at the cement, and moving buckets of soil and cement.

In addition to these two construction projects, we were given the opportunity to bond with the students by participating in a read-a-book program with them. We took turns reading bilingual books with the children and then helped them during their writing class. At first, the children were quite shy talking to all these strangers, but after making some of them laugh with our broken Spanish, they were able to open up to us. Their smiles were priceless.

Prior to arriving to Mexico, we were informed that the school was in need of school supplies. Both Rover Crews collected and brought over 300 pounds of school supplies and 3 laptops. In the Volcanes area, it is rare that households have a computer; students come to Volcanes Elementary School specifically to use the laptops. A program was also developed for students who had high grades to receive scholarships as well as a laptop to take home to do their homework.

From this experience, I learned that one person may not be able to change the world, but one person can definitely make a difference. The experience at Volcanes Elementary School has forever enriched our lives. On behalf of the entire contingent, I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the following sponsors for making this service project a great success:

Isa Mundo, WestJet, Great Little Box Company, Sherwin-Williams Paints and International Cellars Inc.

Their charitable contribution has made a significant impact to both the Scouting movement in Nayarit and the future of the children studying at Volcanes Elementary School. Thank you so much for your generous support in our International Service Project for Mexico.