I had the great honor of doing what I love...conducting a reading and writer's workshop with bilingual parents. For years, I have been itching to do something like this. Everyone has a story and what a better way to share our stories than through a writer's workshop with parents. Love to work with writers of all ages, just love it! I addition to that, my Spanish seemed to come back to me, including all the phrases and sayings from my Honduran Peace Corps experience. All the memories came running back to me as welcome friends to a reunion.
I have been yearning to conduct workshops in the area of writing and reading for years now. Alana Morris and I shared this same desire for family literacy including reading and writing. We joined forces to begin this literacy journey with families. Vivian Pratts, the principal, welcomed us to her campus to serve her Edgewood parents and students. Sarah Salas, Omaly Sandoval, Teresa Dolan, Eliza Prati and countless teachers at Edgewood, volunteered their time and efforts to make this a complete success. Thanks to all for helping Alana and I plan and organize this event. I know there were lots of details that we ironed out, from the snacks, rooms, materials, and location, location, location. The classroom lessons were embedded with Reading and Writing connections. These were very meaningful for children from toddlers to fifth graders. I even had some middle school kids with me in my session with parents! The parents were so energetic and ready to tell their stories and then write their stories. Everyone has a story to tell, everyone. When you realize that your story must be told and recorded, then it becomes a powerful medium of empowerment. Literacy then is the means to an end!
It was an awesome gift to meet so many parents from all over the world. There were parents from Honduras, different parts of Mexico, and El Salvador to name a few. Everyone has so many stories to tell! I look forward to reading and listening to all the stories that will come out of this project. I cannot wait until the next meeting to see what stories the parents share with us and their children. The children's writing will be so great gift to all. I myself am going to be writing in my notebook and rehashing many moments of my time in the Peace Corps. For years now, I have been telling myself to sit down and get these stories together. Now, I believe is the time.
Speaking of stories, I was taken for a complete loop and brought to tears. I shared my story with the parents and part of my story is that I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras. One parent stopped to talk with me after we finished our meeting. She said that she recognized me during the meeting but wasn't quite sure where she had met me before. Maybe I was a former teacher of one of her sons? No, that wasn't it. There was something so familiar to her, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She couldn't quite figure it out until...until...I started sharing my Central American experiences. I shared a poem that I wrote about Honduras. As I read it aloud, I was overcome with emotion and had to stop several times. Reading the poem brought back memories of the wonderful and caring people of Honduras. That was it! She had remembered that about 20 y pico years ago, she had met me. She described my work and it made sense. Her eyes filled with tears as she remembered that I somehow helped her in some way twenty years ago in Honduras. I was shocked and kept trying to remember her and where it would have been. She then mentioned some of the work that I did while I worked with environmental education. She kept saying, "Medio ambiente." I did work in the area of environmental education because of the deforestation problems at that time. It had been so long that I cannot remember all the details. Twenty years...twenty years and more. I couldn't believe it. I still cannot believe it. Who would have thought that after all these years that I would meet someone from Honduras who knew me way back then? Wow! This was so crazy! I guess that goes to show you that you never, ever know. I was in my twenties at that time. I wonder how old she was back then. I met lots of people in my work and I have lost contact with my Honduran family and friends. I think of them often and wonder what they are doing now. Family, food and story...wow! Writing, reading and being human brings you closer globally and otherwise! The world is not such a big place. Vaya pues!
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