This has been quite the experience so far. Let me explain a little bit about the project. While some part of the population in Chile enjoys a good standard of living, another important part of the population does not enjoy the same living standard, and some kids have to deal with tough challenges while being at school. Maybe some of them don’t have a healthy upbringing at home and they are not growing up with good values that will allow them to cope with the different situations that they may have to deal with when adults. Good Works is working to fill up that void of education by having workshops at a school where some of these kids attend. They are in need of a good overview of values that can help them overcome challenges and finally become a better version of themselves.

This is where I come in. The original volunteer that was coming to Chile had to cancel his trip for personal reasons. I was finishing my Master's thesis on another continent when I was approached to see if I could take his role in these workshops. I am always greatly compelled to do volunteering work whenever possible, and the possibility to do so for Church excited me, but I was working in an internship and writing a thesis. It seemed a bit crazy to go. And crazy as it could be, I accepted the call.  

So, I find myself in Chile now, in a cold winter in stark contrast to the summer I was living in before (in Lisbon). The scenery is amazing. The Andes mountains are as majestic as you can imagine, and Santiago de Chile is vibrantly sprawling in front of them. I arrived on a Sunday night, and was greeted by the family who were to host me. I felt at home right away. Accents may change, weather may insist on being different, but family is family within the body of Christ. They are just great and overwhelmingly warm, and you will see me mention this over and over again about the rest of the Chilean brethren.

On Monday we got together with the team to prepare the activities that we would have the rest of the week. Funny random fact: all of our names start with “J." We are the J-Team. The 4-J’s. We have fun coming up with funny names for our team. We agreed that we want the kids to learn about knowing their classmates better (team building), then some leadership values, finally getting to know their own selves better, to understand the amazing potential that they can have as a group and as individuals.

Afterwards we walked around the city center, which seemed very interesting and familiar at the same time. I am Latin American and I’ve been to several Latin-American capitals before, hence the familiarity. Hopefully I’ll have the chance to learn more of the city’s and country’s history while I’m still here. For the moment, I stayed excited about the activities that we planned for the kids for the following three days.