Submitted by Chloe Hundley on the 2020 winter session study abroad program in Panama sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures…
During my second week in Panama, we started volunteering at Aldeas, a local shelter for children in need. Everyday, we prepared various activities for the children such as swimming, music, art, and games. In my group, we started out with musical games like musical chairs and freeze dance, but changed our plans as the week went on and we got a better idea of what they were interested in. On Tuesday, we helped kids make friendship bracelets and played different jump rope games with them for a few hours. On Wednesday, I stayed with the younger kids for most of the afternoon and helped them on the swings. At first, it was kind of difficult because they only speak Spanish and they could be hard to understand because of how fast and quiet they talk, but as the days went on, it got easier and we could have better conversations with them. I especially enjoyed talking to the teenagers because I could relate a lot more to them as we had a lot of similar interests and opinions, like the types of music we listen to and the difficulties of learning a second language (theirs being English).
Because of our work at Aldeas, we didn’t have as much free time this week. On Friday, a group of us stayed at a hostel in Casco Antiguo for the night and explored the shops nearby the next day. This was a great way to meet more locals and experience more of a typical Panamanian weekend. Sunday, we went on a group excursion to Portobelo to see the Hispanic ruins from when the conquistadors first arrived in the Americas and got a tour along the way to learn more about the history and culture. After that, we took a ferry to an island to have lunch and practice our Spanish for a few hours. Our professor even gave us an impromptu salsa dancing lesson on the beach, which was something that I definitely didn’t expect. Even though this week was extremely busy, it was great getting to know the kids at Aldeas and keep exploring the country.
