Big sigh of relief

Another week has come and gone!

This week was our first time teaching the Career Workshop. Needless to say, Jody and I were nervous as ever. We were surprised at who were in attendance: two Columbianos, two uneducated Peruvian women (who arrived a couple hours late), three returned missionaries for the PEF, an older Chileno who was also uneducated, a young Chilena who just finished her studies, and two Hatian men who spoke very little English and Spanish. We knew we were in for a doozy. Our first day, we fumbled through the new ideas and concepts (to us, at least) in Spanish. Towards the end of the day, we realized that we rushed through the explanations a little too fast just to get to the activities, but in doing that, the class was confused and we would have to go back and explain again the objectives. It was harder than we thought.

The second day was so much smoother than the first, but then we ran out of time for all the activities we wanted. We started with filming practice interviews. They didn't like it too much to be videotaped, but they saw the importance of seeing themselves and what they could work on. We were also surprised when mostly everyone returned. All came back except for the Peruvian ladies and one of the Hatian men. That was a good measure of our "success". The last day, some made phone calls to actual companies and one PEF applicant left with an invitation to an interview! We were all excited.

Even though not everyone was as successful, I think they left with greater confidence. Some more than others, though. Since each one came from different backgrounds, it was a challenge relating to their specific needs. Pedro, the elderly Chilean man, was looking for work after being taking care of the bulk of his life by his parents. We are still unsure about how that exactly worked for him, but now he's paying for it by trying to get a job with very little work experience. Jean Goodson, the Haitian man, still can't work here legally (he moved here two months ago), but he made the effort with every activity we gave him, even with the practice interview! It was actually funny since I was the one "interviewing" him. The last question I asked was "Do you have a question for me?" (As if I were the actual employer). He said that he speaks very little English and very little Spanish, and then said "No cachai" a Chilean phrase meaning "get it." But how he said it was so sweet and simple, everyone laughed, including him. It showed he has what it takes to do everything in his power to get a job. One of the Columbians, Ricardo, wants to run for president of Columbia in 2012. His high ambitions will help him along his way as well.

At the end, I realized how much I cared for each one and their success. I hope that they will keep us informed as to their successes and even failures!