Student Perspectives: Margaret Brady

First Service at École De La Rue

Yesterday we started our first service at École De La Rue, which means, school of the street. The man who created this school was inspired by his own lack of education as a child. Now he helps all different groups of people get the education they deserve. During our time there, we worked with children who do not have access to a proper education. It was very difficult but also interesting to see and understand how their school is so different from what we are used to. The classroom was very small and they had little resources but it was amazing to see how eager they were to learn. We helped the students with French, English, math, and art. I worked on English with two very young girls. They were very shy at first and unfocused but I stayed patient and soon enough they were super open and engaged. I started with small things like greetings, the alphabet, and numbers. As with learning any language, it took them a while to catch on. I really enjoyed seeing their faces light up when I congratulated them on getting something correct. It was great to see my other CIEE participants having as much fun as I was. When we left, I noticed that all of the students were smiling unlike when we first came in. After our service, we did a reflection on how it went. I really loved hearing how everyone felt about the day. We talked about how we expected it to be versus how it actually was and how the language barriers made it hard to communicate but that we managed to push through. I cannot wait to go back.