Friday, June 3, 2011

El Cocal school break

This week is a slower week in El Cocal, the community we have been working in, as the kids are off from school for a break between grading periods. Without school, the kids have been spending more time with their families and some of the older ones have been going to work with their parents. Despite the break, boys have still been showing up to soccer practice and kids will come by the center to do games and crafts or just to hang out with the volunteers.

The volunteers and staff have taken advantage of some rare free time during the week. Today, during some time off from the project, a group went fishing with some of the men from El Cocal. Fishing is the way of life for this small community. Fathers pass the tricks of the trade down to their sons, just as their fathers had done to them. While some of the fishermen will fish locally, others will go hundreds of miles away and stay at sea for months in hope of a good catch.


It was great for us to experience this as it allowed us to further understand the people of the community we are working in. From picking little crabs off the trees for some live bait to navigating through a dense mangrove, the fishing was different than any I had ever done before.

While none of us caught anything bigger than four inches long, we returned from the trip a little more a part of El Cocal.
Marek, 4 week volunteer

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