February Kermes

The first weekend in February brought with it another Kermes (the big all-house acitivity the volunteers plan) to NPHG. While I have always enjoyed Kermes, it meant a little more to me this time because I was on the planning committee! Normally, a group of 3-4 volunteers step up to do the majority of the planning for Kermes. I still hadn't helped with one yet, so I was happy and eager to volunteer for the February Kermes. We brainstormed a lot of ideas, but we ended up settling on a scholastic theme because the school year had just started a few weeks ago; all the activities were based on teamwork to motivate the kids a bit.

There were four "classes" in this Kermes: art, gym, math, and "general knowledge". Art was the main activity. Before Kermes started, a few others and I outlined a giant "EXITO EN ESCUELA" ("SUCCESS IN SCHOOL") on the court in front of the school. Each section of kids from the home was handed a box of chalk, assigned a letter, and told to get busy filling in the blank space. The idea was that we would have a beautiful, colorful mural that we could take a picture of with everyone at the end of Kermes. It didn't quite turn out like that, but nonetheless the kids seemed to enjoy drawing with the chalk in the beautiful weather. Here are some pictures of the kids working away...

 

Gym was an activity with a hula hoop. Each section had to link hands and then try to pass the hula hoop all the way around the group as quickly as possible. The faster the time, the more points the team got.

Math was also a pretty fun class! The volunteer in charge would say a simple mental math problem out loud and the kids would have to run up and slap the correct answer on the wall.

I didn't get a picture of "General Knowledge" because I was busy leading Art outside, but it was trivia in the library and I heard it went well. At the end of the morning, everyone got a chocobanano (chocolate-covered banana). All the volunteers were happy because the Guatemalans complimented us on how good our first-time chocobananos were!

Planning Kermes was a rewarding experiencing and I'm glad I finally got around to taking my turn. I'm always impressed  at how much we can do with so little! It wouldn't be possible without the help of the whole volunteer group though, so I'm grateful to be working with such dedicated people :)