Hola Amigos!

¿Que lo que?

Participants have been in community for a couple weeks now and they are still going strong!

In collaboration with local youth, they’ve been leading volleyball practices and workshops related to educational themes, such as gender equality, youth leadership, and care for the environment. We are so proud of the participants for engaging with their communities and making the most of their time here! We are happy to see them having such a great time getting to know their host families, eating mangos and mangú (traditional plantain mash), improving their Spanish skills, and connecting with local youth.

This weekend we also held our first Youth Encuentro! This was a volleyball tournament between 10 of the communities we’re working with this summer. We are proud to say it was a big success! The participants came with a team of youth from their community that they have been practicing and doing other activities with the past two weeks. The teams arrived very excited and full of energy! There was a lot of enthusiasm all around and although they were competitive, the main vibe was to share between communities and to HAVE FUN! And that they did!

The team that came in first place was CAÑA FISTOL with participants Riley, Ashley, and German! The final match was very close, played against BARRANCA, coming in second place with participants Lauren and Natalie! And in third place was LOMA DEL YAQUE with participants Cameron and Jodi!

We would like to give a very big thank you to our partner agency PLAN International and the many community members who donated their time and talent to support the youth. Without them none of this would be possible!