Taking on new challenges Journal Entry

When I think of all the things that could go wrong, I also think of all the things that could go right. Mostly I focus on the good instead of the bad. But there is always something that could affect and alter the outcome of what we really want. In this case my partner and I want people to understand that we really want to help them. Yes, it may just be a project. But it can be a project that changes a person’s life. It can encourage other people to do something similar. We were faced with one of the biggest problems when we went to visit the snowball church, the disinterest of certain people. The lack of respect was also something that personally caused me and my partner to be completely disinterested in helping these people. Even though we came with the best intentions to help these families. You can’ t help someone who does not want to be helped.

 However, we did some brainstorming to think through the benefits and any disadvantages we would have on the project if we stayed helping this small community. We made very clear that our intention is to help people who are in complete need, this church even though they have good people they don’t look like they need help, they have a lot of support. So we decided to talk to our mentor and establish new communities. Our mentor understood us and directed us to a new population of children in Matapalo in a needy area for education. We will help them with workshops for their school courses since many children do not have access to the internet and are forced to fill out booklets without any supervision from a teacher to guide them. We talked to one of the coordinators in the school of Matapalo and she loved the idea of us wanting to help those childrens. We want to promote tutoring for them to benefit their education and little by little get to know these families and from there we will focus on helping with family support. 

It is extremely important to take these problems into account as they will lead us to learn how to improve our project. They will help us to establish new objectives, new expectations and new experiences. They will make us grow not only as a person but also as a student. I believe that when we try to solve a problem is when our IB profiles of thinkers, risk-takers, reflective and caring stand out the most, making the objectives more unique for us and for the people who support us. 

I consider that our challenges don’t make me feel bad, they make me feel capable. They make me feel confident that we will find someone who is in great need, who feels the support of the community and above all the gratitude to stay alive no matter the circumstance. Those problems become possible to face when there is good communication. Communication is the KEY of success. And I am confident that our project will be a success. I think our strengths as a team are that we are very sincere, we like our ideas to be very clear and if there is something that does not agree, we are not afraid to say what we think. Our confidence is growing and the communication we have with our mentor is very effective to keep this project moving forward. We take advantage of the fact that we are close to our mentor and she always gives us a more professional perspective on how our idea may or may not work. 

I know that our challenges can become an obstacle in the project, but my energy is constant. I believe in us. I believe in this project and personally my perspective has not changed because I believe that we can make a change in the lives of the people in our community and those around us.