Campeche International Leadership Camp. Logan Fox, Monica van den Hoogen, Emily Walker

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1 Campeche International Leadership Camp Logan Fox, Monica van den Hoogen, Emily Walker

2 Community Service Learning Project Prior to our trip to Campeche we practiced our leadership skills through fundraising. Accepting the challenge to raise $1000 to donate to organizations that help underprivileged individuals (especially youth) in Campeche, we planned fundraisers throughout January and February. Logan ran a pancake breakfast and bottle drive, Emily organized a bake sale and Ceilidh, and Monica held several canteens at Chase-the-Ace. All three of us were able to reach and surpass our fundraising goals to be used to helping underprivileged youth and seniors in Mexico.

3 First day After 2 long travel days, we finally landed in Campeche. We were welcomed with open arms at the airport by our host families and instantly felt at home.

4 Our Mexican Siblings

5 Daily activities Every weekday, we would attend the university for our Spanish and leadership classes After school, we would go home to our host families and usually we planned an outing with all the students together. Sometimes, it was ice cream, supper, or just a tour around the beautiful city. Downtime We toured the Mayan Ruins one day and also went to a hat factory On our first Saturday, we headed for the beach at Club Nautico, which was beautiful. Walk on the Malecon, Go out to eat, Go to Cafe Frappismo, Tour Campeche

6 Daily Activities In the mornings, we met at the university by 9:00am. The students were broken into groups, each group had to plan and facilitate leadership activities for a morning and afternoon. Many of these activities involved games that improved our communication, teamwork, attitude, and/or leaderships skills.

7 Some activities with our host families:

8 Around the city:

9 The Main Plaza in Campeche. Along the plaza is the sea wall, and long buildings such as the library, museums, a cathedral, and tourist shops.

10 Volunteering Within the first few days we had tours of all the places we would be volunteering at. These places were: C.E.D.A.R, Edimar, the elderly home, and the cancer centre group home. After the tours, we were split up into groups of 6: 3 Canadians and 3 Mexicans. We would volunteer at these places throughout our stay in Mexico in the evenings. At the end of our camp, we decided where we would donate our money, which was a very difficult decision. We decided to pay the electricity bills at Edimar for 1 year, we bought new chairs and tables for the elderly home, we covered the cost for the cancer centre to have their roof waterproofed, and we bought CEDAR some basic supplies.

11 Volunteer Locations:

12 EDIMAR EDIMAR is a centre for at-risk youth. At EDIMAR, we were in charge of teaching the children a lesson and to do this we had to use communication and leadership skills. Our Mexican siblings would translate the lesson to the youth in the class so we could work as a team to teach the children simple English.

13 Elderly Home At the Elderly Home we helped prepare and serve dinner to the residents. We also helped the staff escort seniors to their rooms in the evening, and played games such as Loteri a (Bingo) to help entertain the residents.

14 Cancer Care Centre At the cancer centre we were able to interact with the residents, keep them company. We helped prepare and serve snacks to the residents.

15 Tourist Attractions:

16 Club Nautico On our first Saturday, we went to the beach at Club Nautico. There was also an infinity pool, volleyball net, restaurants, and more.

17 Edzna - Mayan Ruins

18 Edzna - A famous Mayan archaeological site

19 The day we went to Edzna, we also went to a Mayan cemetery, a bakery, a hat-maker s, and an art and music school.

20 Educational Experiences:

21 Campeche The Seawall (top) protected Campeche from the Atlantic Ocean. Since Campeche was a pirate town, there are cannons and watchtowers around the seawall as well as the malecon (the boardwalk). The main plaza (bottom) had a cathedral as well as a park (the main park). Every church had a park nearby it.

22 Museums One of the many museums we visited while we were in Campeche was San Miguel Fort. This fortress was built in the 18th century and mostly displayed ceramic utensils and funeral traditions, of the Maya people.

23 Mayan Cemetery At least once every year the family of the deceased clean the grave, some decorate it.

24 Statues The fisherman and his waiting wife. The story of these statues is that the fisherman went out to sea one day and did not return. The statue is his wife, forever waiting for his return.

25 Our Last Day Our last day in Campeche was one we will always treasure. It was filled with emotion and is one we will not forget. As participants, we will encourage future students of the SRSB to apply for the experience of a lifetime.

26 Benefits to participants: Experience in a new culture and a new country Stepped out of our comfort zone Being away from home Made lifetime friends improved our leadership skills gained confidence Learning to communicate in the face of a language barrier Our experience could have been improved by allowing us to stay overnight with our host families, like all other students attending the camp.