contents - Gallatin School of Individualized Study - New York ...

ana riosMy First Job,Far Away from Homeon December 10th, 1964, my father died in Buenos Aires, Argentina. For thatreason, all of my family, four sisters and brothers, had to return to Bolivia,where we were born. After 46 years, I still recall the day we arrived in the city of LaPaz. I saw people who were selling things on the sidewalk. It was so impressive,and I was so affected. I couldn’t understand why they were selling things on thestreet. I said to myself, I will educate them so they will work differently.I studied for two years at a public college and received a certificate to teachadult literacy. Although I was just 19 years old, I wanted to teach adults. However,I was asked to work with children very far from the city of La Paz. I was sent totwo small towns, Rosario del Tapado and El Triunfo, in Beni, a very hot, junglelikestate, where the population was just a few families. This assignment was a bigchange in my life, one that only God could help me with and give me the wisdomfor. I never imagined that I was going to work for so long and so far from my family.I had to take a small airplane after riding a horse for 10 to 12 hours for the first timein my life. Afterward, I couldn’t laugh, sit or lie down. My whole body ached formany days.The people in the towns were very nice. I didn’t have to pay for anything;they gave me housing and food. Each family took a turn. The first year I started towork with 19 students from ages seven to 14. I divided them into groups. I workedwith teenagers in mathematics and grammar and with the parents three times aweek. We had meetings on how they could improve their lives. On weekends, weplayed sports and organized teams to play soccer against other towns.The head of each family had to work once a week on the land. They had toplant rice and beans, and pick and sell them. With that money, we bought schoolsupplies and sold them to students at a very low price. We also planted vegetableswith the students, which was my first experience with planting crops. Afterwards,everyone took them home. For me it was like a dream because everybody had toFinding Encouragement95ana rios