COTOLENGO

1.-Summarize the tasks conducted for this activity or project and how you interacted with others. 

Every friday I can, from 12.00 to 14.00 I go to Cotolengo, a church-paid residence for old people or sick people who have no money to afford one. I go there with ) other girls from SEK Ciudalcampo and a teacher or two. The aim of this activity is to help the workers there, since they can't afford to have a lot of them. We feed all the women there, we paint their nails, we brush their hair and all that sort of things.

2.-Explain what you hoped to achieve through the activity or project. 

By helping them I hope to transmit a part of my happiness to them because you can really tell the sadness in their eyes. They are people who once were vibrant human beings and now are confined by their health. Their family members don't visit them regularly or at all, and that makes me feel really bad. I hope that by us visiting them they feel like they are not alone.

3.-To what extent achieved its objectives? What difficulties did you encounter and how did you overcome them? 

It really depends on who are you dealing with, and what their disease is. The time when I most fell as If I accomplished my goal was my third time visiting them, along with my friend Manuela. We met a woman who had a bipolar and depressive disorder and was reluctant to make a single friend, because, according to her she already had all the friends she needed (The nuns told us she didn't and never really talked at all). Manuela and I, being as innocent and, somehow ignorant, as possible (in a good way) haha, told her if she wanted to eat with us and she didn't want to. Finally we sat with her and talked to her. She didn't answer until we asked her if she wanted to be our friend, to what she said no almost ten times. We gave up and started talking to the eldest woman, who was the only one without a sickness, she was there just because her family could not afford to have her living with them. Right away when the first woman saw us talking to the second one, she came to us and told us she wanted to be our friend. We supposed she felt somehow jealous. We ended up dancing with her and when we left, she told us she had had a really good time and wanted us to come back the next day.

4.-What did you learn about yourself and others through the activity or project? What skills, attitudes and values were ​​developed? 

Going there has helped me to be more patient with people, and more tolerant. And that not to judge a book by its cover. I learned that I am a lot more open to people than I consider myself to be. And that I need to be really grateful for having the caring and loving family I have, and for being so young and in such a good position.

5.-Did someone help you reflect on your learning during this activity or project? If so, who helped you and how? 

My teacher, Mr. Teófilo Flores asked us to do a reflection the first time we went there and that's where I started to realise all the good it had done to me.

6.-How did this activity or project benefit others? 

I think the biggest benefit of this activity towards other people is, as I mentioned before, making the women feel as if they are not alone, and of course making the nun's work a little bit easier.

7.-Next time, what would you do differently to improve your participation? 

I think I need to be a little bit more confident, and that way help more people.

8.-How can you apply what you learned to other everyday situations?

Not judging people or thinking things before actually meeting them or talking to them, and as I said before being more patient with people and appreciating my youth and privileged situation in life.