My time at the Arajuno Rd Project straddled the weeks between summer school and regular school so I was fortunate enough to be able to spend time with the kids outside of the regular classroom routine and also participate in the planning and running of the English classes.

After 3 weeks of summer school we had all reached into the deepest depths of our memories to retrieve our favourite games and activities of our childhoods, trying hard to remember the exact rules to the games or lyrics to the songs we played along to. I often found myself enjoying these activities long after the children had lost interest and moved onto something else.

In our last week of summer school, the children at Triunfo treated the volunteers to an impromptu trip to the cascadas.
All connected by the skipping rope we were led from the school through the jungle down the slippery track to the waterfall and swimming hole.
It was like a scene out of The Jungle Book as 15 kids hysterically stripped off and splashed about in the rapids, each squealing for attention as they demonstrated their best swimming styles.

Losing track of the time, we found ourselves with only 10 minutes till the bus home arrived at the school. We all scrambled back up the track, quickly counting heads and made it back to the school grounds just as the bus was rolling into town. Loaded down with our box of school supplies and bag of balls and skipping ropes we sprinted frantically down the driveway toward the bus followed closely by the children yelling 'mi trabajo! mi trabajo!'. Realising they wanted their puppets that they'd laboured over all morning, we threw them out of the box into their flaling hands as we ran and jumped onto the bus just in time, still dripping with water from the swim.

Memories of days like this and the friendships I have made with the volunteers has me planning my next trip to South America to participate in another volunteering stint with You Volunteer.

Jess Smith