We had the chance to visit one of the previous YAN Fellow's projects in Mexico.

I chose to visit "Deport-es para Compartir" (or "Sports to Share") because I was intrigued by its connection to the United Nation's 8 Development Millennium Goals.  Deport-es para Compartir aims to teach kids good morals and values through the UN Millennium Development Goals by engaging them in fun games and sporting activities.  It targets children and youth, aged 6 to 14.  It was founded in 2007 by Dina Buchbinder Auron, who was part of the 2009 YAN Fellowship and then joined the UVM Fellowship (the national version of YAN in Mexico) the year after in 2010.

 

We drove to their offices where we were introduced to the staff, then we walked across the street to a school they were working with.  Each of us introduced ourselves, where we were from, our projects, and how we greet each other in our respective countries to the kids.  The kids absolutely loved it!  Then we went outside, formed a huge circle, and played partner (the kids and us all paired up together to play) duck-duck-goose, but with a water bottle with water where you drip water onto everyone's head as you pass them.  Then we did some Q & A's about different ways you could use different objects (like buckets, hats, etc.), and before I knew it, it was over, and we returned to the Deport-es para Compartir office across the street for a delicious Mexican lunch, another presentation, more introductions and a free shirt.  A video of the day was made by Deport-es para Compartir.  It's funny how what I remember about the day isn't exactly what's shown on the video.  :)  (The bit where we all have our eyes closed and our hands in funny positions is when we were told to imagine ourselves getting on a plane, flying the plane through turbulence, etc., and then landing in an unknown destination, which was described to us, and which we had to guess.  We played the game twice, once in the classroom and once outside.  It's a game the kids play to experience the world!)

 

 

So that's the story, but here's what I love about the organisation.

1.  They have 36 staff, they're 4 years old and over 32,000 kids have taken part in their programme.  32,000!  Amazing!

 

2.  They have 2 Fulbright Scholars who will spend the year there in order to do further research on the programme and ensure the programme is effective in achieving its goals.

 

3.  The founder is just so passionate about her project and has done a YAN Fellowship, followed by the UVM program (the national version of YAN in Mexico), the year after in order to work on creating the best project she could.

 

4.  The projects aims to reach 6,000,000 children by 2015.

 

Her commitment, passion and hard work for the project has led to these amazing results.  It was so inspiring to see what's possible.