Pantanal Heroes to the rescue!

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Every friday we  have a fun day. It's when the kids do not have their usual English class and volunteers come up with and idea for a fun activity instead. So, Leonie came up with an idea to clean up the barrio, or the neighbourhood and last friday, we had an environmental day at the school.

For weekdays, we have around 40-50 kids divided into for different classes, but on friday we only have two. We have the pre-schoolers in the morning and then the older kids after. This Friday, all older kids were divided into groups of three. Each group got a plastic bag (that Keeley and I got from Palí) and in 30 minutes they will have to collect plastic trash from around the neighbourhood. Only plastics, no paper, no leaves, just plastics. Also, they cannot take the trash from their house. Just the one on the street. Sounds fair enough, yea? And the team that fill their plastic bag the fastest will win!

To make it more dramatic, I lined them up outside and gave the plastic bag to each group. At first they were like "hunger-game" their way to me, just calling "Dissa! Dissa!" and grabbed the plastic bags off my hand. It was like a zoo haha But, Francis came to the rescue! Our beloved profesora told the kids to stay calm and they listened! So again, to make more dramatic, I appropriately shouted:
En sus marcas... (On your marks..)
Listos....(Get set)
Fuera! (Go!!)  

It's amazing to see them running around to collect of these garbage. Our barrio (neighborhood) was so noisy but exciting! The kids ran around shouting to each other telling where the dirtiest places are. They looked for those plastic "treasures" in the street, the gutters, and of course... their own houses. Hahaha, we knew that would happen. So being like policemen we are, we told them to take out the household litter and go find more outside. Go go go! The clock is ticking.

Jose Lopez and the team deciding which location to go
Jose Sandoval (the orange shirt) came to check on the team ;)
"Is this plastic?"

I love to see they worked together. I saw them asking each other to make sure that they're not putting the wrong one. All teams showed really great teamwork, and I'm thinking maybe we should do more team-oriented activity. Maybe :) Any idea guys?
Go Adriana go!
Odaly checking tiny plastic trash

Anyway, after 20 minutes, one team came to us with a full bag. A really full bag. We still have 10 minutes more, but their bag look full enough to make us announce them winners. So yea, Adriana, Katti and Edith won! Congratulations!!
Felicidades, girls! That bag is well filled!

Unfortunately, just like our typical day in Pantanal, the kids did tattletale. Some of them told us that Adriana, Katti and Edith filled their bag straight from their house trash bin. Ay ay ay. But, since we dont really know the truth and we know how the kids here love tattletale, we decided not to change our decision (also, we couldnt really find other teams that filled their bag as much as Adriana's). Once again, congrats girls!
Francisco and Eduardo showing off their achievements

Now, the fun part. We still had 30 minutes before we could have dinner. So we were thinking what to do, and Annissa suggested that we explain to them about the important of 3 Rs, reduce, reuse and recycle. Such a great idea! and I thought that it might be better to explain while showing them the litters they've collected. So i randomly picked a bag and dug my hand into it. I took out some plastic gift wraps, straws, and milk bags. Francis then asked them what we can do with it if we wanna reuse/recycle it. The kids came up with great suggestions. We can reuse the plastic gift wraps and straws for art project or reuse plastic milk bags to put soil when planting a flower. Well done!! Maybe someday we can actually use this garbage around to create an environmental friendly project, just to make a better, cleaner and happier Pantanal :)

Wohooo!

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