Greetings! It's Alissa again, and I'm here to share more about the work I'm doing here at OYE. Besides working in the Nutrition Center, I am also teaching knitting to children and youth in Los Laureles at the Centro de Investigacion Escolar -- an study center in the old COPPROME building.
The classes started three weeks ago and have progressed amazingly! Last Friday, I let some of the students take their knitting home with them rather than me taking it and bringing it back the next time. Thus, when I arrived for my class on Wednesday morning I had no idea what I would find... To my great surprise, the first three students to walk in (two girls and a boy) all had made significant progress on their projects. They had knit at home until they ran out of yarn! I am soooo impressed by how well they, and all the others, are progressing. In only two or three weeks of classes, many of them have completely mastered the basics of knitting. In addition, new students continue arriving to each class wanting to learn. So far, there have been a total of 30 students who have come to learn. The largest group I have had at any one class is twelve, which is kind of hectic but definitely still fun.
Besides the great knitting progress that is going on in Los Laureles (the name of the neighborhood where I hold my classes), I am also enjoying getting to know the students. Today was a smaller group, only 7 students, so after getting the new girls started there was plenty of time to chat with everyone and get to know them better (and in the process practice my Spanish more). We talked about families, and one girl reported that she has 32 aunts and uncles and 100 cousins! We talked about favorite holidays, and I learned that most families make tamales for Christmas. We talked about school and what subjects everyone prefers. All in all, it was a wonderful morning of knitting and deepening connections with the students.
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