A group of 15 Columbus School Middle School mothers are all working together to plan the Guajira trip. The meeting discussed topics such as the amount of kids that are going on the trip, to the budget of the whole thing. It got things started.

The meeting was held the past 16 of November in The Columbus School´s Middle School teacher Nasly Vargas´s room and things got started at around 8:00 am and ended at about 10:00 am. You can imagine the amount of topics discussed in a 2 hour long meeting, and they probably talked about all of them and more. This group of Middle School mothers were committed to planning the best trip possible for their kids.

“I think we should have our children sell food, things like brownies and such” Marcela Arroyave, a Columbus School mother stated when asked about the best way to collect money for the trip.

The meeting got off to a strong start, with mothers already proposing their ideas for one of the biggest reasons the meeting was held for (collecting money for the trip). All mothers agreed to financially support their children in the trip, but they also agreed they shouldn’t be the only parents in 8th grade to contribute economically.

“I also think we should do a better job about spreading the word throughout the school, as I feel we have already contributed with a lot of money” Marcela Arroyave added.

The mothers discussed ways in which they could get the whole school involved with the trip, and they came to a conclusion. They came to the realization that not every parent would be willing to contribute economically, but they would be willing to donate the actual product; they’d be willing to buy things such as pencils, powder milk, notebooks, etc and then donate them to the trip.

“There has been some parents that are known to not like the idea of giving actual cash but they would still like to contribute, so what can be done is that we can ask for the type of materials we need and the Columbus School parents can buy and donate them” another Columbus School mother stated.

When discussing how they should collect money involving other parents of the school, the mothers all agreed with three main ones; Having a stand at candle night in which they would sell “fashion” items related to la guajira (hats, bracelets, etc) and have auctions and RIFAS, Cake break, and by distributing money boxes (piggy banks) throughout the whole school so that the whole school would be involved in this trip. After all, “todos somos Guajira”.

Although ways of collecting money was a big talking point during the meeting, Juan David Lopez, Middle School principal also made it clear that although money was important for the trip, they should also think about their kids and discuss how much of an important experience would this trip be for the students, both as a learning and as a growing experience, a point with which all of the mother’s in the room agreed with.

“We should also think about how much the children that are attending to this trip are going to learn while they are there and how important this experience will be in the lives of the students, because after all that is the main purpose for this trip” Juan David said.

With that in mind, the members of the meeting proceded to talk about how important was the moment the Columbus School students meet the Wayuu children. The moment both of them meet will be important for both the Columbus School students and for the Wayuu children as both of the children live extremely different lifestyles, and when two cultures that are so different meet, it is truly an unforgettable experience.

“Water and school kits are our main priority because the school kits are what the children of the Columbus School are going to be giving to the Wayuu children when they meet” La Mona said. 

The school kits the Columbus School students will gift the Wayuu children involves; 1 standard size backpack, 1 set of 8 colored pencils, 1 agenda/notebook, 1 aluminum thermos (750ml), 1 set of pen´s, Dictionary, Books (according to their school year), 1 hat, 1 set of underwear and hygienic towels. The kit will also include a dictionary book with the required books according to their school year, and an oral hygiene kit. La Mona fantasizes over how much of an impact can the Columbus Students have in the life of the Wayuu children, she dreams of them becoming friends and is hopeful and ambitious over what way come out of it.  There was even talk about students from the Columbus School students writing an individual letter for a Wayuu child, and for them (Wayuu children) to reply with a written letter as well.

“The plan is for us to gift them a 1 year supply of water, but nothing is set yet, we don’t even know where to get the water from or how we´ll even transport the water to their school” 

It seems as if this selected group of mothers still have things to figure out, nonetheless the Columbus School trusts in that they will figure it all right in time and accomplish one of the best trips the School has ever done. And always remember; Este año, todos somos Guajira!