Bolivian au pair Fernanda M. is spending her year in Catherine McEaddy Holmes’ Washington, D.C. cluster. As part of her au pair experience she shared her culture with 17 pre-k students at John Eaton School in Cleveland Park. Fernanda brought Global Awareness coloring pages with her as well as flag stickers to help her share her culture. However, she focused her time with the 4 year olds on telling them about “the zebra” and “la chola.”
She explains: “…we talked about two traditional characters from La Paz-Bolivia. The first character was “the zebra”, people dressing zebra customs help pedestrians walk across the streets. They are so friendly, they play with kids and dance. The second character was “la chola” who is a traditional woman in my city, they wear many skirts one over the other, two braids and a hat. Today they are present in different jobs in my country even in the government or wrestling. Children saw a special house where some cholas live, buildings inspired by superheroes like Iron Man.”
The children were truly engaged and the next day three parents asked Fernanda about her country and thanked her for sharing such great information with their children. Fernanda reflects that “I learned what differentiates my country from others because there were many things that I was used to and were normal for me, but now I realized how little things make a place really special and magic; How I think Bolivia is. Now I know more about my country and I love it even more. I understand some of my own characteristics and how living in that fantastic mountain place influenced who I am. Thank you Global Awareness for this opportunity!”
