Planning my event was not too difficult, because I knew there was a need among Latino families to integrate with other members of the community and feel a little less isolated in this country by sharing things from our home countries. Moreover, because I am part of many Latin groups, some of which have groups on WhatsApp, it was easy to let people know about my project and distribute my poster in those groups; I also distributed my poster in different places in the city of New Westminster. In one of those groups, one member contacted me and suggested that she and I run our projects in the same place since we are part of the same community. Her project was about children from Latin families, and my project was for Latin families, especially adults, so we decided to do the projects on the same date and place, so that we could optimize things, for example, I provided music, food, snacks and drinks, and she provided snacks and activities for the children.
From events that I have done in previous years with NSG, I learned that many people simply didn’t show up, and I was left with a lot of food. This time, I decided to wait and determine exactly how many people were going to show up in our events, and then buy the food, though I already had bought beverages and snacks. After one hour of starting the event, I counted the people present and ordered pizza! This time, there were not leftovers, and everyone ate and enjoyed! Unfortunately, half of the people that signed up for the event didn’t show up, some of which let me know me on the day of the event, and some others didn’t let me know at all.
The positive part is that the goal of my project became a reality and while kids were playing, I saw adults chatting, laughing and sharing contacts, some of them asking for advice and how to obtain specific credentials, advance their permanent residence application and so on. They made new friends, danced, had fun, and at the end helped reinforce a supportive Latin American community!
By Deisy Ospina, B. Ed.
