On Monday at three in the afternoon, I got to the clubhouse. It was the day that troops Maura and Cuervo were to help me and some of them were actually early. Having worked giving a survey with the grocery store at New Columbia during my VISTA year, I had pretty good idea of what to expect. To my delight, about eight scouts showed up and I started by having them fill out the surveys themselves so they could ask clarifying questions and so they would know how to explain the survey to other. Next, I roleplayed good and bad examples of how to approach someone to survey them. After that, there was nothing for it but to go forth and conquer
I decided we would begin with Urbanizacion Euripedes, a nearby apartment complex with several mixed-income buildings and retirement homes. I put them in pairs, remember from my days as an outdoor school counselor that nothing is quite so intimidating when you have a partner. I decided to follow around Maria, an outgoing teenager who had shown initiative before during the olimpiadas when she helped me run the minigolf station, and Luis, a member of another troop who had jumped in today to help me martial the scouts when he could see I was struggling to call them to order.
Timidly, we approached the first door and knocked. We weren't quite sure what to expect, and nobody answered, so we went to the next floor and knocked on the next couple of doors to no response. On our way back down, the first door opened to reveal a women with her phone to her ear. Maria hopped to and explained what we were doing an that we would only need five minutes of her time. Graciously, she excused herself from her phone conversation and invited us in. I explained the survey questions as best I could and the scouts jumped in whenever I struggled with the Spanish.
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