Santa Maria Education Fund

I loved volunteering with SMEF and have very fond memories of my time in Santa Maria. The students are welcoming and eager to learn, the institute really did everything to help me settle in, and my host family were just wonderful. My Spanish improved hugely while I was in Santa Maria, and I also had an incredible experience getting to know the students, developing my teaching, exploring Paraguay and going on some travel trips further afield. Definitely the most rewarding placement I did during my year abroad learning Spanish.

I had the opportunity to volunteer in the SMEF Program starting from August 2017 to December 2017. Unlike most of the volunteers, who are college students, I am a retired teacher who spent most of my career teaching elementary age children, so having the opportunity to teach students from elementary to college students was a unique and special experience. I love that the program offered enough structure that a young person with no exprerience could step in and make a difference, at the same time it gave me as an old guy the opportunity to be creative within the structure of the program. Beyond the program itself, I loved having the opportunity to meet the Paraguayan people, sharing Sunday barbecues, sitting on the sidewalk drinking tereré, eating sopa paraguaya, and sharing movie nights with Margaret, the founder of the program. Working in Santa María was like having a new extended family. Someday, I hope to go back and relive the Paraguayan experience.

I am still in touch with the friends I made in Santa Maria de Fe, which speaks for the warmth of the community you will find there. It was a rewarding experience, teaching eager and energetic students. Everyone makes an effort to make you feel at home, and when we were not off for weekends exploring different parts of Paraguay, we went for strolls in the countryside, chilled out drinking tereré with friends, went to football games and soaked up the vibrant and eye-opening culture, which taught me so much. I would whole-heartedly recommend taking the jump and joining the Santa Maria de Fe community.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time working in Paraguay. The Institute makes a huge difference to people's lives in the village, and there is a strong sense of community that you feel from the very first day. I found the Institute very flexible with regard to to taking some time off for some fun trips away (including visiting Iguazú Falls) and the classes are a wide range of ages and abilities which keeps the day interesting. The village itself is gorgeous and there is a fairly active social life - people are extremely friendly and will not hesitate to ask you to social gatherings, football matches, music festivals, or anything else. Of course, there are challenges to living in such a different environment, but that is part of the journey. My time in Paraguay was fantastic and I couldn't recommend it highly enough.

My time in Santa María was a blast and absolutely flewby. I will always have happy memories of my family, friends and students here. The teaching keeps you busy during the week and you feel like you’re making a difference, but this placement is so much more than that. Playing 5-a-side in one of the canchas, going up to the cerro and soaking up the view, trying (and not always enjoying) some of Paraguay’s more obscure culinary ‘delights’, floundering in an attempt to pronounce that Guarani expression, just sitting and chatting over tereré or a beer… it’s a wonderful little town in a captivating country. I’ve got absolutely zero regrets about going there and hope to be back soon!