The world map is a crucible for all Youth Development Volunteers. A mandatory rite of passage that most volunteers would agree that is necessary, but a real pain the in ass. In general, the people in campo have little knowledge of geography, and a statement like "soy de los estados unidos" (Im from the United States) has, to many, the same meaning of I'm from Europe or even Japon (Japan). Furthermore, there is very little base knowledge of where Peru is located, or who their neighbors are; so hopefully a world map can help shine a little light on where the people are in the world, and where others (mainly, myself the gringo) come from.
Here's a few snap shots of the world map process, but it's not finished yet... hopefully I can put up those final pictures next week.
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| My grid of 1,568 5cm x 5.3cm boxes that I made. 56 rows with 28 columns. 4 hours of solo work. |
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| A few of the 30 kids that took turns to trace their smaller grids on to the bigger grid. PCVs get a world map "how to book" with step by step instruction, which include hand drawn map of the world cut down to 18 quadrants. Each quadrant has the specific grids and numbers superimposed on them. the kids just need to copy the specific grids, but increase them in scale. |
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| the girl standing on the chair drawing eastern Europe is ironically named Amerika. |
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| Just like "D-day" we attacked the world in waves. |
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| The supreme commander happy with the progress. |
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| The pencil version of the world made by the kids. It was obvious that this map will not be appropriate for navigational use, as the kids took a lot of liberty in how big countries were and what shape they took. According to the kids' map, certain countries have develop very powerful militaries that have expanded their boarders drastically. None more impressive than Cuba's military attack on the Sea, increasing their land mass to near the size of Mexico. After they left I took an eraser to map to correct a few of the major border disputes. |
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| Hard to see, but there's Montana. |
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| I went back a few days later to trace the map in permanent marker. Now it's ready for the kids to paint. That's me with the premature victory sign. |
