The content of this manual is a purely educational and exclusively for the organizations involved in the Spor exchange program. Contains true stories of it participants, however in order to not incur in the lack of professional secrecy of the cases: names, places and even members of the family dynamics changed to protect the integrity of each young student at Spor.
The contents of this manual are proprietary of FUNDATED, so that partial or total reproduction will be penalized if there is no authorization from FUNDATED to do so.
LORENZO Lorenzo lives in a town of Quiche with his family; he has many brothers, over 7, and his parents, both older. Unfortunately due to a combination of the social environment where teens develop, advice from inappropriate friendships, conduct and behavior of the adolescence, and extreme frustration due to the lack of resources to meet basic needs, they bashed Lorenzo to establish a bad relationship with his parents and siblings, to manifest aggressive and violent behavior, pessimistic and negative thoughts and an antisocial personality that forced him to seek shelter and company in alcoholism as a substitute measure to reduce his sadness and existential void. Also to the above add a very low self esteem and lack of openness of thought and changes in one way or another he would seek well-being. When Lorenzo entered the Spor program, he showed a very negative, aggressive, and was so intolerant that he would not allow any guidance to modify thoughts and attitudes; another obstacle for Lorenzo was the English language which was very difficult for him. During the introductory course he achieved significant progress, being one with fewer skills, low emotional intelligence and high levels of frustration, he became one of the most proactive and decided to change his immediate future through the opportunity presented Spor. He fought many battles; the culture shock was one of them. He changed from being a male chauvinism man to be a young advocate of equal rights between genders, was auto conducted through its innate ability to look paint highly regarded by all who know him, broke the mental barrier and incorporate innovative ideas to improve your life and your community. He maintained a relentless struggle to eradicate his addiction to alcohol and although it was extremely difficult task in the course of preparatory course and participation of trade in Norway managed to fill those gaps existential emotional balance deteriorated. Upon returning from their exchange Lorenzo managed to restore communication and functional living with family members. He also potentiated his gift and ability for art through painting and made significant changes for himself and his community.
He was able to incorporate himself in community projects that are dedicated to training young people. He sets exhibitions of his artworks at National and International level and achieved the invitation of various embassies to promote their works. At the end of the road, Spor made a 180 째 life change in Lorenzo. He was a young man without a plan of specific life goals and dreams, frustrated by the situation of his community and country, without specific direction and with addictions who consumed his physical integrity, he manage to become a change agent for his community and demonstrate that although fails to change the system of a community or country, you can make significant personal changes that transcend to the community where it interacts.
Preparatory Course
LORENZO
MARGARITA Margarita is a young lady who lives in a rural community in Guatemala she has indigenous roots with extended family and she is one of the oldest daughters. In rural areas is very common gender inequality, often the male chauvinism that exists in Guatemalan affects families and Margarita did not escape from it she was born and raised on one of them so developed an extreme shyness, lack of initiative to propose ideas and opinions; not develop a good self-esteem and personal security remained reduced to follow instructions. Dreams, goals, and life goals were all diminished in the life of Margarita because of this; the future was not promising, just after studying she should have work to help at home, work in household chores and wait for a young guy from the community to be interested in making a home with her. When Margarita entered the Spor and started the program with the introductory course her thinking and mindset regarding the limited and only reality that her environment led her to believe, was overwhelmed and began an insatiable search for the possibility of opening many doors and sales that offered a very different future than most of their neighbors, friends and family had. By increasing her knowledge about her country, the importance of developing positive leadership and above all, teamwork in the pursuit of the common good; unleashed an extraordinary transformation in Margarita. If a young shy and very private girl that could not give her opinion or ideas regarding situations or phenomena that also have very low self-esteem; way to master a second language, to believe in herself and have security of feats ever imagine. After the exchange began working in organizations that promote community development and to this day is a great woman of principle that defends and fights for their rights and those of their community
PREPARATORY COURSE
MARGARITA
MONICA Monica was a young woman with very different problems commonly seen in the Spor, to some extent an extroverted girl with adequate security and self-esteem but with a big existential void that prevented her from having dreams, goals or targets to meet, she lived her life just repeating the previous day without any motivation to do something different with 20 years of age and not having something to live for, is a very sad situation. Monica entering in the Spor program was a very significant challenge for her because in her daily life her associates, family and friends always solved her problems or took decisions which corresponded to her so this prevented to have her own criteria; specifically have motivation to propose and achieve goals. The first significant challenge for Monica was understanding, but mostly applying the philosophy of Spor program because her daily life consisted of getting up late, getting ready, then wait for something to happen; while being part of the preparatory course she was responsible of promoting something to happened that would significant change someone else and not just for her. Her evolution was admirable, by the time she went to Norway her English was low, however the preparatory course provided the tools needed to make decisions, solve problems, develop initiative and leadership. Even though her Norwegian family did not speak any Spanish, after few days of frustration tears and not understanding nor being understood, she was able to increase her level and conquered the problem of speaking in English. On her returned she joined and organization that provides education to kids with low income, she helped by teaching English. Spor provided Monica with the opportunity to think of a future after she found “her reason� to live but above all it motivated her to make significant changes towards her community and reach the most affected people. Currently she is studying at the University and has big goals for personal and community level. Overcoming challenges are permanent thoughts in Monica and today is a Guatemalan worthy of admiration.
PREPARATORY COURSE
MONICA
MIRNA In Spor we always find indigenous youth who follow the sexist thinking pattern which is that just because they are women they will never act as leaders in their community or work in the constant search for solutions to community problems. And when a girl is born and grows up with a different way of thinking than male chauvinism is marginalized, rejected and even point out as weird. And that's what Mirna lived for long, she is a young girl who had the good fortune to be born in a purely indigenous rural area, where her father is a community leader but with an open mind because he always support his child to exercise the same role. However away from home, that natural leadership Mirna was frowned upon by the community and she was suffering to reach a space where she was heard and her ideas and opinions put into practice. All this causes frustration and sadness at not seeing her dream realized. When Mirna got in the preparatory course Spor, she find what so many times in frustration, sadness and tears had wanted; an area of freedom and equity to develop her leadership potential fully. Being marginalized and to some extent be rejected by the members of your community has some consequences mainly in character and behavior, so when Mirna entered the program had a very strong character as a defense mechanism she was very angry and always had a hurtful answer to those who gave their opinion or observation point. Mirna was showed with time that Spor is a space where you can express yourself freely and where every idea and opinionis valid, where in an innovative and creative way solutions are approach on a personal or group level. At first she had many difficulties in its phase, its character transformed by bumps and setbacks of life made her insensitive and very hard but through hard work on the restoration of character and personality. Developing your proactive leadership Mirna got very good results obtained during the exchange and returning full achievement involved in community leadership to seek suitable spaces to develop their potential. Currently she is an indigenous woman committed to the development and common good, with defined goals and ideals and not faint in the quest for sustainable development of indigenous peoples.
PREPARATORY COURSE
MIRNA
LORENA Lorena is a fighter and entrepreneurial young girl who learned to be independent and solve her own problems, her mother died when she was less than five years and her father died when she was 13, so before becoming a youth adult she was left alone in the world with her older sister, of course older only for 1 or 2 years, so were technically two single girls in the world you had to fight to survive. The fact that she did not have family and parents was not an impediment to study and was able sustained herself, Lorena graduated as secretary and learned some English. When Lorena entered Spor was a very dynamic, outgoing girl, with some degree of frustration for not having the necessary tools to accomplish her dreams, also ran a high level of anxiety about her future and was struggling to advance her college career. Her leadership lacked guidance she needed to work on it to achive excellent results, even though her personality was outgoing she needed to secure her personal safety and especially able to develop a "sense of belonging" that could not establish as child due to life experiences. the Spor preparatory course helped Lorena achieved great personal change and found the instruments and tools necessary to achieve her dreams and during the exchange she was able to bond as powerful as the umbilical cord with his mother in Norway who through affection and her full attention to some extent the gap left his biological family. Also achieved, set by its peculiar personality, many friends who contributed to the realization of dreams and goals. On her return Lorena was full of motivations and future expectations, the sense of belonging mainly to people made it establish permanent bond that empowered to achieve goals and improve their quality and lifestyle. Currently already finished college and is close to graduate, works in social organizations seeking continuous improvement of vulnerable people in Guatemala and whenever she shares her personal story never fails to mention that Spor "changed her life".
PREPARATORY COURSE
LORENA
SUSANA Susan is a young indigenous woman from a rural community of very few opportunities for growth and development was a shy, withdrawn and very little personal safety girl. She was raised in a male chauvinism family where women only served to make household chores or get married and have kids and clear this repeat the cycle of most women in the area. Used to decisions were taken by male figures and simply follow instructions without being able to deliver an opinion, she is launched on an adventure to get to the call for another phase of Spor, after being preselected and start her training process in the preparatory course, she faced many difficulties, fears and frustrations because the course was showing a totally different, and according to her, unlikely world existed, and so she started the process of a personal, social and academic transformation, learned that women have the same right to speak, to share ideas, make decisions, and above all make a difference by making significant changes, if someone extremely shy happened to be a self assured girl with a good level of self-empowerment this will help the other women in her family and although men found difficult to accept drastic changes they understood how beneficial that would be. Susana was a woman with little social life and failing to master the English language perfectly when she traveled to Norway, she came back with many friends and her English level increased significantly. Never dreamed of a different world due to marginalization for being female and indigenous, she was not allowed to dream of something other than the few opportunities offered by her community. Upon her return, voluntarily and after working hard to help her family, she taught English at the little school in the community because she promised herself she would never allow people in her community not had a chance to excel because she got into the program that transformed her dramatically, she is “eternally in love with SPOR AND NORWAY�.
PREPARATORY COURSE
SUSANA
PAMELA Pamela is a young Guatemalan with big dreams and goals to be achieved but with a troubled past who would that not let her move. She always showed to be very shy but eager to overcome. After multiple activities and realizing that the preparatory course Spor is a safe place where spaces for dialogue and trust are opened, in an opportunity she manifested that past that would not let her live in peace, she said that during her childhood she suffered sexual abuse by someone significant and very close to her and it was something she could not live fully and constantly tormented, wondering why?, if it was only a child; and why that person? When someone is sexually abused their personal safety, integrity, and self-esteem are damaged, the person develops a devaluation and thoughts are directed to a negative future and very little hope; they also exists deal with bigger problems and think they do not deserve to be happy, worth less than others, and may never meet fully its objectives. During the preparatory course Pamela walk into a psychological process of emotional recovery and overcoming the trauma of the accident during her childhood. She Experiment major changes, return to her basic personality and her character was modified by removing frustration, anger, sadness and melancholy for what happened. Increased capacity of socialization and leadership; Spor preparatory course showed her a number of opportunities that guaranteed significant life changes. She restructures its concept and thought of herself and the world making great progress in her life plan. Upon her return and after experienced living in a country very different from hers, she returned with great ideas and new thoughts but especially with the insatiable desire for sharing what she learned and incorporate it in her community, aspects that lead to an increase in sustainable development. She is currently enrolled at university and works with youth groups orienting them through trouble and difficulties of age. She is very secure of herself and has big dreams to achieve.
PREPARATORY COURSE
PAMELA
CESAR Cesar was a very shy guy and somewhat spoiled by his parents, the youngest of his siblings and high life expectancy but frustrated by the lack of opportunities in the country. He decided to participate in the Tanzania Spor program because after having completed his studies he had many ideas to contribute to his nation but nevertheless could not implement them due to the lack of appropriate tools to do so. He found in Spor that space and the tools and methodologies to start the search for immediate solutions to real problems in your area, the introductory course help increasing his personal safety; he made significant discoveries of his personality, character, and independent behavior increased significantly His stay in Tanzania made Cesar develop creativity and innovation achieving the invention of various useful tools in the activities of the communities where he interacted. Cesar is currently involved in community development activities and is always looking for new ways to solve problems in his community and country.
PREPARATORY COURSE
CESAR
JORGE Jorge was a very antisocial without a life plan that will guide his actions, always had a very negative mindset and unfortunately its family dynamics is very dysfunctional. When he enter the Tanzania Spor program he was one of the participants with greater challenges at the beginning because he did not fit within the group and almost always had an excuse not to do well or would not stop thinking as he always had. After many activities, trainings and talks Jorge slowly realized that his way of being and thinking only brought back as a result of feeling misunderstood, misfit , alone, and very sad. His girl Teammate, totally the opposite, was in a big way the holder and support to achieve changes in his actions. The preparatory course offers him the tools to achieve changes in his thinking and feelings, before the trip. During the exchange he had positive and negative experiences but the negative ones managed to help Jorge return being a totally different person that he was. He was able to overcome fears, negative and erroneous thoughts, but most importantly he was able to interact successfully with another human being. His experiences in Spor literally change his life and gave him the chance to be happy and achieve magnificent results without comparisons. If I can talk about a case that has actually achieved a 180 째 degrees change of living, I would say that Jorge represent it perfectly. Today it is a dynamic guy, full of energy and ideas to improve the environment ; he is totally the opposite of the shy guy, introvert, and closed-minded that we saw at the beginning.
PREPARATORY COURSE
JORGE