I was privileged enough to be able to co-lead a group trip to Lobitos and volunteer with WAVES for Development for my second time this past February. It had been about 8 months since I left Lobitos and going back, even for such a short time, was completely worth the journey to get there.
Four plane rides, one bus, and one van ride later we were standing in the WAVES house being given a tour of everything that had been under construction since I was there last. There’s a rooftop deck, the kitchen has been repainted and moved around, there’s some different furniture, the house is much more recognizable as the “casa de WAVES” and best of all there’s a full out surf shop! There were some new faces to meet and lots of catching up to do, but the upbeat, welcoming personalities of the community and the staff had not changed a bit.
We had a jammed pack week of surfing, volunteering, and learning. We started our days with the classic morning surf and then lunch with a local family. Volunteering began in the afternoon. We had prepared health promotion presentations for the kids in the community. 
The first one was on nutrition. We built a food pyramid, talked about healthy eating, did activities and played BINGO (which was a huge hit… who knew?). The second one was on dental hygiene. We talked about the importance of brushing your teeth and a healthy smile. Activities included a maze, word search and coloring contest. There was definitely some hidden talent displayed when we collected the coloring sheets! Finally, the topic of our last presentation was physical activity. We brought the kids to the beach and again, started by talking about the importance of it. We played duck duck goose, or perro perro gato as they know it in Lobitos. Afterwards we broke into two groups to play American football and volleyball. At this point, most of the volunteers were sunburnt, had heat stroke, or were just plain exhausted, and as usual, the kids were full of energy. We continued the session with them and finished with relay races that included bear walks, running backwards, jumping jacks…and the list goes on. Today, almost a month later, I can still remember how tired and sore we were from all this, but I also remember how happy and inspired I felt.
The more I learn about organizations, NGOs and going global, the more I think WAVES is doing it right and the one week I spent back in Lobitos confirmed things in my mind all over again. Volunteering and development is something I am passionate about and I’ve learned so much being involved with WAVES. I’m already looking forward to my next trip back, although I have no idea when that will be . . .
