After landing in Mexico City late on Monday evening, we got started on our projects straight away the next day!
Tuesday was full of team building activities to get to know the other scholars and our group leaders, Kenia and Aide. We also sorted out all the necessary admin, such as transport cards and mobile sims, and went to eat lunch together. It was my first time trying real Mexican food and I loved it!
The next day, we met Genera Territorios, the organisation we will be working with over the next six weeks. They wanted to know more about our individual skills, worries about the programme and any support we might need from them. We also participated in an immersion activity led by one of their members, Christa, which allowed us to envisage more clearly the context and environment for women in rural areas of Mexico. We left the session feeling much clearer about our work and deliverables for the next six weeks: to create an offline record-keeping and diagnostic tool focussed on the daily economic lives of women living in rural areas. After this session, our group collaborated to make a prototype before our next meeting on Friday.
On Thursday, we were lucky enough to visit the offices of Rennueva, another of makesense's charity partners. The co-founder and CEO Héctor gave us a tour of their facilities and showed us how they recycle different types of plastics into new and useful items such as benches, bowls and photo frames. We also got to meet Marcos and Rodolfo, who showed us the organisation's converted bus, which they drive around Mexico to teach children about the process and possibilities of recycling plastics. The Rennueva team was incredibly welcoming and friendly and even prepared breakfast and lunch for us! Another highlight was, of course, their two office cats...
As Friday begins, I'm excited to meet with Genera Territorios again to present our prototype and hear their feedback on it. I'm also looking forward to the coming weeks, working with such an important organisation, with such friendly and interesting scholars and in such a cool city!