March 2016 Service Trip to Tobati, Paraguay
Strengthening Schools and Community Bonds
Team Tobati’s March 2016 Service Learning Trip marked the team’s 18th annual journey to Tobati, Paraguay. Nearly 95 students, teachers, and alumni (including 27 returning team members) spent ten days living with host families and working side-by-side with partners from the Macchi School across the 21 villages of the district.
The group focused on projects that expanded educational opportunities and improved community spaces. A key accomplishment was the construction of a new classroom in the Kuna Aty neighborhood of Central Tobati, helping launch a public grade school in a new housing community. Teams also tended the Macchi School garden, landscaped the school park, completed sidewalk and landscaping work at Plaza Team Tobati, and refreshed the large children’s park in the church plaza. Additional efforts included painting and installing a water tank at the medical outpost in rural Mompox, painting at the grade school in Jhuybayu, building a stone fence at the public hospital, and painting light posts throughout town. Toothbrushes and soccer balls were distributed to schools across the district, while other groups supported vaccination clinics, worked at brick factories and a sugarcane field, practiced wood carving in Rosado, created pottery in 21 de Julio, and spent time at a family farm and in student homes.
Evenings and free moments brought the cultural heart of the trip to life. The team shared traditional meals with host families, practiced Guaraní and Spanish, rehearsed dances, and gathered for informal and formal soccer games, competitions, and evening activities with Macchi School students and friends.
What stood out most were the friendships formed through shared work and play. American and Paraguayan students became teammates and companions, discovering how steady collaboration and open hearts create lasting change. They returned home with broader perspectives, deeper empathy, and the clear knowledge that todo es posible cuando actuamos con el corazón — everything is possible when we act with heart.
The March 2016 journey was a strong chapter of service and connection, a week whose impact continues to shine in every classroom built, every space improved, and every relationship formed.
Team Tobati’s March 2016 Service Learning Trip marked the team’s 18th annual journey to Tobati, Paraguay. Nearly 95 students, teachers, and alumni (including 27 returning team members) spent ten days living with host families and working side-by-side with partners from the Macchi School across the 21 villages of the district.
The group focused on projects that expanded educational opportunities and improved community spaces. A key accomplishment was the construction of a new classroom in the Kuna Aty neighborhood of Central Tobati, helping launch a public grade school in a new housing community. Teams also tended the Macchi School garden, landscaped the school park, completed sidewalk and landscaping work at Plaza Team Tobati, and refreshed the large children’s park in the church plaza. Additional efforts included painting and installing a water tank at the medical outpost in rural Mompox, painting at the grade school in Jhuybayu, building a stone fence at the public hospital, and painting light posts throughout town. Toothbrushes and soccer balls were distributed to schools across the district, while other groups supported vaccination clinics, worked at brick factories and a sugarcane field, practiced wood carving in Rosado, created pottery in 21 de Julio, and spent time at a family farm and in student homes.
Evenings and free moments brought the cultural heart of the trip to life. The team shared traditional meals with host families, practiced Guaraní and Spanish, rehearsed dances, and gathered for informal and formal soccer games, competitions, and evening activities with Macchi School students and friends.
What stood out most were the friendships formed through shared work and play. American and Paraguayan students became teammates and companions, discovering how steady collaboration and open hearts create lasting change. They returned home with broader perspectives, deeper empathy, and the clear knowledge that todo es posible cuando actuamos con el corazón — everything is possible when we act with heart.
The March 2016 journey was a strong chapter of service and connection, a week whose impact continues to shine in every classroom built, every space improved, and every relationship formed.
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