Painting the World in Jesus

The day before Camp Itapua, we headed up Ruta 6 to visit our fellow environmental conservation volunteer, Anna, in the city of Jesus. Anna has been working with students to grow a school garden and has been helping the community develop sustainable tourism. To get to Jesus, you can take any bus heading to Ciudad del Este from Encarnacion. Make sure to ask the driver if they can drop you off at Trinidad. Buses that say "Rapido" in the window will not stop for you. Jesus is about 12 Km from the ruta once you get to Trinidad. Here you can either wait for the little bus (7 mil/person) or take the taxi (6 mil/person). We piled in the taxi with three Paraguayans and a baby in the back seat, and I sat on Ben's lap in the passenger seat. Since the first half of the ride in downhill, the taxi driver will get out and push the car until it begins to roll. Then, jump in for the ride and off you go! Our driver didn't turn on the engine until we were well underway.

In town, we met up with Anna, packed our gear, and headed to the primary school. There, Anna had arranged for us to help the students paint a map of the world on the wall of one of the classrooms.



Here's how we did it:

1.Paint the entire area of the wall light blue (the lighter the blue the less coats you will need for the countries).

2. Use a projector to display an outline of the world on the wall.

3. Trace the outline with permanent markers

4. Decide what colors you will need to paint the countries (Look online for examples)

5. Mix the paint to make the colors you need

6. Mark each country with a dot of the color it needs to be painted (This will save you a lot of trouble if you are working with kids.)

7. Delegate one color to each kid. Pour the paint into a smaller cup to minimize spills. We cut up egg cartons to make little paint trays.

8. We painted the outside of the world black to look like outer-space.

9. Once the paint drys, use a permanent marker to trace all the borders and label the countries.

10. Add details: compass rose, label the oceans, have fun!

All the paint for the project was donated by local hardware stores. It took us about 4 hours to complete steps 2-8 and it looked amazing! Painting the world map was a great opportunity to teach the students about geography. While we painted, we talked about the countries we wanted to travel to, which ones were the largest in size and population, and where major landmarks were located. We had a blast! We can wait to bring this activity to the schools in Coronel Bogado.


After a long afternoon of painting we cleaned up our supplies and walked down to see what Jesus is famous for, the Jesuit ruins. The ruins are considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Although the park was closed, Anna convinced the security guard to let us take a quick look around. We arrived just in time to see the sunset over the ruins. Beautiful shades of orange and pink softly illuminated the giant pillars and walls of the old church colony. The view was breathtaking! We will definitely be returning here with my parents in May.