Argentina – "Educational ECC", Educating is a Thing of the Heart. Maira and Nicolás' project: "Salesianity crosses our being"

26 May 2020

(ANS - Córdoba) - Maira Castillo and Nicolás Pared are a “courtyard” couple. The educational project they developed together bears the mark of a Salesian charism impregnated to the core. "Educational" is a project that bets on learning as a space of joy. Multiple games and creative teaching materials make up the initiative that emerged from a special education teacher and a graphic designer. The project was nominated for the “Teaching Job Award” of the “Educating Association for Human Development”, and was selected among the ten best in Latin America.

The original name of the proposal is “Educativi ECC” (Educating is a thing of the heart), inspired by the well-known phrase of the Father, Master and Friend of the young, Don Bosco. However, the initiative is part of a larger plan: the life of Maira and Nicolás itself. They met at the rallies of the Salesian Youth Movement and on 12 January 2018 they got married.

The ECC Educational project started in 2016. While they were with their nephews, the two had the idea of a game. They understood that the children they worked with needed “something more”, and that play is the most effective way to learn. They understood the need to implement other thought processes in the game and not just mechanical and repetitive games.

During the first stage, they started a volunteer program in Buenos Aires where “we had the great grace and the beautiful providence of meeting truly wonderful people with unforgettable paths,” explain Maira and Nico. “And we got to know other beautiful landscapes of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile in the journey.”

The country's economic situation was not conducive to marketing the games, although some orders were still arriving. The latest work have been sent to Cordoba.

“We dream of being able to digitize them, and that in addition to promoting contact between people during the game, these games reach more children through an app, a program or a platform,” they report.

It happens to many educators not to find the resources that speak of the Country and that resemble the daily circumstances and settings that students live. These games give an opportunity to make such a setting and environment known to others.

Maira and Nicolás met in the Salesian circles and thanks to the Salesian Youth Movement. “Salesianity runs through our whole being,” they say. “Although there are times when we have difficulty disposing ourselves to joy, as soon as we notice it, we change our attitude. This charism has invaded us since we met it and since then we cannot move away from this way of being, of walking, of loving.”

Maira and Nicolás conclude by saying: “In marriage we try to be better spouses, trying to live that love that St. Paul speaks to the Corinthians; in work, trying to give encouragement, giving good things, small details, as Don Bosco did with families, with the most disadvantaged ... ”

by Luciana Caprini

Source: Don Bosco Norte

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