We are a group of faculty, staff, and students of James Madison University in Virginia. Last year we went as a group sponsored by Alternative Spring Break. This year we went as community members and not sponsored by the university.
In three months, we raised over $36,000 for the projects we implemented over our spring break. We spent a week living and working with the poorest people in our hemisphere and have just returned, standing in solidarity with them. We funded a variety of projects in these two communities, and helped with construction while we were there. We purchased land and built a school, a house for a family, four latrines, and installed sinks in 13 different schools. We used biointensive-farming strategies to bring food to those who don't have, taught lessons on germs/hand washing to kids at six different elementary schools. Distributed 60 suitcases worth of donations to 120 of the poorest families in the community, and spent the week completely immersed in the Nicaraguan culture putting faces to statistics and seeing first-hand how two thirds of the world lives.
The students would say this was a life-changing experience that taught them more than they would ever learn in a college classroom.
We spent a week in Nicaragua serving by working on a family house, building latrines, buying the property for the school of San Ramón, and renovating San Ramón School and having the most rewarding time with the "suciecitos" team. The whole group broke up into three teams; ours was named the suciecitos by Evan because of how dirty we had become. It made us feel good to serve others, learn Nicaraguan cultures and make new friends. I cannot wait to go back and see my friends. ~Rosie McArthur (~Mamita)
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
~Mahatma Gandhi
Saturday, March 7, 2009 - The trip begins
32 JMU community members left for Nicaragua early Saturday morning, March 7, 2009, at 6:30 a.m., from JMU's Blue Ridge Hall on the charter bus to D.C!
We had a laugh when Samantha said this is just like any spring break trip in that we get one, maybe two, showers and live out of a backpack. We flew out of Reagan International, with a layover in Miami, and arrived to Managua around 10 p.m. While everyone was getting the suitcases, I went straight out to start the paperwork for the rental vehicles (four pickup trucks). After everyone got his or her suitcases, we left the airport around 11:15 p.m.; it took us over an hour to "caravan" out to Chacraseca.
We loaded up 1 truck with all the 60 suitcases and the group spread out over the rest. I was one of the drivers, and as soon as we started the drive, I remembered last year when I drove in Nicaragua. I needed to watch out for all those holes, ditches, bumps - you name it - and of course other drivers adding up to the whole craziness of driving in Nicaragua. We had a long day!
As soon as we arrived to Chacraseca, I was so happy to see my friends again. We quickly got our stuff organized, set up cots, and got to bed in order to start our early day in the morning. Some of us got up at 5ish in the morning and saw the others still sleeping peacefully out in the yard. The roosters and all the other animals were making all kind of noises.
Today we had Breakfast at 7 a.m. then had a little tour around Chacraseca led by Mike. The community of Chacraseca in Colegio San Ramón, the school for which we bought the land it was on and will be re-building, welcomed us. The community people had balloons, games, and many fresh delicious fruits for us to enjoy after the introduction. They were applauding us and it was so touching.
The schoolchildren were there and they were all so amazing - they dressed up and brushed their hair to look nice for us. They sang National Anthems to each other. The JMU students got a chance to play some soccer with the kids and got a chance to know some of them.
We went to Church at 10:00 a.m. Afterward, some of us started unpacking donations, and organizing them in piles of children's items, adults' items, and supplies. Later on, my group was off to Nuevo Amanecer at 3:30 p.m., which is the poorest town in the western Hemisphere. They literally have nothing, and are so dirty that even a bath will not help. The sun there is hot, it's very dry, and there are hardly any trees around in Nuevo Amanecer. The first introduction was about bio-intensive farming with Señor Santiago. Later, we helped develop the technique there by planting seed, watering the ground, and pulling weeds.
At 5 p.m., we had dinner, and after dinner, the students played with the kids and had a wonderful time with them. We got to go to the other side of the village, "the 20". We paired up and had an awesome opportunity to stay with families. Maira and I stayed at Abuelita & Abuelito's house. They were adorable and very accommodating, making us feel right at home like part of the family. It was somewhat hard at the beginning to go to sleep, and by the time I went to sleep, the rooster starting crowing and the rest of the animals were making all sorts of noise.
In the morning, we had breakfast at 7 a.m. then we went to our work sites. Half of us went on to the plants, and the other half went to work on the Latrines. We met at 10:15 a.m. to switch jobs, so we all got to do a little bit of everything, and we all got the same overall experience. We had a delicious lunch of amazing pasta, beans, watermelon, & bananas. Mr. Gonzales opened his bodega and we all bought cold gasiosas, (sodas). We spent the siesta hanging around with kids and Kim painted their nails. Señor Gonzales helped us each ride a horse around for a little bit.
Britt & Brad working hard building a latrine in Nuevo Amanecer
We decided to go to the other side, "the 20", to visit the families.
The whole group got to spend sometime with Abuelita, and the students were asking her questions and talking in Spanish. Samantha said, "it was so special to see a 73 year old woman who has lived in Nuevo her whole life talk to us about her life". She has 6 children alive, 7 died, and her first husband died young. She's now married to Abuelito. She was so kind to us and gave us all big hugs.
We went to the other side "the 30" for dinner; we had beans, rice, scrambled eggs, and piña (Samantha and Jess helped cook chopped veggies for dinner). Our cooks were very nice and grateful. Once dinner was finished and we washed our dishes, our group went to see the latrines we helped build. Like always tons of kids tagged along.
We saw the entire neighborhood and took many pictures. The kids were so cute, and the students just felt in love with them. Around 6:30 p.m. Señor Martin came with us to "the 20” side where we'll stay to go to sleep. Mr. Martin stayed for awhile and sang and played his guitar for us! We all sat at Abuelita's house and listened Don Martin's serenading us. He was amazing, and his songs were so meaningful. He sang about how life is so short and once we die nothing will be left.
The little girls there were adorable and kept on blowing kisses to our students with huge smiles on their faces. Señor Martin played for about an hour.
Everyone went to respective family's house and went to bed. We all decided to get up earlier the next morning at 5:45 a.m. so the students could have some time to hang out during the best time of the day, early morning - sunrise. We are hoping to get to go into the children's classrooms again to play before the next group gets here and we have to leave. The students love being in Nuevo Amanecer, they don't want to leave. The people there were very grateful to all of us. The community is amazing, and it's sad to say goodbye to everyone we've come to know so well. Hasta pronto Nuevo Amanecer! Evan decided to name us "Los Suciecitos!" (the little dirty ones) The next morning the other group will come to Nuevo Amanecer, and we will go to build the house in Bolsa.
Tuesday, March 10th: Group 2 arrived back from San Ramón at about 11:30 a.m. to eat lunch with us. It has been so much fun to hear all about their experiences and tell them about ours. We went back to Chacraseca. Our group "The Suciecitos" got to take a nice, cold, and extremely refreshing shower.
It was so great to have wet hair in the hot weather. We left immediately after lunch for the house we are building. The road was like a roller coaster, sooo narrow, steep, dusty, and bumpy. When we arrived at the house, we met Señor Ernesto, another abuelito y Señora Teresa, another abuelita. Tambien, Kenin, Exequile, Katarin, and the mamá Amada, her husband, Señor Rafael (the family we are building the home for ~La familia Torres Mayorga). They are amazing and the boys loved to play soccer. Abuelita cut up delicious watermelon and mango for us and at 2 p.m., we began work.
We learned so much! They showed us how to mix cement, which is so different from how we do it in the states. You sift rocks and the powdered cement into a pile, and then pour water into the center of the volcano shape. Slowly you put dirt from the outside onto the rim until it is all absorbed. It was so interesting to learn! The workers sure did get a kick out of our students! Once the cement was done, we moved four huge piles of dirt from inside the house to the outside to level the ground. The heat and dust were overwhelming, but we had so much fun talking to the workers. Juan was very playful. He felt in love with my girls.
We finished work at 4 p.m. and went back to the house. The students played soccer with the boys. Everyone loved it there! The Abuelitos' house felt like we were in a resort, except for the massive amounts of dust blowing everywhere! We got to relax in a hammock, Shari and Mike brought us dinner of Rice and beans.
Tonight we had a special friend "Rosita" who taught our students how to Dance Salsa. They had such a great time Salsa dancing! Rosita was as impressed as to how quickly our students learned to salsa dance. We went to bed at 10:15 p.m. - a late night for us! The students slept outside and I slept inside in the hammock at Abuelitos' house. I am afraid my suciecitos got FREEZING cold sleeping outside.
In the morning, we heard all kinds of stories from our students. Britt woke up with an enormous horse standing next to her. A laughing bird was perched in the tree above the circle where the students were sleeping. The roosters were crowing, dogs barking, some growling, and pigs oinking! All of the students agreed that it was the worst night of (non)sleep ever! The next night they all slept inside Abuelitos' living room, since it was going to be another cold night.
Wednesday, March 11th We got up early to finish working and got back to Club Chacraseca to go to León. We finished up, got cleaned up and we were off to León for shopping! This was an experience all right! I was always to be in the tail of all the caravans, so when we were in León, the policia decided to let Mike, the main person we were following, go straight forward, but did not let Cheryl go, and forced her to go right. I saw this, and of course, I wasn't about to go straight knowing Cheryl is going right, and since I had Rosita in my truck, I figured we won't get lost. Therefore, we went and then had Cheryl follow me, while Rosita directed us to the Cathedral to wait for Shari to come get us. Finally, they found us, and then we headed to the historic part of our trip.
A woman named Claudia showed us around El Fortin, which was similar to a concentration camp. People who spoke out against anything were taken here. Twenty people per cell and they had to stand to live and sleep. Went to the bathroom standing up and many died within days. It was so horrible to think about, and to be in a place where people were once tortured. Although so sad, the view of all the mountains and volcanoes was amazing.
We then got back into the trucks and drove through the garbage dump. We had a truck full of melons to hand out to families who live there. All the people swarmed us and begged for more melon. I cannot believe that people live in those conditions. It smelled terrible and everything was burning. We left the dump, went shopping, and got lunch. Cheryl, Pat, Rosita, Mairita, and I went to a restaurant looking for shrimp to eat. The first restaurant did not have it. We went to the same restaurant I went last year and they had shrimp, so Cheryl, Pat and I ordered shrimp, about $15 each we spent on our plate of shrimp and a glass of delicious juice. Rosita and Maira had Hamburgers for lunch.
After lunch we went shopping and sightseeing around the court square. We went to the cathedral square and I got a few things there. I bought a hammock, some coffee, a little guitar, and another toy, and postcards for my scrapbook. We left León and headed back to club Chac. for dinner; I was still too full from my shrimp lunch that I did not really eat any dinner, just drank their delicious juice. After dinner, we headed back to the family's house and hung out with them for the night. The students reviewed their lesson plan and rehearsed it for the family. The boys (Kenin & Exequile) loved it.
Thursday, March 12th: We got up very early to go to the schools to present our lesson plans. At the first school, we only presented to one class and then ventured to the next school to present to two groups. We started with Evan introducing our group, followed by Kelly, Kim, Britt, and Brad doing a germ/hand skit. Then Jen and Jess had the kids draw germs on hand cutouts. Shannon read a lecture about germs, then Maira/Rosita introduced a beach ball game where the kids pretended stickers were germs and put one on the ball when it came to them. Rosita did an amazing job! Alfter the ball game, I read a story where when the students heard a situation involving germs, they had to raise their hands and scream "Germenes". Once the story was over, I introduced our song! It goes to the tune of "La Bamba". Conchita wrote this awesome song for us. The JMU students made up a dance for the song too.
It goes: Para lavar las manos (To wash your hands)
Para lavar las manos (To wash your hands)
Se necesita un poquito de agua (a little bit of water is needed) Un poquito de agua,
Y también jabón, también jabón, también jabón (also soap)
Lava manos,
Lava manos.
It was a hit and we all now have it stuck in our heads. When we got back to Club Chac. we rested and took a couple of hours to finish bagging the donations that we brought. The JMU students were super speedy. I was so proud of my suciecitos! We waited a few hours for the other group to get back for dinner, so to pass the time the students sat around braiding each other hair. Rosita taught the suciecitos a song about oyo en el mar (hole in the sea). We kept adding things to the hole and made up hand motions to go along with it too. It was very challenging and a lot of fun. Samantha thinks that I was so serious and "into it". Hehehehe! I agreed it was AWESOME! Gracias Rosita!
After dinner, we headed to San Ramón to meet the families and sleep. Our group "The suciecito" had a lot to talk about so we all slept outside in the comedor (dining area). After I felt sleep, I heard the next morning that "Big Daddy" had been in the comedor, bearing Tylenol pm so all the students took one and slept like babies. Per Samantha it was "the best nights sleep ever!" The weather was perfect and we got to sleep in until 6 a.m. - late compared to our normal 5:15 a.m. wakeup!
We are a group of passionate people who are dedicated to assisting in Nicaragua. We are in the midst of hosting numerous fundraisers to help our efforts down in Nicaragua. We hope to raise enough money to purchase and re-build a school, build a house, latrines, teach lessons, and more.
In Chacraseca, there are 13 schools, and each one has a "comedor," or dining room. In these dining rooms every student who goes to school receives a meal. Nicaragua is a poor country, and having the ability to give at least one meal a day to their children is a huge incentive to send kids to school.
Monetary unit
Gold cordoba. The change cordoba/dolares is fixed by Banco Central; now is 20.34100 Cordobas for 1 dollar.
Currency Converter Convert Nicaraguan córdobas into other currencies
Location of Chacraseca, Nicaragua
