Alternative Spring Break Program 2008

Our mission was to help the people of Chacraseca - NICARAGUA during spring break by taking supplies to them, presenting lessons, and building two houses for needing families. Nicaragua is considered the second poorest nation in the Western hemisphere.

On Friday afternoon, the 29th of February, we met at The Outpost near exit 245 and headed out to our friends, the Maistros, home for a few hours before they took us to nearby Dulles airport for our flight to Managua Saturday morning at 5:43 a.m. with Copa Airlines. There's nothing like a full 10+ hours of traveling together to kick off some quality group bonding time. By the time we got to Managua, we were tired but excited to be working together for the rest of the week. Our intention was to make a difference during our stay.

JMU students AnneMarie, Carissa, Danny, David, Jackie, Jordan, Kristen, Sarita, and Steve, joined Shari Kornblatt and Melissa Noble, the student co-leaders for Nicaragua 2008, in this adventure. The student leaders were responsible for the trip logistics, communicating with the partner service agency "comité pastoral", team development, and facilitating group reflection sessions. I, Rosie McArthur accompanied as the Learning Partner. The Learning Partner lends support to the trip as one who can communicate easily with the native population, and as a "mature influence" to encourage students to make wise decisions. I participated in all team activities, took lots of pictures, and recorded each day of our eventful adventures, helping and documenting our service in Nicaragua.

Through the process of working with local communities, our students woke up early every morning to work for two local families. They helped build their homes.

The trip was really incredible. Privileged college students had their lives turned around by seeing the needs of underprivileged kids and wanting to serve them. This particular trip was started by Shari and Mel, two students who had been to Nicaragua to serve on other trips, and felt for these people hurting in Nicaragua.

Students prepared lessons on dental hygiene and taught in a schools called Hermanas Maryknoll, El Recreo, Mojón 1, Mojón 2, & La Concepción. They helped the local community building houses. They brought with them lots of clothing, school supplies, toothbrushes, toothpaste, and much more to leave with the people. They also brought medical supplies to leave with schools and pharmacists in the area.

The group split into two parts for working on the two houses: one group worked with one family, while the other worked with another family. We carried blocks, mixed cement, and other tasks as assigned by the "Maestro", the building specialist. Now and then we took little breaks while the Maestro prepared for the next step of the project. The students got some Spanish lessons, Salsa dancing lessons, and tortilla making lessons. Water had to be drawn manually from a well with a bucket and rope. Bathrooms are outhouses. Cooking is done by burning wood. Trash dumps are carefully scoured for anything of possible value. We all learned a lot while in Nicaragua!

Reflecting at the end of our trip, all of us came together and pondered our experiences and impressions of this trip to the impoverished Central American nation. The incredibly eye opening experience helped to put our lives in perspective. It's not every day we go into a poverty-ridden nation and see a community like that. It makes us realize we are so lucky to live the way we do, not to mention to simply have what we consider essentials such as electricity, running water, a shower, a toilet, a kitchen stove that turns on, etc. Everyday things that we all take for granted yet would be considered special there.

For some of us it was really a culture shock. There, whole families live in one-room houses made out of basically anything they can find. We learned to make do with whatever we have, to help others to make the best of what they have, and to count our blessings. We began to appreciate the simplicity of life and focus much less on the material aspects. We are so blessed and we should be grateful every day for what God has given to us. The people there were surprisingly happy despite their poverty and were exceedingly grateful for the little help we provided.

We hope to be an inspiration to anyone who is thinking about traveling to a third-world country. We are truly believers in experiential education, and this experience is a good way of learning outside the classroom. Our students got to spend time with community members and gain personal experience with the Nicaraguan culture. We all want to help people; we all enjoy seeing people smile and laugh. We want to be part of something significant. Our model is how Jesus cares for people. Doing this is helping us figure out what faith is all about. Service trips are a great opportunity to put our faith into action by serving underprivileged people around the world. It is also a chance to learn about another culture, to grow in our personal faith journey, to understand and integrate the principles of Christian teaching, and to share what we have learned with the JMU community.

I came to love the wonderful group of students that I got to spent a whole week in Nicaragua with, sharing precious moments that I wouldn't trade for anything in this world. I hope and pray that wasting food would stop. I pray that God will appease the suffering people around the globe: guide and deliver them away from their misery. I pray that we will be more sensitive to the world around us and not be blinded by our own selfish nature and interests. I hope the pictures will always serve as a reminder to us how fortunate we are and that we must never take things for granted.

With thankfulness and appreciation for the this opportunity to witness the love of God and His mercy through His people,

~Rosie McArthur, ASB Learning Partner