It is often said that “to give a man a fish, he will eat for a day. But teach a man to fish, and he will eat for a lifetime.” Although I thought I knew the meaning of this quote because of my so-called “analytical knowledge” from AP Literature, I never knew I would experience the meaning for myself.
After waking everyone up at the early hours of the morning (aka 6am), we went to breakfast and began our day. Despite the fact that we were in the hostel for the majority of the morning, we still learned a lot about the concepts of international aid along with the benefits and loopholes that come with hastily donating to developing countries. From the activities and ideas everybody had, our overall perspective and knowledge about aid was revised. We also introduced the Community Action Project (CAP), a project our group does in an effort to bring upon sustainable change to a local organization. After our free time and a couple of deep talks with friends and then lunch and a deep talk with Joel and Victoria, we headed out to Barrilete, an orphanage we planned to partner with for our CAP.
I never expected to feel the way I did. As brutally honest as it sounds, I expected for our visit to Barrilete to be mostly informational and just us asking questions and receiving answers. I expected our visit to be us taking notes in our journals and seeing the ‘worn down’ conditions, a definition that was still hazy in my mind. I expected our visit to be full of groans complaining of the heat, blistered feet from our dress shoes, and savage mosquitos. One thing I definitely learned from this experience was to never jump to conclusions. Our visit to the orphanage was filled with laughter and sympathetic smiles. Our visit was filled with us frantically taking notes in our journals in an effort to better the worn down conditions, a definition that became clear as coffee (a local ironic expression) as an environment which inhibits opportunity, complete security, and privilege. And lastly, our visit was full of tears of overwhelming emotion, sore faces from smiling too hard, and hyperactive children. Ultimately, it was an experience that catalyzed a chain reaction of innovation and the start of our CAP.
After coming back from Barrilete, we headed straight for Hamburgo, where we met a lady named Milena Cruz. Despite our groggy selves, we managed to stay awake (mostly) and learned about what she does and how she contributes to different organizations. Afterwards, we ate dinner, taught English, and here we are!
Through our jam-packed day full of moving around and listening to different people speak, we still all experienced the meaning of aid, both locally and internationally. I can’t wait to see what our CAP develops into, and I’m so happy we can all do it as a team.
Hello from Leon! We wanted to let all of our blog followers (our parents, families, friends, teachers, etc!) that we see your comments each day and read them outloud at the end of our nightly meetings. We are so glad you are following along in our adventures and leave messages for us to read. Thank you! Gracias! Even though we can’t all write individual responses, each student really appreciates your messages, words of encouragement, and questions (which you’ll get answers for when we get home). It’s hard to believe a week has already passed here — the time is passing too quickly. We send you all our love and gratitude! Being on this trip definitely makes us feel lucky to have you all.
Thank you Lailinda for such a thoughtful description of your new learning experience. I am curious to know more about the ideas you guys are developing for your CAP, let us know! I am sure you will do something that will make the kids in the orphanage very happy.
We said hi to you! Parece que pasas muy ocupada todo el dia. Diviertete y aprende muncho para que nos platiques cuanta riqueza tiene ese pais. We love you much, much, much!!
Wow – what a great write-up of the group’s long and busy day with so many different experiences! Thank you for taking the time to write up what is happening, and for posting the photos. I am learning about Nicaragua through your stories. Your group has done so many things in just one week.
Wassup mom thing r going good I’ll try to call u tomorrow if anything is open but I might not be able to say hi to everyone for me okay
i love marisa ruiz
Looks like you are having a great time Lalinda! Love the photos. Tell Matt I say hello and you two have a wonderful CAP project!!! Ms. Scheppach
So I thought I would fill you in on what has been going on here…. The weather finally cooled down yesterday and we thought it was great. I didnt have to lay down under the car to stay cool, it felt awesome. Then today it drizzled a little rain. That was ok although my feet got wet whenever I went outside. I really would have been very happy to go to the orphanage with everyone. I know I could have brought smiles to a bunch of the kids . I couldnt do everything you guys are going to but Im busy taking care of my owner anyway. I have had to find mischief to get into so he will stop being hum drum. For the past week he has been his happiest only when he reads his computer about all of you. I really miss my girl that I see on his computer. Im pretty sure my owner misses too. He reads that she and all of her friends are learning so much and smiles really big. Well if you see any girl dogs say hi for me.
So I thought I would fill you in on what has been going on here…. The weather finally cooled down yesterday and we thought it was great. I didnt have to lay down under the car to stay cool, it felt awesome. Then today it drizzled a little rain. That was ok although my feet got wet whenever I went outside. I really would have been very happy to go to the orphanage with everyone. I know I could have brought smiles to a bunch of the kids . I couldnt do everything you guys are going to but Im busy taking care of my owner anyway.
I have had to find mischief to get into so he will stop being hum drum. For the past week he has been his happiest only when he reads his computer about all of you. I really miss my girl that I see on his computer. Im pretty sure my owner misses too. He reads that she and all of her friends are learning so much and smiles really big.
Well if you see any girl dogs say hi for me.
You are all missed even by those that dont talk.
Lailinda we are so excited to see your sharing the new experience and know you are learning so much. I can’t wait to hear more about that when you back home. We are checking the blog daily. Look forward to hearing more about the development of your CAP project. Harrison said hi to you. We love you!!!
Am totally enjoying reading about your time in Leon. What an amazing opportunity. Take care everyone.
Hi Lai, also shouts outs to Worley for the AP Lit skills c:
You’re right, this blog was pretty deep and stuff. I’m so glad that you’re having a great time and I hope that your CAP turns out AMAZING! I’m so happy that I nominated you for this trip because I know that you’re going to do great things over the next couple weeks. Have fun!!
Wow. So glad you got to have this experience. Though my summer was rather confined to this pretty little city we call home, I’m excited that you had the chance to see a little bit more of the world and bring it back to me in the form of strange zoomed in photos, top notch Jason Derulo parodies, and random recollections of fart incidence and, uh, poop excavation (nothing can beat our Chinaway adventures though ;P)