Hi everyone! A huge thanks to all of you who have been following our blog; hopefully it has been able to offer a taste of the incredible experience we’ve had here in Nicaragua. I was so excited and honored to be ELDD for such a special day: day 1 of our community action project, also known as CAP. For those of you who are unfamiliar with CAP, it’s the project us Glimpsers complete at the end of our trip to make a lasting mark on the community we’ve been exposed to these past couple of weeks. The project must be realistic, sustainable, and benefit/engage the community. I am so happy to announce that for our CAP project we will be teaming up with Eco Kids and Sonati. When we visited Mujeres Ambientalistas earlier on our trip, they expressed a need for a meeting area for the children of their Eco Kids program. Not only will we be constructing tables and benches made sustainably with tires, we will also be making hopscotch out of tires and a tetherball set for the kids to play.
After our 6:30am wake up call, we started off the day by gathering up clothes to take to the Laundromat and then headed to breakfast at Buffet Estelí. We then stopped at a hardware store to pick up some of the materials we had bought the previous day and also bought sand and sand bags. Next we drove to Sonati and loaded 50 tires onto our bus. It was quite the group effort.
Unfortunately once we arrived at Mujeres Ambientalistas I felt very sick and had to sit out for the rest of the day. However, the rest of the group was busy at work sorting and organizing tires and digging holes for the hopscotch. By the end of the day they had gotten the hopscotch completely ready to be cemented the next day. After, they returned to the hostel and headed to Vida Joven for English tutoring. Then they enjoyed dinner at Buffet Estelí and later came back to the hostel for our nightly meeting.
At the nightly meeting there was a special surprise: a piñata and cake for Carla’s 17th birthday. Everyone had a great time and even went a little crazy fighting over candy. One of the reasons that this blog post is so delayed (sorry!) is because at our nightly meeting we spent a long time discussing the CAP project and how we could better use our time tomorrow as we did not complete as much as we had hoped to today. We all agreed that communication and organization would be key for day 2 and we’re all really excited for what tomorrow will bring.
Thanks so much for reading, please keep the comments coming! Also, just a special birthday shout out to our girl Carla- we love you and even though you could not be home to celebrate today with your family, as your second family we felt lucky that we could share today with you. That’s all for now, hasta pronto!
~Clara Chiu
Hi francesca,missed the blog last night guess you all were busy with the cap project looks great im sure the hopscotch looks great im sure the echo kids program will love the new meeting place hope the tables and chairs turn out great excelent job .hope all is well with you frannie im sorry to here one of your fellow glimpsers is not feeling well best wishes to all
Love Dad
Hi, Clara, hope you feel better by now, and thanks for the post with these much details about what the project entail and how it is put together.
Very impress the progress you’ve made and enjoyed seeing all those wonderful working pictures. You guys did awesome job coming up with this sustainable project that benefits the local children. What can be better than leaving a meaningful product behind your short two-week visit to this wonderful place? I can imaging how proud are you about what you are doing.
I started to laugh while reading “We all agreed that communication and organization would be key for day 2 ……..” because I remembered learning exactly the same thing during one of the leadership training I went through certain group exercises. Communication is, indeed, the key for any successful team work. So I am so impressed/proud about what you have learned.
Sean – nice to see your photos again. I am sure you’ve been working very hard these days. Keep up with the team and enjoy every day. By the way, dad and I thought may be you could have a hair cut done there before coming back if possible. We are heading back home tomorrow from San Diego – the trip was too short but we had good time spent with Alvin.
Thank you again Glimpsers. Enjoy your project!
Love
Looks like another busy day for you Glimpsers & what a productive one at that! It’s truly amazing what you’re doing out there for this community & I’m sure the community will have a lasting effect on all of you. 4 more days til I see my beautiful baby girl LEEZA……..
We hope everyone is maintaining their health, especially for Clara regaining her strength. Feliz cumpleanos to Carla-we’re sure the celebrations will continue with your family when you return home next week. The CAP project sounds like an ambitious plan with a lot of hard, manual labor ahead. Working together for a common goal to benefit the community is quite admirable and rewarding. Persevere towards your goals, thinking about the local kids who will enjoy the fruits of your labor.
The picture of Sean and Ally reminds us of Grant Wood’s American Gothic, with shovel instead of pitchfork. Perhaps you got stuck with shovel digging duties? Or both putting on your game faces? Or were too tired to smile after making those dimple marks in the ground? Ally, we just finished digging up the grass in the backyard. Right now, we feel like the look on your face…painfully zommed! We feel you, girl! :(literALLY:)
Mystery revealed!! So that’s what all those supplies were for! Sounds like a super CAP project. Thanks for the great summary ELDD!!! CLARA. So glad to hear from you! It is a privileged to serve others. Peter Froud came over today to help with computers, Emma went to the PRIDE parade in SF (really big after the US Supreme Court ruling legalizing same sex marriages in all 50 states!!) and we finished off the day with a vegetarian pot luck party at Auntie Kitas with Papa, Emma, Eva, Jack, Peter Froud, Auntie Kita, and their German roommate, Christian. We missed you. Sending big love, xoxox