Bienvenidos! We have officially reached our halfway point of our AMAZING trip. We had a pretty chill day today and it was spent mostly in the hostel. We woke up at 7:15 (after discussion whether we should wake up at 7 or 7:30) to the very humid weather and had breakfast at the typical yet wonderful IMABITE! After breakfast, we headed back to the hostel to discuss education and this morning’s speaker, Lic. Blanca Rosa Cruz.
“Let is pick up our books and pens. They are the most powerful weapons. One child, one book, one pen, and one teacher can change the world” -Malala Yousafzai. This was a quote that we had to reflect upon the whole day. We discussed that you can get education without having much resources; it’s just as simple as having 4 things. Moments after our discussion, she showed up to talk about her time as a special needs teacher.
Blanca Rosa Cruz is a Vice Principal at the Special Education School, Angela Morales Aviles. She has dedicated 14+ years worth of time here at this school. Angela Morales Aviles was founded in 1974 by Jilma Balladares who donated the land for students with special needs after realizing that her daughter with down syndrome needed education. When the school was founded, there were about 20 students enrolled and now they have 157 students enrolled! They teach students with special needs like down syndrome, intellectual disabilities, autism, hearing impairment, etc. There are 45 staff members who dedicate their time at the school to help these students. 256 students had integrated to regular education after graduating from Angela Morales Aviles. Blanca explained that she has a constant need of urgency to help everyone who needs extra support. It was truly a blessing to know that the special needs students are getting a fair education as everyone else because they are just as important as students without special needs.
Our second speaker arrived after lunch and our English tutoring preparation time. FDCONIC (Fundacion para el Desarollo Comunitario Nicaraguense) had the pleasure to come and present about who they are and what they do. During the presentation, we learned that FDCONIC is a vocational school that caters to people who wants a degree while working a job. They offer classes with professions such as stylist, nurse, pharmacist, etc. FDCONIC is approved by the government so they give certificates of courses so the students can use the certificates to look for jobs after they graduate. Overall, FDCONIC is an amazing program for people who need to support their family while getting an education to raise their income.
We had the pleasure to see a great documentary about Nicaragua’s education. The documentary hit on the point that many of Nicaragua’s teachers are not passionate about their jobs and most of them discipline and humiliate their students instead of working towards helping their students succeed. This results in the students losing their motivation and drop out after a few months into school. A shocking point that we all saw is that 126/ 2837 students pass the math exam and 77/1218 students passed the admission test. It just shows that the education system in Nicaragua should definitely be changed starting with the way the teacher teaches their class.
Something to highlight about today is that we had our first tropical storm! It was a great change to the weather after all the sun and heat that we had been getting. We also got our laundry done so we are all very stoked about that. Other than that, we have another wonderful day planned out and I am so excited for you all to know more about it!
Love,
Wendy Ly
P.S. WE ALL MISS YOU!
Hi Wendy,
Thank you for your blog. Lots of things were learned today!
Hope the storm cooled the weather for you guys.
Jon,
Sorry we missed both your phone calls. We will make sure to answer next time. We pray that you stay safe and enjoy the 2nd half of your trip.
Love,
Lolo and Lola
Hi Reya – we continue to look forward to every blog post and are so impressed with the incredible cultural education you are all getting. Lucas and Connor arrived safely in Cuba today for their service learning trip. Connor and the rest of the Valory family send a shout out to your blog partner, Josh. Tawnia recognized him immediately. Apparently he and Connor played baseball together. Small world! We love and miss you,
– Mom, Dad, & Teo
Good work on the wake-up compromise. 🙂
Wow! I was wondering when the rain would arrive there. What’s odd is that here in the Sacramento Valley we even had some drizzle today. Crazy.
Hi Alyssa!
Glad you learned about the educational options in Leon and that the tropical storm cooled things off. It’s supposed to be back tomorrow in the afternoon.
Hope you can fix your mosquito net issue with the assistance of your leaders or maybe using your deet repellent in the evenings. Mom was glad to hear your voice today.
Love, Dad, Mom, Devin and Mochi
Hi Cherin!!
I read your blog post. It’s awesome to see you experience firsthand some of the things that we’ve talked about before. We lead such lucky lives (mines luckier though cuz I have you) and it’s important to never forget that. I still miss you!!
Love,
Elliot
Hi Alyssa
Was wonderful to hear your voice and get your call. All the miles in between melted away for those precious minutes (before we lost contact). Know I’m always with you (even when we can’t talk and I am thinking about you!) Sorry there are holes in your mosquito net. Use your skills to think outside the box and make a fix…bandaids? Summer suggested using a hair tie to scrunch up the holey part. Know you’ll figure it out.
Can’t wait to see more photos and hear more details about your amazing trip. Love Mom
Kuya Jonathan,
I miss you and all the arguing we do! It’s not the same without you here.
Our group Rahiti got 2nd and 3rd place in the 2017 San Jose Tahiti Fete. I wish you could have seen us dance! There were so many people.
I hope you’re having lots of fun. By the way, Auntie Raquel told me to tell you to take your medicine!!! Lol
Stay cool as usual!
Love,
Your cousin Lizzie Bear
Hey Llama ! Your parents are safe and sound and they are back in the area ! Other than that, nothing new around here. Love you and hoping that you are enjoying your trip to the max !