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Hello families, friends and everyone else! It’s me, Luwam, writing to you as the first student leader! Today was Aid and Development day in which we focused on the pros and cons of providing aid to developing countries. We woke up at 7 am sharp, ate a delicious meal at imabite, we ate the traditional pico de gallo along with a fresh cup of passion fruit juice, made by the great Angel. Returning on the all to familiar road back to the hostel we started right away on our academic seminar, we focused on different types of aid, and how to approach different countries when donating.

Later on, we had an amazing speaker from Quetzaltrekkers, they’re a non profit organization that supports the kids of Nicaragua while giving tourists the opportunity to hike up Nicaragua’s infamous volcanoes. This same organization is taking us hiking and boarding down the volcanoes! All of the proceeds from the hikers go to the children of Nicaragua, paying for their schooling along with local programs.

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Afterwards, we took a field trip to Barriletes, which will be the focal point of our Community Action Project next week. The owner Maria Cabajal welcomed us into her program, which is a home for kids whose parents were prostitutes or drug addicts or were just left behind by their families. Her program also includes a preschool, and an after school program. It also is a prime example of how the people of Nicaragua are the ones that help out their community instead of the government or even the U.S.  Traveling down to Maria’s home has changed our lives forever- it opened our eyes on the issues that are currently happening in Nicaragua, while teaching us ways on  how to help the country of Nicaragua.

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We’re now ending our night with a couple of intense card games. I’m going to end the blog now, everyone here wants to send their love and kisses to all of our families back home! See you soon!