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Unitarian Church of Sharon
4 N. Main St.
Sharon, MA 02067
781-784-3652
E-mail UCS
Senior Youth Group in Nicaragua
How did you spend your vacation? For their February vacation, eight girls in the Senior Youth program at the Unitarian Church of Sharon went to Nicaragua, where they volunteered in a Managua school. The girls created their own lesson plans, teaching English and after-school classes at the Escuela Hermanos Dunklee. They stayed with local families and, when not teaching, explored the local markets, learned to make pottery, and swam in a laguna. They were accompanied by Youth Coordinator Sue Bollens; Social Justice Committee member Janet Schmidt; and Erin Bigelow, a former Youth Advisor. The girls participated in a program sponsored by ATRAVES – Asociacion TransAmericana de Voluntarios En Solidaridad – which operates the school.
Although only two of the girls speak Spanish, none reported real problems in communication. “We drew pictures, acted out words, and pointed to objects,” explained Clare. “The children caught on quickly.” “They laughed at us, at first,” said Rebecca, who also drew a map for her host brother “to show where I live in the US. He wants to come to our country some day.” “The children were very happy,” said Sarah, “not like our idea of under-privileged. The parents are very strict at home, and they wanted to do their own thing at school.” There were 40 children in a class, but the girls taught in teams and were up to the challenge.
Life in Nicaragua, the second poorest country in the hemisphere and frequently subjected to earthquakes and hurricanes, was a lesson in being happy with little. Sarah stayed with an extended family in a small house. “By our standards, they seem very poor. They ration water, which was shut off in the middle of the day, and we got used to ‘bucket showers’ and ‘bucket flushing.’ There was no glass in the windows and the courtyard was dirt.“ Clare thinks she and her roommate was given someone else’s room: “We came home one night and someone was sleeping in the main room.” “Our family had no TV or computers, and fans instead of air conditioning,” said Jodi. But the families are happy, focusing on family and country.
Elsewhere in the town, many people are poorer. Parents send their children out to sell “little things,” Sarah said, and many children do not go to school. Jodi reported that “We saw a tent city, where workers camped in protest. They have been fatally affected by chemicals while working on the banana plantations. They have nothing left to lose.” Most roads are unpaved, or paved with stone. Homes are typically one-story with tin roofs and several generations living together – often with only one room for each family, even in the middle class. “It was cozy,” said Clare.
Asked what remains with them after their return, the girls found it hard to describe. “At first, I didn’t know how to talk about it,” said Jodi. “My memories come out in small stories.” All reported a heightened awareness of the great differences in how we live in Sharon. “I look around and we have so much stuff,” said Rebecca. “The people there are very happy, though they have so little.”
The group is planning a fundraiser to purchase a pottery wheel for the school. They will have a Coffee House on Saturday, March 27, when the public is invited to hear music, purchase Nicaraguan pottery, enjoy a photo display, and hear more about their experience.
Lessons from Nicaragua:
The Nicaraguans taught us that they have corazon. They have great heart.
We all learned that we love to speak Spanish!
We learned that smiles, hand signals and pictures make a universal language all their own.
We learned that warm showers on a cold day are good, but that cold bucket showers on a hot day are fabulous! ( and some of us are still learning the art of bucket flushing a toilet.)
We created lesson plans, taught classes, critiqued our work, and taught some more!
We learned to trust each other and ourselves.
We learned that you can’t have too many mother figures ( or fathers, or daughters or brothers or sisters).
And we learned that a llanta punchada is a flat tire.
We found that one of life’s simplest joys may be having a child take your hand…
And ice cream in a far away country!
Either our favorite food is now gallo pinto, or we hope to never eat rice and beans again.
We were taught to cook Nicaraguan food and to throw a pot on a kick wheel.
We learned that an active volcano is really smokey, and that the only thing better than swimming in a laguna is jumping into it!
We learned that family is defined by the depth of the relationship, not by the amount of time we have known each other.
We felt the sadness of leaving people that we have come to love, and the joy of being met by hugs at the airport.
We learned to appreciate the simplest things, and we look forward to future adventures in our lives!
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