The end of an awesome trip!

Well, it's done.  One week later, I still want to go back!  Going to Nicaragua started out as an idea with a few of my friends to just apply to the Alternative Spartan Break program.  Then a few weeks later I got accepted.. then I found out my placement was housing in Nicaragua!  At first, I was excited about the location, the fact that I had never been there before, and how good of a cause it was.  Then, I thought about going with strangers and how much money it would be and I was unsure.  But I finally decided to just go for it, and I am so happy I did.

After returning home I looked at my bucket-list and realized wow I can already scratch off three things!!!  1) register to become a bone marrow donor 2) start a new hobby and 3) volunteer internationally.  yay!

I know that there are TONS of countries all around the world living in poverty and who all need our help, but having gone to Nicaragua myself and experiencing it, here is a brief summary:

25% of the Nicaraguan culture struggle to live on less than $1 per day.  The family I built a home for made less than $2 per day and under $30 per month.  The population of Nicaragua is about 6 million, and 1.8 million of those people situate in Managua, which is the city I was staying just outside of last week.

In just one week, I was able to see a glimpse of the poverty.  Streets, curbs, intersections, sidewalks were constantly filled with street vendors trying to sell anything from hub caps to cell phone covers.  The street vendors would even walk out into the busiest streets, almost getting hit by cars, to come to unrolled windows trying to get you to buy things.  Even young children with squirt bottles would try to clean your windshields.  Walking around the city, there were families selling flowers, homemade crafts, and fruits everywhere.  One of the saddest things for me was seeing all the kids chasing after us with long pieces of grass, molding them into flowers, grasshoppers, and pretty pieces of art, giving them as gifts but wanting money.  It was really hard having to turn my back on that.

In the neighborhoods, I constantly saw either barefoot or ripped shoes, clothing being re-worn, and dirty clothing and faces.  The kids would always be coming back with arms filled with fruits, like mangos, to munch on throughout the day that they had picked/climbed trees for.  Aside from fruits, the only other thing I saw the kids eating were what I think was ground cocoa with a spoon, and they would sometimes buy ice cream.  The streets of the neighborhood would be brown-water filled. As their sewer system runs along the curbs.  So sad.

Some of the kids I met this week:  Jessica, Elicia, Lena Margarita, Haiti, Eddy, Estefania, Gloria, Jose Luis, Anna Lucia, Louisa, and Lahyra.

Some of the Panorma Staff I got to know:
- Norm:  Born in Nicaragua, lives in Miami.  His father started Panorama Service Expeditions and he is currently the President.  He has been all over the world to places like Tokyo, Australia, New Zealand, etc.  He dreams of starting a non-profit of his own.  He was one of our main leaders of the week and has such a huge heart for helping people!
- Adrian: Norm's half brother.  He was born in Nicaragua and is always traveling back and forth between Miami and Nicaragua.  He helped build the house and was awesome!
- Jeff: Jeff is a man who is friends with Norm's dad and comes to Nicaragua often to help with the service trips.  He was a very smart and interesting man.  He has written a book and reads people's personalities and facial features through blood types.  He knew most everyone's blood types just by studying them, their personalities, and their ear lobes.  Weird.  He has also played poker in Las Vegas before at a table with Jennifer Lopez, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Cher, and her husband.
- Paul: Paul was our MSU staff advisor.  He is fluent in Spanish and was apart of the Peace Core for many years.  He and his spanish speaking skills were great help throughout the whole week!

I am so glad in just one week I was able to open up to new experiences, bring back some of my Spanish speaking skills, take chances I may never have made normally, and create great bonds.

Last week, over 200 MSU Spartans participated in an Alternative Spartan Break both domestically and internationally to provide service to other communities!

A quote by Margaret Mead: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Nothing is better than these last 3 photos.  It proves how HAPPY the children are in Nicaragua and how much fun they can have with so little.  This young boy was riding down an EXTREMELY steep cliff on a pop bottle (this cliff was so vertical that we were all helping each other get down!).  It was so cool to see throughout the week, how SMART these kids are and how much fun they can have! One evening while we were finishing up our work, we looked out into the rode and found Lahyra and her neighbor friend using a wood 2x4 board of ours which we used to get the wheelbarrow to and from the site (put on the curb as a path) and placed this piece of wood on top of cinder blocks to create a teeter totter!  Cutest thing ever.