From the Nicaraguan campo and back to the Teen Task Force desk, here I am, one week out from an amazing summer spent working on collaborative community development projects in Latin America. I said a brief farewell to the Teen Task Force in May, graduated from high school, and then took off for a two month adventure in Granada, Nicaragua.
I went there with an international community service program called Amigos de las Americas, whose mission is to promote youth leadership and multicultural understanding through service. I spent eight weeks living with a host family in a rural town in Nicaragua and working with two other Americans to teach classes on health topics such as dental hygiene, environmental health, and nutrition to first through sixth graders. When we weren’t busy teaching, you could find us working on an extensive community mapping project. By the end of the summer, we had identified all health risks of the 180 families living in the town and put them on a map for the doctor and nurses to reference when making house calls. The highlight of our project was facilitating a community-based initiative to build a bus stop by the town entrance. Thanks to the financial support of Amigos, and the tireless involvement of community members, El Menco now has a bus stop, just in time for the hardest summer rains.
After eating piles of rice and beans for eight weeks straight, waking up at 6 AM to the sound of crowing roosters, and getting caught in a few too many downpours on the way to teaching a class, here I am back in the air conditioned Association office ready to research lighting possibilities for the Teen Center. At the end of September, I’m headed to the University of Oregon, where I plan on double majoring in Urban Planning and International Relations. Off to the next adventure!
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