Brian and Jared both work on coffee farms in San Ramon, a rural municipality in the mountains northeast of the city of Matagalpa. Brian reports, “This has been my third week on the farm, and so far things have been pretty fun!” His family consists of his parents, Carmen…
Martin and Alisa are in El Lagartillo, a remote community in the northern mountains of León. On weekday afternoons they teach English classes to a group of children ages 8-11. The classes are voluntary, so the number of students varies each day from a handful to several dozen, but…
Anna outside her room at a Garnacha Anna is living and working in La Garnacha, a campesino community just south of the city of Estelí. Her host family, whom she describes as “wonderful,” runs an organic farm in this mountainous area. She writes, “Most days of…
Drea and Jake are stationed in the city of Matagalpa at two different service organizations. Drea and Jake in Matagalpa Drea spends her days at Infancia sin Fronteras (Children without Borders), a Spanish NGO whose focus is “to create the conditions for development and peaceful coexistence…
Returning from a 3-day trip up north Last week and this week we have been traveling to visit the students at their service locations. We’re not quite done with the traveling and visiting, but we’ve got much to show and tell! We’ll start with Brad and Anika,…
No, it’s not the World Cup, but it was quite an evening only three weeks ago now (it seems much longer ago than that), when GC students and Carazo host families joined a local soccer team in Diriamba for a series of brief matches that left us smiling, breathless…
Humberto showing the logo of the campaign and a photo of young brigadistas marching (with oversized pencils) in the “war against illiteracy.” Although much of our learning during the first six weeks was experiential, guest lectures and readings added both depth and breadth to our country study.
Anika and Sam wowed us with a folkloric dance Our first six weeks has come and gone so fast, and it’s already time for some goodbyes. Last night we thanked our Carazo families and friends with a farewell dinner and program (despedida), and the students did a wonderful…
Here they come! Earlier today our 22 students “flew the [Carazo] coop,” so to speak, and although we’ll miss them, we’re excited to see what the next six weeks will bring! We’ll post more details shortly, but for now we’ll just share share this news and give…
Brad and Kara mastering a spin We started this week with what has become a tradition of the Nica SST experience: dance lessons. From folkloric to bachata, cumbia to Palo de Mayo, dance is an integral part of Nicaraguan culture, and we’ve seen a lot of it…
