What I did with my Summer Vacation

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with
those who weep. Live in harmony with one another;
live peaceably with all. (Romans 12:15-16)
My best friend Amy Collins and I spent two
months volunteering in Nicaragua this summer - it was
a trip primarily focused on service and learning. We
volunteered every day during the week and attended
Spanish school, and on the weekends we would take a
break and go on excursions around the country. We
had plans for three volunteer placements; however, we
soon learned that in Latin America, it can be very diffi-
cult to make plans months in advance and then see
them realized. Due to civil strife and natural disasters,
all these plans were cancelled once we were in the
country, and we ended up working with other (though
no less valid) organizations.
In the first city where we stayed (Managua), we
taught music to children who couldn’t afford music les-
sons (at “Musica en los Barrios”). We also volunteered
at a community centre called Generando Vida
(“Generating Life”), which is located in a poor area of
the city and has a few classrooms, feeding programs,
and microcredit for women of the community. Here, we
again learned the value of flexibility, as we never knew
quite what we would be doing, if we would even make
it there on a given day because of the nation-wide pub-
lic transit strike, and because of our lack of Spanish
skills. After three weeks in Managua, we travelled to
Estelí, a city in the northern mountains of the country.
The first place we worked was Proyecto Padre Fab-
retto, an after-school program for children who were
struggling with their studies. We worked as teachers'
assistants, helping the children with their English, arts,
and music. After a week at this school, we spent two
weeks at the Escuela Especial – a school for children
with disabilities. We did the same kind of work here,
helping the teachers and helping the students.
It was here in Estelí that we learned one of our
valuable lessons about volunteering in Central Amer-
ica. Living in Nicaragua is simpler, slower, and friend-
lier, and this came across in work and work ethic as
well. We came from a North American mentality that
dictates the essentiality of efficiency and productivity.
However, Nicaragua does not seem to share this view.
Amy and I often became frustrated because we felt we
weren’t being productive or helpful, but when we fi-
nally realized that we needed to be slower and more
relaxed, everything seemed to shift into focus and we
felt much more useful. We often dealt with indifference
from others and a lack of “productivity”, but once we
learned to just accept whatever happened as long as we
were trying hard, everything went more smoothly.
After three weeks in Estelí, we went back to Managua
to reconnect with Gonzalo Duarte, the organizer of our
trip and three other Canadians. With this expanded
group, we worked for a week at Pajarito Azul, an or-
phanage for children with disabilities. I helped in a
room of people with cerebral palsy, which was an eye-
opening experience. Because of their disability, they
were unable to perform even the basic necessities – we
needed to spoon-feed them, take them outside for fresh
air, and just provide the simple companionship that
they usually lacked. It was difficult to see people living
in this situation, and I tried my best to empathize and
do the best I could to help.
We had many other crazy and amazing adven-
tures as well, from climbing a 1,700 meter high active
volcano (on an island in a lake with the only freshwater
sharks in the world) that took 11 hours in 40-degree
weather with a guide who could speak 12 languages
and was able to smell when there was a boa constrictor
nearby, to surfing in the Pacific, to meeting some of the
most amazing people in the world, to camping over-
night on top of another active volcano and climbing up
at night to peer into the crater and watch the lava, to
frustrations with ourselves and each other, to heart-
wrenching views of poverty (Nicaragua is the poorest
country in the Western Hemisphere), to a massive
political rally calling for the downfall of the cor-
rupt government, to sitting at the foot of a cross all
morning on top of the highest mountain in a misty
coffee-growing town… the stories go on and on.
Despite repeated changes of plans and fre-
quent failures of preconceived notions, the trip
was a definite success. It is something that I will
remember for the rest of my life, and something
that will also forever affect me. I’m still figuring
out how to incorporate this incredible life experi-
ence into my everyday life – into my faith, my mu-
sic, my perspectives, my choices, my opinions… I
can only pray that my God will guide me in these
ways.
-Jeff Poynter