On Friday, May 18 we took a field trip to Volcán Mombacho. Volcán Mombacho is one of the active volcanoes in Nicaragua and only about 45 minutes by bus from Jinotepe. We started out the morning early so that we could get to the top (1345m) and enjoy the views of the city of Granada. It was foggy when we left Jinotepe
Our afternoon charlas (chats) this past week have discussed the Nicaraguan educational system, religion - specifically liberation theology, and issues for women in Nicaragua. We learned some sobering statistics from Ivette Fonseca, an educator and consultant on educational issues. Education is required only through the 4th grade in Nicaragua. This creates many challenges, especially because many poor families don't understand the value of a good education. Nicaragua has a flexible school year, so students can start anytime throughout the year, but this makes it very challenging for teachers. Also, more rural students often miss several days of school each week during the harvest season because they are needed by their families to help with work. Students needing to repeat grades and those that drop out of school and re-enter create the issue of more than 50% of students being in lower grades than their age would suggest. Teacher salaries are also low, which creates little incentive to become a teacher. Nicaragua has many challenges ahead in providing quality, affordable education for all it's young people, but also has many people working on addressing the issues.
Part of the academic requirements of SST include journaling three times a week on various topics. Below is a "free choice" journal entry written by Mary, which she agreed to let us share here. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did. As I anticipated SST this past spring, one my biggest anxieties was host families: What if they don’t like me? What if I offend them? What if I become a burden to them? What if I can’t communicate?
First things first; happy belated Mother’s Day. Here in Nicaragua, Mother’s Day isn’t celebrated until May 30th, but we frequently think about our mothers back home. Sunday, May 13 (U.S. Mother’s Day) was a full day of travel back from the East Coast of Nicaragua. Early Thursday morning, May 10, we left for our trip to the East Coast.
Students have finally settled into a routine this past week. After a long weekend learning about their new families and how to communicate in Spanish, everyone was excited to be at Spanish class Monday morning. Most mornings, students will be in Spanish class. After class they go in smaller groups to eat lunch in various restaurants around Jinotepe. In the afternoon, we meet at a local University listening to speakers on different topics about Nicaragua. This week we had a very dynamic speaker,
Thursday morning the students were up early and waiting for breakfast, partly due to the 2 hour time difference from Goshen. The students seem to be very punctual as they were always early to everything! (only for now?) After breakfast, we had a short time of worship and singing before starting orientation. We introduced Dalena, our in-country assistant and discussed the schedule (and how to be flexible!), academics, Nicaraguan culture, safety, health issues, expectations, and shared host family information with the students for the first time. We finished early enough for most to catch a siesta before supper.
We traveled from Managua to Jinotepe this morning to continue orientation, and ended the day with the students meeting their host families this afternoon. They are spending their first night in their new homes getting to know their families. Both families and students are excited and anxious to spend the…
After a delay in Chicago and a tight connection in Miami, all 23 students arrived safely in Managua with all luggage! Many students began practicing their Spanish with a quick stop at Subway to get supper before our bus took us to Quinta Shalom, our home for the next two…
Greetings from Nicaragua! Keri Swartzendruber and I have been in Nicaragua since the end of March, planning and taking care of many details as we prepare for the arrival of the twenty three students tomorrow evening. We are excited to begin the adventure of SST with the students.
