Art Therapy in Nicaragua

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$3,200 raised of $13,5K

Art Therapy in Nicaragua

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Our Story
We are a group of graduate students and two professors, Dr. Amy Backos and Dr. Gwen Sanders, from Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, California and we will be spending two weeks in Granada, Nicaragua. As artists and Art Therapists, our goal is to bring the community together through art making. This is the fourth service learning trip for NDNU.

We will be working with a local non-government organization (NGO), Viva Nicaragua, and with community leaders to identify strengths and needs of the small community, Solidaridad. Solidaridad was originally a squatters community due to the yearly flooding of the banks of Lake Nicaragua. Nicaragua is one of the poorest countries in Central America, and schools and communities rely heavily on the support of NGOs and volunteers from around the world.

The Impact
This project facilitates art making, processing about the art with Art Therapists, storytelling, and discussion within communities and amongst local leaders, educators, and psychologists in Nicaragua. Aditionally, former NDNU students and alumni have worked with elderly women in residential settings as well as at a community Food Bank. 

Dr. Amy Backos and Dr. Gwen Sanders will provide lectures and art making opportunities to university professors and social service workers in Nicaragua so they can implement healing arts into their work. They continue to expand the International program at NDNU by offering graduate students opportunities to travel while implementing service learning projects to increase multicultural education and clinical experiences.

What We Need
As masters students training to become Art Therapists and Marriage and Family Therapists, we will not receive salaries. Working with international communities with diverse goals and needs will help us gain knowledge and experience that will benefit local communities on a day-to-day basis. We hope to cover our costs, which include:

$450 each to cover costs for room/board, meals, and transportation provided by our host families and the NGO. We will live with our host families for 11 days and most of this is to support the families and women in the community that we will be staying with 

Approximately $800 each for round-trip flight and transportation from San Francisco, California to Managua, Nicaragua

$1792 each for tuition and fees, paid directly to Notre Dame de Namur University for this class-led educational training experience $120 each for supplies/miscellaneous expenses

Total cost: $3,000 per person - We are hoping to raise enough money to cover half of the total cost ($1500) for each of the nine masters students

Organiser

Ashley Leonard
Organiser
San Francisco, CA

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