Help us send Moises to Norway!

Hi, my name is Evelyn Cervantes and along with a group of RPCVs (Returned Peace Corps Volunteers) from Nicaragua, we are fundraising to send Moises Gutierrez, a young organizer and advocate, to Trondheim, Norway for the ISFIT 2023 conference.

Who is Moises?

Most of us met Moises as we navigated our Peace Corps service in Nicaragua. Moises was not only a fearless leader for us; the awkward foreigners in a country we knew almost nothing about, he was a patient teacher and mentor as he helped us navigate his world.

When I first met Moises in a small rural town in central Nicaragua in 2014 he quickly volunteered to become one of my high school youth peer-health educators. Even though he was just 13 he spent all of his free time engaging and planning workshops with me. Together, we created a weekly newspaper that we delivered to local government offices, tackled maternal and infant health challenges, created teen pregnancy prevention workshops as well as many other community based reproductive health initiatives. When my service ended, Moises became a guide and mentor to the next volunteers who came through his town and helped organize and teach in country wide leadership camps for other young students.

His patient leadership, kindness and endless guidance allowed us to gain new perspectives and learn from those around us. Moises was without a doubt the catalyst and a leader in the collective and communal impact we made in Nicaragua.

What is Moises doing now?

Today, Moises continues to be a guide, and mentor to everyone around him. Moises is an outspoken advocate for many topics such as social justice and institutional change, he is a fierce supporter of youth in the LGBTQIA+ community and provides mentorship and guidance to students from rural communities who are also attempting to access higher education. His desire to advance equity and access to healthcare is one of the reasons why he chose to study medicine. Within his time as a medical student in Nicaragua he has helped countless people and has made himself available to his community anytime someone reaches out with a medical question. He has volunteered and trained others for the Red Cross and has assisted in communal efforts to better conditions for people in rural Nicaragua.

His academic journey has been a difficult one. Nicaragua has many barriers when it comes to accessing education. Nevertheless, Moises has worked tirelessly to complete 5 years of medical school, and just this December, 2022 he officially became a doctor!

What is the ISFIT 2023 Conference?

Previously, Moises spent time abroad through the US Embassy's program SUSI. Now he has a chance to travel to Norway and take part in the ISFIT 2023 conference for young people. It is no surprise that Moises was chosen to receive a scholarship to participate in the ISFIT conference. However, financial barriers place him at risk of not being able to attend as economic opportunity in rural Nicaragua is minimal for young people.

From the ISFiT website: ISFiT is short for the “International Student Festival in Trondheim”. ISFiT is also the world’s largest international student festival. ISFiT is a non-profit organization and is brought to life with the efforts of more than 400 student volunteers. The vision of ISFiT is to create a better future for young people in the world.

ISFiT is arranged every other year, and each festival has a theme related to social and political topics with international relevance. The festival is held in the city of Trondheim, Norway. Here, over 450 students from all over the world gather to attend 18 different workshops and take part in the cultural program of the festival. The next festival will be held in February 2023.

Each festival, ISFiT explores a new theme which in some way regards or affects students across the globe. The theme for ISFiT23 is ‘Polarization’.

What will the funds be used for?

Moises received partial sponsorship to attend the ISFIT 23' conference, which means his conference entrance fee, lodging and meals in Trondheim, Norway are covered. However, this sponsorship did not include travel to Norway from Nicaragua. Donations will be used to purchase airfare, a required transportation visa for the USA, transportation to and from the airport in both Nicaragua and Norway, as well as food, a warm jacket and waterproof shoes (it's winter in Norway!) and other incidentals he may need during his travels.

Plan for the transfer of funds to Moises

After consulting about the best approach to prevent excessive international transfer fees Moises and I agreed that I will withdraw the funds in mid January 2023 from the GFM and transfer them via Moneygram to Moises's LAFISE account in Nicaragua which he has set-up and used for international scholarships and transfers before. Moises fly's out to Norway the first week of February, 2023 so we will have the funds over to him a week or two before his flight.

What is one memory of Moises you can take with you?

One day Moises asked me to bring back books from our PC headquarter's because he had finished reading his entire high school library. Never mind that it was a few bookshelves of books, what surprised me was that he read all of the encyclopedias and textbooks for every single class! If there was a book available anywhere in his town you could bet Moises had read it.

On opportunity

The doors of opportunity open when those with privilege, power and access to finances open them for others who can't.

I ask you today, are you willing to open that door for someone else?

Please help us break down this financial barrier and send Moises to Norway!