Nicaragua Mission Trip
Donation protected
I write this story as the service fraternity Alphi Phi Omega's Alternative fall break chair. I took this position because I'm extremely passionate about an opportunity that I was fortunate enough to come across last year. Last year, I traveled to Costa Rica with APO, as one of the newest brothers and as the youngest student in the group. And I was truly touched by the people there and by the help that we did. I feel like I was chosen for a reason, and I found that reason while I was there.
In Costa Rica, we worked with an organization called Strong Missions. We worked mainly on building the foundation of what would become a rec center for children in the area to use. Strong Missions is an ambitious charity organization with, as bad of a pun as it is, a very strong mission for impacting the overall life in Costa Rica, and not just the people there and now but for the generations to come. The building that we put work into would become a recreational center where leaders of the mission offer Karate lessons to local children. Most children of the country only go to school part time, and there is little to no opportunity for sports and extra-curricular activities, giving the children little time for stimulation necessary for development, and giving their working parents little opportunity to keep them out of trouble. Helping build a safe place for them to come and learn a skill and feel accomplished was one of the greatest blessings I've ever recieved. Still, realizing the prospects for these children was heartbreaking, and I was even more heartbroken after talking to our mission's leader, Nick Varrel, who talked about Nicaragua and how the situation there is even worse.
What was inspiring was his passion for the mission, and for expanding it. Then, he was in the process of opening his own mission in Nicaragua spread the ambition and the help to a place where it is even more necessary. I decided then that this was something I wanted to be a part of, and was voted into the alternative break chair where I picked 20 students to travel with me alongside our advisor, Jody Bowman.
That was my story, but now it's become a story larger than myself. Now it is the story of twenty students, willing to give up their fall break off of school to do back breaking work in the Nicaraguan heat. To meet the local people and be introduced to a new culture and way of life. To make lasting relationships and a lasting impact. Nick's mission consists of three main goals - concrete flooring, water access, and recreational buildings. These are three things that so many of us taking for granted each and every day, but to the people of Nicaragua these goals seem unimaginable. These are people that walk miles multiple times a day just for clean water. Most houses are handmade shacks made of scrap metal with dirt flooring. An unfortunate fact in a place like Nicaragua that experiences an extrememly long wet season where the dirt floors turn to mud and become the cause of illness and infection. These people are children who, if they go at all, go to school for only a couple hours a day and lack the opportunity to become engaged in sports or clubs or higher education.
This is the story of a country that could use our help.
But more than the people there that will benefit from the work we do over the course of the week, the twenty people that go, if we can get enough funds for it, will be forever changed. They will come back with their new found knowledge and experience and help to spread that information to people here who can really make a difference.
Any and all support to this cause is welcomed and appreciated more than words can explain. I speak on behalf of all of my brothers in APO when I say that any contribution would mean the world to us, and we would do everything in our power to make it count.
In Costa Rica, we worked with an organization called Strong Missions. We worked mainly on building the foundation of what would become a rec center for children in the area to use. Strong Missions is an ambitious charity organization with, as bad of a pun as it is, a very strong mission for impacting the overall life in Costa Rica, and not just the people there and now but for the generations to come. The building that we put work into would become a recreational center where leaders of the mission offer Karate lessons to local children. Most children of the country only go to school part time, and there is little to no opportunity for sports and extra-curricular activities, giving the children little time for stimulation necessary for development, and giving their working parents little opportunity to keep them out of trouble. Helping build a safe place for them to come and learn a skill and feel accomplished was one of the greatest blessings I've ever recieved. Still, realizing the prospects for these children was heartbreaking, and I was even more heartbroken after talking to our mission's leader, Nick Varrel, who talked about Nicaragua and how the situation there is even worse.
What was inspiring was his passion for the mission, and for expanding it. Then, he was in the process of opening his own mission in Nicaragua spread the ambition and the help to a place where it is even more necessary. I decided then that this was something I wanted to be a part of, and was voted into the alternative break chair where I picked 20 students to travel with me alongside our advisor, Jody Bowman.
That was my story, but now it's become a story larger than myself. Now it is the story of twenty students, willing to give up their fall break off of school to do back breaking work in the Nicaraguan heat. To meet the local people and be introduced to a new culture and way of life. To make lasting relationships and a lasting impact. Nick's mission consists of three main goals - concrete flooring, water access, and recreational buildings. These are three things that so many of us taking for granted each and every day, but to the people of Nicaragua these goals seem unimaginable. These are people that walk miles multiple times a day just for clean water. Most houses are handmade shacks made of scrap metal with dirt flooring. An unfortunate fact in a place like Nicaragua that experiences an extrememly long wet season where the dirt floors turn to mud and become the cause of illness and infection. These people are children who, if they go at all, go to school for only a couple hours a day and lack the opportunity to become engaged in sports or clubs or higher education.
This is the story of a country that could use our help.
But more than the people there that will benefit from the work we do over the course of the week, the twenty people that go, if we can get enough funds for it, will be forever changed. They will come back with their new found knowledge and experience and help to spread that information to people here who can really make a difference.
Any and all support to this cause is welcomed and appreciated more than words can explain. I speak on behalf of all of my brothers in APO when I say that any contribution would mean the world to us, and we would do everything in our power to make it count.
Organiser
Molly Torres
Organiser
Wilmington, MA
