Nicaragua Service Club

2/22/2010 – Monday, February 22, 2010 in Nicaragua - This was our last day in Nicaragua.  The students woke early to witness the release of  200 baby sea turtles that had hatched during the night.   Workers entered the turtle nursery at around 7:00 a.m.  They gathered and counted the turtles, from three separate nests, and placed them gingerly into a giant blue plastic tub.  We followed them as they moved to 15 meters from the waves.  They then placed the turtles on the sand.  We watched the little guys make their way to the ocean.  We also protected them by forming a ‘safety’ barrier against birds, dogs and motorcycles. It was amazing to see the babies’ perseverance as they righted themselves over and over again when the waves knocked them over.  It only took about 20 minutes for them all to find their way to the welcoming waters.  We reluctantly waved goodbye and walked back to the hotel for our final Pochomil breakfast.   After breakfast, we boarded our bus and headed back to Cantera to organized our many donations for El Divino Niño.  When we arrived at the school, children and teachers alike were gathered outside to welcome us with a heartfelt cheer.  There were many hugs, smiles and tears as the TL students said their last goodbyes (til next year J).  The teachers had spent the weekend preparing Nacatamales for us.  During our lunch they entertained us with a Folklorico Dance presentation performed by several students from the school.  They presented us with gifts and souvenirs.  We helped them sort through all of our donations (Bags and bags and bags and bags).  To end our time together on a happy note, we all went out for ice cream together at a restaurant called El Eskimo.  We appreciated the air conditioning since today was one of the hottest days yet!  50 TL students and teachers sat at one huge table and reflected upon the amazing week we all experienced, as well as planning for next year.  The ideas were flowing!  Think baseball mit drive, flip-flop drive, building a little puppet theater for them, hitting the 1 cent school supply sales this summer, etc.  A possible fund-raiser this summer to help make these ideas a reality might be a Wine-and-Cheese Art Gallery featuring the amazing photographs of Nicaragua taken by TL photographers.  Some of their shots are breathtaking.  As we’re writing this, we are in the air, somewhere between El Salvador and San Francisco, tired, but full of love for both the families that we are flying towards and the new family that we have left behind in Nicaragua.  We have no internet service up here at 25,000 feet, so we will post this after we land.  We miss you all and appreciate your love and support.  ¡Viva Nicaragua!  ¡Viva California!

2/21/2010 – Sunday, February 21, 2010 in Nicaragua - 

Hola Familias y Amigos, Today we spent the entire day relaxing and having fun at the Hotel Vistamar in Pochomil. The group was free to do whatever we wanted. Some of us took naps in hammocks, surfed, rode horses and ATVs, played volleyball, or sat by the pool. Ms. Koorhan however, enjoyed her free half hour massage in the spa for winning karaoke the night before. Although, she was disappointed to find that the only reason she had won was not because of her vocals but because of correctly following the tempo of the lyrics on the screen. Hotel Vistamar is one of the only six beaches on the western hemisphere where thousands of sea turtles come to lay their eggs. The hotel started a turtle sanctuary three months ago and has already hatched 8,000 turtle eggs; scientists estimate that of every 100 babies, only 5 survive to adulthood. We got a special viewing of the nursery and had an in-depth lesson about how everything began and how everything operates now. At the end of the day after dinner we all got together and reflected on our experiences here in Nicaragua with our group. The overall feeling of the group was appreciative, accomplished, touched, united, and loved. Several touched on the fact of how willing the kids here are to open their hearts and souls to us. Although complete strangers, we are all united in the fact that we all have equally rich souls despite our economic differences. Our bus driver, Roberto, commented that he feels that he is part of our family rather than just someone who works for us. There is no way we can put into words what we have experienced here in Nicaragua. All we can hope for is that we can have the opportunity to bring the connections, emotions, and lessons we’ve learned here back to our communities. We’ve learned that what we have accomplished here is beautiful. As Mother Theresa said, “We may not be able to do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” See you soon, Regan, Brooke, Camren, and everyone else here in Nicaragua**Don’t forget to pick us up in the international gate between 11:45 and 12:00. The one hour parking works well. Walk down the hallway and turn left–all international flights pass through there.

2/20/2010 – Saturday, February 20, 2010 in Nicaragua – Hello from Pochomil! It’s gorgeous here. We arrived at Hotel Vistamar today around 2:00 and we’ve been having a great time. Before we left Cantera, the group said our good-bye’s to Sophia as she left for California. The drive here took us about 2 hours; we made multiple stops along the way to hand out our extra TLHS El Hogar t-shirts to children filling holes along the road for tips. As we stopped to hand one boy a shirt, about 6 other small children flooded out of their small house and swarmed the bus. The looks on their faces were of pure joy as they received our gifts.

2/19/2010 – Friday, February 19, 2010 in Nicaragua – Dear families,  Today we spent our day at Lake Nicaragua with the eleven through fifteen year olds who are in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade. When we arrived at the school at 8 AM, we split up both our group and the kids into two buses. Our kids got the mingle and interact with the children for the two hour ride. They talked, sang, and played games. We then arrived in Granada, a colonial town, and made our first stop at the open air market. We walked around with the students, sharing ice cream and building new friendships. From there, we drove to Lake Nicaragua. We each took the students and the teachers on Nicaraguan barcos on a tour of the isletas. A highlight for all of us was visiting Monkey Island, a little isleta inhabited by monkeys that put on a little show for all of us swinging through the trees in hopes of being fed by some of the students. Afterwards we played a game of soccer and most of the younger kids and a few of the older kids went swimming in the lake. The lake is in the top five biggest in the world but where we waded it was shallow and warm. We then headed to the park for lunch and shared chicken meals from the restaurant Tip Top as well as mangoes off the surrounding trees. Kids continued to swim and learn new games. Our time at the lake was over so we drove over to an overlook of a crater lake, Caterina where we admired the views and said our last goodbyes until Monday.  The club members continued to a market where they finished all their gift shopping for a variety of Nicaraguan crafts. We said bye to James, the Pacific Sun photographer. We retuned to Cantera for dinner and went off to our nightly activities which include watching the Winter Olympics, playing cards, and packing for Pochomil tomorrow.  See you soon!  Regan and Alan

2/18/2010 – Tonight, families and friends of the N.S.C. students were able to connect live with them via ACN video phone technology from the Terra Linda High School library.  The N.S.C. students were playing hosts of El Hogar de los Ninos’ 2nd annual awards banquet for the Divino Nino school’s top achievers and citizens as they were treated to a special dinner for their families and given medals and plaques for their efforts this past school year.  As with last year’s event, the evening was broadcast live to California for folks to watch, and then briefly connect with their loved one’s at the end.  Here are a few photos:     

2/17/2010 – Wednesday, February 17, 2010 in Nicaragua – This morning we were out and about at 7:45.  When we arrived at the school we were ready for work.  After finishing two round with classes for art, music, health and PE, we were anxious to get back for lunch so that we could get ready to visit the orphanage.  We ended up almost 2 and a half hours with the kids and the sisters.  The kids ranged from 2 1/2 yrs through 14.  We dropped off loads of clothing, soaps, shoes and much more.  It was an amazing day for our kids as well as for the kids at both the school and orphanage.  Listening to our kids after the days events is what makes teaching all worth it.  –Phil DiGirolamo

2/15/2010 – Monday, February 15, 2010 in Nicaragua – We have had a wonderful, albeit, LONG day!  The students and teachers went to visit the children at El Divino Nino School.  We had a great plan to decorate finished letters and do name tags, however, the teachers at the school did not have time to complete the letters prior to our arrival.  Working with the new pre-schoolers was an interesting challenge.  Leah called working with the new preschoolers ‘crazy, but in a good way.”  Isabella and Chris did a tremendous job photographing the parents and students in ‘family portraits’ in the morning.  They also managed to do individual portraits of ALL the students, which will be used in the friendship frames. Sophia had a wonderful reunion with little Amy (who has grown a lot in the past year.)  After the school, we went on a little excursion around Managua.  We sat in the warm air, taking in the lake breezes and drinking sodas on the beach of lake Managua.  We stopped by the former center of Managua which was severely damaged by the civil war, earthquake and hurricane Mitch.  It was obvious that this colonial center was once very beautiful.  From our tour, we went to lunch at the conference center—the food here is GREAT!  We then had a meeting with Sister Diane, who works with the youth in Nicaragua.  She had some unbelievable stories of the life of the teens (2/3 of the Nicaragua population is under 25 years old, girls as young as 13 find themselves pregnant and don’t understand why–sexual reproduction is not allowed to be taught in the schools.)  After our visit with Sister Diane, we went shopping for art supplies for our lessons tomorrow.  It was odd visiting an ‘upscale’ mall after working with the poverty of our little students.  We were worried that our bill was going to be too much–but, suprisingly, it came to only $45 for a LOT of stuff.  After the mall, it was back to Cantera for dinner.  The food was delicious, again!  Following dinner we all worked on our lesson planning and material prep.  It’s after 10:00 p.m. Nicaraguan time, and we are just finishing up!  The morning will be here before we know it….so it’s bye for now.  We love and miss you all and we are having a wonderful time!

2/14/2010 - We have arrived in Nicaragua!  by Leah Guliasi - Greetings from Nicaragua!  We had a good flight and first day.  The weather is warm, but breezy so it’s not too hot.  The Nicaraguan teachers met us at the airport and drove in the truck next to us.  They were sitting in the back on top of three layers of suitcases!  Can’t do that in the states.  We arrived at Cantera and got our cabañas.  Nicole and Isabella say “this place is very peaceful and welcoming.”  We had a lunch of chicken, rice, and vegetables.  The staff is very friendly and happy we are back.  After lunch, we rested and then met with Mary Hartman (the woman in the video) and the teachers.  We had an afternoon snack… a traditional Nicaraguan snack of yuka and vinegar coleslaw.  After a nice dinner, we started organizing our activities for tomorrow.  Ms. Gatlin loves the sounds of the birds screeching and the geckos chirping.  Buenas noches for now!

2/11/10 - The Nicaragua Service Club held their annual “packing party” tonight in preparation for their departure on Feb 14th.  Hundreds of pounds of donated clothes, games, school supplies and more were packed into suitcases that will then be distributed amongst the members to check on-board the plane.  Taca’s baggage policy allows for each of the 23 people to check two bags up to 50pds each and they intend to maximize their allowances… Here are some photos!  

1/19/10 – The good folks at Moylan’s Brewery and Restaurant in Novato have been generous enough to help with the fundraising efforts of the Nicaragua Service Club by donating 10% of your total bill back to the club on Thursday, Feb 4th!

Simply click on the coupon below to open it in a new window, print the page and bring it in with you.  Give the coupon to your server and EAT AND DRINK UP!  The coupon works ALL DAY, from lunch right through dinner.

Visit their website for directions HERE!

C’mon, it’s for charity!  Please spread the word!

1/7/10 - Tonight the N.S.C. hosted a free screening of “Mi Corazon, Mi Sueño (My Heart, My Dream)” in the school library in their continued efforts to raise awareness (and money!) for their trip this February.  Many donations were received from the capacity crowd who all seemed to really enjoy the film and Question and Answer period that immediately followed.  Below are a few photos from the event:

11/16/09 - The Service Club made the news by way of Marin County’s Independent Journal this weekend. Click the photo below to read the article:

The Nicaragua Service Club at Terra Linda High School held their annual fundraiser dinner on November 6, 2010.  Many thanks to all whole participated and contributed in and way as the students are now that much closer to returning to Managua this Spring to work with the children.

Below are some photographs of the event courtesy of Brian Dettor Photography