Fredrica Gwyan in Nicaragua

This summer, I traveled to Nicaragua to build a school for Village kids who had never had a learning opportunity. After arrival, our rickety bus journey from Managua to the village was plagued with heavy rain and delays and took nearly 2 days. The bus we rode on looked and felt like it was 1000 years old. We drove through villages and towns on high mountains over bad roads. We had to adjust ourselves on the bus so that one side didn’t make the bus flip over.

We arrived in the village on the 26th of June with excitement in our eyes only to learn there remained a two-hour hike mountain hike ahead of us before we would reach the village. We were greeted with a warm welcome. Our daily schedule involved us working for four hours and cultural lab for another 4 hours. Later in the evening we had family time with our host family and friends.

Our first day of work began with the digging of holes for a fountain.  On the second morning I carried sand and shoveled sand up and down the mountain. Carrying sand was the hardest work we did. On the third day we carried the bricks that were made from the sand. I carried sand and bricks for a couple of days while others dug holes, mixed gravel and cement. At the completion of the fours hours we each day we attended different workshops about the local economy which included a tobacco and coffee factories.

We taught the kids English while they thought us Spanish, and we met a veteran of the civil war that divided the nation in the 1980's. I learned how to say the basic greeting and questions. Later at night we all gathered together, because it got so dark. We told stories in English which our translators related in Spanish. 

On the last day of work, I felt as if the world was coming to an end. I volunteered with another girl to hike up the mountain to get a metal bar that was about 25 felt long 4 feet wide.  What I didn’t know about the hike was the fact it was two hours there and back. Because there were only two girls we had no one to switch off with when we became tired.  We hiked for an hour till we finally got there. We rested for 10 minutes and started back again on the hike with metals on our heads. As we got half way through the hike I began to cry. I cried out loud with sweat running down from every part of my body. At that point, I wanted to quit and have a boy come up and complete the hike. Instead I refused to give up; I hiked about a quarter of the way and rested again. In order to complete the last quarter of the way I started to imagine the purpose of this project. I started to ask myself these questions. Who is it helping? How happy are these children going to be? How these experiences change my attitude from the way I view the world? Are my friends and family going to be proud? That’s when it hit me; I realized the change I am making. I realized my service to the world. My service to myself is all part of why I pick this as my gradation project.

Daniel's Trip to Guatemala

July 26th -August 4th

My trip to Guatemala was a life changing one. We traveled all over the country, visiting historic sites, memorials, and markets, churches, everywhere possible. One of the coolest places we went to was Antigua, which is Spanish for old, or antique. In Antigua, we visited El Catedral Nacional, or the National Cathedral. We saw the history of the church, and got a brief glimpse of how the Spanish serve mass. It’s pretty similar to our masses in America, except our masses are a little more formal, whereas theirs are energetic and musical. We also went to Jades S.A., a jade factory in Antigua. Guatemala is one of the largest producers of jade in the world, apart from Japan. Upon visiting El Archo, a large arch marking the entryway to the older parts of Antigua, we went to the marketplace, where we bargained for what we brought. The black sand beaches were one of the best parts. The sand was a glorious, velvety black, not dirty, but kind of like volcanic sand. The waves were huge, climbing higher than 15 feet. During the day, we stayed at the Cendec Center in Chimaltenango, where we first met our Guatemalan friends. With them, we helped kids in an orphanage brush their teeth and keep good hygiene habits, we shopped a little, visited some restaurants, and climbed a volcano, among s t other fun activities. I never thought I could bond with people as fast as I did.