Students Visit Nicaragua
This past summer, seven Berkeley High students, all current seniors of the Community Partnerships Academy, traveled to Nicaragua for three weeks last summer to do humanitarian work. They went with eighteen other Bay Area students through a program called Global Glimpse, a non-profit organization based in San Francisco whose mission is to create “responsible global citizens.”
Each day of the trip, the students learned about a different topic that affected not only the life of Nicaraguans, but of the world at large. On Poverty Day, for example, the students had to live off of one dollar, which didn’t even cover their single meal of rice and beans, let alone electricity or plumbing. “That was the one day that we complained,” joked DeVonté Wallace.
These students were hand-picked by their CPA English teacher, Ariel Morris, for their leadership potential and academic performance. They received the chance to study abroad for a fraction of the usual cost. Tuition was mostly covered by scholarship, and ran from about $400-$500. “That’s a life experience that you can’t pass up,” explained Wallace.
In addition to presentations from the program, the students did community service twice a week and volunteered for local non-profit organizations. They also taught English classes to local residents, which was a highlight of the trip for many of the students. “The kids were funny and outspoken, they weren’t shy and would tease you,” said student traveler Maya Lefao.
Many commented on the openness and friendliness of the locals. “It was really heartwarming,” student Ethan Jones reflected.
But what was most shocking to them was the poverty, violence, and lack of opportunity that exists in developing nations, something the students experienced first hand. “Even people in poverty in the United States have access to basic needs,” Jones explained, “It makes you appreciate what you have, we’re spoiled.”
For the first time, these kids were exposed to people living without access to water or plumbing, entire families living in shacks in city dumps and shanty towns. This was eye-opening, even to those used to the roughest of parts of the Bay Area. “You can’t compare it,” Noah Brozosky said, “there, people can be killed without consequences.”
These difficult experiences ultimately left the students better off. They seemed genuinely touched by what they had experienced during their trip. “They [the impoverished families] were still happy,” said Brozosky, “they had potential but no means to succeed.”
All of the students who participated in the program hope to continue humanitarian work in the future. Lefao has continued to participate in fundraisers and has stated interest in starting her own non-profit organization to help Nicaragua in the future. “We made a small impact, but it was meaningful. There are plenty of ways you could help yourself and others at the same time” said Oliver Stolcke, who hopes to study abroad at some point.
Ariel Morris was equally pleased watching the effects of the trip on her students.
“We’re isolated, we only have one perspective, and during the trip I saw these students change 100% as people, grow as people” she commented. Although she won’t be leading another trip in the near future, she hopes that other teachers will become interested in taking their students abroad through the program.
There is no question whether Global Glimpse has succeeded in their goals for this trip. They opened student’s eyes to the world around them, and inspired them to learn how to further participate in helping others. “Once you go outside of your comfort zone, you really start to learn,” Brozosky stated, “that he world is bigger than you.”
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