Arts for Hope Camp

In the beginning of December I had the opportunity to participate in an Arts for Hope camp for children living in extreme poverty in Chinandega, Nicaragua.  The camp used the methodology of Build a Bridge, a faith-based organization that seeks to use the arts in processes of healing and building emotional skills.  A fellow volunteer who had participated last year told me about it, so I jumped at the chance to learn more when I realized Build a Bridge would be in Nicaragua again.  Because they were short of hands, I was able to assist a teacher named Iskra with Rhythm class. 

Preparation for the camp classes began in November with a workshop about planning art, choir, rhythm, crafts and dance lessons that reach the four main objectives of Build A Bridge: academic learning, community building, spiritual values and artistic expression.  For example, using what we learned in the workshop, Iskra and I brainstormed to choose songs and games that would help the kids learn about musical notation and note values, learn to work together, be inspired with hope, and perform in the presentation at the end of the week.

Each afternoon, 60 kids from three marginalized communities arrived at the church in a battered old school bus.  Our rhythm class was held under a tent set up in the dirt parking lot.  The instruments we used were our clapping hands and shakers made from plastic bottles and gravel.  Our dozen students ranged in age from 6 to 12 years old.  It was a delight to get to know the kids just a bit during the three days I was with them.  I saw the most timid ones overcome some of their shyness, and the most boisterous ones calm down slightly as we formed relationships of mutual respect and got better at planning the pace of the lessons. 

It was an enriching experience for kids and teachers alike, and I hope to apply some aspects of the methodology in English class this year.

For more information about Build A Bridge, visit their site at http://www.buildabridge.org/

For more information about the Nehemiah Center, through which the camp was organized, go to http://www.nehemiahcenter.net/English/index.asp

The Story of Stuff

Check out this informative and engaging video on where all our stuff comes from and what happens to it when we throw it out.

The Story of Stuff

Photos from the Cierre Cultural

On Saturday the CCBN celebrated its students and their accomplishments of the past year with the closing cultural show. Dance, music, painting, and theater made up the program. Here are some pictures:

30th Anniversary of the Four Churchwomen Martyrs in El Salvador

Today we remember Ita Ford, Dorothy Kazel, Maura Clarke, and Jean Donovan, four U.S. churchwomen who were brutally killed for accompanying the poor on December 2, 1980, in El Salvador. Maura Clarke had worked in Nicaragua and was a friend to Sister Margarita of the CCBN.

Speaking about her accompaniment, Ita Ford said, "Am I willing to suffer with the people here, the suffering of the powerless, the feeling impotent? Can I say to my neighbors I have no solutions to this situation; I don't know the answers, but I will walk with you, search with you, be with you. Can I let myself be evangelized by this opportunity? Can I look at and accept my own poorness as I learn it from the poor ones?"

Check out this article from National Catholic Reporter for more about their lives and deaths.

VMM Newsletter

Check out Volunteer Missionary Movement's latest newsletter. Be sure to look on page 3 for past volunteer Christine Ruppert's perspective on transitioning back to life in the U.S.

VMM Annual Report 2010

Jesuit Martyrs

Here's a great article by Dean Brackley giving a more detailed account of the death of the Jesuit martyrs in El Salvador in 1989.

Wednesday Game Night

For the past three months I have been hosting Wednesday Game Night at my house for some of the neighborhood children. Realizing that I’ve made quite a few younger friends, but that I also need to get work done during the day, I decided to devote my Wednesday evenings to numerous rounds of Bruja (Old Maid), Hens and Chicks, and Go Fish. However, these sessions have turned into much more than just learning to play fair. They have fostered theological discussions, gender debates, and even crazy dance parties.


About a month ago, Brisa (7), Daniella (9), Alondra (8), and Emily (6) were sitting on my porch playing Hens and Chicks. I can’t remember how the conversation started, but somehow we ended up discussing whether or not the devil really exists. Each girl was falling out of her seat trying to get everyone’s attention in order to express her opinion. They started raising their hands, and I tried to organize them into some sort of order. We practiced listening and responding to each other’s comments, and we heard everything from the traditional Catholic story of the fallen angel to the argument that the devil doesn’t exist because we can’t see him to a discussion of evil in the world and if/how we each pray about it. (Keep in mind I wasn’t instigating any of these comments because I was too busy trying to maintain some order). It was pretty incredible to hear some of the arguments being made and personal stories being shared, but I think what struck me most was how eager each girl was to participate. Sometimes one girl would just repeat what another girl said, or say something that really wasn’t very coherent, but even if she wasn’t following the topic, she wanted to have her say. I hope these girls always fight to have their voices heard.

VMM and Vigil in El Salvador

About two weeks ago Greta and I had the opportunity to travel to El Salvador to visit our fellow VMM volunteers and attend the annual vigil commemorating the Jesuit martyrs killed in 1989 at the Central American University (UCA). I had a great time hanging out with the volunteers, visiting some of their project sites, and attending the vigil.

I arrived in San Salvador Thursday afternoon, and after a long and sleepy bus ride was thankful for the opportunity to hang out at Stephen’s house. Stephen, our Central American Missions Coordinator, lives in Las Palmas, a favela-like community in San Salvador where he volunteers as a catechist with the local Catholic Church. Walking around Las Palmas felt so different than walking around a barrio in Managua. Houses stacked on top of each other and narrow, winding passages create a labyrinth I got lost in.

Friday I spent the day at Passionist Social Services (SPSS), where Maggie, a volunteer I attended orientation with, is part of the non-violence department and works with children. She does a variety of activities, including teaching English, tutoring, parent formation, and workshops. In the morning we went to English class, where a new group of students learned the basics of greetings and practiced their number pronunciation. In the afternoon, Maggie facilitated a culture of peace workshop with about 30 children ranging in age from three to twelve years old. Maggie told the story of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes and taught us how to make our own peace cranes. It was fun to work with the kids on origami; they understood Maggie’s instructions better than I did!



Friday night I attended a Celebration of the Word at the New Dawn Association of El Salvador (ANANDES), where Olivia, a new volunteer, oversees a scholarship program. Her responsibilities include managing its finances, maintaining contact with donors and families, and providing continuing education for students and their parents. The service I attended was celebrated in the style of the ANANDES founders, and included readings, lots of singing, and commemoration of loved ones who have passed away.

Saturday I spent all day at the UCA experiencing the annual vigil I have heard so much about. The event commemorates the murder of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her daughter in 1989 during El Salvador’s twelve-year civil war. The Jesuit theologians, writing from the perspective of the poor, were considered dangerous by the conservative Salvadoran government because of their willingness to speak out against oppression. Early on the morning of November 16, 1989, the U.S.-backed Salvadoran military invaded their home on the campus of the UCA and forced the priests onto the front lawn to kill them. Shooting them in the head symbolized the desire of those in power to end what they viewed as the intellectual force behind the revolutionary forces. The international community responded with outrage, marking the beginning of the end of the war in El Salvador, where the government was finally pressured into signing peace accords in 1992. The celebration consists of a soccer tournament for youth during the day, the making of alfombras, or carpets, made from dyed salt and representing themes of liberation theology, and of course the vigil itself, which includes a candlelight procession, Mass, and various concerts.

My favorite alfombra depicted Jesus taking a campesina (rural) woman down from a cross.

Sunday was my last day in El Salvador, and I spent it relaxing with the other volunteers. We had a community brunch in the morning and talked about “VMM business” and about our experiences in mission. I always feel so renewed after sharing with the VMM community because I am reminded how many others are living cross-culturally and hoping and working for a different world.

English Essays

Last week our English students handed in their Level 4 essays, and I was impressed with the thoughtful organization of their essays’ structures and the powerful themes they chose to write about. One of the topic choices for the assignment was “Life Changes,” as we had recently been learning grammar for before-and-after situations. Here is an example of an essay, unedited, written by one of our older female students:

About three years ago my life changed dramaticaly. I used to live with my husband and didn’t ever let me go anywhere. I didn’t talk with anyone because he didn’t want me to, but I decided to separate from him. But it hasn’t been because he didn’t want to separate from me.

Finally, he left my house. I have always had problems with him, but they’re less than before. Now I live better than before because I feel quiet and less stressed, and my health is better. Now during the day I can work in my house, I can go everywhere, I can study English or do other things.

I really feel better because before I always had been shut in my house. I never talked with anyone, I never visited my family, I never had any activities like go to a party and go to my hairstilist or visit my friends. I lived like a slave, but finally I am really happy because feel really free.

Kermes 2010

At 9am the activities were just starting to pick up momentum.  The small parking lot in front of the CCBN had been emptied of cars and the dozen or so spaces filled with tables of students selling food and drinks.  Reggae ton music blared from loudspeakers on the stage and children began to line up for face painting.  Mothers from the neighborhood made a much longer line to enter the teachers’ lounge, which had been converted into a yard sale of donated second hand shoes, backpacks and clothing.  Behind the scenes, in the theater classroom, kids, teenagers, and even a few adults prepared for the cultural activity of dance and music, for which tickets were sold at $0.35 apiece.

The CCBN holds a Kermes (sounds like care-MESS), or fair, every year on Independence Day (September 15^th) to raise money.  Each class donates a food or drink to sell, with proceeds going to the center’s scholarship program.  Students often contribute small change for months in advance in order to save up the funds to buy ingredients for traditional dishes such as baho, tacos, enchiladas, sopa de albondigas, carne asada, etc.  Each class decides who will take turns buying ingredients in the market, cooking, and selling on the big day.  Scholarship students work as setup and cleaning crews, sell raffle tickets, and helping with games for the kids. 

Last year, Amanda and I spent the morning hanging out with our English students selling tacos.  This year, however, we were busy preparing for the cultural event as part of the adult Latin rhythms dance class.  This meant reviewing choreography, putting on makeup, attaching the long yarn braids used in traditional Nicaraguan folkdance, putting on more makeup and stepping into the traditional full skirts and blouses, and of course, adding the finishing touches on the makeup.  The class had a lot of fun performing a folk dance and then doing a quick costume change before presenting the Wacka Wacka song by Shakira.  Other performing groups included the various levels of folk dance for youth and small ensembles from the CCBN orchestra.  It was a standing-room-only event and the audience thundered with applause and whistles after each number, friends and family of the performers snapping pictures and waving. 

The Kermes was a success.  Although the numbers are still out on total funds raised and number of people who attended, activities unfolded smoothly.  Pulling off an event like this is no small feat, and Ingrid, the CCBN receptionist and longtime choir member, and Mildred, Level III Basic Adult Education teacher, did a great job organizing everything.  Santos, Cándido, Antonio, and Ansony, did hours of heavy lifting to move furniture around to accommodate the various activities and bring in boxes of donated clothing and toys for the bazaar.  The administrative team and teachers worked hard to make sure that every last detail had been taken care of.  And on the day of the Kermes itself, friends and family of students and people from all over the neighborhood poured in through the gates to enjoy the festivities.  

The Butterfly Circus

They were all losers until one man discovered them.  

Check out this short film about community and finding your gift.

http://www.thedoorpost.com/hope/The%20Butterfly%20Circus/

Join Us!

We are now accepting applications for volunteers beginning the summer of 2011! Click on the "Apply" page above to find a description of the position and the application. Let us know if you have any questions!