Thinking back on Nicaragua...

Over the summer, I went to Nicaragua with the education department at the University of North Georgia. The study abroad trip required me to get a passport as I had never left the United States before this past May. On the 18th, we flew into Managua, Nicaragua and prepared ourselves for two weeks of mission work and teaching. I never would have known how broken education is in our world if I had never felt a calling to go there. The children living in El Chunco, a village created after families were relocated from living in the trash dumps in Managua, had no desire or motivation to attend school. Public education was so broken and students only had minimal knowledge of math and reading. Where was the science?! Where was the desire to inquire and question the world around them? I didn't understand. I couldn't understand. How would these children ever learn to wonder if they were never taught how to question? I've thought about this often lately, I keep having flashbacks to the children I met in Nicaragua. Seeing students who lack motivation, who have yet to find their desire to learn, who don't know how to actively seek knowledge broke my heart there just like it does here. How different the world would be if they found a passion. The most powerful moment I experienced in Nicaragua was spent breaking down and crying in frustration after walking out of a classroom observation. The students were told answers rather than instructed to find them on their own. It was detrimental in my eyes and it broke my heart. That moment made me realize that all I want to do is help students like these. I want to be their inspiration when they have none. I want to inspire in them a desire to set out for answers on their own. The students I see each day are given the opportunities unlike the children I met in Central America. I hope to be one of the positive influences these students experience this school year. Knowing I can do this here, in a small town in Georgia, just might convince me that I can make a difference in Nicaragua or maybe somewhere completely different one day. All I know is, nothing felt worse than seeing Nicaragua out my airplane window.
"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,Nothing is going to get better. It's not." - Dr. Seuss