Donahue Students Spend Spring Break Helping Poor in Nicaragua
Details
Published on Wednesday, 13 March 2013 14:24
Thirteen students from the Donahue Academy in Ave Maria chose to forgo the usual diversions of spring break to spend a week on a mission trip serving the poor in Nicaragua – the school's second such spring break trip. Donahue senior Peter Scheck wrote about what they did, and what it meant, for The Ave Herald.
By Peter Scheck
Sixteen of us from the Donahue Academy spent our spring break serving the poor in Nicaragua – about as far from Ave Maria and the usual spring break activities as one can imagine. We helped out at soup kitchens, shelters, orphanages and homes for the elderly and the disabled, helped with building and painting. It was the experience of a lifetime. Left: CJ Smith feeding an elderly woman dinner
Our group of 13 students, Sisters Teresa Benedicta and Victoria Maria, and AMU professor Dr. Tom Smith) landed in the capital of Managua around 3:30 a.m. on Friday, March 8. After just a couple hours of sleep (or not), our day started at a soup kitchen run by Carmelite Nuns we were staying with. The afternoon was spent at a home for the elderly, at which we put on a mini-talent show.
The next day was divided between a shelter for abused or endangered girls and a home for boys. For a few of us who made the trip last year, we saw many familiar faces, as well as many new ones. We returned to the boys' home (which is actually a farm) later in the week to paint the houses.
On Sunday, after Mass, we went to an orphanage/daycare run by an amazing woman known as Mama Carla. Right, Alexis Comden with children. We played some pretty intense rounds of "pato, pato, ganzo" (duck, duck, goose) and made many new friends. The following day we drove to the city dump which, sadly, serves as a home for many people. Later in the day we experienced Nicaraguan shopping culture at the Mercado in Masaya. We ended the day with construction work as we helped build a church.
We continued working on the church the next day as well, after going to a school for disabled children. Left, Joe Towey and friends. A few of us played soccer against some of the deaf kids, and we miraculously pulled off a tie. We ended the week on a more touristy note, hiking to the top of a volcano, and zip-lining back down. We also went to Granada, where we saw a beautiful church and picked up some last-minute souvenirs.
This experience deepened everyone's knowledge of the world. Nicaraguan culture is very different from ours, and we learned a great deal from it.
We found that although the people had almost nothing, they were far richer than any of us could ever hope to be. Most of the kids we encountered came from broken homes, and for them each day is a struggle for survival. They will never know the luxuries we have here in America. Yet what they do have is joy: that smile that comes only from having Christ's love in their hearts. We learned the value of human life – not only in regards to abortion, as is so often emphasized in this country, but also through the elderly we encountered, and whom some us even fed. We saw the pure happiness of the handicapped kids, and the overwhelmingly charitable nature of children who had nothing to give but a smile. This mission trip should serve as a reminder to everyone to count their blessings, and to remember that, in the words of Bl. Mother Theresa, "The measure of love is love without measure." Right: Danielle Nickless helps paint a future Church for the town of San Marcos, Nicaragua.
Below: left, Peter Scheck and friend; right, the students at the AMU Latin America campus.
Sixteen of us from the Donahue Academy spent our spring break serving the poor in Nicaragua – about as far from Ave Maria and the usual spring break activities as one can imagine. We helped out at soup kitchens, shelters, orphanages and homes for the elderly and the disabled, helped with building and painting. It was the experience of a lifetime. Left: CJ Smith feeding an elderly woman dinner
The next day was divided between a shelter for abused or endangered girls and a home for boys. For a few of us who made the trip last year, we saw many familiar faces, as well as many new ones. We returned to the boys' home (which is actually a farm) later in the week to paint the houses.
We continued working on the church the next day as well, after going to a school for disabled children. Left, Joe Towey and friends. A few of us played soccer against some of the deaf kids, and we miraculously pulled off a tie. We ended the week on a more touristy note, hiking to the top of a volcano, and zip-lining back down. We also went to Granada, where we saw a beautiful church and picked up some last-minute souvenirs.
know the luxuries we have here in America. Yet what they do have is joy: that smile that comes only from having Christ's love in their hearts. We learned the value of human life – not only in regards to abortion, as is so often emphasized in this country, but also through the elderly we encountered, and whom some us even fed. We saw the pure happiness of the handicapped kids, and the overwhelmingly charitable nature of children who had nothing to give but a smile. This mission trip should serve as a reminder to everyone to count their blessings, and to remember that, in the words of Bl. Mother Theresa, "The measure of love is love without measure." 
