Community Service: Kid's Camp in Nicaragua
This past week, I had the amazing opportunity to go to Nicaragua on a mission trip. We left on November 11 and returned November 18. During those 7 days, I had one of the greatest experiences of my life and had the chance to serve some very sweet kids. During this trip, our team hosted a children's camp. The kids who attended this camp were children who are sponsored by people here in America to have food and resources and to go to school. This sponsorship program is set up through a ministry called NewVision International Ministries, which was founded and is operated by Janey and Eddie Lane, a couple who attends the same church as I do. These kids were (first of all, adorable,) kind, caring, and willing to serve. Even though I did not speak the same language as the kids, I bonded with them over the activities of the camp.
The camp was in the middle of nowhere. It was about 40 minutes outside the city of Managua, the capital of Nicaragua and a very beautiful city. The rest of Nicaragua is very poor. Most people live in villages with one room houses that usually have dirt floors and occasionally do not have a roof. Nicaragua is a third-world country and it is very humbling to see how Nicaraguans live, and how generous and compassionate they are. Being in Nicaragua was an experience very different than being in America.
Each day at the camp, the children would wake up very early and come and wake up the mission team. From early in the morning until late in the evening, all that those kids wanted to do was play soccer. Or baseball. Or basketball. Or any kind of sport you can think of. All of the Nicaraguan kids are very good at soccer, and it is a very big sport down there. We ate breakfast at about 8. Nicaraguans eat A LOT of rice and beans. They also eat plantains, which are kind of like bananas. We usually ate them fried, and they looked and tasted like potato chips. They also eat chicken a lot. The food was pretty good, but I was definitely ready for a cheeseburger when we got back to the United States. After breakfast was a small devotion where one of the team members spoke about a passage in the Bible. Afterwards, the kids did a rotation. One of the activities the kids had was crafts, which was where I helped all week. We made all kinds of fun crafts, and the kids really seemed to enjoy it. Many of the kids were very artistic, and most of them were very creative in how they did things. Another activity was games. A couple of the guys on our team had lots of fun games to play with the kids, including water games on the last day (which the kids loved). Apparently I made for a good target for all the water balloons and buckets. The kids also went out from the camp for 2 of the days, and went to a sort of nursing home. They visited with old folks and were so willing to serve. Even with so little to offer, those kids were very willing to serve others. After the activities, we would eat lunch and then swim in the swimming pool for 3 hours. They absolutely loved the pool because for most of them, that was the first time they had been in one. After swimming, dinner was at 5:30. After dinner was worship time and something called the "Mingo and Gringo Show," which was like a little game show we did to let the kids come up and participate in small games to where they could win prized. The kids adored this part of the day. After worship, we had a unique activity every night. Two nights we watched a movie, one night we had a graduation celebration for the kids graduating high school, and other similar activities. This was my favorite part of the day because we got to wind down finally after very long days.
This trip was amazing. It opened my eyes to how blessed I am, and allowed me to make true friendships with people who didn't even speak the same language as me. It was a great honor to go serve these kids for a week, and I will be going back in June to do it again.
The camp was in the middle of nowhere. It was about 40 minutes outside the city of Managua, the capital of Nicaragua and a very beautiful city. The rest of Nicaragua is very poor. Most people live in villages with one room houses that usually have dirt floors and occasionally do not have a roof. Nicaragua is a third-world country and it is very humbling to see how Nicaraguans live, and how generous and compassionate they are. Being in Nicaragua was an experience very different than being in America.
Each day at the camp, the children would wake up very early and come and wake up the mission team. From early in the morning until late in the evening, all that those kids wanted to do was play soccer. Or baseball. Or basketball. Or any kind of sport you can think of. All of the Nicaraguan kids are very good at soccer, and it is a very big sport down there. We ate breakfast at about 8. Nicaraguans eat A LOT of rice and beans. They also eat plantains, which are kind of like bananas. We usually ate them fried, and they looked and tasted like potato chips. They also eat chicken a lot. The food was pretty good, but I was definitely ready for a cheeseburger when we got back to the United States. After breakfast was a small devotion where one of the team members spoke about a passage in the Bible. Afterwards, the kids did a rotation. One of the activities the kids had was crafts, which was where I helped all week. We made all kinds of fun crafts, and the kids really seemed to enjoy it. Many of the kids were very artistic, and most of them were very creative in how they did things. Another activity was games. A couple of the guys on our team had lots of fun games to play with the kids, including water games on the last day (which the kids loved). Apparently I made for a good target for all the water balloons and buckets. The kids also went out from the camp for 2 of the days, and went to a sort of nursing home. They visited with old folks and were so willing to serve. Even with so little to offer, those kids were very willing to serve others. After the activities, we would eat lunch and then swim in the swimming pool for 3 hours. They absolutely loved the pool because for most of them, that was the first time they had been in one. After swimming, dinner was at 5:30. After dinner was worship time and something called the "Mingo and Gringo Show," which was like a little game show we did to let the kids come up and participate in small games to where they could win prized. The kids adored this part of the day. After worship, we had a unique activity every night. Two nights we watched a movie, one night we had a graduation celebration for the kids graduating high school, and other similar activities. This was my favorite part of the day because we got to wind down finally after very long days.
This trip was amazing. It opened my eyes to how blessed I am, and allowed me to make true friendships with people who didn't even speak the same language as me. It was a great honor to go serve these kids for a week, and I will be going back in June to do it again.
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