By Iris Graville
Special to the Weekly
It’s hard to imagine what it’s like to live and work in the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, but that’s just what small groups of Lopez High School Spanish students have done every other year since 2001. And because of the school’s long-standing connection with the students’ host, the Center for Development in Central America, the Lopez community has gotten to know about some of the realities of the struggles and victories of this small Central American country.
Later this month, Becca Mohally Renk from the CDCA will show slides to update the community about current issues and the organization’s work. Her presentation, “Another World is Possible… And Already Being Built in Nicaragua” is scheduled for Grace Church Social Hall on Monday, Sept. 23, at 7 p.m.; the event is free and open to the public.
Renk also will have Nicaraguan craft items and coffee available for purchase; all proceeds benefit the work of the CDCA.
Lopez students, staff, and chaperones have talked passionately over the years about the life-changing experiences they’ve had in Nicaragua working with the Center for Development in Central America. The CDCA is a project of the Jubilee House Community, a nonprofit organization that works in partnership with communities and cooperatives, enabling them to find their own solutions to the problems they identify and connecting them with resources to solve their problems. Located in Ciudad Sandino, the CDCA works in five main areas:
Sustainable Agriculture
Sustainable Economic Development
Health Care
Education
Appropriate Technology.
More information about the CDA is available at their website, http://jhc-cdca.org/.
The next Lopez High School trip to Nicaragua is scheduled for February 2015, and students are already gearing up for it with fundraising activities and language study.
“We’re excited to see Becca here on Lopez,” Spanish teacher Lisa Geddes says. “She and the entire CDCA make a big difference in the lives of Nicaraguans as well as students here in our own community.”
For more info, call 468-2602.
