by Lisa Wells

I didn’t really want to volunteer. This was supposed to be a “Me” trip: “Me” eating Gallo Pinto, “Me” getting a tan, “Me” flirting with 22-year olds. But as it turns out, I am either conditionally or genetically “mal-equipped” for hedonism and after two weeks my ‘early to bed early to rise’ blue-collar rearing came to kick my butt out of bed. I wrote home desperately about my winter away: “There is no doubt we backpackers face a fate worse than death, the useless limbo of privilege, the numbing repetition…” My paradise sun and its perpetual noon had become the lamp of an interrogator. (more…)

by Sara Murphy 

Can real estate investors “do well” while “doing good”?  Can local communities in Nicaragua benefit from the massive growth in real estate investing in the country?  Is there a sweet spot where charitable initiatives increase investment return and social welfare at the same time? (more…)

by Robin Hooper

Since its inception, the photographic image has changed the way society views itself. That frozen moment in time, captured through a camera lens has led to radical shifts in societal attitudes and beliefs. One such moment captures an image of a group of children running down a road, soldiers in the background, at center frame a nine-year-old Vietnamese girl, naked, her mouth agape, screaming in agony as napalm eats down through her skin. The photo by AP photographer Nick Ut went on to win a Pulitzer Prize, and like much of the filmic work documenting the Vietnam War, contributed to a groundswell of US opposition to the conflict.

by Greg Bowles

A journey into the region where Sustainable Harvest International of Nicaragua works has a heart of darkness aspect. The goal: to bring forth a certain sort of light in the form of teaching about sustainable agriculture and promoting reforestation in an area hard hit by rampant slash-and-burn practices.

Just to reach the work area takes the better part of a day, first by boat leaving the Atlantic Coast city of Bluefields onto open ocean before turning into the mouth of the Kukra River. At that point, the jungle overgrowth becomes a long hallway along which the boat navigates inland, the sun occasionally blotted out by a canopy of leaves closing the sky overhead. My wife, Mercedes and I accompanied the SHI staff on a trip to understand both the work SHI does and the conditions of that work.

by Rebecca Love

The majority of tourists to Nicaragua visit the main hotspots of Granada, San Juan del Sur, León and Managua. These are relatively affluent areas of Nicaragua; it can sometimes be difficult to understand how Nicaragua is one of the hemisphere’s poorest nations.  As a translator with a VOSH (Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity) group of doctors and volunteers in the Rivas department of Nicaragua in January, I came to witness some of the human consequences of poverty.

Hordes of people arrive for examinations (wearing their best clothes) after having walked for several hours in extreme heat. They will likely have crossed various rivers and will often have to wait for several hours.  They wait extremely patiently, are nothing but courteous and polite, are very grateful. The looks of wonder on their faces when they can suddenly see again after maybe years of partial blindness make all the hard work totally worthwhile.

by Eric Weisenberger & Shelley Morrison

The organization La Esperanza Granada (LEG), in Granada Nicaragua, has been providing opportunities and resources for the long-term educational advancement and community development of four Nicaraguan pueblos: La Prusia, Elba Zamora, La Epifania and Las Camelias; in hopes of brightening the future of the children and empowering the pueblos to improve their current living conditions.  Through the concern and the vision of several caring individuals, there is enough hope to help these pueblos in a time of need. 

by Juan Carlos and Oscar
as told to Waves Magazine

Two young men… two stories of difficult pasts, a stable present, and a promising future.

Twenty year old Juan Carlos Mejia Valle  and Oscar Arnulfo Lopez, age 17, never knew each other during their young lives on the streets, drug addicted and allied with gangs. But each found his separate way to a small project called Café Chavalos where they now experience a new “high”…the joy of cooking and the pride of serving the public.

CafeChavalos is more than a restaurant. As one student says, “It’s a family of brothers.”

by Cheryl Serra

The students in Louisa Amanda Sanchez’s class at Escuela Victor Manuel are using their imaginations more since the San Juan del Sur Biblioteca Movil mobile book project arrived at the school, bringing books to many students who previously had none.  “These students especially like the picture books,” Sanchez says, “because they are able to create elaborate stories based on the pictures.”

Sanchez has taught at the school, located in San Juan del Sur, for the past seven years. Prior to the arrival of the library’s mobile book project, there were no books for students in Ms. Sanchez’s class. Students would copy everything they learned from the notes she wrote on the blackboard.

For as many foreigners as you meet in San Juan del Sur, you’ll find as many stories and lifestyles. Five years ago, Jean Brugger made San Juan del Sur her home, along with setting the goal of promoting education and employment. Formerly a nurse from St. Louis, Missouri, Brugger toured Central America twice before deciding on Nicaragua.

Brugger had developed great admiration and affection for the people of the region and wanted to find a way to assist them in solving some of the serious problems they live with daily. The longer she stayed, the clearer it became that jobs and education would be the areas of most importance for helping. Brugger created the Fundación A. Jean Brugger, also known as The A. Jean Brugger Education Project, with Chris Berry in 1999.

by Donna Tabor

Nine year old Omar had never held a crayon before. His teacher, a Canadian volunteer, was surprised to learn that he didn’t know the color red. Nor did he know blue, green, or the other hues in his Crayola box.

Moises, 16, was only a few steps ahead. He knew colors, but he didn’t know how to read. That wasn’t surprising. He had lived on the streets for five years, estranged from his family that was ruled by an abusive grandfather. Following an all-too-common path, Moises became an addicted glue sniffer while on the streets, and his school years passed him by.

Omar and Moises now are students at Quinta Los Chavalos, a day school for 21 boys from surrounding barrios, and a residence for five others.

A steady stream of volunteers and professional teachers has started to make subtle changes in the lives of the boys. Moises can now sound out words syllable by syllable. Omar loves to color, paint, and create anything from nothing.