Sample Article for the nph.org website The new volunteers for NPH 2008 arrived in early January with a grand welcome from Casa Santiago, Nica style. Although we came during vacations, there were many preparations being made for the beginning of the school year, which marks the start of many of the therapies and teaching the volunteers partake in. As the month passed by, the festivities of the first week finally arrived, pure Nica style. February 4 was that special day, the day many kids were anxiously waiting for. Others were sad that it marked the end of vacations. Their limitless free [View Full Entry]

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After the long week with the kids, it was time for a needed break, some group bonding time and for reflection. Yet before we go, we are offered a few surprises back on the range. Some former volunteers, actually from MN, Matt and his wife Rachel, come to visit for a week. The kids still remember them! Having met early in school, they went to college together, during which they took a break to serve with NPH for a year. They returned to the states to get married and finish their schooling. After that, they served another year with NPH. They [View Full Entry]

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My first week on the island has been particularly hard for me in many ways. It was my first week as a tia, or aunt, for a group of kids. We had nothing else planned, except for this. The day was wide open for this and the only structure was meal times. I chose the older boys, hoping they would be easy for me. And, they were...but almost too easy. My first day, I walked over to my boys. I didn’t even know who was in charge...apparently, they have a tio, or uncle, but I didn’t know who he was. Well, [View Full Entry]

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Leon was a great time. We went out salsa dancing, went to bars to hang out and enjoy each other’s presence, walked the city, and just relaxed. It was really nice to have this, for after our time in Leon, we would be split up into two different descansio (break) groups. Our group went through some fun times, including meeting the Australian woman who was solo traveling through Mexico and Nicaragua. Another fun memory we have was when one of our members had a terrible dream in the middle of the night and woke up everyone in the hostel. We still [View Full Entry]

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Love is not a feeling; it is a choice and a commitment. If I came here just on feeling, that would have faded...I chose to come here because I wanted to be committed to a country I have a passion for. It's funny how a week here did that. Solomente una semana! If I came here on a feeling, I would not have chosen the island, where I will be isolated from the rest of the country and from other people. However, that is where God was leading me, to the island. God often brings us out of our comfort zones [View Full Entry]

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My big day arrives. My last memories from the Unites States still linger in my head…a ver…it was New Years Eve, and I just finished babysitting for the Higgins, a family on Lake of the Isles. Although it is New Years, my evening is not that boring. I get to see luxury and abundance one last time before I leave the country. They get back around midnight and just as I walk out to my door to get something in my car, I hear fireworks in the distance. A beautiful lake and the memorable sound of fireworks synced together like vanilla [View Full Entry]

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Lots of thought has gone into deciding where to serve. About a year in the making! My thoughts on any trip started when I returned from Spain when I was a study abroad student. I knew that once I graduated, I wanted to serve oversees somewhere, but I did not know where. Early on in my senior year, I came across an organization, Friends of the Orphans, also known as Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos. I put the org. in the back of my mind...not knowing if I would serve with them. There were many fabulous organizations and then also deciding which country [View Full Entry]

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