My Volunteer Testimonial: Nicaragua, A Year in the Making

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I was asked to write something for the website. Here is my story. Please find it on the website:
www.nph.org
Go to Nicaragua at the top (flag)
Then go to volunteer testimonials on the right side

Michelle Jacobson
(USA) - English Teacher
23 May 2008 - Nicaragua

Known as Friends of the Orphans in the USA, the recruitment office in St. Paul actively sought me out while I was a senior in college. Planning to travel and serve abroad, I knew I had many paths. It was October 2006 and I had Spain in the back of my mind. Having recently returned from five glorious months over there, I had never considered serving in Central and South America, where Friends of the Orphans serves. I put it in the back of my mind and explored other options.

Time went by and I was overwhelmed by many options. I knew that at this moment, my life was like an open book and I could take my life anywhere I wanted to. Choosing on where to serve would have a profound impact on the course of my life. To help ease some of the expanse of the choices, I was grateful to have some connections representing organizations. One of them was my mother’s coworker. Shannon was a former volunteer to NPH Mexico, where she fell in love with her life and work. She was an immense help and answered many questions. She also introduced me to her friend who also volunteered in Mexico. Further, Shannon informed me of an NPH event where the kids from Mexico were performing. I gladly went and was able to meet the kids and the directors for NPH international. I still sought out other options with other non- profits.

It wasn’t until a vacation to the country that I had decided that Nicaragua was my country of choice. After all my research, I applied to 4 organizations, some of them schools, in Nicaragua specifically. It was July 2008 and all of my applications were in. I decided that the rest was up to God and me. Over the rest of the summer and especially the fall, I was introduced to extremely random people connected with either Nicaragua or Friends of the Orphans or NPH. One of them was a connection with my sorority sister, whose aunt was on the board of directors for NPH. Through my many temp jobs, I was introduced to more people connected with NPH. A co-workers sister was considering NPH in Guatemala and the two had a family friend actively involved with NPH. Through another job, I met the man responsible for creating the American insurance plans for American volunteers. Quite ironic. Through a temp job at the mall, I met a couple on the board of directors for NPH international and another woman whose son was the president of another non-profit in Nicaragua. Further, my Rotaract club and many other Minnesota Rotary clubs were active in Nicaragua at the moment. I guess you could say that the time was ripe for me to serve in Nicaragua.

After a few interviews with one school and also with NPH Nicaragua, I needed to decide. It was October 2007 and I officially decided NPH Nicaragua to be my new home for the next year. Reflecting back, I was awarded the country of choice and the job of choice as English teacher. Was it a divine intervention? Perhaps. All’s I knew was that I was going to be going to Nicaragua and that it would be the time of my life.

The night after New Years in Minneapolis, Minnesota was as cold as ever. I still remember the snow as my father drove me to the Minneapolis airport at 3 in the morning, January 2nd. I arrived in Managua, Nicaragua with none of my luggage just in time for lunch. Having only my sweat pants and a t-shirt, I hopped into the back of the NPH truck with 5 of the pequenos from Managua, the volunteer coordinator, and three other volunteers, all from Germany. Raul, the national director, was weaving in and out through the terrible Managua traffic and it couldn’t be hotter. I was in a totally different world from my peaceful and familiar home in cold Minnesota. This time around, Managua was at least a little bit familiar so the poverty didn’t strike me as hard. I was emotionally ready for it this time. We stopped for lunch at a typical Nicaraguan restaurant. I ordered the chicken and salad, not complete without chile. I asked one of the kids what it was like living in the orphanage in Managua (one of three homes in Nicaragua). Before he answered, he corrected me by saying that NPH was a family. He was surely right. I was giving my time to a family, not an orphanage. This served as the context for my time for the rest of the year.

After volunteer orientation and preparation, I started my role as English teacher in the primary school. This was exciting, as it was the first year a volunteer teacher would be incorporated into the school for the whole day and I would be forming a stronger relationship with the other teachers, who were all from Nicaraguan. Being the only gringa, I was a little scared. I still did not have the whole picture of how schools in Nicaragua functioned. Good thing I didn’t have to administer grades. In primary (2nd through 6th grade with some double classes for third and fourth grade combined), children don’t need to pass a foreign language in order to pass the year.

My time with the children in primary was both rewarding and difficult. I was given no curriculum, writing all lessons plans for 9 different grade levels. Originally having fewer students, the director of the school thought there was another volunteer. Finding out there was not, I told her to give me a full schedule, and a full schedule it was. I taught 6 classes, back to back, five days a week. The job was less than tranquil. However, I expected this to be a journey in the making. I really enjoyed giving these kids a skill that they could hopefully use one day for tourism purposes. While teaching them, I was introduced to the secondary aged girls, whose section I ended up joining for meals.

Sometime in March, the secondary school students, who originally met in a neighbor town, joined the school on site in NPH. This posed a problem, as there was a need for another English teacher. Unlike primary school, secondary aged students need a foreign language to pass the year. It could be a month before a new teacher came, so I made the difficult decision to teach them and leave my role as teacher for primary. It was also during this time that the whole school had to accommodate 75 new students. This meant changing offices. The team of psychologists and therapists and teachers had an office that became my new classroom and the team office was moved elsewhere. There were so many changed taking place within that week that it was a little bit overwhelming! However, that is what you have to do at NPH Nicaragua: adapt to a lot of things that make you uncomfortable.

Speaking about things that make you uncomfortable, there are a lot! I came to Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos (NPH) Nicaragua expecting to be stretched in ways that would challenge me. This couldn’t be truer. Every day, there is something that makes me uncomfortable, be it the insects in my bed, not having gas for cooking for a few days, the hot weather, the cold showers, the kids that will not listen to me, the coordinators or directors who unexpectedly leave, or the communication that went wrong. However, life is a big lesson and if you are not open to adapting to the ever-changing pace of life, especially here for me, it will only make your life more difficult. I have been learning this lesson every day.

I have been tested in ways since January that have made me adapt. There is no other way. The life here, especially given its remote location and the nature of the site as an orphanage, is hard and not everyone would be able to handle it. In the same day, you are really uncomfortable, completely frustrated, and outright happy. Your life is a roller- coaster and many volunteers experience equilibrium here: you give as much as you receive.

Even as all these changes have occurred, and at such late notice, I am in love with my enriching life on my paradise island. Having had at least some work experience outside of college, I can say that this is by far one of the most life changing and life- enriching experiences I have been apart of. Although life and work here is hard, it is close to my heart. That is what is most important. I have really learned how to love while also learning how to let go, as here you need to learn how to adapt quickly and be patient with the way things are run. Even in the hot May sun, making us all extremely tired, I do not want to sleep through any of these moments because I am realizing that a year whips by really fast. I am proud to call NPH my family in Nicaragua and look forward to planting more seeds, now especially with the older kids.


Michelle Jacobson
English Teacher

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