Family trip planned for Spring Break, 2011

Based on the successful trip to Leon by MCDS families in 2009 (see News entry below), ViviendasLeon is planning a trip with Saint Marks families for 2011.

The itinerary includes homes stays or hotel stays, participation in a variety of development projects in a rural community and excursions throughout the Leon region.  Enjoy Holy Week in Leon, considered the best place in Nicaragua to witness the events of this religious holiday.

What one parent said about his family’s experience:  “… it was a great way to learn about, and see Nicaragua.  A far more enriching experience than a traditional tourist approach.  I believe it was enlightening for my children to see how fortunate they are.”

Join us for a unique educational experience this next spring holiday!

Leon Cathedral

A high school student trip is scheduled for this summer from July 14 to August 3.  Travel includes home stays in Leon, participation in rural development projects and excursions throughout the Leon region.

Applications are still being accepted for this trip.  Fees are $120 per day and include all expenses within Nicaragua, airfare is not included.

Click here to request an application or contact us at info@viviendasleon.org  We look forward to hearing from you!

A student at AMAN in Granada, Nicaragua.

Students and teachers from CAT returned this year to Granada to work with disabled youth and adults at the Asociacion Minusvalidos Artesania Nicaraguense or AMAN, a center for education and crafts.  During their stay, the students and teachers also traveled to Ometepe for a few days of relaxation.

The founders of AMAN, Ernesto Davila and Corinne Alfonso, envision a center for educating disabled people, providing meaningful employment through making handicrafts and providing training to teachers from other towns around Nicaragua who stay at AMAN to learn and then return to their home towns to set up their own programs.  AMAN is hoping to build a dormitory for some of the students as well as visiting teachers in training.   ViviendasLeon is working toward developing a partnership with AMAN to help them realize this goal.

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ISA students on top of Cerro Negro

A group of 6th and 7th grade students from International Studies Academy in San Francisco traveled with ViviendasLeon to take part in a week long trip focusing on the problems of drinking water in the developing world.  The students took part in projects in the rural community of Goyena, that included digging latrines for use by the primary school students, and building a part of the Community Center currently under construction.  The earth excavated from the latrines was used to build the walls of the Community Center.

The students also explored a nearby river used for crop irrigation and learned about the challenges this rural community faces in acquiring clean drinking water.

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Click here to see photos from the ISA archive

Friends students at the Cathedral, León Nicaragua

ViviendasLeon is pleased to announce a new partnership with the San Francisco Friends School.

A group of 27 seventh graders and four teachers traveled to Leon to immerse themselves in the culture of Nicaragua and participate in our ongoing development projects in Goyena.  Students worked on a latrine construction project for the primary and secondary school students.  The earth excavated was used to continue the construction of a community center near the school site.  The community center will ultimately provide a community kitchen, library, classrooms for adult education, an auditorium, clinic and offices.  These rooms will surround a tree shaded courtyard and a covered meeting space.

The students spent five days in Leon, then traveled to Lake Apoyo where they took part in an environmental program in the rain forest around the crater lake.

Click here for more photos of the trip

Click here for photos of the Community Center

Anna-Marie Gonzalez working on a chair project with students.

A group of students from Granite Bay High School, accompanied by students from other schools in the western United States, traveled on a two week trip to Leon, Nicaragua.  They participated in projects benefiting the rural community of Goyena, building classroom furniture and helping to construct a Community Center our of rammed earth.

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USF students on the construction site at Goyena

USF students returned this year to continue the construction of their project for a Community Center in the rural community of Goyena that was designed and begun the previous year.

During the course of the previous academic year, the students had worked on the design for a new youth center in Nagarote for the Norwalk Nagarote Sister City project.  Click her to see photos of the Youth Center

The students visited the site of the youth center in Nagarote to meet with the staff and students in the programs there.  They also visited the site of a new proposed project to design a community center for a rural community near the Honduran border, La Consulta, and to design a prototypical house that can be built using local materials and labor.

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CAT students travel to Granada, Nicaragua

For the second time in two years, CAT students traveled to Granada to work with disabled youth and adults at a school run by a non-profit organization, AMAN.  The school was started by a young couple to address the needs of disabled members of the Granada community who did not have a school that met their needs.  Students from CAT spent a week in the school working with the students there, making arts and crafts projects, some of which are sold in the local crafts markets.

The founders have a vision for the future; to bring teachers from around Nicaragua to train and then return to their home towns to start their own schools.  AMAN is now looking at the need for a dormitory building where visiting teachers and students can stay during their trainings.

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MCDS trip to Nicaragua a huge success!

A group of fifteen families traveled to Leon, Nicaragua over Spring Break to take part in a variety of community service projects in the rural community of Goyena.  Children ages 7 to 16 and their parents participated in projects ranging from earth construction to classroom furniture building to environmental art.  Afternoons were spent touring the city of Leon with its many churches, museums and cultural sites, in addition to hiking, an afternoon at the beach and an afternoon swimming and relaxing at a horse farm.

The community service projects are part of an ongoing development plan by ViviendasLeon to support the community of Goyena in its effort to improve their standard of living.  Information on the work being done in the community can be found on our website, www.viviendasleon.org.  MCDS is already planning another family trip for next year!
Click here to view photos.

USF Architecture students building their design for a Community Center

USF and ViviendasLeon inaugurated a program this year that brings architecture students together with international development projects in a new partnership benefiting rural communities.

Students work with ViviendasLeon during the academic year to design new buildings for rural communities in a traditional studio setting in San Francisco, then travel to Leon to construct the buildings they design side by side with rural community members.  This year students designed a community center that when finished will have adult education classrooms, an auditorium, clinic, offices, a library and kitchen, all surrounding a courtyard and large covered patio.  The project is expected to take a number of years to complete and will provide opportunities for future student groups of all ages to participate in the ongoing development in the community.

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