First Steps to Cultural Understanding for US Teens

Special thanks to the Wisconsin/Nicaragua Partners student chapter for continuing their exceptional planning efforts and clearly demonstrating their desire to stay involved with the youth projects.  The photos below are from a packing day at the Stevens Point W/NP warehouse in preparation for an upcoming shipment.  The group of students from SPASH (Stevens Point Area Senior High School) came out to learn about what happens after someone donates an item for Nicaragua.  There is a fine tuned process in place that assures every donation sent from the Stevens Point warehouse in Wisconsin, travels 2,350 miles ending up in Managua, Nicaragua ready to be delivered to the intended recipients.  For example, the AAUW (American Association of University Women) Wausau chapter put together a collection of teacher backpacks for educators in Nicaragua.  The backpacks were filled with items that would be helpful to a teacher (pencils, pens, paper, scissors, markers, stickers, flash cards and paper clips).  Each backpack was marked with a pink or orange ribbon as a flag to the staff in Nicaragua, that this donation is designated for a teacher rather than what would normally go to a student, teachers need support too!  The students (joined by their teachers too who had collected and shared their teaching resources) unloaded and packed the AAUW backpacks along with the backpacks and school supply items they had collected for students and schools in Nicaragua.  Only a couple weeks after the packing day, the items departed via 40 ft. container from Stevens Point and arrived June 6, 2012, to Nicaragua.