jenns.world

I was so nervous about my 4 hour layover in El Salvador than the entire week trek in Nicaragua to build a school . It was my first time traveling outside America aside from my drives from Seattle to Vancouver Canada or the ferry rides to Victoria B.C. and my one trip to Mexico over 10 years prior. This was going to be different, a trip into Nicaragua – Central America – into a place that isn’t Americanized for tourists. I didn’t know how much English they would know, or if they would even be accepting of this blonde American woman. At least in Nicaragua the rest of the group would be there in the same boat I was in with regards to the language barrier, but El Salvador I was on my own. Friends tried to ease my anxiety by saying things like “You’ll be int he airport, and most people speak English in airports.” or “Don’t worry, the signs will be in Spanish and English too. You will be fine.” So I eased myself into this with the sa...

As Sandra walked into the kitchen the morning of our last day on trek wearing her backpack strutting proudly that’s when it hit me. We weren’t there just to see how other people live, or to experience another country, but to build a school so that Sandra and Maria can get the education that most of us Americans take for granted. The Community of Las Mercedes The community we visited is roughly a 2 hour drive from Managua, Nicaragua and is nestled among the coffee plantation of Las Mercedes. The coffee grown there is sold to roasters and distributors around the world.  The community is made up mostly of the workers on the plantation and their families. In addition to the workers, a local farm and small coffee grower nestled within the larger plantation lives there along with his extended family. The farmer and his family welcomed most of our group into their homes while one of the workers provided food and shelter to my Husband and myself for the few nights we were there. The...

I have a lot of time to kill while traveling to Nicaragua this very late evening earlier than normal morning. So why not spend some of that time live blogging my adventures? Here’s how this is going to go down. I’ll start with this post and come back and update it as much as I can throughout the trip. I’ll be sure to timestamp each entry so can read this later and have a sense of when it was updated. And… because I am attempting this from my tablet (I left my computer at home) you are going to promise to forgive any typos. The trip started with a day of last minute fixes and purchases. My battery on my phone isn’t charging so I bought two new ones yesterday. Last night not one battery was charging. I hit the T-Mobile store first thing and purchased a new charger hoping that was the problem. When I got home I plugged the phone in and one of the new batteries was charged in a matter of an hour. Phew… I started packing up my bag. First by laying all of m...

I Get to Build a School in Nicaragua The past several months my Husband has been working with buildOn and the Nicaraguan Embassy to obtain a Visa for one of the students joining us on the trek. In addition, the other student has been working to get her Passport renewed. In the interim, we have been waiting for our flights to officially get booked until both students would for sure be able to go. Unfortunately the one student couldn’t get her passport renewed in time, and won’t be joining us. However, last night he finally managed to get more hope that the visa will happen, and as a result our flights have officially been booked. Shy Girl Gets Brave Yup, that’s right! It’s officially official. My flight leaves at 1:00 am (pst) on Sunday August 18, 2013. While the students are flying out of Seattle, WA through Miami, FL I get the pleasure of flying out of San Francisco, CA through San Salvador. I say “get the pleasure” in an ironic sort of sarcastic way...

In May of this year, just around the time my life was turned upside down, I presented with the opportunity to travel to Senegal Africa. I was so excited. I immediately started a grass roots campaign to raise $4,000 ($2,000 for the school and roughly $2,000 for my travel expenses) in just 4 short weeks to help build a school so that I could go. In the months to follow I managed to clear myself of Cervical Cancer, successfully run a conference, raise roughly $900 of the money needed for the school, and continue working a full time job with ADP so that my salary could go to the remainder of what was needed for the school. I had found just a few months ago that the group I am going with to Senegal was not ready for their trip – so I am being placed with another group going to Nicaragua. To Build a School in Nicaragua In addition to my passion for Africa and the people that live there, I am a huge animal lover. Not the kind of animal lover that hoards cats or dogs (though I have been c...