By Heather Myrick, Events Manager
As an integral part of my Master’s in Social Entrepreneurship and Change program at Pepperdine University we are required to plan and execute a two-week international trip in order to observe and participate with a social enterprise. This is our opportunity to put everything we have learned in the classroom to work on the ground.
It was important to me to work with a foundation that had a strong mission and focused on diverse initiatives. I wanted to observe several programs but also be able to work closely with programs related to my passion for arts education. Thus, I chose the Nicaraguan Initiative for Community Advancement (NICA), a foundation working mostly on the west coast of Nicaragua in the town of El Transitio. NICA’s mission is to empower Nicaragua through community development in order for the country to become more self-sufficient and for it to be a greater participant in the global economy. They work on improving education, infrastructure, and community pride.
While there were a variety of potential projects I could have worked on, I wanted to focus primarily on arts education. Arts education is not a high priority for the Nicaraguan educational system, and although I was only going to be there for two weeks, I wanted to infuse as much creativity as possible into the community. These creative outlets were realized through painting a community mural on the cement walls of the public school and through a week of after-school dance classes with students in second through the fifth grade.
To understand the potential impact of these two projects, it is important to understand two things: the education system in Nicaragua does not highly regard going to school past the 6th grade, and kids in Nicaragua do not often have close relationships with the adults in their lives. After students learn how to read, write, and do basic math, there is not much incentive for them to stay in school as there are no jobs waiting for them should they graduate high school or university. With no jobs, there is no motivation to continue their education. A 6th grade education will enable students to become fishermen or housekeepers, the two mainstays of the El Transito job market. These labor intensive jobs cause adults to work long, arduous hours, so their children are often given a lot of autonomy. Kids spend a lot of time with each other and a lot of time just “hanging out.”
Thus, the projects that NICA asked my group to complete would offer students something productive and constructive to do after school as well as give them a chance to spend time with adults who were excited to invest their time and energy into teaching and working with them.
We started the mural by priming the side of the building. Kids were very eager to get into the paint. We then worked together on the mural design, created by one of the secondary students through a competition. What is interesting about his winning design is that these kids were asked to base their artwork on what their community looks like, yet there are no lighthouses anywhere in El Transito. He probably has only seen them as illustrations in books. However, lighthouses symbolize hope. It’s the idea that there is a light in the distance, and even when the right circumstances are not clearly in front of us, we see them in our mind. I think the student who drew this sees more for him and his town. The student’s inclusion of the lighthouse in his drawing says that he knows that hope is here even when it is very small and far away.
The students really enjoyed mixing the paint the colors and teaching us how to say the different colors in Spanish. In total, the mural took about 16 hours.
As we began the dance project, I was nervous. I could barely explain left from right in Spanish, so the kids would have to do a lot of following along and repeating after me to learn the steps. I was worried they would get bored or have a hard time following along. But they proved to be dedicated students. The first two days we did lots of different steps to a number of different songs. The third day I started to teach them a simple jazz routine with set steps to one song.
While I was worried the children would grow tired of doing the same dance and hearing the same song over and over, they started asking questions and getting excited about wanting to perform this dance together at a community event. They talked to Vanessa, our Spanish translator, about possibly performing it at a graduation ceremony later that month or at the community Christmas dinner. The kids were thoughtful and asked all the right questions in preparation of the performance… What are we going to wear? How can we get the song? Will we have time to finish learning the dance? Who will help us when Heather leaves? etc. etc. etc. Vanessa fielded the questions and the consensus was: I would finish teaching them the dance, leave a detailed video of the choreography, email them the dance music, they would wear the same colored shirts, and Vanessa would help them rehearse after I was gone. The enthusiasm with which they asked these questions was incredible. Huge smiles shone brightly and wide eyes darted back and forth as questions and answers flew around the room.
The fact that the kids thought of this all on their own proves how excited these kids are to learn new things. They are energetic and willing participants when someone is willing to invest in them. By no means did I do anything prolific here. I taught them basic dance steps that I have taught a billion times, and offered simple words of encouragement in what Spanish I knew, “todos bien” and “muey bueno.” The kids took it on themselves to make something bigger happen.
Adults and teachers in Nicaragua can not necessarily take a lot of time with kids/students. Often times the kids are each other’s biggest care takers. There are many and varied reasons for this, but it was incredible to see what a little adult interaction could spark in these kids. NICA’s Program Director, Jonathan, and I talked about maybe looking into finding a dance instructor from one of the large cities nearby to come teach once a month or more. NICA has a similar type of arrangement with some nearby dentists, and the program works very well. I truly hope there is a dance teacher out there willing to invest some time in these kids!
Before I left, we finished the dance and made the video. The kids were all hugs and exclaimed “I don’t want you to go!” to me in Spanish. Well, believe me kids, I considered it. Thank you all for your hard work and for inspiring me as much as I hope I inspired you. I heard that the performance at the Christmas celebration went very well and that you all look forward to learning “mas nuevos pasos,” or, “more new steps,” sometime very soon.
