Breaking walls of La Chureca with Friendship
“Nothing could have prepared me for the town of La Chureca. We rode through the tumble of makeshift homes constructed from bits of cardboard boxes, beer cans, barbed wire, and draped with pieces of misshapen metal sheath for roofing. Instead of colored paint, the outsides of the tiny houses were collaged with faded advertisements for Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Sony Electronics and countless others. Our tires rumbled on toward the only building not based in garbage, the school. It’s white cinder blocks glow[ed] in the dusty air. The van came to a stop, and the door slid open. A wave of sour air crashed over us that, before the days end, overpowered a few of my friends, leaving them retching into the dirt. The people of La Chureca live in a landfill,” writes Freyja Heimberger, a member of 2010′s Globetrotter summer adventure for teens to Nicaragua.
La Chureca, Managua's municipal dump, is home to over 118 families.
La Chureca is a 4-square-mile landfill in Managua that is home to more than 1,500 Nicaraguans. The Spanish slang word for “dump,” La Chureca is exactly that- the municipal dump, which boomed in 1972 with rubble from the Managuan earthquake and has been steadily growing since. In addition to rubble, the earthquake left more than 700 Managuans unemployed. Now stricken with poverty, these people found refuge in the smoky walled “Trash City” of La Chureca, building their houses from the trash they found there. Churequeros, or people from La Chureca, have made their livelihoods in this dump. They work longs days collecting reusable trash to sell for profit, and repairing their rubble-based homes. It is Central America’s largest open-air landfill, and even houses a school with six classrooms.
“Battling our fears and our stomachs into submission, we slipped past the school gate and peeked into the first classroom, we were greeted by screams of excitement. Children stood beaming up at us. A young girl whose name I later learned was Maritza, grabbed my hand, and tugged me across room to a pile of picture books she had collected from a skeletal shelf that rested crookedly in the corner of the room. I sat down on the floor beside her; she picked up a book, closed the distance between us without a word. She snuggled herself in my lap and leaned her head against my chin, opening the first page of a donated copy of a translated Clifford the Big Red Dog. I was taken aback, I had worked myself into a panic the night before, wondering: What if they don’t like me? What if my Spanish sounds stupid? What if I can’t talk to them? In that moment I learned that connection transcends English, Spanish, or the words of any language. Maritza wanted me to read to her, to be there for her. We had the next two hours and we were going to make the best of it. She spoke to me in rapid Spanish and though I did not catch every word, I understood enough to ask questions, and she was eager to answer. Maritza told me about her brothers, and the tricks she liked to play on them, she spoke excitedly of her beautiful mother and her father, who she did not see as often but, from the light in her eyes when she spoke of him, vehemently admired.”
Freyja helping school children
“When it was time to leave, she clutched a fold in my pants until her teacher pulled her away from me and toward the table where lunch was served. Martiza smiled her one-toothed smile and waved energetically at me. I waved back, both of us delighted by the afternoon of friendship.”
It is thought that more than fifty percent of Churequeros are under the age of 18. Prostitution starts at age 9. Lack of a secondary school on grounds means that after elementary school Churequero children sell their bodies, join their parents rummaging through trash, or if they’re lucky take an hour bus ride out of the community to attend high school. These kids face harsh discrimination in high school for where they live.
Volunteers like Freyja have brought hope into the City of Trash. Projects such as the building of the school have given Churequeros a few more resources than they otherwise would’ve had. María Teresa Fernández de la Vega (the Vice President of Spain) has begun a €30 million project that intends to shut down the landfill, initiate an alternative recycling program for Managua, and find housing for los Churequeros. Fernández de la Vega hopes to bring dignity back to the Managuans who live in La Chureca. Many Churequeros are resistant to this project because shutting down the landfill also means cutting off their only means of income.
Volunteers can support the community by helping at the local school. A hand-up approach to sustainable development in the area lends the community assistance while the members of the community develop sustainable solutions. To find out how you can travel on Al Campo International’s adult and teen summer programs abroad and help the children of La Chureca, click here.
Al Campo International would like to thank Freyja Heimberger for allowing the use of their essay in this blog post.
References and Further reading:
Get some quick facts on wikipedia
Pracitce your Spanish and Listen to Nicaragua’s radio show by Churequero kids
ACI Team: An Interview
Most of Al Campo’s staff are locals, allowing us to pin point a community’s needs. There is no denying that our program relies on their insight significantly. All of out programs- from teen travel, and alternative spring break fun to adult trips- rely on a large range of people coming together to make each of our adventures possible. Back in the Denver office, we are always in motion to make trips run smoothly. What’s going on in Denver that makes student travel to Central America possible? Jessica, a new addition to the Al Campo team, gives us a snap shot of her role in this interview:
Tell us a little bit about yourself:
Hello! I am Jessica, a recent graduate from the University of Colorado Boulder in International Affairs and Spanish & Portuguese Language & Culture. I love to travel, having studied abroad in both England and Brazil, as well as having travelled to Argentina and throughout Europe, it is definitely an addiction!
Jess in Rio de Janeiro
What’s your role for Al Campo?
My role for Al Campo is informing high schools about the opportunities ACI provides and trying to spark that desire to travel and to help the world. I also am researching ways to help keep extra trip costs low for our participants and to update current, past and perspective students on news in both Honduras and Nicaragua.
How does the work in Denver make our trips possible?
Denver is the home base for Al Campo, where all the behind the scenes work is accomplished. Service trips are not just a plane flight to another community, it involves organization as well as getting the word out so people know opportunities like this exist. We do what we can here so students across the country are provided with the information and chance to participate. Beyond providing the information we also are here to make sure the trips go smoothly so our participants can take full advantage of their experience.
How did you find Al Campo?
I found out about Al Campo through an internship listing through my primary major at CU, International Affairs. And just coming home from Brazil in December I knew I had to continue to stay involved in study abroad like opportunities and Latin America!
What do you normally do for Al Campo?
I normally research high schools in different states and send out brochures to their Spanish Departments, as well as doing research for Al Campo such as travel insurance. I also read daily news about our destinations to write blog posts and keep everyone updated!
What are your goals, within ACI and in life?
My goals within ACI is to open up an opportunity to travel and work with a community to students, throughout my own experiences I have learned the importance of such opportunities. For me, what makes travel great is engaging yourself in the community and to really know where you are. We are becoming global citizens every time we experience new opportunities and better informed citizens and to me this is the most important thing in today’s world. I hope to stay involved in the international world for the rest of my life, either travelling, living, teaching or studying so I myself can continue my education of the international community.
Interesting fact (about yourself):
Other than studying politics and languages, I have a huge weakness for the arts. I have worked for a few theatre companies making costumes, such as complete 18th century gowns and men’s suits!
Shark training maintains ecological balance
As smaller fish species dwindle and the lionfish population explodes, marine specialist search for ways to protect the delicate ecological balance. Shark training may be their answer.
Known for it’s flashy stripes and venomous spines, the lionfish is one of the ocean’s most aggressive predators. It’s a native to the Indo-Pacific ocean. How did an Indo-Pacific native end up in the Caribbean where they were never previously seen? Good question.
Lion fish sightings in 2012 (Map credit: USGS)
Your feedback helps!
Hello everyone! The Al Campo Team is preparing for another summer of adventure and service. To make this summer even better than our previous ones, we need your help! Our survey is fast, quick, and will make out program stronger. We appreciate any feedback you may have.
If you participated in our program while in high school, we’d love it if you took this survey.
If you participated in our programs while in college, try this one.
If you haven’t had the chance to travel with us yet, the Al Campo Team is still traveling school to school on the east coast. If your school has a summer programs fair, you just might see us! Or, request a brochure.
Notes from McKenna [Part three: language barriers]
You’ve heard how a trip to Nicaragua can impact your future and how host sisters can become close friends in a short amount of time, now find out what traveling abroad can do for your Spanish skills! This is the third and final entry of our on going series, Notes from McKenna. Get the full scoop and read the other two if you missed out!
My experience with a language barrier in Nicaragua fueled my passion for foreign languages. I hope to study foreign languages in college, and aspire to be fluent in Arabic and Chinese along with Spanish. Nicaragua forced me to use a foreign language, an experience I had never had with learning Spanish in high school. For the first time, I saw that language is key to understanding other people’s perspectives, lives, and wishes, and understood that little to no sustainable progress can be made without communication between locals and outsiders. Any program focused on alleviating poverty can, in my mind, only effectively reach its goals by communicating with the people it hopes to target.
Girls at Colegio Esperanza in Nicaragua
Notes from McKenna [Part Two: Helping from Home]
In June of 2010, McKenna Asakawa traveled to Nicaragua with Al Campo International. The trip has had a huge impact on her. Here, she relates how her exposure to poverty in Nicaragua has motivated her to take action back home through the Spero Foundation. Even from her local high school, McKenna continues to help out Nicaraguan communities.
My co-president (who also attended the 2010 trip to Nicaragua) and I were resoundingly impacted by the severe poverty we saw during our day spent at La Chureca (the unsanitary landfill and home to many local trash-pickers and their families) and Colegio Esperanza, the nearby school. Growing up in a middle class family from suburban Colorado, I have been fortunate enough to never have to worry about where my next meal will come from, whether I can go to school, or be constantly surrounded by the decay of a landfill. My experience with the students of Colegio Esperanza showed me that kids will be kids—exuberant, silly, loving, and of course, immature and prone to tantrums—even in the midst of severe poverty. It is this school that provides not only an education for these children, but hope for a future away from the landfill.
The Spero Foundation from Centaurus High School Volunteers locally, as well as helping over seas.
Notes from McKenna [Part One: Friendship]
McKenna Asakawa went on an Al Campo service trip to Nicaragua in June of 2010. According to McKenna, her trip with Al Campo changed her outlook on life, and helped define her future professional goals. McKenna directs the Spero Foundation—a student-run humanitarian organization at Centaurus High School. The Spero Foundation raised money for Colegio Esperanza in Nicaragua! Colegio Esperanza provides a free education for many children in the community. McKenna says:
Although the trip was incredibly meaningful in a plethora of ways, I can boil down its significance to me into three main aspects: the relationships I established, the poverty I was exposed to, and the language barrier I had to work with. Rather than go into detail as to how each of these aspects were defined during my trip, I’d like to explain how they’ve resoundingly impacted my life “post-Nicaragua.
In this first part of McKenna’s accounts, she gives us the inside scoop on how her trip opened her eyes to diversity and gave her friendship:
McKenna and her host sister, Dilcia, in their home in La Pacaya, Nicaragua
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Nicaragua: Finding a Sense of Purpose
Hearing from past participants is always rewarding- we get to see where life has taken them, how their travels with us have changed their lives, and remember how much fun it was to have them with us. A University of Denver student tells us how going to Nicaragua gave her insight, helped her with scholarships, and inspired her to get a degree in international studies:
Before I went to Nicaragua, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life. When I came back I felt like I had developed a new sense of purpose. I decided to go to the University of Denver and pursue a degree in international studies so that one day I might be able to continue doing the kind of work I did in Nicaragua. I hope to eventually make a career of it.
Nicaragua’s Growing Charm Outweighs Risks of the Global Economic Downturn
I know no body wants to hear it but, ‘I told you so.’
Since my first trip to Nicaragua in 1997, I saw something special and unique about the country and its people but couldn’t put my finger on it–just one of the feelings you get from extended periods of ‘off-the-beaten path’ travel.
It wasn’t for another few years that the opportunity presented itself to set up Al Campo International and include high school students from abroad in these priceless experiences. Along the way I received a lot of resistance from people interested in our service/learning trips but skeptical of the safety of Nicaragua based on its infamy from the 1980s fallout of Oliver North, the Iran/Contra scandal and the US State Depts political defamation of the country. As much as I tried to explain that the Nicaragua of the 80s (like many countries) was a different place than the Nicaragua of today, people generally chose Costa Rica(which has a higher rate of crime) as a ‘safer’ alternative.