I have found that in the absence of deep-rooted thought, I lose sight of my goals, and the flight from Houston, Texas to Managua, Nicaragua gave me time to think about what some of those might be for this service trip. I want to mean more, and be more than some “gringo” student from the United States who helps for a week then leaves. Finding my purpose and influencing those around me in a drastic way is one of my biggest goals while being in Nicaragua.

            On Sunday we drove to Escuela Especial Sor Maria to clean the school. Katie, Isabel, and I were assigned to the Physical Therapy room. At first I was startled to see in each corner of the classroom there were small piles of rat feces and insects. In the US, especially in Vail we become so blind to what a majority of the world copes with on a daily basis in order to receive education. We piled foam Alphabet mats and brought them to the center of the school where we used tubs of water and soap to scrub off the dirt built up since last year’s “cleaning day.” After each of the rooms were cleaned, we started a trash clean up. After a day like that you start to become more and more thankful for everything you have back home.

            Today was the groups first official day at Escuela Especial. Everyone was assigned a room where they would work with the students and help the teachers while Will and I went with Krissy, Crystal, and our translator on home visits. The first home we stopped at belonged to a little girl named Josline. Josline has Down Syndrome. In the Nicaraguan society having a disability is not viewed the same way as in the US. It is rare to find parents of children with disabilities that value the life of their child with a disability as much as one who doesn’t. It is common that neighbors or friends/family believe the family has done something wrong, resulting in a child with a disability, which is not true. But Josilines parents treated her like any other child and found a huge amount of pride in her. As we asked her parents through our translator Ana about their lives, Josiline ran around with a smile, not something common among children with Down Syndrome. Her mother explained that once she was of age they planned to place her in Escuela Special sor Maria, the only school in the area that provides education for children with disabilities, because they didn’t want her to be judged in a normal school.

            The next home we visited was the home of Juan Fransisco a little boy with a heart condition and cleft palate. His mother explained that the arteries and veins in his heart are constrictive and knotted, preventing proper blood flow and oxygen to certain parts of his body, resulting in a blue color around his fingers, toes, and eye lids. Even though Juan was energetic he became tired quickly. After asking his mother questions we learned she isn’t satisfied with the help she has been receiving and wants to find help in other locations, but her biggest problem is money. Each bottle of medicine costs the family around 30$ a month, which is a huge sum of money. It was especially hard for me to hear that his arteries in his heart could burst at anytime, killing Juan. His mother, similar to Josline’s, felt so much pride and love towards Juan, despite his heart condition and cleft palate, which was nothing less than inspiring to whiteness. The home visits show the struggles that the families deal with on a daily basis and we see and experience them first hand making the lessons we take home so much for impactful.

            The last home we went to was the home of Earling Anthony, who was born without his femur bone. One of his legs continues to grow normally while the other is around 16 cm shorter, making it nearly impossible for him to walk. We learned that the only source of income for their family was through his father who sold CD’s on the street. This made me wonder how they afford doctors visits. His mother and Crystal explained that once Earling was old enough he would be fitted for a shoe with a bigger sole, lifting his leg enough to even out his leg lengths but Earling would have to learn how to walk again. I had never seen someone, let alone a child, with this type of disability before, so while talking to his family it was shocking being exposed to that.

            So far, I have been reminded of everything I have to be thankful for in Vail, and why I should never take the education I have for granted, along with the resources we have to help children with disabilities. It is truly a luxury. Finding a way to mean more to the children and teachers at Escuela Especial and to be able to leave knowing I truly influenced their lives in a positive way would have to be my biggest goal. So in the presence of deep-rooted thought I want to find a way to make that happen.