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Nicaragua is a small country when compared to the United States, about the size of New York state, but it is the largest country in the Central American isthmus. It is a place of natural beauty and boasts some of the most talented potters in the western hemisphere, yet it is also a country ripe with governmental corruption and home to a people mired in debilitating poverty. It is these startling contrasts, along with a warm and giving people, which make Nicaragua a captivating place.
John Flynn, along with Jacquie Rodgers, Alan Rodgers and Linda Koskinen, had the good fortune to visit the city of Granada, Nicaragua in November of 2005. They had several goals: to deliver items that had been donated by Maynard High students and staff to the needy children in the city, to teach barrio children at two local schools and, lastly, to conduct research at the local pottery village of San Juan de Oriente. Each goal was successfully reached with the help of friendly locals and dedicated volunteers who have taken up residence in Granada.
Donna Tabor, a local representative of the Pittsburgh, PA based nonprofit group Building New Hope and an extremely devoted volunteer, served as a facilitator and helped to organize and distribute the donated items directly to local needy children. Items ranged from clothing to shampoo and soap. Each child who received donated goods returned a wide smile, a hearty handshake and a tender muchas gracias.
As a longtime resident of Granada, Tabor proved to be an invaluable resource to the Maynard visitors. In addition to helping with the distribution of donations Tabor also opened the doors of Quinta Los Chavalos, a school which she founded that provides educational opportunities to barrio children, and allowed the visitors to teach several classes. Working with the school’s dedicated staff: Mario Aleman, Norman Palido, Raul Planas and book illustrator Luis Garay, Flynn, Rodgers and Koskinen had students read, interpret and illustrate Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book Donde Viven los Monstrous (Where the Wild Things Are). Students received copies of the story without its famous illustrations and were allowed to imagine Max’s adventure as their own. In a related lesson that followed, students were asked to create monster masks from construction paper and perform as their monsters for the class. The growling, snarling and lumbering that followed created much laughter for students and teachers alike. The art lessons supplemented a diverse curriculum at Quinta Los Chavalos that includes the examination of academic subjects as well as computer skills and music.
In addition to visiting and volunteering in Granada, the group ventured out into the surrounding area to gain a more complete view of Nicaraguan culture. At San Juan de Oriente, a pottery village south of Granada, the Maynard visitors were able to observe firsthand the creative processes of several master potters. Duilio Jimenez and Miguel Angel Calero were kind enough to invite the strangers into their studios to explain and demonstrate native ceramic techniques. After conversing with the artists and photographing their work, the visitors were able to purchase some excellent examples of Pre-Columbian style pottery to be used for future instruction at Maynard High School.
The trip to Nicaragua proved to very rewarding for its participants. By aligning themselves with dedicated individuals in Granada they were able to impact the lives of young, needy children and, through that process, experience firsthand some of the problems that face Nicaragua. The hope is that the positive nature of this direct involvement will serve to inspire future altruistic efforts, experiences that make it quite clear that you receive much more than you give.
When you are good to others, you are best to yourself.
Benjamin Franklin