By Nikita Shenoy:

Hola payasos! I write this blog post as I sit in Dillon, Pratik, Matt, and Amiel’s apartment with the rest of the gang. We’re all reminiscing on the trip, even though it’s still not over! It is the second to last blog post though, so I feel like I have some pressure on me to make this one good! We did have a pretty emotional day though and I think everyone was semi on the verge of tears at least one point in the day.

Let’s start from the beginning though. Everyone started off the day differently as we all met with our groups to finalize our presentations for the day. Dipti, Dillon, and Chelsea went to Roxanna’s store to help out with the final touches of fixing everything up. Apparently it was a very emotional time as Roxanna was overwhelmed with tears at the thought of the impact the three students had on her business. In her own words she stated that without the help of their fundraising she would not have been able to raise the money that they did in even three years of work. This shows how much of a great impact they have had on one woman’s business.

Matt, Sandhya, and Leslie went with Michael Rosh in order to finish up visits with the people that he lends money to. Afterwards they got a great surf lesson at Madera Beach (the beach we went to on Sunday). Without saying, the rest of us were pretty jealous (except me because I can’t swim :o)!

Pratik, Carmen, and Amiel had a pretty eventful morning as well. They went back to Edwin and Ana Cecilia’s store to finish the painting that they have been working on for so long. Edwin told a heartwarming story later about how he asked the group, “You’re in San Juan, don’t you want to go to the beach?” The three responded by saying, “We’re not here to relax on vacation. We’re here to help all of you.” Then they continued to paint the shelves.

Stephanie and I had a great meeting with our entrepreneur Richard yesterday for about five hours, therefore we had a lot to reflect on this morning. We started off with a regular meeting yesterday to teach Richard how to use gmail on his new computer. However, the day turned into a great adventure with his entire family. We first started off taking a simple trip up to the Jesus Christ statue which had us feeling like we were on the top of the world (or at least San Juan del Sur).  

Then we took a trip to Richard’s past, present, and (hopeful) future. We visited his entire extended family in the house that he grew up in. It was great to see where exactly he started off – which actually was in very small, modest stone house where they used old spray cans for candles and did not even have a stove to cook on. He showed us all of the items he bought for his mother after making enough money which was really great to see.

We also took a trip to his current house and the house that he plans on building soon as their future home. Visiting all these places of Richard’s history really gave us a great appreciation for what we are doing here in Nicaragua. Before coming to Nicaragua I had a hard time imagining what kind of impact a couple of students could have on one person in the span of two or three days. After hearing Richard’s story and meeting his entire family we really saw what kind of an impact we could have. He came from almost nothing and established his name throughout San Juan del Sur. I think what we realized yesterday was that our impact would not just be on one person – it would be on his entire family and extended family. This makes every single effort and every cent of money that we spent on coming on this trip completely worth it.

After everyone presented on their respective entrepreneurs today it was quite the emotional moment as all the professors went around describing how important this trip was and how great it was that there was a quadruple impact on this trip. The professors/librarians, the UMD students, the UAM students, and the entrepreneurs all benefited from this trip in a tremendous way. I think everyone got a bit teary eyed at this moment as it was only a subtle joke here and there that made everyone keep from becoming emotional from all of the amazing speeches of the afternoon.  

We ended the night with a great dinner at Jane’s beautiful house. The professors had conversation and dinner inside while all the students continued our craziness in the backyard sharing stories, games, and laughter. I think it’s amazing to see how close all of us got throughout this trip. I was speaking with someone yesterday about our first trip together to Washington D.C. to visit the Nicaraguan ambassador and how we all barely knew each other. However, just after one week of close quarters, late nights, and waiting three hours for each dinner I feel like I know each and everyone of these people and I am so excited for the road ahead.