Nicaragua, the western hemisphere’s second poorest country, is rich in love, faith and passion. For the fourth year in a row, undergraduate and graduate students from STM traveled to Trohilo, a rural community nestled in the sugar cane fields between Nicaragua’s coastline and volcanic range.
Pictured from L to R: Anna Kane '21, Tommy Martin '21, Lisa Hammon GRD '18, Skakel McCooey '21, Alyssa Sbarra GRD '18, Caroline Stockert GRD '18, Sr. Jenn Schaaf and Catherine Oona Ring GRD '18
Trohilo has limited resources and is deeply affected by systemic injustices and a chronic kidney disease epidemic. As members of the STM community, we spent our days alongside Nicaraguan nursing students with the school children of this community, teaching lessons about human health and anatomy, botany, journalism and music. As part of a cultural exchange, local community health workers taught us about
herbal medicine and welcomed us into their homes to give us tours of their flourishing gardens. Over the past several years, the STM community has provided gardening equipment, seeds and a classroom building to this community. This year, we provided each classroom with a bookshelf filled with books. As we learned more about the Nicaraguan revolution, the roots of the country’s poverty and the work of non-profit organizations, we discovered grace and hope.
The most powerful experiences of the trip for me arrived unexpectedly: as I played patty-cake, read books and picked flowers with the children. In these gentle moments the world seemed to fade away, and I was overwhelmed with gratitude to behold the face of God in each child. In the words of Pope Francis, “a spark of divine light is within each of us.” In the divine and radiant light of each child, I encountered God in new and profound ways.
