Let the delegations begin!

One of our responsibilities as part of the CANTERA youth program is to host delegation groups that visit from schools and churches in the States. CANTERA organizes a visit for them to get to know the work that is carried out and see some of the authentic barrios and rural communities of Nicaragua. They idea is that they might have an educational experience to learn about the reality of living here, as oppose to a vacation in which they would just visit tourist sites. ` Last week we hosted our first delegation group of the year in the Ciudad Sandino site. They were a group of high schoolers with several adult leaders. We started out the visit by taking the group to visit some of the houses where the youth live. The differences from a middle class neighborhood in the U.S. are all too clear: houses on the edge of the ¨cause¨, a drainage that is perpetually filled with garbage; several families living in one house, often up to 15 people under one roof; laundry done by hand and bucket showers because of low or non-existent water pressure. Following the home visits, we took the group for a tour of the center to see the activities going on. The highlight of the visit for me was seeing the jaws drop on the North American high schoolers as they saw our dance group go into action. There`s a lot I have to critique about globalization and U.S. cultural values, but there really is something special about music that brings people together. So when Beyonce`s ¨Crazy in Love¨came on (anyone see her rock it during the Super Bowl halftime show??), I could just see the U.S. youth itching to get out there with the dance group. We had a quick informal class and within 20 minutes we had the whole group swiveling back and forth, jumping around and pumping up and down to Beyonce! What a moment to bring kids together... We followed the dance class with a visit to the karate training and finished up with a reflection between youth from Ciudad Sandino and those from the States. This was the first of several delegation visits we will be receiving, and I was very encouraged by the openness of the group and by the welcoming spirit of the youth here.