Summer Centered: Fords in Nicaragua

Four Haverford students are working in Nicaragua this summer on a diverse range of community-driven projects, sponsored by the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship. These Fords are interning with women's and children's organizations to decrease poverty and increase education and quality of life for Nicaraguans living in poverty via ProNica, a Quaker nonprofit that works with local grassroots organizations in the country.

Ellie Greenler '17 is working at a women's domestic violence cooperative in Rio Blanco, helping to organize community events and assisting women who have been the victims of violence. The majority of her time is spent helping women apply for microloans and start businesses so that they can become financially independent.

"Sometimes this involves us just helping them think through all the aspects of having a business," says Greenler. "Other times it means physically writing on the application what the women say because they were denied an education as youth and frequently cannot read or write."

Associate Professor Kaye Edwards' "Epidemiology and Global Health" course completely changed Greenler's direction at Haverford and inspired her to add a health studies minor to her her already declared anthropology major and peace, justice, and human rights concentration.

"Haverford has taught me to view everything, especially this [work in Nicaragua], as a learning experience and not a service experience," she says Greenler. "This has given me the ability to step back and not become obsessed with all the 'help' I could be giving this community, but to become aware of all they are giving me, with the hope that later on I will have the expertise and ability to give back in a bigger way."

Sara Jaramillo '15 is also in Nicaragua, helping women start businesses, though in a different area of the country.“I'm working with a group of women who started their own artisan jewelry-making business, using seeds from local flora as beads and knot-tying designs they learned in the indigenous tradition,” she says.“They are so much fun to work with, and their energy and dedication to bettering their community is inspiring.”

Jaramillo had originally planned to work with natural medicines during her time in Nicaragua, because food justice and community farming are areas of interest—on campus she works with Haverford's ETHOS food initiative and previously interned at a farming cooperative near Philadelphia. But, unfortunately, due to a recent drought, that wasn't possible. In the fall, however, the philosophy major plans to return to Philadelphia to continue working with these issues.

Rosemary Ventura '16 has been focused on helping children in the Los Quinchos and Las Yahoska projects in San Marcos. Specifically, she has been helping children who have fallen behind educationally due to problems at home. In addition to educating kids in English, Spanish, and mathematics, Ventura has started her own initiatives, offering vocational training for older students that have little to no reading and writing abilities. Jacob Sweeney '17 is also working at Los Quinchos.

—Jack Hasler '15

"Summer Centered" is a series exploring our students' Center-funded summer work.