With the Real Warriors: By, Mauricio Castro Vargas

With the Real Warriors

Nicaragua is the Latin American country with the highest growth of tourism. The diverse geography and the cheap prices make it the perfect destination for backpackers who enjoy paradisiac beaches that are great for surfing and the variety of volcanoes where people can have adventurous hikes or do volcano boarding. However, behind this beautiful touristic bubbles there is the story of thousands of people who every day have to work on the fields, get on the buses to sell sandwiches, or craft pottery regardless the 95F that heats up the region every day to earn just enough to feed their families.

Poorly educated population that causes high unemployment rates affects the development of Nicaragua. Travelling around the country I also had the opportunity to meet people from around the world which made me aware of a huge contrast. Most of these people were European whose first language was not English, however I spoke in English with all of them; that English that they learned in primary school. Going back to my community I faced the other side of destiny; kids whose school do not have English classes and where the most valuable asset is the energy they bring every day to school.

I was their first English teacher, and I simply loved them to be my first students. Their joy, hype and curiosity to know more made me relish every moment at the class. Their deafening voices pronouncing the words I told them to repeat and their laugh after they listened a word that sounded funny to them were the daily bread. I don’t know if I will be back, I don’t know if they will remember me, I only know that this was a life changing experience for me.

The story is similar but with other nuances when relating to college students. Big leaps of technological advancement make these guys look like they are living twenty years ago. Despite of having computer services and other tools provided by the Foundation, they do not know basic professional standards that college students should understand to have a successful career. Some of my mentees that were in the last years of college did not have e-mail addresses or resumes which was an alarming sign that college counseling is deficient(and maybe inexistent) in public schools in the country.

This situation encouraged me to develop three workshops dedicated to students pursuing bachelor’s degrees and that will be looking for a job in the next few years. I taught them how to develop a resume, how to look for job opportunities, and how to prepare for a job interview, and if we have time I will present them the importance of building networking.

I might finish this task in the next few days, but my labor will continue trying to provide more opportunities to the less fortunate. Especially when the last words they say to me are: “Mauricio, when will you be back?”