We were so lucky to have a local teacher come to our classroom and speak to us about her trip to Nicaragua. She shared amazing photos and told us about her amazing adventure. The following is a write up about her trip!
Over the last five years, my husband and I have been travelling to Bluefields, Nicaragua to work with people and come up with creative solutions to the challenges of food, water, and housing that many people face everyday there. Recently, our focus has been on working with local kids to improve access to healthy food in their neighbourhoods. This started with a small community garden and an even smaller group of neighbourhood families and kids helping out with it, but has evolved into a much bigger vision through a connection with the organization blueEnergy. Over the past year, the community garden has transformed into a family garden demonstration site for other people, schools, and organizations in the city of Bluefields. A second ‘indigenous traditions’ garden that we designed last year has brought funding for a school gardening initiative that will begin this year. School gardens are an amazing way for children and their families to learn about health and nutrition, culture and history, maths and sciences, and even language and the arts, in addition to the skills of food production, in a hands on way.
In time, we hope that a network of unique and interconnected school gardens will be established in Bluefields, but we also recognize that children do not only go hungry in the third world. Here in Canada, many children also miss out on nutrition, when families cannot afford (or do not have access to) fresh produce close to home- so we’re looking to connect with people here who are interested in school gardening in our own communities. When families come together with creativity, and a little hard work, we encourage our children to be healthy, confident, and engaged in improving quality of life for everyone, regardless of where we live in the world!
Click on the link below for photos of her trip!
nicaragua photos from Marissa 2