“How was your trip?”

It’s the most frequent question I get, and the most challenging to answer.  Like asking a chemotherapy patient, “How was your hospital visit?” the complexity of the experience belies a simple answer.  Visiting the children and schools in Nicaragua is at once hopeful and tragic, difficult and fulfilling, inspiring and overwhelming.

In seven days I visited eight schools in six communities and met hundreds of children.  I witnessed students studying under trees because classrooms were over-crowded.  I enjoyed a rain-drenched celebration with a community proud to open a new school and playground after nine months of hard work.  I sat with the director of a school as she poured out her heart in an empty classroom because she cannot afford to pay her teachers.

But the most poignant moment of my trip was when I looked upon the faces of fifty 3rd grade students in a crumbling brick classroom as they counted to ten in English.  Two days later tragedy stuck, and it was the smiling, unconcerned eyes of these children that haunted my memory.  This video tells the story…

Go For Hope is dedicated to the safety and well-being of the students at Escuela Cristo Rey.  You can help us spread the word.  Click “Share” on the video to let your Facebook friends or Twitter followers know about your support.  And please remember to Donate.