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Reflections

Current Volunteers

Megan Vander Wyst (pictured below at far right with other volunteers and Capuchins working in Nicaragua) is currently serving as and English and photography teacher in Managua, Nicaragua.

From her blog, Un Mundo, Megan writes:

I received a card in the mail at the beginning of this week from a friend.  It read:

DISCOVER (DI-SKUV'-ER) 1. TO BE THE FIRST TO FIND 2. TO LEARN THE EXISTENCE OF

What did I discover?  This week I discovered Purísima.  Purísima is a Nicaraguan holiday.  To celebrate Purísima, families make altars in their homes dedicated to the Virgin Mary.  Then, family and friends are invited to a Purísima celebration, which includes prayers, songs and fireworks.  At the end, the host gives their guests small gifts - anything from traditional candy to fruit.  I attended a Purísima celebration at the Cantera office where I work as a volunteer... continued.

Mariana Lo (pictured above on the far left with her Cap Corps community) is currently volunteering at Maria High School in Chicago as an Educational Assistant.

Mariana writes:

A Typical Day

Former Volunteers

Sara from Neodesha, KS served at the Agape Community Center in Milwaukee. She writes:

"A huge part of my placement was building relationships with children. Sure, we helped them with their homework and provided fun recreational activities, but building relationships with the children was crucial if our presence was to have the most positive impact possible on their lives.

I had worked with inner-city children before, but a couple of the kids in our After School Program were particularly challenging. One child, “Nina” was a first grade girl who, when provoked, would become very verbally aggressive with other children and had very little, if any, respect for authority.

Our year together was a struggle...but, as I continued to work with her, we began to have more successes and the difficult encounters became fewer and fewer...and by the end of the year her respect for authority had improved dramatically as had her behavior in general.

Susan from Sheboygan, WI worked as the “Christian Formation Director” for St. Martin Parish in Bluefields, Nicaragua. She writes about the education that she received during her three year commitment to Cap Corps:

“Randolph continuously disrupted his Sunday school class. The boy was too intelligent for his classes and nothing kept his attention. We started meeting on our own to discuss God, the big bang, how long forever is, slavery, and a few other finer points of life. He shared stories of home: abuse, death, reform school, seeing people killed for drugs. His 13 year-old-eyes have seen more than most of us ever will. I pray he will be challenged enough in school next year, maybe then he won’t drop out again.”

Rachel from Port Washington, NY worked at a legal clinic in Chicago and tells one success story:

"One of the last cases that I worked on at the Chicago Legal Clinic was a pro bono case that my office took from a major law firm. The client was attempting to start her own business, but when she completed her zoning certification application, the city’s Zoning Board informed her that the property was licensed for residential, not commercial use. I worked on the case with an attorney for several weeks and helped the client prepare a presentation for the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA). Right before my last day at the clinic, I learned that the Zoning Board had granted our client permission to open her business."