Working as overseas volunteer puts our crisis in perspective

Not many people return home for Christmas with a heavy heart, but so rewarding was the experience of volunteering in Nicaragua over the previous three months that my feelings were mixed as I made the long journey back to Galway last month.

Volunteering in the Central American country, the final third of a wonderful gap year, proved to be one of the highlights of my life. It was amazing how the part of a career break which I had feared the most turned out to be the most rewarding.

Having become a professional scuba diver in Thailand and improved my grasp of Spanish in the Basque Country, I felt it was time to give something back in the final third of the year. But I had read so much about crime and poverty in Central America that I almost considered cancelling the final part of my global adventure. What a mistake that would have been!

For over three months, I based myself in the beautiful old colonial city of Granada, helping out with a small organisation, La Esperanza Granada, which helps with the provision of education in eight rural communities.

Shocked at first by the living conditions of these desperately poor people, many of whom live in primitive tin huts despite daily temperatures of over 30 degrees, I joined a team of between 30 and 35 volunteers from all over the world who were humbled by the welcome of the locals.

There was one other Irish volunteer, a teacher in her 30s from Wexford, and the city even had an Irish pub called O’Shea’s, owned by Tommie Griffin from Dublin. Tommie (74) had moved home after a lifetime in the US, but couldn’t settle, which is why he opted to open up a pub in Nicaragua, of all places, three years ago.

‘La Esperanza’ means ‘Hope’ in English and Nicaragua is a country which is crying out for hope. In all of the Americas only Haiti, which suffered a devastating earthquake and a cholera outbreak in 2010, is poorer.

Ravaged by years of war and economic stagnation, it was strange to be in such a deprived (but spiritually rich) place while there was so much talk of a ‘crisis’ back home. In Nicaragua, virtually nobody can afford to buy a car and it’s not unusual to see an entire family of five or six on a bicycle. People still use donkeys and carts, there are few employment opportunities and much emigration, and yet people seem happy.

While our volunteer teams went out to the schools to provide one-on-one tuition, computing and English classes, and sporting opportunities to underprivileged children, the children and their families also taught us a lot about the value of community spirit and making the most of life.

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.