Friday, July 15, 2011

Saint Joseph's Academy visits Nicaragua!



In the month of June, Cantera received two delegations from Saint Joseph's Academy, an all-girls Catholic high school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The two groups spent time learning about Nicaraguan reality through various facets of Cantera like the Cantera community centers, farm, and youth that participate. Spending days dialoguing and having cross-cultural interchanges, both the SJA girls and Cantera youth learned a lot about their different realities and were able to form beautiful friendships that are still maintained through the internet.
One of the delegations to come visit Nicaragua was a technical team comprised of 17 young women and their teacher, John, all trained in handing computers and other pieces of technology. Not only did they arrive with donations for all four Cantera community centers, they offered daily workshops during their week-long visit for youth from all four territories. Held in the Cantera community center of Ciudad Sandino, youth from the Communications teams of all four Cantera territories came to dialogue with the SJA girls and receive training on computer repair, video and photo editing, and multi-media programs. The girls from SJA also installed different learning programs onto the computers as resources for the youth of each community.
A major thank you to Saint Joseph's Academy and all of the students, families, and staff that helped bring the girls to Nicaragua and who continue to grow in their friendships with Cantera and Cantera youth!