Dear friends and family,

This will be the location of my blog recounting stories of the joys and challenges of living and working in economic development in Nicaragua this summer.

The plan (I use "plan" loosely here; we all know that "having a plan" is overrated and rarely effective when living and traveling abroad):

From May 25 until July 26 I will be in Granada, Nicaragua, a small semi-urban colonial town on Lago de Nicaragua. I will be living with a family there and interning with Viva Nicaragua, a local organization committed to promoting the efforts of both public institutions and non-governmental organizations working for social justice and sustainable development in Nicaragua.

I have the opportunity to work in Valle de Granada where Viva Nicaragua is currently supporting various development efforts as a way to increase economic opportunities, reduce migration, and improve overall living conditions. I plan on working with the community to implement a micro-credit program funded by Viva Nicaragua that will support small, local artisans businesses. I will work with each small group to design their business, create micro business plans, calculate costs and prepare budgets, find markets, and give workshops on basic economic concepts, budgeting and loan repayment.

For those unfamiliar with micro-credit (also referred to as microfinance or micro-lending), it is a grassroots method of sustainable economic development and poverty reduction in which specific banks or private organizations make small loans to poor entrepreneurs. The goal is to provide the institutions necessary to capitalize on the determination, work ethic, ingenuity, and creativity of the poor. Through this, micro-credit aims to develop societies on a grassroots community level, through knowing and working with borrowers personally.

Sounds great, right? I thought so too. Does it really work? Ask me in 2 months and I'll let you know!

(For more information on micro-credit, I recommend the book Banker to the Poor by Mohammed Yunnus)

* * *

Before I head off in 10 days, I'd like to quickly celebrate all of my wonderful friends galavanting around the globe this summer working on various academic, missions, and service endeavors.

Very proud shout-outs to:

Kelly in India and South Africa

Maggie in Chile and Argentina

Leigh in Ecuador

Catherine in India and Bangladesh

Claire in France

Dean in Turkey

Sondra in Azerbaijan

Salar in Thailand

Courtney in China

Katie in Israel

Richard in Turkey

Joshua in Kenya and Uganda

Matt in Brazil

Drew in China

I have quite impressive friends, yes? Clearly.

I am beyond excited for the adventures that this summer holds. I especially look forward to building relationships with the locals of Valle de Granada, eating Central American cuisine, evaluating the effectiveness of micro-credit on improving quality of life, forgetting English words after only speaking Spanish for so long, and simply soaking up all of the amazing color and vibrancy of the world that comes with living in and loving another culture foreign to my own.

Special thanks to everyone at Rhodes and at home who have researched and discussed, deliberated and prayed with me in preparation for this trip!

Love to all,

sarah

"And one called to another and said: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!"

-Isaiah 6:3