Preparing to Volunteer in Nicaragua as a Family

This summer one of our TalkBox families with four children (ages 7 to 16 months) will be volunteering in a sports center in Nicaragua where a feeding program is hosted as well as youth activities!

Dana, the amazing mom, has a sister in Nicaragua who works at the sports center. Her sister, a soon to be mom of five, also hosts a backpack / school supply program and sponsors about 200 youth each year. Plus she has sponsors for older kids to attend high school and college. (Isn’t she a dream?!)

Keep your fingers crossed too because her sister might have the baby while they are visiting! Yay!

Now, let’s talk to them about how they are preparing for this amazing trip. 🙂

In my opinion, the most important preparation is knowing why you are going on a trip. This not only makes the trip more meaningful but everyone in the family is more committed to making it happen.

Why is this a trip that you want to take with your family?

As a family, we really want to expose our children to other cultures. We do this a lot through books and field trips, but the best is when we can take them out of the United States and fully immerse them in a different culture. Already our oldest (7) has been shaped by his experiences in Mexico, and we want that for our whole family.

The biggest thing other people ask us when we travel is if we will be safe. (Obviously, you wouldn’t go if you didn’t think so!) But is there anything you are worried about for this trip?

As a family, this trip seemed to be the best fit for us since there is enough known about the situation and country that we feel safe and know that our children will be able to participate at their young ages.

I have been to Nicaragua four times before (all without children though!), so I am comfortable with the country and flying. I’m sure once we are there I will be a bit anxious about my children’s ability to adapt and their level of comfort with all the changes.

How is your family preparing their Spanish for the trip?

We have already integrated Spanish learning into our homeschool, but now as our trip is only 5 months away, we are really stepping things up a notch! I just bought your book, and we are using that daily. We use a ton of Spanish at the table and are trying to use it all over the home now. We also read Spanish books, play KLOO in Spanish, and integrate Spanish into our everyday lives.

Now logistics. How are you preparing everything for your trip?

We are preparing by getting passports (tried to yesterday, but forgot that Sean needed to be there, ug! ha.), just booked flights last week, and now we are fundraising full steam ahead.

We had already done several smaller fundraisers last year, including a garage sale and a few sales by friends hosted where we earned 10% of the sales from their products. Now, we are selling Nicaraguan coffee, asking for donations, and we’ll do one more sale through my friend’s company.

(Psssst. TalkBox.Mom will be giving away a TalkBox and Book set to the next 2 people who donate $50 or more.)

Yay! Where can we go to donate and support your family on this life-changing trip?

Here’s the link if people choose to donate:

https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=67160

The link is for my sister’s missionary work, so people can indicate “Nowell Trip” in the specific purpose for it to go directly to our trip.

 Thank you so much for sharing your awesome trip coming up and how you are preparing.

Dana, won’t know this until she reads this post, but we’ll also be giving her family their first TalkBox as well as Box 6, so they’ll be ready to talk on the playground in the sports center where they will be volunteering. Yay!!

TalkBox.Mom is focused on strengthening families, so please also donate to support Dana and their family on their family trip!

xo,

Adelaide