Terra Linda students bring aid to Nicaraguan children
When many Marin high school students hit the ski slopes during winter break, two dozen members of Terra Linda High School’s Nicaragua Service Club will venture to Managua to aid schoolchildren.
“I feel like it is really important for the students to see how most of the rest of the world lives,” said Laura Merlo, whose son, Alan Merlo, is the president of the service club. “It is good to feel a connection with people in another country and from a different socioeconomic class.”
The club – launched two years ago when Terra Linda High School counselor Susan Gatlin shared videos of the conditions in Nicaragua with students in Peggy Koorhan’s Spanish class – aims to raise awareness about the plight of the impoverished by assisting the El Divino Ni-o School in the capital city of Managua. The school is attended by about 200 poor preschool through third-grade students, many of whom could not afford the required uniform.
The small school is an oasis separated from a formidable barrio by a security fence and provides hope and a nurturing environment free from the dangers of the violent crime that has gripped much of the city.
“It really made us think about the difference of life in Marin and Nicaragua and the opportunities we have here,” said senior Alan Merlo of his experience on last year’s initial service trip, which was attended by 12 students, three teacher-chaperones and two Terra Linda alumni. “It was amazing to see how strong the people were in Managua.”
Laura
Merlo said that the students cooked and delivered meals to local hospitals and engaged the schoolchildren in art, sports and hygiene training. Many of the students and their families never had a photo taken, so the students made family portraits.
Gatlin, also an adviser to the service club, said it costs about $20,000 a year to operate El Divino Ni-o School, which includes teachers’ salaries and supplies, uniforms and a meal for the students. El Hogar de los Ni-os, or the Home of the Children, is the school’s nonprofit parent organization that provides financial assistance to Third World children in need, including the operation of the school.
In addition to support from El Hogar de los Ni-os, the San Francisco-based A.P. Giannini Foundation recently sprung for an addition and earthquake upgrades to the school, Gatlin said.
Now 24 Terra Linda students are gearing up for the club’s return to Managua Feb. 14-23.
The club hopes to defray the trip expense of $1,500 per student via fundraisers, but it still has a long way to go, Alan Merlo said.
The most recent fundraiser held in the Terra Linda High School cafeteria Nov. 6 included dinner, an auction, prizes, traditional Nicaraguan folk dances and a screening of Steve Gatlin’s film, “Mi Corazon, Mi Sue-o,” highlighting last year’s trip.
“There aren’t many opportunities for students in Managua, but by giving them an education they have a chance to rise up,” Alan Merlo said.
“The school has limited capacity,” Susan Gatlin said of the accommodations at El Divino Ni-o. “We saw children hanging on the fence staring, looking in to see what was going on and wishing they could be inside.”
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