La Lumiere completes school trip to Nicaragua

LaPorte – La Lumiere School participated in an eight-day cultural immersion and service trip in San Jose de Cusmapa, Nicaragua March 14-23, 2008.

Volunteers included faculty members Patrick Kennedy and Phil Keck and nine students from as close as LaPorte and as far as Russia. Students on the trip included Paul Brandenstein (Downers Grove, IL) Brendan Daly (Hinsdale, IL), Angelina Kalinovich (Russia), Peter Kaminski (LaPorte, IN), Joshua Katz (Beverly Shores, IN), Bill Kihn (Western Springs, IL), Victoria Kuiken (Michigan City, IN), Emily Luther (New Prairie, IN), and Charlie Siedlecki (Michigan City, IN).

Giving back to others through service is a hallmark of a La Lumiere School education. The service portion of the trip was to assist the Asociacion Familia Padre Fabretto Foundation. Their mission is to “enable impoverished Nicaraguan children and their families in under-served communities to break the cycle of poverty and reach their full potential through programs promoting nutrition, health, education, community and character development.” The work portion of the service trip consisted of working on the construction of a new school.

The La Lumiere School students and faculty helped prepare the foundation for new sidewalks at the school, painted walls, laid a ditch for irrigation and provided organizational help for materials needed at the school, including the unloading of 3,000 ceramic tiles.

Senior Emily Luther (New Prairie, IN) said “When I arrived in Nicaragua, I expected to see the poverty and I braced myself for it. However, this trip showed me how volunteers in Nicaragua operate within the Fabretto Foundation and their work is inspiring to me since I, too wish to perhaps someday teach in a Third World county to help those people.”

Though the manual labor the volunteers performed was tiring, the activities with the Nicaraguan students was the most exhausting – yet most fulfilling. The Nicaraguan students (children without running water or sufficient electricity), their teachers and administrators all welcomed the volunteers with open hearts and wide smiles. They shared their culture through dances and speeches, songs and games. The language barriers that may have existed were transcended by the willingness of the volunteers to engage in exciting games and activities with the children of Nicaragua.

Prior to the service portion of the trip, the students and faculty volunteers had the opportunity to visit Granada, Nicaragua’s second-largest city to take-in various cultural offerings. The group visited a local market, took a tour of the Isletas in Lake Nicaragua and finally a volcanic reservoir basin amidst Nicaragua’s beautiful natural surroundings.

Patrick Kennedy reflected, “We were so moved these children – and the adults – all of whom came in to welcome us, despite it being Holy Week, and, thus, Easter vacation. They came because they were appreciative of our efforts.

We can truly honor them if we tell others what we saw. We saw the face of poverty. Instead of it crying out to us, it sang with joy and hope and thankfulness” Kennedy continued. It is my hope that our students – and we two staff members can carry forth that joy, hope and thankfulness back to our more comfortable lives.”

La Lumiere is a coeducational lay Catholic boarding and day school that provides a comprehensive college-preparatory, high school education for qualified young men and women from a rich diversity of backgrounds. It seeks to develop character, scholarship and faith, while remaining both independently accredited and faithful to its Catholic heritage. Current enrollment is 168 students. It is situation on a beautiful rural estate between New Buffalo and La Porte. Visit www.lalumiere.org for additional information.