Trip season is upon us here in San Ramón – our first group arrives from the University of Northern Iowa on December 26th, and we can’t wait to receive them! As our calendar slowly fills up with groups coming to visit, we get lots of questions from anxious newcomers who want to know what to… Read More →
Calling all High Schoolers: Five reasons you should sign up for a Cultural Immersion Ecotour to San Ramón
Since SCSRN starting bring groups to San Ramón back in the 90’s to experience life in this rural Nicaraguan community, some of our most faithful visitors every year have been from high schools like East Chapel Hill High, Greensboro Day, and Durham Academy. Visiting a foreign country, especially a poor country like Nicaragua, can seem… Read More →
Halloween in Nicaragua: cross-cultural exchange or “malinchismo”?
Halloween is just around the corner in the U.S., and though Halloween is not a Central American holiday, the tentacles of U.S. culture are showing signs of creeping in. In the capital of Managua, bars and restaurants throw Halloween parties to attract customers. Halloween has even made it to Matagalpa, the large city closest to… Read More →
Five things Nicaraguans do when it rains
In Nicaragua, we have two seasons- wet and dry. The dry season runs from about December to April, and in May the first rains start to fall. As the rainy season progresses, the scorched, parched earth slowly turns green again. September and October are the height of the rainy season in Nicaragua. This year, as… Read More →
Coffee, through the eyes of San Ramonians
As September comes to a close in San Ramón, the berries on the coffee plants are turning bright red, and families all over San Ramón are preparing for the flurry of activity that coffee picking season brings. It’s impossible to talk about life in San Ramón and not talk about coffee, yet coffee is an… Read More →
Nicaraguan Olympic stars, and the stars that never shine
This year Nicaragua was proud to send five competitors to the Olympic Games in Rio, competing in four sports: swimming, weightlifting, shooting, and athletics. It takes a true athlete to qualify for the Olympics, so though no medals were brought home, our Olympic stars are champions in our eyes! As I watched the Olympic Games… Read More →
Ten days in the life of a Nicaraguan eco-tourist
Diann Irwin, a visitor who came on our Unitarian-Universalist trip in February of this year, was generous enough to share some of her journal from her time in Nicaragua. For those of you who have traveled with us, this will be a nice walk down memory lane for you! For those of you who haven’t… Read More →
High School for All
When the Board of Directors of SCSRN decided to begin building rural primary schools in 2002, the prevailing thought was this: “If my kids can go to elementary school, why can’t kids in San Ramón go?” At that time, over half of school-aged children in the rural communities of San Ramón didn’t go to school…. Read More →
New classrooms and kitchen for Wabule!
For those of you who follow the work of SCSRN, you know that in 2015 we worked hard to raise funds to build two classrooms and renovate the school kitchen in the rural school of Wabule. Well, we’ve got great news: the construction is finished, and the new additions were inaugurated this month, just in… Read More →
The Women of El Plomo: A story of determination
The following story about the women of El Plomo was documented by Lonna Harkrader, co-founder and Board member of SCSRN. After more than 20 years of visiting San Ramón and building relationships with the people here, Lonna has a wide network of friends, and she derives great joy from documenting and sharing their incredible stories…. Read More →
Spotlight on a SCSRN employee — Zenelia Icabalceta
Of our five permanent staff members, Zenelia Icabalceta, our Administrative Manager, is SCSRN’s longest-standing employee. When I asked Zenelia how long she had been working for SCSRN, she put on her glasses and pulled out a thick folder to find “the exact date when she began,” which was August 1st, 2009. This gives you an… Read More →
Communicating for the first time – Nicaraguan Sign Language
Imagine that you are an expecting mother or father. After the birth of your child, the doctor tells you that your baby is completely healthy of body and mind, except for one thing: she has a condition where she will only be able to learn and speak a particular foreign language; let’s say, Urdu. If… Read More →