Overview of the Trip

          Hi, it's Addie, and this is my blog for my family trip to Nicaragua.  We are going to Nicaragua for the months of January and February 2013.   My family and I are staying in the town of San Diego in Nicaragua, on the Pacific coast, 100 km west of Managua.  During my time there, I will be working at an orphanage, 2 or more days per week. I will be working with kids and babies, as well as anything else that is asked of me.  My whole family will be working at this orphanage.  This orphanage was recently robbed at gunpoint in the middle of the night by ten masked men.  They took $20,000+ worth of personal belongings, electronics, and money.  Everyone was terribly frightened, kids and nannies. After this event, our friends and my family started a campaign and raised over  $3,000 to install bars on the windows and doors for better protection and security.  The orphanage is about a thirty minutes from where I am staying.

         Baseball is the national pastime in Nicaragua, but most families barely have enough money to get by.  Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere where 45% of the population lives of less than a dollar per day, 65% of which are un-and-underemployed.  Their average meal is rice, beans, tortilla, and meat, if they are fortunate.  Most families can't afford to buy a baseball for their children.  With the result of this, my mom and her friends (with big hearts <3) are bringing new/used softball and baseball equipment for the children of the town we are staying in, and the kids of the orphanage.  Last year my parents and a friend founded an organization called Double Play Gear; their website is www.doubleplaygear.org, and our goal is to bring used and/or new gear for the children of our community, in hopes of bringing smiles to their faces and setting up a couple of baseball and softball teams.  They recently shipped 4 pallets of gear,  4x4x4, with the help of some local friends to pay for shipping to the Nicaragua Baseball Academy.  The gear will be divided between the Nicaragua Academy and the children of Villa el Carmen.  Last we heard, the gear is there and waiting for us!  I am excited to teach some of these kids their countries national pastime and watch their faces light up like a christmas tree!  I hope they will understand mi español!

          In addition to the baseball gear that has arrived, my family and I are going to bring arts and crafts and school supplies, donated by friends and family.  Thanks for reading, I'll have some more posts soon.

...Addie... 

:)