Community Service/Spanish Culture Intensive to Jinotega, Nicaragua-May 2014

Come join us for the May 2014 travel/community service intensive to Jinotega, Nicaragua. This two-week adventure will take us to the mountains of Nicaragua, about 100 miles from Managua, Nicaragua.

We’ll be spending our time in Jinotega tutoring young children in English, performing manual community-building tasks, and experiencing the sights in and near Jinotega with Outreach 360. Outreach 360 is a non-denominational service group, dedicated to raising the education standards of disadvantaged children so that they can complete high school, attend college, and bring their expertise back to their town to raise the standard of living in the poorest country in Central America.

While Nicaragua has had a somewhat controversial relationship with the United States in the past, it is now considered one of the safest countries for travelers in Central America.

While there, we’ll be staying on the Outreach 360 compound and working in the Outreach 360 learning center. We’ll also be taking side trips to other interesting sights, learning about the local culture, and geography.

Outreach 360 has a lengthy and positive relationship with the community of Jinotega. Rather than describing the program in detail here, I would refer you instead to their website, Outreach360.org which has extensive information on what you can expect to experience as a volunteer in Jinotega.

The program costs, flight itinerary and estimated airfare costs are detailed below:

Program: Includes food, lodging and transportation in Nicaragua

$1200 per student for two weeks

Airfare: Based on group rate with early commitment

$866 per person

Since students are responsible for the airfare and program costs for two teachers, the total cost per student, based on a minimum of 10 students and two teachers, is $2263. If we get more students to come on the trip, the cost per student will decrease accordingly as the teacher costs are spread over a larger group. Since the price for the group rate is time sensitive, the deadline for the airfare deposit of $300 is Monday, September 30. In addition, because our scheduled transportation connection with Outreach 360 is confined to a relatively narrow window, we have limited number of carriers and flights, so it is imperative that we lock in our reservations as early as possible. The proposed flight itinerary on United Airlines is as follows:

02May Depart ANC at 5:00 pm / Arrive Houston at 5:12 am (03May)

03May Depart Houston at 8:58 am / Arrive Managua at 11:25 am

18May Depart Managua at 7:15 am / Arrive Houston at 11:45 am

Depart Houston at 2:30 pm / Arrive Seattle at 5:15 pm

Depart Seattle at 8:55 pm / Arrive ANC at 11:25 pm

Please email Ken Varee or Chris Selin with any questions or for more information.

Varee_Ken@asdk12.org or Selin_Chris@asdk12.org