Art Camp in Amigos en Accion

In Amigos en Accion, we finished another successful year with an incredible art camp led by students from Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy (FALA), and we are looking forward to an even better 2018! 

Our regular program ran through the end of November, and we had 24 students actively participating. The students learned and grew in so many ways in the months that we worked together. Not only did they complete their homework assignments on a daily basis; they learned how to problem-solve, improved their team-working skills, developed new friendships, and learned some English. The students that have participated for two years now have really started to improve their English, and they get so excited with the opportunity to practice with other native English speakers that visit!

In December, we welcomed a group of 7 high school students and their art teacher, Janeece Henes, from FALA, and our good friend Christa Sadler, founder of the Foundation One New Education. These students led a nearly 2 week art camp for our Amigos en Accion students, as well as some other students from the community. Since Nicaraguan students are on school vacation in December, we were able to invite other students who can’t normally participate in our program due to conflicting schedules. In all, we had 40 students participate in art camp!

Our students had so much fun developing their creativitywith the activities led by the FALA students. The first day, one of the FALA students taught them some drumming using buckets, glass bottles, and anything else he could find, and the students had a blast learning about rhythm and making lots of noise!

Many of the activities that the FALA students led included recycled items that our Amigos en Accion students brought, such as plastic bottles and bottle caps. They painted animals on paper plates, made Christmas cards, made picture frames out of popsicle sticks, decorated plastic bottle “Christmas trees”, made Christmas tree decorations out of the bottoms of plastic bottles, decorated cloth bags, made bracelets and earrings, and so much more!

As is often true with volunteer trips, both the children who participated in the art camp and the US students who led the camp came away changed by the experience. While language can be a barrier at first, everyone seems to find a way to communicate and have a great time. Our students were constantly laughing, checking out each other’s artwork, and trying new things. They also were able to make new friendships, both with other students at the camp and with the visiting students from the US. We hope that FALA will come back again in the future to lead more camps with our students!

Enjoy some pictures from our art camp!