My Nonprofit Reviews

My mission trip to Nicaragua through Cantera was an experience that changed my life by giving me a whole new perspective. Cantera focuses these trips on immersion and service in the form of building relationships with others. Other areas of Cantera focus more on service in the form of giving to the poor and needy. We saw and worked with some of these areas of service, but our trip mostly focused on immersion by learning about and with the people of Nicaragua.

It has been almost a year since the mission trip and my life has been changed, in both large and small ways. Every day of my life, I have lived a life with education, food and water, and a home. Every day after my trip with Cantera, I have noticed these blessings. I have become exceedingly grateful for the opportunities and lifestyle that I have been given after seeing the comparative poverty, and yet overwhelming happiness, of the people of Nicaragua. In the larger picture of my life, I have realized the huge need for service in our changing world, where the gaps in the global community are closing but the gaps in equality, in rights and in wealth, are as far apart as ever before. I have decided to focus my life on this great need. I am going to study social justice in college and hopefully go on to make a difference in the world with my work after college. This work may be in a third world country or even in my own hometown. In Nicaragua, I saw the similarities between Managua and my own city of Detroit. Both of these cities have histories of and difficulties with gang violence, poverty, and gender relations. Seeing the work done in Managua by Cantera has shown me possible solutions to Detroit’s obstacles. I hope to work in Detroit and with Detroit to solve these problems to see my city grow and flourish once again.

My dreams and realities have been altered by my experience with Cantera and for this I am eternally grateful. I know that Cantera will continue to have this impact on many others for years to come, in addition to having a huge impact on Nicaragua through the other branches of its organization.

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