Hello everyone,

Me and my Mom

My name is Rafael Nunez and I am a sophomore at Dartmouth College. I am from Irvington, NJ and my family is originally from Ecuador. I am a Romance Languages and Government major.  I will be going on the Nicaraguan Cross-Cultural Education and Service Program (CCESP) with Dartmouth College this December. I will be working on the Community Development team in Rosa Grande, Nicaragua. I am very excited to go to Nicaragua and be of service to the natives. I was drawn to this program due to my love of service and previous service experiences.

I participated in an alternative spring break with Dartmouth this past spring in which we learned about migrant farm worker issues specifically in Immokalee, Florida. In this trip we learned a lot about the variety of issues that these workers face on a daily basis. We also did some volunteer work in the communities surrounding these farms. This experience is what pushed me to continue serving people whose culture and problems I’m not necessarily familiar with. Sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone and immerse yourself into a different culture in order to be of some assistance. Now, while I know that my individual work is not life changing, I take pride in being part of the bigger goals that have been established. Thus, I am very excited to go to Nicaragua and help the people of Siuna even in the most minuscule of ways. I will be working with the community development team and can’t wait to get down and dirty. For me, there’s nothing like seeing the fruits of your labor especially when those fruits make a huge difference. Also, I am fluent in Spanish due to my Hispanic background and I hope that my fluency will help me to better establish personal relationships with the natives that we will never forget .

Aside from service, at Dartmouth I am a part of the Salsa and Tango dance groups. I also play a lot of baseball, so I hope to play some baseball with the local people. I work as a Spanish teacher’s assistant and as a tutor for elementary school children. I love children and I hope to make connections with the children in Siuna. I have a little brother from the big brother, little brother program and I love to hang out with him. Finally, my faith is very important to me and I would like to connect in that aspect with the Nicaraguans.