Thirty-five students of the region will exchange the North American Epicureanism to be enriched from the reality of the poorest country in Latin America, Nicaragua.
    The first group will leave the Outaouais on May 25 and will arrive in Cardenas, a fillate located on Southwest Nicaragua. This village has around seven thousand inhabitants. The seventeen students will return on June 25, date in which the second group will leave for Nicaragua and will stay there for another month.
    This period of work experience is an introduction to the international development and cooperation. It consists of a reforestation plan, within the framework of the Quebec-Nicaragua Solidarity Projects organised by the Agence of International Development of the Outaouais Region (ADIRO).
    “The students will work alongside the children from an elementary school”, explains Daniel Girard, the project coordinator. “They will plant young trees which will belong to the children that helped them.” The coordinator calculates that a tree that grows to maturity may be worth $100.
For the participants, the reforestation project is more or less an excuse to experience something new.
    “I would like to reshape my mindset regarding the current values of our society», explains Elyse Lalonde, an eighteen years old participant. I crave to become sensitized to a reality that is different from mine ».

Problems to overcome

    Marie-Anne Miquelon, also eighteen years old, is aware that there may be difficulties to overcome during the trip, but she is not worried. “It is the complications that make you grow in this sort of experience”, she states. « If it were too easy, we would come back without any enrichment”, Elyse adds.
    This is not the first time that this Nicaraguan village welcomes young students from Outaouais. Last January, nine Arts and Civil Engineering students traced the blueprints for the construction of cooperative dwellings. In December 2002, seven students finished the community centre whose construction had begun in the summer of that year.
    Four of the students who had gone through this experience came to share their advice with those who will depart on May. “You cannot arrive there thinking that you will change the world with your North American values”, said Marie-Pierre Drolet. There is a tendency to forget that there are human beings behind poverty. Pity is the worst feeling that we may have towards them. You must soak yourself in their culture. »
    For Geneviève Allaire-Duquette, this kind of experience goes well beyond professional learning. “I feel I have a second family who think about me somewhere in the world”, she revealed. The people who lodged me expect to receive news from me. I am sure I will go back some day.”

mabelanger@ledroit.com

---

The Solidarity projects are periods of work experience that introduce the participants to the international development and cooperation. They are organised by the ADIRO to allow the people from the Outaouais region to participate in humanitarian aid cooperation projects.

These projects are open for everybody. Do not hesitate to write to us in order to obtain more information. We also welcome the ideas for projects.