Volunteers!

As you know, the SOAAR program at NCA currently relies on volunteers, a wide range of wonderful individuals who commit to spending a year of their lives working and serving students with support needs in various classrooms. Right now, there are four SOAAR classroom assistants and a speech and language therapist who splits her time between NCA and Tesoros de Dios. I have the privilege of coordinating schedules of the volunteers, and making sure everything is in place and running as smoothly as possible for the volunteers. It has been a blessing to work with such committed, dedicated professionals this year. While their 7:00-2:30 work is really under my umbrella of "SOAAR Coordinator" responsibilities, their life outside of school is of course, outside of my control.

We learned quickly last year, however, that it can be hard to form community and feel included as a short-term volunteer at NCA. Volunteers don't typically have access to a vehicle, and it is difficult to get to know many people and the lay of the land in a short amount of time. Ruth and I decided that we wanted to prioritize creating opportunities outside of work for SOAAR volunteers to fellowship and explore Nicaragua. Once a month, we gather to eat at our home. And once a month, we host an "event," doing something fun around Nicaragua. So far this year,  as a group we've been to the beach, the volcano, and downtown Managua to explore the parks along the lakeshore. While I hope the volunteers enjoy these gatherings, our family certainly benefits from these relationships, too! Our kids LOVE hanging out with the volunteers, and they are very gracious with giving our wild children attention and love, too! (Two volunteers even babysat last weekend overnight for Ruth and I to celebrate our June anniversary!) We celebrate this micro-community that has become an important part of our lives at school AND beyond.