In July, seven Goffstown High School students and three teachers spent a week in Nicaragua. Along with experiencing a very different way of life, they worked with some organizations on important social and environmental projects, and did some sightseeing along the way.

Students who took part in the trip included Jake Davis, Hannah Smith, Mac Holmes, Shawn Bond, Alex Stoyle, Ben Morris and Marguerite Malloy. GHS teachers Erin McKinnon, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Sam Perron accompanied the group. Mike Boudreau of Littleton, director of the organization Compas de Nicaragua, led the trip.

Nicaragua, located in Central America, is the second poorest country in the hemisphere (after Haiti). The country is rich with natural resources, but has a turbulent history that has led to its current economic status.

The country struggles with enormous debt, political corruption and other problems of a poor developing country. The students and teachers of GHS learned about some of these problems, as well as what people are doing to solve them.

During the trip, the delegation stayed with host families, where they practiced their Spanish and experienced everyday life in Nicaragua. Conditions varied, from bucket showers and latrines to Red Sox games and DVDs. In all cases, it was different from the conditions the students and teachers were used to.

The group spent the first night in capital city of Managua, where they played basketball with some local kids and stayed at the Compas visitor’s center. The next day they took a quick tour of the city and rode a zip-line over a volcanic lake. They then spent the next three days in the rural town of La Paz, where they helped out with an interesting – and messy – environmental project.

The project involved “biodigestors,” which are basically methane cook stoves. The methane comes from cow manure, which is piled in a small pit full of water. There is a plastic cover to catch the methane produced by the manure. The gas then travels through a plastic pipe to the stove.

Most rural Nicaraguans cook with wood, which leads to deforestation, is labor intensive, creates a lot of smoke and can lead to lung problems. Many people already have cows and need somewhere to put the manure. The students helped transport manure from one pit to another almost a mile away, using dozens of sacks and an ox-driven cart.

It wasn’t all work though.

Students also enjoyed touring La Paz, visiting a church and a wood-fired bakery famous for its bread. They also climbed trees to harvest gourds. They brought these back with them to Managua, where women carve them into works of art.

The group also visited the home of a local artist, viewed howler monkeys, and learned about coffee farming and a coffee cooperative that’s being organized. They also spent time with their host families learning about life in rural Nicaragua.

When the group returned to Managua, they received new host families, in La Primavera barrio, which is a relatively poor neighborhood on the outskirts of the city. Here, they spent time learning about a group called Women in Action.

Women in Action organizes women in a new settlement adjacent to La Primavera. It is a settlement of people who are very poor, but are pulling together to help each other out. They are basically squatters, who are mostly women and their children, with no husbands to support them.

The students and teachers spent time individually with women in the settlement, having lunch in their homes, playing with their children and learning about how they make a living. Many women have small businesses started through a microlending program, mostly selling food that they make or buy at the market. Some also make gourd art, which students got to try. Students also helped with some soy food preparation, which is something the women are using more of for its nutritional value.

To learn more about the trip and the organizations, there will be a presentation at New Boston Community Church on Monday, Oct. 13, at 7 p.m. Some of the students and teachers will show some slides and talk more about the trip.

There will also be five women from the Women in Action group, who will talk about the work they’re doing, as well as perform some traditional Nicaraguan dances. There will also be opportunity to support the organizations by purchasing gourd art made by the Women in Action group and coffee from the farmers of La Paz.