Wittenberg students traveled to Nicaragua, March 8-12, to assist the small farming community of El Eden.

As part of the service-learning trip, the students built houses with local masons who taught them how to mix cement, bend steel and lay bricks. They also built relationships with each other and with the community.

Blake Troxel ’05 recalled that the children were the first to meet them and were nearly always by their sides.

“We actually became really close to them in spite of the language barrier because it didn’t seem to bother them that we could not talk to each other,” he said.

The trip marks the second time a group of Wittenberg students elected to spend their spring break participating in this home-building project.

The students worked in conjunction with the non-profit organization Bridges to Community, which provides service-oriented trips to poor communities.

Chuck Ramsey ’68, who is associated with the organization, helped the students obtain scholarships to fund the trip.

A.J. Kessler ’06 organized the trip, which involved sponsoring fund-raising events to purchase building materials and food, and Miguel Martinez-Saenz, assistant professor of philosophy, accompanied the group.

“The students really got to see up close how many people in the world live,” Martinez-Saenz said. “The interactions the students were engaged in could not be taught in the classroom.”