Pueblito Celebrates 3rd Annual “Fiesta de Vida”

Pueblito Canada celebrated their 3rd Annual “Fiesta de Vida” this past Thursday, April 10, at the Centre for Social Innovation-Annex in Toronto. This fundraising event was an evening dedicated to supporting Pueblito by strengthening their innovative education programs for children and youth in Latin America—mainly in Nicaragua and Guatemala.

Guests at the fundraiser were treated to lively music, refreshments and tapas throughout the night. A silent auction included a couple of live paintings and Bill Heffernan, Casa Canadiense’s co-founder, showed off his amazing auctioneering skills hosting the Fund-A-Need auction for the evening. The fundraiser was also a celebration of their annual Alumni project and the 2nd Annual Global Education awards were presented to the Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board and to Rox Carter.

Also present at the Fiesta de Vida were Raquel Alto and Christopher Lawrence, who travelled to Nicaragua a few years back, while still in high school, to work in different projects there. They are currently members of Casa Canadiense’s Youth Advisory Committee.

Sharing this important night with Pueblito and Casa Canadiense’s supporters was one more highlight on the incredible experience both Raquel and Christopher had while travelling there. “It was home there. They treated us like we were a part of their community,” said Raquel. “They were so happy to have us there. Now I think of the people that are in those countries who are just happy with nothing and I should be happy with all the stuff that I have here.” Now that she’s been accepted into the nursing program, she’s hoping to one day go back and help the communities in some way, as a way to continue the journey that made such a strong impact in her life.

Lawrence, on his part, travelled to Nicaragua with his high school thinking it would be just another vacation and that it would be easy. What he got from the experience was so much more than he expected, building lifelong friendships and learning some important lessons about life. “Living in a first world nation, we’re so focused on what happens here. A lot of people didn’t even know Nicaragua existed. And the news only shows that they need money and whatnot, but money only goes so far. After a while money runs out. But things like building schools and solidarity, things like that that can benefit someone further along instead of just charity, that means a lot.”

Pueblito’s celebrating their 40th anniversary this year, said Emelia Horn, Fundraising Outreach Manager at Pueblito. They currently have programs in Nicaragua and Guatemala. “This event is in support of our Primary Colours II program, which is a program that facilitates transformative education to first and second graders in Esteli, Nicaragua,” said Horn. “We actually partner with Funarte, helping improve self-esteem of youth and behavioural relationships and helping them have a stronger sense of self. And so we train the teachers and the counsellors on art-based methods that they can use in their classrooms, a more dynamic environment. Oftentimes they don’t have art in schools in and around Esteli. So they use art in expressing themselves in normal classes like science or math and then they do reflective sessions, and they speak about their experiences and they talk about sensitive subjects like violence and abuse and things like that. They try to use art as an education tool and the children as a method for them to express themselves.”

This year Pueblito and Casa Canadiense are joining forces, a partnership that made a lot of sense, said Bill Heffernan, since each organization will complement perfectly and strengthen the work that they both do and fill in the voids that they’re missing within each organization. “Our mandates are so similar. Pueblito has a lot of strengths here in Toronto. They have a lot of real institutional infrastructure and a solid foundation. Casa is very strong in Nicaragua, but we’re totally a volunteer organization. We cannot keep up. We need more infrastructure and institutional support here. We’re coming together and taking the best of both organizations.”

This amalgamation, says Heffernan, is a way to keep Casa Canadiense going in their efforts to fund small micro projects in education such as building preschools, secondary schools or reconstructing a playing field and also bringing groups of student volunteers to help with different projects in Nicaragua. “Nicaraguans aren’t poor because there’s something wrong with them. They’re poor because of structures that were put there,” he says. “The questions we’re asking young people is ‘Why do we have so much and why do others have not enough? And is that the way it’s supposed to be?’ And they get their eyes open when they go. They see that these things can be changed. It’s not charity work. We’re not interested in going to Nicaragua and bringing things and just giving them things. We’re interested in having a relationship– one of solidarity, not charity. The work is justice. That is the purpose of what we do.” Surprisingly and ironically, in a way, most often than not Canadians who visit Nicaragua to work on these different projects bring back not just amazing stories, but also a life-changing perspective. “We usually find that in the end those who came to help were the ones who got help,” concludes Heffernan.

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