Are you sure you want to go there for humanitarian sake? This will not be like a regular vacation or a regular spring break. While there are a ton of new things to see, try, taste and do, mission trips are not for the faint of heart. Especially not to Nicaragua. Nicaragua is a poor country, and although it’s been doing decently well despite Ortega being its president, there are still people who are poor in rural and secluded areas. Although the government has been constructing homes and providing indoor plumbing and improved sanitation services and communication outlets in many parts in the country, there are still some areas that still do not have basic necessities, including running water and sanitation services. People who go to Nicaragua with humanitarian missions with non-governmental or faith based organizations tend to go to the least advantaged people in the country, usually to help construct houses, establish houses of worship, establish schools, improve infrastructure and give a hand to struggling families.

With that being said, you should be going to Nicaragua to help out those who are less fortunate than yourself. Although extreme poverty has decreased substantially in the past few years, there are still people who are living on 2 dollars a day and are forced to send their children to sell goods instead of sending them to school in order to make ends meet. Thereby, creating a never-ending cycle of poverty based on the lack of education and knowledge of other opportunities.

Some people live in shacks. While the upper class live in extravagant homes or in gated communities and the middle class live in decent homes, the poor sometimes live in shacks made out of tin or scraps of metal, which serves as minimal shelter in times of harsh weather. Giving these people an opportunity to live with 4 walls and a roof over their head is perhaps the best thing you can give to a poor person.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjKmAGWU2gE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrVg-QZGQ74

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnOwcQUHDKY

Although these videos illustrate the more extreme side of the poverty spectrum, I’m sure they are enough of an inspiration to have you writing an essay.

Best of luck.

Hypocritical Pharisees on missions should stay in their homes along their weapons.

-Applying Early decision
-Legacy; my Father went to Duke Law School
-Will run track for Duke if my times allow me to (I honestly don’t know what kind of times it takes to run there)

-Final unweighted GPA upon ED application will be between 3.55-3.65, final weighted will be between 4.0-4.1
-10 Honors classes taken, 6 AP taken (all 4’s and 5’s, and one 3 on the tests)
-Senior class president
-Founder and President of Philosophy Club
-Founder and President of Pyschology/Sociology Club
-President of Politics Club
-Diversity Club member- went on school trip to Canada, and hosted a student from Canada for two weeks
-Debate Club member
-"Friends of the Orphans" Club member- went on week long mission trip to an orphanage in Mexico during spring break
-225 Hours Community Service completed upon graduation (of 125 required for graduation)
-Attended two summer academic programs, one at Arizona State freshman year, one at Duke Jr. year
-Took Psychology 101 as a Junior over the summer at a local community college, passed with an A
-Varsity Track for school (two years JV, two years Varsity) -One year JV football
-Run club track during the summer and off season (Track Athlete Year Round)- went to USATF Junior Olympics Nationals for 110m hurdles
-Very, very good recommendations
-Graduated Summa *** Laude from a prep school in Arizona

Could all of this distract them from my low GPA? I am not sure what my SAT scores will be, but I presume they will be somewhere between 2000-2250 total
How persuaded by legacy is Duke?
Most detailed answer gets ten points

Thank you!

About 90 per cent of admitted students are in the top ten per cent of their high school class. The 25th to 75 percentile of the SAT scores of admitted students are between 1920 and 2290.

Few universities give legacies to children of graduate and professional school alumni and Duke is not one of them to my knowledge.

Duke appears to be more interested in class ranking than GPA as it requests that class rank, rather than GPA, be used on http://collegesearch.collegeboard.com from which the other statistics in this answer are also taken.

If you feel like something is missing after your mission trip to Zambia, it may be because you feel the need to help others, for whatever reason. It does not have to be guilt. But, you understand how those people in Zambia live and would like to help.

See if there is a charity in your area where you could join and help people, speak to your teachers, to your church leader to help you find something meaningful in your life. And be grateful that you are in a position to be able to help others.

Matthew 6:2-4
"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

I don’t know.. I just feel like it’s all hypocritical. Mabey I’m missing something? I don’t want to sound like I’m bashing peoples beliefs in anyway, I’m christian also, I just really want peoples feed back.

I did seven months in Cameroon when I was at Olivet Nazarene University as part of my Christian studies. It was really rough…seven months in a tent with no running water, electricity, etc. It was heartbreaking at times, but you also get a sense of accomplishment from helping.

Do I think there are many people here in the states who need our help desperately? Yes, I do.And I’m sure I could have done just as much good in rural Appalachia here, if I’d have been given the opportunity to go there with a group.

But Cameroon was one of the most life-changing experiences of my life. You see how people in other countries live (and, unfortunately, die). 80% of the world lives on less than $2 american a day.

I will be honest and say I’m no longer a Christian (for reasons totally unrelated to this question) but I have never forgotten what I saw in Cameroon or the children there…especially the two and three years olds dying of HIV in their mother’s arms.

As for bragging…I’ve nothing to brag about. I did nothing that another person couldn’t do…and I did much less than I should have done.

Now, I do not agree with church policies in sub saharran Africa. As I’m sure you know, the Catholic charities have taken over in that region and it has been a death sentence. They are of course discouraging the use of condoms, and that’s in a region where four million are dying per year of HIV and where 87% of the women contract the virus from their own husbands, but yet they are not allowed to use condoms to protect themselves from their husband’s virus.

I still want to help the poor, but now I give to secular organizations like UNICEF, Doctors without Borders, SHARE and OXfam. They feed the hungry and supply aid and medicine WITHOUT trying to convert the starving to a doctrine in exchange for a bowl of rice.

How to Get a Job with the United Nations or Other International Humanitarian or Development Organization
http://www.coyotecommunications.com/stuff/workabroad.shtml

I’d also be fine with a long term (a few years), if there would be a way to be enrolled in a high school (I’m an upcoming junior now).

Do any of you know of free/low rate or scholarship-available mission trips to Japan? I would be able to do bible studies, work with kids&teens, I will hopefully have an okay knowledge of the language (so maybe a little kid english teacher?) and can cook, do work, etc.
Oh, the main financial issue would be the plane costs :\

No free trips for short-term volunteering, sorry.

Funding Your Volunteering Abroad Trip
http://www.coyotecommunications.com/stuff/fundingabroad.html

Volunteering abroad
http://www.coyotecommunications.com/volunteer/international.html
Includes links to databases of study abroad/volunteer abroad programs

Scroll down to:
"Where Do I Find Legitimate Fee-Based Volunteering Abroad Companies?"