This week's story comes not from Nicaragua or Ecuador but from Farmerville, Louisiana, a small town just south of the Arkansas border that is home to about 4,000 residents, many of them newly arrived immigrants. Thanks to the hard work and vision of Luke Lockwood, Lindsay Stone, and twenty other students at Louisiana Tech University, what was only an idea three months ago, is now an MPI campus chapter complete with Spring Break plans and an exciting new, local service opportunity. The following is from Luke Lockwood at MPI-LaTech (soon to be MPI-Ecuador's newest Program Director!)

"They filed in one-by-one through the gold confetti, kid-decorated door into the classroom of the local elementary. 'There are so many of them!' she whispered, as the young Hispanic students all fumbled around for a seat facing the blackboard. Our hearts were pounding and there was hint of nervous excitement in the air. This was our first Hispanic tutoring session and none of us really knew what we were doing. But acting as if she had been doing this for years, Lindsay, with lesson plan in hand, walked to the front of the room...'

"But this story doesn't begin here. It actually begins a few years ago when I first moved to North Louisiana. As a native Texan now residing in Ruston, Louisiana, I had noticed an absence of Hispanics in my day-to-day activities. But over the past few years, this small college town and its surrounding areas have seen a swell of Hispanic migration. The South has not seen anything like it since the end of the Civil War. It is hard not to notice this emerging trend of cultural integration. Everywhere we are seeing a new language and a new culture. It is in the workforce, in the hospitals, in the grocery stores, and in the public schools. And like the rest of the South, North Louisiana is experiencing some growing pains. There is a need for adjustment and accommodation to the specific needs of this new demographic. After talking to people in business and local government, it is evident that the greatest problem has been overcoming the language barrier. Still, Hispanics continue to enter realties looking for homes, banks trying to set up an account, and schools for educating their children without much assistance.'

"Wanting to help in some way, a few students here at Louisiana Tech University got together in early September and decided that we could make a difference. We wanted to begin a tutoring program for Hispanic kids who were struggling in school because of the language barrier. We chose Manna Project as our vehicle and began to simultaneously work on the twofold process of starting a campus organization (Manna Project LaTech Chapter) and finding a public school with whom we could work.'

"The need is so great that within the first week of announcing our plans, we had six different schools contact us wanting to talk about implementing the Hispanic tutoring program. One of those contacts was Martha Brown who was hired by a local school district specifically to help the large numbers of Hispanic students adjust in the classroom and pass the state standardized tests. But from the moment she began her job she has been overloaded. There are over 150 Hispanic students in four schools spread out around the area. She needed help. So, we traveled to Farmerville, La to visit with her and see the students of the two schools with the largest number of Hispanic students. We decided to work with the more than 50 students at Farmerville Elementary. Martha has great support from her school board and this has been a tremendous benefit. She has been able to supply us with more educational resources than we know what to do with, get permission to tutor in the classrooms during school hours, and has even been granted funding to pay for the 50+ miles of gas each of us use roundtrip.'

"We have been tutoring now for more than a month and it could not be going any more smoothly. We meet every Monday for 3 hours and tutor K-5 in reading and math. The kids are smart and enjoy the time we spend with them. The teachers are happy that we are giving an extra hand so they can improve the quality of learning in their classrooms. And our organization is continuously growing with volunteers as the word is spreading about what we are doing. Soon we will be growing large enough to expand to other schools and provide additional services to the community."

DONATE - Want to help?  Go here for instructions to give online or by mail. Also take a look at our Nica wishlist. 

BLOGGING - Read up on MPI-Ecuador and on MPI-Nica's child sponsorship program.  Also for your enjoyment, more Nicaraguan music than you can shake a stick at.

GOODSEARCH - Here's an easy way to support MPI! Goodsearch will make a small donation every time you search the web. Just designate the cause as Manna Project Intenational in Nashville, TN. It makes a great homepage, too!

READ UP - Interesting report on college student volunteering.