A Discussion with Harry López Novoa, Architecture Student, Central American University, Managua, Nicaragua

With: Harry Lopez Novoa Berkley Center Profile

July 24, 2014

Background:  As part of the Education and Social Justice Project, in July 2014 undergraduate student Gianna Maita interviewed Harry López Novoa, a student at Central American University (Universidad Centroamericana, UCA). In this interview, he discusses one of his service-learning courses, which focused on urban planning.
Can you describe to me, in your own words, what Social Service is?

Social Service (Servicio Social) at the UCA is for helping and understanding the less fortunate.

Can you discuss your experience in your service-learning class, “Urban Planning”?

In [Urban Planning] we go to a small space in a city to make something bigger. In this case, we worked in Ciudad Darío, a small city in Matagalpa. It is a small city, so everyone works in this city, and the university contacts the town hall. The town hall tries to support us and give us information about the city…We find out the real cost our project would have for the city…This is called a diagnostic…We spent four months in contact with the city. The university only has to work there one time, but we must go five, six, seven times.
 

…We have to do surveys to better understand the population. When we have the diagnostics, we know how the city is. After this, we make a proposal. The proposal focuses on improving the city, in organizing it, in identifying the barrios that are the most dangerous and which barrios need basic services…We present the proposal at the university first—and this part is all a question of your grade. After, we present it to the town hall or whichever organization helped us.

…It is useful. We, as students, learn, and the population is benefited if the local government decides to do what we proposed.

Can you describe how your service-learning courses compare to your other courses?

…There is no contact with other people, with the community…We have to do interviews, surveys, and meetings with the community, and we have to work with thousands of different people with different attitudes who want to help us, or don’t want to help us.  

What is your experience like when you return to your classroom with your classmates in a service-learning class after doing service?

For example, there are 20 students in my group. Each of us encounters different situations. In the classroom we start to share with one another:

“What happened to you?”
“They didn’t want me to help.”
“You have to have to do things in other ways, you must go to the other side and you have to ask different people…”

This way, we learn more. Each of us shares our experience.
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