Right now, Amber Mooney isn’t doing much; like most 22-year-old recent college graduates she returned to her parents home in South Portland and is currently looking for a job, staying connected with friends and looking to put her education to use. 

The quiet life won’t last long, however – in December she plans to travel to Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua, with five other Jesuit Volunteers International (JVI) members for a two-year stay. While there, she will work at a local library tutoring local children and seniors from all walks of life in everything from English to science, earning a monthly $60 stipend.

“I just can’t dive into a career I’ll be in for the rest of my life right now,” she said. 

Mooney, who earned her bachelors degree in Spanish from The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., said when she applied for the JVI program she specifically requested to be sent to a Spanish speaking country so she could further sharpen her knowledge of the language.

“Peru was my first choice, but as long as they speak the language it’s all the same to me,” she said. “[The JVI program] is the only thing I wanted to do.”

Mooney is no stranger to offering her time, she said she began volunteering at soup kitchens with her family when she was in middle school. She was also involved with the Key Club, Camp Sunshine and helped two blind members of the community read their mail and pay their bills while she was in high school. 

Mooney said the pair unknowingly taught her how to deal with her own deteriorating eyesight and the challenges she faced as a diabetic.

“We were really close,” she said. “I think some of their coping mechanisms wore off on me. It’s important to know you have friends and family supporting you.”

In college, Mooney participated in three “Alternative Spring Break” volunteer programs based in the Appalachian region and helped raise money for people with diabetes.

“Offering your time is absolutely the best thing you can do,” she said. “Some people do sports or Soduku [puzzles], I volunteer.”

Now Mooney is using her fundraising skills to help raise $3,000 for her JVI enrollment. Although the program provides up to $14,000 for housing, food and transportation, she said each student must show their dedication to the program by paying a portion of the bill. Mooney is planning to send out letters into the community asking for help and has been approaching neighbors and family to support her cause, she said. 

“It’s difficult asking people for money, especially when right now everyone is thinking about the economy and the cost of oil,” Mooney said. “It can be intimidating, but I have learned how to handle it and can keep control of it.”

Should Mooney collect the necessary funding by December, it won’t be the first time she’s traveled for an extended stay in a Spanish-speaking country. Through a study abroad program at Holy Cross, she spent her entire junior year in Spain where she lived with a local family that treated her as if she were one of their own children, she said. 

“Thanksgiving over here is a big deal, you know, getting the whole family together to eat on one day. [In Spain] we did that every Sunday,” Mooney said. “I miss them a lot.”

The trip was more than a lesson in family values, as Mooney enrolled in several general education courses at a local university, all taught in the local language. Although she had studied Spanish since the sixth grade, she said it wasn’t until she traveled outside the classroom that she truly grasped the meaning behind the words. 

“Some people might say they’re fluent in a language, but if you haven’t been in that country, there’s no way you fully understand,” she said. “Once you immerse yourself it really starts coming.”

Mooney said she became so connected with the culture and the language over the 10-month period she brought some of the vernacular back with her.

“One day I asked my friend ‘Do you have stress?’ which is how ‘Are you stressed?’ translates literally from Spanish to English,” she said. 

The trip to Nicaragua will be very different from her past experience; rather than staying with a host family, Mooney will join five other JVI members under the same roof. Three will move in with her in December, the other two would have already spent a year in the community, she said. 

“I think it’s really smart to have some people there who already know the area,” Mooney said.

The other JVI members are of all different backgrounds – Mooney met three of her future roommates at an orientation in Ohio and said one is 60 years old and others are from Iowa and New Jersey. While their conversations were in English, Mooney said she’s looking forward to learning how to master the Nicaraguan dialogue as some other JVI members may have already done. 

“It’s very different from the Spanish spoken in Spain,” she said. “Most of the words are the same but you accent things differently. I heard one [JVI member] speaking and it sounded like he’d been [to Nicaragua] before.”

Mooney said her biggest concern about leaving is the program’s limitations on funding for prescription drugs – capped at a $1,000 budget – which could be far below the money required to deal with diabetes for the two years she spends there. The program doesn’t allow visitors during the first year, but Mooney said she will be able to stay in touch with family via email in case she needs additional support – financial or emotional – during her stay.

“There are good day and bad days, sometimes you miss home,” she said. “But you don’t want any distractions; you want to focus on your work and the affecting the community you’re in.”

What’s to come after the trip?

“Maybe something in government work,” Mooney said. “Hopefully that will work itself out.”

To learn more about the Jesuit Volunteer International group visit their Web site www.jesuitvolunteers.org and to help Mooney raise money for her trip call 409-5722.