“Be grateful for what you have,” Slavec said, reflecting on what she learned in Nicaragua. “Although they didn’t have much, they were happy.”
Slavec, 18, travelled to Nicaragua first in March of 2012 for 11 days to help reconstruct a school in Niquinohomo that was run-down and lacked the funds to rebuild. The trip was part of a program with Casa Canadiense, a non-profit Canadian-Nicaraguan partnership that seeks to educate Canadian youth about global issues by involving them in community grassroots development in Nicaragua.
In March 2013, Slavec decided to go back because of how moved she was by her first trip. This time, she helped install nine eco- friendly toilets in El Limon, a community that was far more isolated than where she had been only a year before.
When Slavec found out about Casa Canadiense in high school, she jumped at the chance to help out. Two years later, she is now co-chair of the youth branch of Casa Canadiense, which reflects her long-time passion for social justice. Now, she’s taking her passion campus-wide.
Her newest project started at York University’s Glendon campus, where she’s a first-year concurrent French studies and education student. On January 20 York University approved the York-Glendon Global Issues Group headed by Slavec. The initiative partners with sustainable development organizations, such as Casa Canadiense to promote solidarity amongst the York community.
“Nicaragua taught me that solidarity leaves a greater impact,” she said, recalling fondly her time living with two Nicaraguan families. “Solidarity brings social classes together. Both parties involved get a true experience about how the other operates. I learned a lot about how the local people live... they break bread together, they pray together, not just with their own family but with others as well. The community is so tight-knit. I really think we in North America can learn something from it and that’s what I wanted to bring to the York-Glendon Global Issues Group.”
The goal of the group is to make York a globally conscious community, passionate for social change. It includes a cultural exchange program, similar to the one Slavec went on. The group, already has an official affiliation with Casa Canadiense.
“Around 10 people have already come to me wanting to go to Nicaragua over the March break,” she said. “A lot of interest has already been generated. It’s fantastic.”
However Slavec realizes there are obstacles to overcome, mainly that York doesn’t provide funding for student groups.
“The biggest problem is how we finance this initiative,” she said.
Some of her ideas include raising money through film screenings and a salsa night.
Besides her newest on-campus initiative, Slavec is already planning for the future.
“I want this group to continue well after I graduate. And when I do, I hope my passion for global issues allows me to travel abroad again and work on different projects in different countries,” she said.
She hopes to become a high school teacher and wants to take her future students on social justice trips.
“It’s the perfect age group for taking kids abroad,” she said. “They are just discovering who they are and what they want to do with their lives, so I’d like to encourage them to discover their passions by doing social justice work in other countries.”
When asked about the origins of her passion, she points to her mother.
“My mom is the most giving person I know,” she said fondly. “Whenever we got money for Christmas as children, she always encouraged us to give some of that money to a charity.”
Slavec is also quick to reference her religious upbringing. Baptized Catholic, she grew up as a member of the youth group at St. Anne’s Church in Brampton, Ont., and remains actively involved as a leader.
She realized how much of an impact she could have within her youth group after giving a presentation about the type of work she did in Nicaragua.
“I felt like the presentation truly moved them. They were roughly the same age as the children we helped reconstruct the school for. It also helped that I wasn’t too old myself. I feel it is easier to connect with kids better when you have a young person talking to them rather than an adult. We have more in common,” she said.
Being involved with youth groups allowed her to reflect on her religious roots. Slavec’s faith has always been strong and she feels that her social justice work compliments it.
Slavec sees her current social justice work and her faith as “helping one another out,” she said. “For me, the two can’t exist separately.”
(Thies, 18, is a first-year political science student at Glendon College, York University in Toronto.)