I N V S T ’ S C O M M U N I T Y P A R T N E R I N N I C A R A G U A , 2 0 1 6

AYNN SETRIGHT & SIT

AYNN SETRIGHT & SIT

Aynn Setright is the Academic Director in Nicaraguawith SIT Study Abroad. SIT stands for School for International Training and they are headquartered in Brattleboro, VT. Aynn lives full time in Managua, Nicaragua.  Mission:• SIT prepares students to be interculturally effective

leaders, professionals, and citizens. In so doing, SIT fosters a worldwide network of individuals and organizations committed to responsible global citizenship.

AYNN IS BUILDING A CUSTOM LEARNING EXPERIENCE FOR INVST

INVST STUDENTS WILL LEARN ABOUT …

• Nicaraguan Revolution• Contemporary political topics & challenges, including

the presidential election taking place this year • Economic relationships between Nicaragua, Central

America & the US• Immigration/Borders• Exposure to community problems & their root causes • Visiting individuals & organizations that address

environmental & social issues• Opportunity to listen to community-identified needs

& solutions

AND LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES MAY INCLUDE . . .

• Visits to:• Las Mercedes Free Trade Zone • Movimiento Autónoma de Mujeres (MAM)• Centro de Mujeres • Derechos Humanos de la Diversidad Sexual (DHSD)• As well as visits to volcanos, waterfalls, lakes and

beaches

And talks with:A former combatant who fought in the revolutionary warAn environmental activist leaderYouth poets and literary figures famous in Nicaragua

CULTURAL SHARING & HOMESTAYS

• Cultural immersion • Language immersion • Giving & sharing, as well as receiving• Hearing individual testimony• Exposure to hopeful possibilities

LET’S LEARN MORE ABOUT AYNN

LET’S LEARN MORE ABOUT AYNNA native of Wyoming, Aynn first came to Nicaragua in 1985 with an organization called Witness for Peace. As a long-term volunteer with them, she drove an ambulance in the war zone and worked with a rural Catholic parish in the northern mountains of Nicaragua. From 1987 to 1993 she coordinated a small development organization, working with 800 war refugee families in sixteen resettlement communities in Matagalpa. This project was awarded the Institute for Policy Studies Human Rights Award. Aynn has a BA in International Studies, and an MA in Latin American and Caribbean History from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua (UNAN). She is a doctoral candidate at the University of Zulia, Venezuela, and is currently completing her dissertation on Central American Ecofeminism. Aynn has been the academic director for SIT in Nicaragua since 1999.

LET’S LEARN MORE ABOUT AYNN

Aynn is also a member of La Corriente, a Collective of Central American Feminists. She serves as President of the Board of a national NGO that designs water systems and does community health promotion. She volunteers as well with the Jean Brugger Foundation, which provides educational opportunities for youth, and with Somos Asi Por la Vida y La Paz which works with midwives in rural Matagalpa.

LET’S LEARN MORE ABOUT GUILLERMO

Guillermo Pérez Leiva, Aynn’s Husbandis a retired officer from the Nicaraguan army.He was a founder of the Sandinista Popular Army in 1979. He joined the Sandinista guerrilla movement in the early 1970s as a student activist from Matagalpa. He studied military science in Havana, Cuba, and the former USSR, and he later earned an MBA, and an MA in history from UNAN-Managua. Guillermo is a published poet dedicated to the study of spirituality, including indigenous traditions. He participates actively in Nicaragua’s civil society.

OTHER FOLKS IN NICARAGUA EMPLOYED BY SIT

• María Teresa Fuentes López, Program Assistant• Petrona Hernandez, Homestay Coordinator• Álvaro Cermeño, Security Officer• Dora María Téllez, Lead Instructor• María Teresa Blandón Gadea, Lead

Instructor• Ana Victoria Portocarrero Lacayo,

Interdisciplinary Studies Coordinator