Doing herself proud
Simmons's Caldwell among those who are aiding Nicaraguans
Andrea Caldwell had been in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, less than 15 minutes when she recognized her imprint already had been stamped on the coastal fishing village. A small girl skipped past wearing a Braintree Recreation soccer T-shirt that draped below her knees; minutes later, another girl scampered by sporting the logo of the South Coast Scorpions, Andrea's former Massachusetts club team.
''They weren't soccer players," said Caldwell. ''They were just little kids who needed something to wear around. It was just wild to see them. I turned to my friend and said, 'Well, I guess they got the shipment.' "
The T-shirts, along with soccer balls, cones, gym bags, and miniature goalie nets, preceded Caldwell to this quiet town in southern Nicaragua, just kilometers north of Costa Rica. As the girls ran through the streets in cleats, and most often a single shin pad, they had no idea the thin, blond American with the meticulous braid and the infectious smile was responsible for their gear.
When Caldwell, a sophomore, signed up to take the interdisciplinary course offered at Simmons College by professor David Gullette during January break, which included a two-week service-learning trip to Central America, she wasn't thinking about soccer.
She was thinking about her major -- Spanish -- and an opportunity to test her linguistic skills. Gullette had been taking students to Nicaragua for more than 20 years in conjunction with the Newton-San Juan Sister City Project and had renovated schools, sponsored teacher workshops, constructed water purification systems, and delivered medical and school supplies, as well as shoes and toys.
Gullette interviewed interested students and discussed the current challenges facing the public health infrastructure in San Juan. He chose 10 students to accompany him, and had them study the history, economics, theology, literacy, and technology of the country. He also educated them on feminism, and the limited role women play in Nicaragua's culture.
When he discovered Caldwell was a player on Simmons's successful soccer team, he suggested she attempt to make some inroads with the girls in San Juan del Sur, where female role models, particularly athletic ones, were in short supply.
''It's a very machismo culture," Gullette explained. ''Girls stand on the sidelines and watch their brothers play."
That never has been Andrea Caldwell's style. She was a three-sport captain at Braintree in soccer, gymnastics, and track. The Caldwell family is loaded with high-level soccer achievers; brother Keith, a senior at Brown, recently was drafted by the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer; sister Amy, a junior at Braintree High, is a member of the Under-17 national team, and brother Scotty, a freshman at Milton Academy, is on the U15 national team.
Andrea is proud of all of them, but her siblings understand her work has far greater impact on society.
''Andrea struck me immediately as a go-getter," Gullette said. ''She has this intensity about her. She comes at you with, 'Let's do it. Let's win.' Her jaw is clenched and her eyes locked in. She's the kind of person who can really charge your battery."
It was impossible to gauge how Caldwell would be received in a country where girls dabbled in volleyball and basketball but had little exposure to soccer.
When Caldwell put a whistle around her neck and began demonstrating drills, both boys and girls alike were dumbfounded.
''Most of them have never seen a female coach in their lives," Caldwell said. ''They didn't even know it was possible."
The first order of business was to secure the only field in San Juan del Sur. The commissioner of sports warned her as few as 10 girls might show up. Instead, more than 55 appeared wearing the gear Caldwell had sent ahead. The girls were enthusiastic, and the boys equally stubborn. They couldn't possibly understand why they should relinquish their field.
''This was a new idea for them," Caldwell said. ''They wouldn't leave. When I finally got them off the field, they kept bugging me to let them play. Finally, after an hour and a half, I let two of the boys be goalies."
Caldwell taught the girls foot skills and demonstrated the proper spacing on the field. She talked to them about training and stressed the need to reach their optimal fitness. Caldwell won the conditioning test during her fall soccer season at Simmons, leaving her coach, Dick Dawson, to laud her as ''the most impressive physical specimen we have on the team."
''She does something called a foot throw," Dawson explained. ''It's like a gymnast doing a front handspring. She can throw the ball 40 or 50 yards. You have to see it to believe it."
Caldwell did not teach the girls her signature move. They were in need of rudimentary instruction.
''Some of them were trying soccer for the first time," she said. ''When I asked them why they didn't play, they said, 'We're usually working.' "
Indeed, Caldwell's primary purpose on the trip was not to teach soccer skills. Although San Juan del Sur boasts wonderful fishing, rare birds, magnificent surfing, and an abundance of fragile sea turtles, their natives also drink contaminated water and have suffered a high rate of emphysema among women who cook over open fires without any way to ventilate the smoke.
Gullette devised an Eco Stove that was, in essence, a cooking unit on legs with an attached chimney made out of cement tubes that blows the smoke through the roof of the shed. The stove uses half the wood, and cost just $35 to build.
The Simmons students spent 12 hours assembling metal rods into grids, tying them with pliers, then pouring the cement. Caldwell's festering blisters on her fingers left her with a new appreciation for the amenities of home.
Gullette's students also became involved in attempting to purify the water supply of the more remote villages in Nicaragua. Often families built outhouses that were perilously close to their wells, enabling bacteria to seep into the water system.
''We went up to random families and tested their water," Caldwell said. ''Every one of them had bacteria in their drinking water. We'd ask them, 'Do your children get sick from drinking?' They'd say, 'Oh, yes, the babies are always sick.' "
Sister City volunteers are currently helping with the construction of a sand filter -- a giant water cooler made of cement that filters sand and gravel and keeps the water in a holding tank. It has proven to eradicate bacteria, as well as trap parasites and viruses. The plan is to sell completed units for about half price to families. Gullette's group is also working on introducing compost toilets to the communities.
''Naturally they were cheering for Rivas, their own team," she said. ''They kept shouting, 'Marqua la gringa!' [Cover the foreign girl!]"
Xiomara, the best female soccer player in Nicaragua, is a native of San Juan del Sur and corresponds regularly with Caldwell. She is only 17 and is studying English. Caldwell believes a year in the United States would benefit her studies as well as her soccer.
''I would love to bring her here," she said. ''There is so much we can offer."
Caldwell has decided to return to Nicaragua at her own expense at the end of this month with a new shipment of progress, and hope.
Her mother was hesitant at first about her daughter returning to Central America without Gullette or any other members of the Simmons team.
''I tried to talk her out of it, honestly," Ginger Caldwell admitted. ''I wasn't that gung-ho about her going back. But she was determined.
''This experience has changed her. She no longer sees things the same way. She's making a difference. I'm fine with it now."
Before she returns to Nicaragua, Caldwell will finish her responsibilities as an assistant track coach for the Winsor School, where she is helping her young athletes master the hurdles.
Next fall, Caldwell will suit up again for a Simmons soccer team that was 15-1-1 last season, won its conference, and was first in NCAA Division 3 in scoring. Yet her own athletic accomplishments never could supersede what she did for two weeks in January.
''She's a great example of a kid who wants to do it all -- and will," said Dawson. ''She found an extra 20 minutes this spring, so she went and coached track. She found an extra 20 minutes this winter, and she figured, 'Let's go to Nicaragua and change someone's life.' And she did, without any fanfare at all."
Caldwell's life has changed, too. She could not stop thinking about the young women in San Juan del Sur, and the enthusiasm with which they greeted her. She knows they need additional shin guards, balls, and cleats if they are going to continue to improve. Dawson is helping her collect equipment for her return trip.
She knows the sand filters are imperative to the country's well being. She is hoping that nearly every home in San Juan del Sur will have an Eco Stove soon.
And she is banking on the fact the next time she touches down in her second home, the young girls will scamper past her wearing two shin pads, instead of one.
