Senior Account manager Ian Nash is making a second trip to Nicaragua next month to continue his charity work, helping provide medical and dental supplies to poor people in rural villages.And after last year’s ‘life-changing experience’, Mr Nash is eagerly looking forward to the trip he has been planning for months.“It will be nine days, the same area but it’s going to be different villages I’ll be travelling to,” he said.“We are actually staying in San Ramon and every day we get up around 6am, leave around 7am and pack up the bus. It’s a red and white bus, real Spanish looking and it must be about 50, 60 years old. It will bring us to all the different villages, most of them have dirt roads and a few we had to trek into. One was about three kilometres up a hill.”Mr Nash is again doing volunteer work as part of a charity group from the US which sent down about 40 people, mostly doctors, nurses and dentists, who will again be providing medical care to people with various ailments.“The charity I’ve attached onto is called Corner of Love, based just outside of Seattle,” he explained.“The people who started this are Nelson and Tanya Amador and Nelson is from San Ramon and grew up much more well-off than most others in the area. He lives in the south of Seattle. When he went back he noticed how improvised all the different villages were and so he started up Corner of Love.“I actually have my own website (www.cashfornash.com) that a friend locally helped put together for me and it’s just to help family and friends from around the world donate a little bit easier. I’ll be taking down medical supplies with me again. I’m expecting the same amount of people, there was about 40 of us last year, but the dorm can hold over 100 people.”Mr Nash works at AF Smith, which is sponsoring him along with Mariners Rugby Club, Bermuda Ball Hockey Association and Outback Sports Bar. He will leave for Nicaragua on February 17. After last year’s experience he didn’t hesitate to sign up for another year. He recalls last year how 11 footballs donated by Bermuda Athletic Association were treasured by the village children.“In the past I have always wanted to do trips like this, but something has always come up,” he stated. “When I had the opportunity to do it last year the timing was right. As soon as I came back it was a bit of a life-changing event, to be able to provide and give to people who never had medical supplies or clothes.“We live in a very well-off country, there are poor parts of Bermuda for sure and there are ways we can help here. But when you travel to a place where this no running water, 15 people living in a single room with dirt floors, you can really understand that helping out outside of where you live is just as important as helping out locally.“There are organisations here that I am attached to I play rugby for Mariners and the Bermuda Ball Hockey Association and both organisations will donate to me for this cause. I find the people in Bermuda are very giving, I didn’t want to put a big push on donations before Christmas and that’s why I held off until the new year. If people can give they can give, if they can’t I totally understand. Every cent counts.Last year Mr Nash raised $7,800. Now he has set his fund-raising bar a little higher at $10,000.The supplies he will take down with him include children’s vitamins, shampoo, tooth brushes, toothpaste and soaps. Last year American Airlines was generous in allowing him to take four large containers loaded with medical supplies.“Last year we went to seven different villages. One day we split into two groups and did two villages. Some village could have 100 people but typically they were very small villages, under 300 people. We served close to 4,000 people.”The group will also continue work started on a new school, medical facility in San Ramon and church/recreational facility for children.“They are starting phase two so a lot of the money will help with that, putting up the school, church and medical facility,” said Mr Nash. “Obviously they will be purchasing medical supplies while there because that is one of the things they run out of fairly quickly.“These people are out to make sure that the people in these areas who have never had anything have somewhat of a healthy life. They don’t need cellphones, fancy shoes or jeans, they just want to make sure they live a healthy life, which we should all be able to have. We don’t all live in a country like Bermuda, the US or Canada.”Useful websites: www.corneroflove.org, www.cashfornash.com