This is my second to last day in Nicaragua, and today was my last day at work. All this week, I've been somewhat overwhelmed by feelings, mostly of gratitude and excitement and also a little bit of sadness for what I'll be leaving behind.
While some days here seemed to pass slowly, overall, this amazing Summer flew by. Every Friday, when I would go to meet up with friends and see a new place (or sometimes not so new...Masaya) I was amazed at how fast my week had gone by. And again on Sunday afternoon, when I would head back to my house in Ciudad Sandino, usually on the same bus - the 210, always painted bright red, orange, blue and green - I couldn't believe that the weekend was over. I feel like I saw so many incredible things in my time here: the beaches (with warm water! hard to believe it's the same ocean as the frigid water of SF) of San Juan del Sur, Las Peñitas and Jiquilillo; beautiful green mountains and waterfalls in Esteli and El Tisey; the colonial colors of Granada; the awesome plaza in Masaya; an unbelievable political rally and march to commemorate the Sandanista revolution on (ironically) the 4th of July.
But more than just seeing these places, it was (somewhat predicatably,) the people here who made all of these experiences what they were. My fellow interns from USF (and other places,) were a constant source of support, laughter, knowledge. I feel so blessed to know these other people and am amazed by the things they are doing, and will continue to do in the world.
Another amazing group of people here is my host family. Every morning, afternoon and night, I was greeted with smiles, kind words, new words :) laughter, and love. I was constantly amazed by how it seemed like no one in the house was never in a bad mood and how they were so genuinely nice to me - a complete outsider. If you ever have the chance to live with a Nicaraguan family, I would highly reccommend it. Also, the awesome food doesn't hurt either. Some of my favorites: vigoron (yucca with tomato and onion salad, minus the chicarron,) red bean soup, (so simple, just red beans and garlic and salt,) all of the awesome cheese here, (fried or not,) and of course, fresh totillas, tons of new and different fresh fruits and vegetables, and even really sweet instant coffee.
The people that I worked with were also so interesting. Whether we were talking about politics, recent trainings, or where to go out dancing, it was a lot of fun learning from this group and getting to know all of them better.
Throughout this summer, I have felt like Nicaragua has become more and more of a home, and that I have so many families here - my host family, my USF family, even today at work, my boss told me that they (my colleagues,) were my work family, and that I am always welcome to stay with them if I come back to Nicaragua.
Even though ten weeks is a long time, I feel like I still have a lot to learn about Nicaragua, so hopefully one day I will return.
Tomorrow, I'm heading to Managua with the rest of the interns who are still here (and all of my luggage,) for one last night of revelry. Then on Saturday morning, to the airport with Ivana, and then home to my (actual) family in Denver.
And up next, more excitement: a week in Denver to see my family and friends, (some of whom I haven't seen since January!), hit up St. Marks, and be close to big mountains. And then, 10 days in San Francisco, to reunite with our amazing USF crew and do a little more structured learning to wrap up my Nicaragua experience, and of course, soak up some SF love. And on August 18th, I feel like a new, exciting chapter in my life will begin: a semester in Washington D.C., with more travels this time to Europe, a new place to live, (only 3 blocks from the Supreme Court!) and of course, more learning, at American University.
I hope that all of you are doing well and whether you are in Denver, SF, or elsewhere, I hope to see you soon.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Charlas Comunitarias!
Last week, I started having community talks in and around Ciudad Sandino with one of the women that I work with. The community talks are mostly to explain the work that my organization does, and to explain the resource guide that I created to let people know about the other resources in Ciudad Sandino.
The first one that we had was in area called Quilombo, which was very different from the part of Ciudad Sandino that I live in. Most of the houses were very small, maybe 10 x 10 feet, and made of all scrap materials - corrugated metal, plywood or a combination of the two. The only fences are barbed wire that is strung between branches that are stuck into the ground. Most of the bathrooms are outside, and the walls are not really walls at all, just black plastic sheeting. There is electricity (intermittantly,) but all the wires are just strung on long tree branches.
We held the charla comunitaria (community talk) at the house of one of the promotoras (promotors.) The institute that I work for, AMIFANIC, has a network of about 60 promotoras in and around Ciudad Sandino, who are all volunteers that have received training about intrafamiliar violence and how to help other women in their communities. I wasn't sure at first how the charla would go; it started about an hour and a half late, but I was definitely impressed with the turn out. There were 20 women there, and another 10 babies and children. Everyone brought their own chairs and we all sat outside. Rosa, who is the promotora who actually works at our office, talked about intrafamiliar violence, the ways to combat it, and the legal and community resources that are availible. We then distributed the resource guides, and answered questions from the women.
Here is Rosa and some of the women:
One of the biggest issues was that many women were trying to get child support payments from their ex-husbands. It seems pretty common here for a couple to have a child, or several, and then split up, so many of the women are left without resources to provide for their children, since many don't work. There are a lot of laws to help alleviate this problem, but the legal process is a long one, and difficult to navigate. AMIFANIC provides legal assistance for free, so hopefully after our charla, a lot of the women will come to the office.
Here are some others pictures from the charlas -
It has been really interesting to get to know some of the AMIFANIC clients who come in regularly for psycological or legal counseling, or who are jsut part of the network, so they come to hang out. Although there are a lot of problems, people here seem so resiliant, and they always have a great attitude. Even though sometimes it takes a long time to get things done, people do things with a smile, never complain about the heat, and often walk long distances to run simple errands. Its hard to believe how fast the time here has gone.
Last weekend, we had a midterm retreat with all of the interns who are in Nicaragua. We went to Jiquilillo, a beautiful beach in Northwest Nicaragua, and stayed at this cool rancho. We also toured a magrove forest, went on a little hike up to a fabulous mirador, and ate really fresh fish. It was nice to get away for a little while, but also fun to come home to see my host family on Sunday afternoon. Here are some pictures from the weekend:
Fishing boats
A sweet chavalita (little girl) on the beach...
The whole group at the top of the hike
And the incredible view!
The first one that we had was in area called Quilombo, which was very different from the part of Ciudad Sandino that I live in. Most of the houses were very small, maybe 10 x 10 feet, and made of all scrap materials - corrugated metal, plywood or a combination of the two. The only fences are barbed wire that is strung between branches that are stuck into the ground. Most of the bathrooms are outside, and the walls are not really walls at all, just black plastic sheeting. There is electricity (intermittantly,) but all the wires are just strung on long tree branches.
We held the charla comunitaria (community talk) at the house of one of the promotoras (promotors.) The institute that I work for, AMIFANIC, has a network of about 60 promotoras in and around Ciudad Sandino, who are all volunteers that have received training about intrafamiliar violence and how to help other women in their communities. I wasn't sure at first how the charla would go; it started about an hour and a half late, but I was definitely impressed with the turn out. There were 20 women there, and another 10 babies and children. Everyone brought their own chairs and we all sat outside. Rosa, who is the promotora who actually works at our office, talked about intrafamiliar violence, the ways to combat it, and the legal and community resources that are availible. We then distributed the resource guides, and answered questions from the women.
Here is Rosa and some of the women:
One of the biggest issues was that many women were trying to get child support payments from their ex-husbands. It seems pretty common here for a couple to have a child, or several, and then split up, so many of the women are left without resources to provide for their children, since many don't work. There are a lot of laws to help alleviate this problem, but the legal process is a long one, and difficult to navigate. AMIFANIC provides legal assistance for free, so hopefully after our charla, a lot of the women will come to the office.
Here are some others pictures from the charlas -
It has been really interesting to get to know some of the AMIFANIC clients who come in regularly for psycological or legal counseling, or who are jsut part of the network, so they come to hang out. Although there are a lot of problems, people here seem so resiliant, and they always have a great attitude. Even though sometimes it takes a long time to get things done, people do things with a smile, never complain about the heat, and often walk long distances to run simple errands. Its hard to believe how fast the time here has gone.
Last weekend, we had a midterm retreat with all of the interns who are in Nicaragua. We went to Jiquilillo, a beautiful beach in Northwest Nicaragua, and stayed at this cool rancho. We also toured a magrove forest, went on a little hike up to a fabulous mirador, and ate really fresh fish. It was nice to get away for a little while, but also fun to come home to see my host family on Sunday afternoon. Here are some pictures from the weekend:
Fishing boats
A sweet chavalita (little girl) on the beach...
The whole group at the top of the hike
And the incredible view!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Central American Politics (At their best! Or worst...)
The past week or so here has been amazingly interesting from a political standpoint.
An interesting contrast between Sandinista then and now.
Last Sunday, I was in León with some friends when there was a golpe de estado or coup d'état in neighboring Honduras. The military there, (along with the support of the Congress and Supreme Court,) ousted the President, Manuel Zelaya and he was sent to Costa Rica. This all happened at about 1 or
Latin American leaders (along with most of the rest of the world,) denounced the coup, and last week, the Nicaraguan president, Daniel Ortega, called an emergency meeting with other Latin American leaders to discuss the situation. It was really interesting to see and hear the reactions here. A lot of people here do not support Daniel Ortega and view some other Latin American leaders as dictators or communists. They are dissatisfied with the economic and social situation in the country, where it's difficult for people to find work, (good) healthcare is expensive, (there is socialized medicine here but it's a pretty inefficient system,) and it's hard to pay for food. For a lot of people, they're fed up with hearing the same revolutionary rhetoric without any results. Especially here, where Ortega is back in power 30 years after the revolution, it's fascinating to see the ways that the Sandinistas, (his party, the famous revolutionary party in Nicaragua,) are different now from when they triumphed over the Somoza dictatorship in 1979 and how Ortega is different from the rest of the party.
To add to the political drama of the week, this past Wednesday, the Mayor of Managua, Alexis Arguello, died. He was a former 3-time world champion boxer, and there were a lot of rumors about drug use and suicide and it's still not entirely clear how he died. The government declared three official days of mourning and there was a lot of press coverage.
On Saturday, there was a huge repliegue in Managua, which was a Sandinista rally. Ortega was there, and he addressed the weeks events, restating his support for Zelaya, and honoring Arguello. After the rally, the crowd marched out of Managua to Masaya (which is 27 kilometers away.) It was absolutely incredible to see all of the people, cars, and red and black Sandinista flags. Even if Ortega only has about 40% support (which is what most people put it at,) that 40% is dedicated.
Ortega:
On July 19th, it is the 30th Anniversary of the revolution, and people are already talking about what an event it will be. I can't wait to be here to see it and learn more about the way people interact with and react to the government. Politics here are definitely a form of entertainment, and that was certainly reflected this week. People love to see the scandals, and the charismatic leaders, and no matter what, they still have an intense sense of pride when it comes to their homeland.
Miles of propaganda:
Hopefully I will be able to post some pictures from the last few weeks soon!
Ortega and a very famous portrait of Augusto Sandino:
An interesting contrast between Sandinista then and now.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Things Move a Little Slower Here...
Hi Everyone,
I know it´s been a while since my last blog post, but hey, I´m on the hora Latina or Nica Time, as they call it here. So far, that has been the hardest thing for me to get used to in Nicaragua. People say that a meeting will start at 8 and instead it starts at 10. Or you plan to go somewhere and someone jsut doesn´t show up, so you can´t go. There is also a lot of time to sit around and chit-chat, which is great in terms of practicing Spanish, but can feel a little unproductive. I have definitely realized how busy I always was in San Francisco, so I think this has been a good exercise in balancing my pace of life and prioritizing things that are actually important.
So far at work, I've been working on creating a resource guide that has all of the resources for women and their families in the community. It was really interesting to walk around to different organizations and government offices and talk to various people about the services that they offer - especially since in the United States you would probably just send an email or leave someone a message. Hopefully, I will be able to print the guides this week so that we can start distributing them to our clients, to other organizations in the city, and to participants at the community talks that we are planning. It was also a fantastic opportunity to improve the way that my organization works with the other organizations here in Ciudad Sandino. Intrafamiliar violence is a bog problem here, but there are a lot of people and organizations working towards solutions. There are trainings about various topics, like self esteem, domestic violence, and the legal system almost every week and I hope that I was able to improve the way that the organizations communicate with one another so that as many women and families as possible are
able to access the services.
But enough about work...
We have also been enjoying a lot of traveling on the weekends! Nicaragua is a pretty small country so you can get a lot of places on the bus, (for not much money.)
One weekend we went to San Juan del Sur, which is sort of a surfer town in the South-West part of the country, near the Costa Rican border. When we first arrived, we shoed up at an older hostel, but as soon as Danielle got bit by a bat, we knew we had to leave. After a stop at the Centro de Salud to check out the bite, we headed to Hostel Esperanza, which was very cool, and right on the beach. It was great to go out dancing, meet other interesting travelers and relax with friends. Here are some of the amazing views of the sunset in SJDS:
Last weekend, we ventured to el Norte, to visit Ivana where she lives in Estelí. We got there pretty late on Friday night, although still managed to fit in several hours of dancing. The next morning, we ventured out of the city to a waterfall called Estansuela and a nature reserve, El Tisey. The waterfall was incredible, we went swimming, hiked around it and took lots of pictures.
Here are Daniela and Richard underneath it:
We then headed for the nature reserve, which ended up being farther away than we expected. It was nice and cold at the top of the mountains, which was a welcome change from the heat of Ciudad Sandino. The next morning, we hiked to the top for views of Estelí and all of the surrounding areas. It was increible!
It seems incredible to me that I´ve already been here for 5 weeks and that my program is half way over. I've seen and learned so much and made amazing new friends. I am excited to see what the next 5 weeks have in store and always grateful for this experience!
I know it´s been a while since my last blog post, but hey, I´m on the hora Latina or Nica Time, as they call it here. So far, that has been the hardest thing for me to get used to in Nicaragua. People say that a meeting will start at 8 and instead it starts at 10. Or you plan to go somewhere and someone jsut doesn´t show up, so you can´t go. There is also a lot of time to sit around and chit-chat, which is great in terms of practicing Spanish, but can feel a little unproductive. I have definitely realized how busy I always was in San Francisco, so I think this has been a good exercise in balancing my pace of life and prioritizing things that are actually important.
So far at work, I've been working on creating a resource guide that has all of the resources for women and their families in the community. It was really interesting to walk around to different organizations and government offices and talk to various people about the services that they offer - especially since in the United States you would probably just send an email or leave someone a message. Hopefully, I will be able to print the guides this week so that we can start distributing them to our clients, to other organizations in the city, and to participants at the community talks that we are planning. It was also a fantastic opportunity to improve the way that my organization works with the other organizations here in Ciudad Sandino. Intrafamiliar violence is a bog problem here, but there are a lot of people and organizations working towards solutions. There are trainings about various topics, like self esteem, domestic violence, and the legal system almost every week and I hope that I was able to improve the way that the organizations communicate with one another so that as many women and families as possible are
able to access the services.
But enough about work...
We have also been enjoying a lot of traveling on the weekends! Nicaragua is a pretty small country so you can get a lot of places on the bus, (for not much money.)
One weekend we went to San Juan del Sur, which is sort of a surfer town in the South-West part of the country, near the Costa Rican border. When we first arrived, we shoed up at an older hostel, but as soon as Danielle got bit by a bat, we knew we had to leave. After a stop at the Centro de Salud to check out the bite, we headed to Hostel Esperanza, which was very cool, and right on the beach. It was great to go out dancing, meet other interesting travelers and relax with friends. Here are some of the amazing views of the sunset in SJDS:
Last weekend, we ventured to el Norte, to visit Ivana where she lives in Estelí. We got there pretty late on Friday night, although still managed to fit in several hours of dancing. The next morning, we ventured out of the city to a waterfall called Estansuela and a nature reserve, El Tisey. The waterfall was incredible, we went swimming, hiked around it and took lots of pictures.
Here are Daniela and Richard underneath it:
We then headed for the nature reserve, which ended up being farther away than we expected. It was nice and cold at the top of the mountains, which was a welcome change from the heat of Ciudad Sandino. The next morning, we hiked to the top for views of Estelí and all of the surrounding areas. It was increible!
It seems incredible to me that I´ve already been here for 5 weeks and that my program is half way over. I've seen and learned so much and made amazing new friends. I am excited to see what the next 5 weeks have in store and always grateful for this experience!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
From the Nicaraguan Perspective
Hola Tod@s!
It has been great to become more accostomed to Nicaraguan life and learn more and more about the country and the people who live here.
Last weekend, our group went to Granada, (where I had visited in December with mi familia,) to relax and explore. It was a great weekend to be there since it was the hipico - a huge festival where people ride their horses through the town to show them off and everyone else is either watching, drinking, dancing or partaking in all 3!
It was also great to meet some other international travelers in Granada and even though the previous week I had been struck by the lack of resources here, I felt totally rejuvenated seeing all of the people who were following their passionsand learning more about other languages and cultures.
Here are some of the horses getting ready in the main square:
Here we are in front of one of the many beautiful cathedrals in Granada:
This week I also had the opportunity to spend more time learning about Ciudad Sandino and the surrounding areas and got to see first hand some of the poverty. However, at first I was not so taken aback by it. Instead - I was struck by how happy and proud the people are for what they have. Everyone works hard and they take pride in their houses, whether they are made with bricks or only zinc paneling. And they are always extremely welcoming - they speak Spanish slowly so that I can understand, always offer you a soda or a snack and are eager to hear about life in the United States. And like I said, always so happy, with huge grins and loud laughs.
Here are some of my friends in Ciudad Sandino who we walk around the territorio with, they are all so funny and sweet!
Sadly though, smiles don´t fix all of the development problems and it´s clear that in some areas, trash is causing health and sanitation issues and poverty is oppresive in the sense that many people can´t fulfill their potential and attend school or they are unable to get a job that would pay them enough to improve their living situation.
Here is the side of one house that is made with zinc paneling, and all of the trash that just gets thrown on the side of the road:
I hope you are all doing well! I miss everyone a lot so keep in touch!
It has been great to become more accostomed to Nicaraguan life and learn more and more about the country and the people who live here.
Last weekend, our group went to Granada, (where I had visited in December with mi familia,) to relax and explore. It was a great weekend to be there since it was the hipico - a huge festival where people ride their horses through the town to show them off and everyone else is either watching, drinking, dancing or partaking in all 3!
It was also great to meet some other international travelers in Granada and even though the previous week I had been struck by the lack of resources here, I felt totally rejuvenated seeing all of the people who were following their passionsand learning more about other languages and cultures.
Here are some of the horses getting ready in the main square:
Here we are in front of one of the many beautiful cathedrals in Granada:
This week I also had the opportunity to spend more time learning about Ciudad Sandino and the surrounding areas and got to see first hand some of the poverty. However, at first I was not so taken aback by it. Instead - I was struck by how happy and proud the people are for what they have. Everyone works hard and they take pride in their houses, whether they are made with bricks or only zinc paneling. And they are always extremely welcoming - they speak Spanish slowly so that I can understand, always offer you a soda or a snack and are eager to hear about life in the United States. And like I said, always so happy, with huge grins and loud laughs.
Here are some of my friends in Ciudad Sandino who we walk around the territorio with, they are all so funny and sweet!
Sadly though, smiles don´t fix all of the development problems and it´s clear that in some areas, trash is causing health and sanitation issues and poverty is oppresive in the sense that many people can´t fulfill their potential and attend school or they are unable to get a job that would pay them enough to improve their living situation.
Here is the side of one house that is made with zinc paneling, and all of the trash that just gets thrown on the side of the road:
I hope you are all doing well! I miss everyone a lot so keep in touch!
Friday, June 5, 2009
Nica Life
After a couple weeks here in Nicaragua, I am finally getting used to everything.
I am here with a group of 11 - 5 students from USF, 5 from Gettysburg College in PA and one from Emory U in Atlanta. We all spent a great first week together doing orientation activities in Managua and Masaya, and it was a great way to learn more about Nicaraguan culture, history, Spanish and to eat tons of awesome greasy food.
Here is the malecon overlooking Lake Managua:
Last Thursday, we split up to move in with our families. I live in Ciudad Sandino, which is about 30 minutes from Managua by bus, and is one of the poorest urban areas in Nicaagua. It was mostly built after the earthquake in 1972 but many more people moved here after Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Although there is a lot of poverty and challenges, the people here are very nice. It´s cool to see people just hanging out outside their houses chatting with neighbors our watching kids play.
My family is awesome - I live with a grandma, her daughter and son-in-law and their 3 year old daughter ( who is super cute) and another grandson who is 17. They have been so helpful with everything from learning new vocab in Spanish to figuring out what buses to take to Managua.
These are some of the neighborhood kids on Dia de los Niños, which basically celebrates all the kids. We had a little party with piñatas and lots of candy!
I also started working this week at AMIFANIC, which works to prevent domestic violence and provides essential services to victims and survivors. This type of violence is a huge problem here and is related to a lot of other issues - poverty, a cultural sense of Machismo, and a series of political mixed messages, (with few resources,) from the government. The tangible services that AMIFANIC provides - a lawyer and psychologist free of charge as well as a support network - are essential, but they are faced with a lack of incoming resources and growing challenges. I hope that this summer, I can help build AMIFANIC´s capacity to provide these services because it is clear that there is a need for them.
Here is the AMIFANIC office in Ciudad Sandino:
It has definitely been a challenge speaking Spanish all the time, getting used to the laid back time schedule, and missing people from SF and Denver, but I already feel so grateful for this experience and all that I´m going to learn and hopefully contribute.
I am here with a group of 11 - 5 students from USF, 5 from Gettysburg College in PA and one from Emory U in Atlanta. We all spent a great first week together doing orientation activities in Managua and Masaya, and it was a great way to learn more about Nicaraguan culture, history, Spanish and to eat tons of awesome greasy food.
Here is the malecon overlooking Lake Managua:
Last Thursday, we split up to move in with our families. I live in Ciudad Sandino, which is about 30 minutes from Managua by bus, and is one of the poorest urban areas in Nicaagua. It was mostly built after the earthquake in 1972 but many more people moved here after Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Although there is a lot of poverty and challenges, the people here are very nice. It´s cool to see people just hanging out outside their houses chatting with neighbors our watching kids play.
My family is awesome - I live with a grandma, her daughter and son-in-law and their 3 year old daughter ( who is super cute) and another grandson who is 17. They have been so helpful with everything from learning new vocab in Spanish to figuring out what buses to take to Managua.
These are some of the neighborhood kids on Dia de los Niños, which basically celebrates all the kids. We had a little party with piñatas and lots of candy!
I also started working this week at AMIFANIC, which works to prevent domestic violence and provides essential services to victims and survivors. This type of violence is a huge problem here and is related to a lot of other issues - poverty, a cultural sense of Machismo, and a series of political mixed messages, (with few resources,) from the government. The tangible services that AMIFANIC provides - a lawyer and psychologist free of charge as well as a support network - are essential, but they are faced with a lack of incoming resources and growing challenges. I hope that this summer, I can help build AMIFANIC´s capacity to provide these services because it is clear that there is a need for them.
Here is the AMIFANIC office in Ciudad Sandino:
It has definitely been a challenge speaking Spanish all the time, getting used to the laid back time schedule, and missing people from SF and Denver, but I already feel so grateful for this experience and all that I´m going to learn and hopefully contribute.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Estamos en Nica
Hola Todos!
We are in Nicaragua! After a night of flying, we got to Managua yesterday, where we started the orientation, and now we are in Masaya, a really sweet town about 30 min from Managua. The people here are awesome - Nicaraguenses y los otras en la programa.
I can´t wait to see what we do next and see more of this beautiful y interesante pais!
We are in Nicaragua! After a night of flying, we got to Managua yesterday, where we started the orientation, and now we are in Masaya, a really sweet town about 30 min from Managua. The people here are awesome - Nicaraguenses y los otras en la programa.
I can´t wait to see what we do next and see more of this beautiful y interesante pais!
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