More Nicaragua

Hello again all! Hope that your spring break have gone well or are off to a good start!

Before I forget, my sister told me to point out that maquilas are factories. If you guys ever have questions about or don´t understand my blog, let me know and I´ll clarify. Sometimes I forget that you guys aren´t living this experience with me, and may not always know what I´m talking about:-) Sorry!

The day after my last post, we headed to the department of Miraflor, to the small rural community of Santule. There we were in homestays for a few days. Every homestay we have is just so different, it never ceases to surprise me. Kelsey, Jeff, Jeremy, Ashley T. and I were with a young couple, Marlon and Myra, (they were both about 30 years old), and their adorable 4 year old son Mauricio. It was definately a more impoverished homestay than many of us have had yet. While we had very nice housing (in our terms, but in reality the walls were made of cement and wood scraps), we did have to walk about 5 minutes to the well on Marlon´s father´s land to get water. We were there to learn about a women´s cooperative in the community called Nueva Amanecer. It was really interesting to see the poverty of the area, and yet to see the hope and the development that cooperatives were slowly and surely bringing. Many of the families in the community (including mine) had solar panels which allowed them to have some amount of electricity. My family even had a rainwater collection system, which provides all their water for doing laundry, meaning they dont have to bring all that water from the well, it is right there in the cistern for them to use for laundry. These kind of technologies have been brought in by NGO´s (non-governmental organizations=non profits) who put on workshops through the coop, and then help them get loans to implement the technologies. It was so interesting to hear all of their stories about the wars in the 80s. This community was attacked by the Contra forces on 3 or 4 occasions throughout the years, because of the presence of their cooperative. (The Contras were the US funded forces who fought the Sandinistas because they looked like communists. They attacked cooperatives because they thought it was a communist idea, and anti-capitalist). It was crazy hearing the stories from the members of the community. Marlon remembers being 7 yrs old and having to help pack and then run into the fields, watching out for his younger siblings. It was a great time spent getting to know the families and the different cooperatives in the area.

Then we headed to Ciudad Dario, the hometown of the famous Nicaraguan poet, Ruben Dario. Seeds of Learning is headquartered there. I don´t know if any of you have read Three Cups of Tea, but SOL is doing just about that. They have a Learning Resource Center in Ciudad Dario where children can come, but they also work throughout Nicaragua and El Salvador, building and refurbishing schools. We spent three mornings in the poor community of El Roble, repainting their school. An NGO came in after Hurricane Mitch and built them this school, but it was done quit poorly, meaning that the roof sort of fell apart and the whole building was almost unsafe. So SOL came in, bought supplies to rebuild the roof, we painted the building and the desks and rebuilt some chairs, and the community is fixing up their school. It is so exciting to see how SOL is working sustainably. They are all about seeing what the community´s needs are, and working with the community to fulfill those needs. It is a lot like Habitat for Humanity in the sense that SOL will fund it, as long as the community does the majority of the work themselves. This was definately the poorest area we have worked in yet, and it was very impacting seeing the children and the community all rally around this project. I am really excited about SOL in general, they are such a good example of what it is to truly do development sustainably.

We then came back to Managua for another week of lectures and such. Yesterday morning we visited the Managua dump, and it was really impacting. That was definately the UN´s description of extreme poverty, living off 50 cents to 1dollar a day. We are all still processing that experience I think.

This morning we visited a Women´s Center, which works with women suffering from domestic violence and other things. It was really interesting to learn about all their programs and to hear a little bit about the ¨feminist¨movement in Nicaragua.

This afternoon we will have another lecture and will be visiting a Nemagon protest at the Legislative building. (Nemagon is a drug that US companies sold to Cental America in the 80s after it was outlawed in the US because it had horrible side effects, such as sterility and birth defects).

Please continue to pray for my health. I am doing better now, but about a week ago I had diarhea worse than I have yet. I did a lab test, and had leucosites this time (a parasite, something new!). Anyway, I am on antibiotics now and seem to be doing better, but keep praying. Also, a lot of us have a pretty bad head cold, so just pray for the group in general for health.

We have all been so impressed with Nicaragua. For a country that was so torn apart in the 80s, they have this unquenchable hope that they will rise above it all, and we can see that they really are.

Thats all for now. Thanks for reading, and continue to pray that for us for safety and that we can really be present this last month, learning and listening.
love you all!

Emily