trabajo, tourismo, y pollitos

I’ve been writing my experiences and recording my thoughts for a few days now without internet, so apologies for the lengthiness of the post. Again, I’m writing as much as I can more so for my own sake than for that of the blog.

First of all, did I mention how much I love my roommate GennaFarr? Well she’s flippin’ amazzzing and she’s going to France this summer! It somehow slipped my mind as I was mentioning all of my wonderful friends going on international adventures in my very first post.

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There is another American, Micayla, who is volunteering with Viva Nicaragua for 2 weeks and with whom I’ve become friends. Micayla is a professional hairstylist in Boston, and after only having left he country once before in her life, she decided to see what she could learn and how she could help by taking off work and volunteering in Granada for 2 weeks. And since the other business we’re trying to jump-start besides piñatas is belleza (hairstyling), we’re incredibly luck to have her! She has been accompanying me to Valle de Granada and teaching a group of enthusiastic women how to properly cut hair. It just goes to show— it doesn’t matter what kind of preparation, experience, or skills that a person has; we as Americans and as human beings all have things to give and share, and we are doing our neighbors and the world a disservice if we withhold them.

The past several days Carrie and I have picked up Micayla from a local orphanage where she has been giving free hair cuts (both the girls and the nuns get especially excited to see her Chi straightener!). While waiting for Micayla to finish with the girls’ hair one afternoon, Carrie and I spoke with one of the nuns about their orphanage. Apparently the Ministero de la Familia is the governmental branch that oversees the orphanage, although the local Catholic Church runs it. The orphanage has been running into some political problems with keeping some of their girls because right now, it is the government’s position not to take children away from their families, even in violent or threatening situations. It was explained to me that the government sees violence and abuse as an outcome of poverty, and so they intend to address poverty and not violence.

Although perhaps well intentioned, I’m personally not seeing their reasoning. How can combating such a long-term problem as poverty can have any efficient and direct effect on the very immediate issue of domestic violence or sexual abuse, especially against children? Furthermore, I learned that a recent governmental project has revealed that the government’s ideal of “combating” poverty is offering to give a few houses away. Don’t even get me started on all of the social and economic problems that I see here…

Don’t take my word for it; draw your own conclusions.

The sisters at the orphanage have an obvious, great love for the children and a personal knowledge of their situation. I can only hope that in other places like Nicaragua, there are such genuinely concerned organizations and individuals— some to fight to bring about the longer-term bureaucratic and political solutions, and some to ceaselessly tend to those already suffering.

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On Thursday Carrie and I were supposed to have a “meeting” with Doña Sandra about the microempresa (the small business micro-lending piñata project), but when we arrived at the Spanish school which she runs, we were told that her husband, suffering from Parkinson’s, was having a difficult day and so she stayed in the community with him. Carrie informed me that I should get used to late meetings and cancellations of this sort. So I instead brought my laptop to a local café with wifi (pronounced “wee-fee” in Spanish) and began researching.

That afternoon I went down to Caracolitas, the community center in Valle de Granada, where I tried to get to know some of the women, their children, infants, various stray dogs, and anyone else running around the compound. After being sufficiently overwhelmed, Carrie and I sat down in some red and yellow painted mini-chairs (the community center holds preschool classes when a teacher can be found) in the corner of the open cement patio of Caracolitas as the tropical rain poured down around us. There we tried our best to roughly map out a plan of action, at least for the following week. It’s really hard to know how the women will react, how quickly they’ll learn, and how enthusiastic they’ll be about the project. I realized that there is actually very little that I can do. If these women don’t take ownership of their business and hold each other and themselves accountable, I will be able to offer very little to improve their situations. The more Carrie and I talked, the more we realized that this will be quite an experiment, and the more I approach this project with an intense desire for success and growing nerves and trepidation as well.

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One thing I learned Friday morning is that it is truly impossible to sleep past 6:30 or 7:00 am here. With my room partially open to the outside, sunlight floods everything at whatever hour it darn well wants to, regardless of my 9:00 am cell phone alarm. So I awoke to native birds cawing and chirping away, cats tramping around on the roof above me, and Osito pawing at my door. And of course, once I fully gained consciousness I was practically hit in the face by the humidity of the air around me.

I spent Friday morning doing more research. If I felt silly in the beginning googling phrases like “how to make a business plan,” and “accounting for dummies,” I lost all pride when I began youtubing “how to make a Winnie the Pooh piñata” and “how to make Cars piñatas” (I’ve noticed in some of the other stores that those two characters seem to sell for especially high prices). My good ol’ Rhodes education has opened my mind and formed my ambitions in ways that words could never express, but it did not prepare me for this…I guess I missed Piñata-making 101…

I also began working on a rough outline for the census. I’m still feeling pretty in-over-my-head with this project, but I’ve at least got a starting point.

Let me be honest, this project is semi-terrifying. This is real. I’m not turning this in to a professor. I’m not even turning it in to some government official with an office and a file cabinet somewhere. I’m giving this to Doña Sandra, an unpaid but infinitely committed community leader. Doña Sandra hopes that we will be able to create color-coded cards for each family. She wants not only to be able to organize the community, but also to know what the community’s most pressing needs are and what can she do to tackle them. Is drug abuse the most debilitating problem within Valle de Granada? Alcoholism? Domestic Violence? Could Caracolitas hold more projects that address these issues? Could the community use this census to mobilize and press for government or private funding in their endeavors?

When I “met” with her that afternoon, she simply pulled me aside in the red and yellow mini-chairs again and we spoke uninterrupted for about 5-10 minutes while kids were climbing trees and throwing down mangoes behind us and Micayla was giving a “class” on belleza in front of us. In that “meeting,” she expressed a desire for me to organize a few teams of people and go door to door, or if they don’t have doors… well… vivienda to vivienda. Although an older and frail-ish woman, she has a surprisingly commanding presence in the community, and I can already sense her insatiable ambition for positive change.

After speaking with Doña Sandra, I participated in the making of our second piñata—a large multi-colored star—with the women. Although the star was a tad lopsided and the women aren’t completely comfortable with me yet (I’m realizing that it’s a bit harder to gain their trust and approval than it is with the children of the community), I feel that we are all making small steps in the right direction, both as a business and as a team.

After our piñata-making workshop came to an end, Carrie and Micayla showed up to work with the belleza group. As the women had already gotten to witness Micayla cut hair a few times, she felt it was time for them to make a few cuts themselves. I thought, Why not volunteer myself? Mom’s been urging me to get a haircut for a while now… So I offered up my lengthy locks for the cause of microfinance : )

They did a pretty great job! I’m proud to be the first client of a business that will hopefully continue for at least some of these women after I leave.

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Saturday Micayla and I decided to take a trip up to Laguna de Apoyo, a beautifully serene lagoon located in the crater of a collapsed volcano and filled with centuries of rainwater. Some people informed us that a local hostel, The Bearded Monkey, offered round trip transportation to the shores of the secluded lake for about $6. So we showed up Saturday morning and piled into the back of a pick up truck with 6 other backpackers / beach bums who were staying at the hostel (2 Americans, 2 Canadians, 1 Dutch, and 1 Belgian).

We drove about 10 minutes on the highway and maybe another 10 minutes on unpaved steep downhill roads through more secluded towns/villages as we made our way down into the valley in which the lagoon is nestled.

This lagoon was absolutely gorgeous. Surrounded by hills and filled with clear, clear water, it was incredibly tranquil and enjoyable. Additionally, I don’t think I saw more than a dozen people from the time our Bearded Monkey driver dropped us off until the time we piled into the pick-up and headed up the hills again.

There I spent the whole day reading while sunbathing, reading in shaded hammocks, swimming and taking a small blue dingy out into the lake, and hearing the interesting lives and stories of the other travelers (I even found an Econ buddy among them! I was thrilled and we happily chatted about microfinance, development & moral hazard, and the economic importance of environmental sustainability together).

An especially exciting personal moment for me came when I was talking to a woman at the small bar/restaurant near the lake. She was American but I discovered that she and her husband had lived in Granada for 6 years, where they currently operate a ministry called El Puente. I didn’t get the full story, but I gathered that they are missionaries working with helping some small businesses down here; and I think they own a bike rental shop too. Anyway, we exchanged numbers and she promised to call me and we could have a longer conversation in Granada sometime. How cool is that?? I’m pumped.

Arriving back at The Bearded Monkey satisfactorily sun-kissed, I exchanged some contact information with my new hosteler friends and headed back home to Calle Sur Xalteva for some dinner and some more great conversation with Doña Marta.

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Sunday morning I slept in (8:00am) and after enjoying some much needed stillness (accompanied by my Raising Ebenezer CD), Micayla and I met and walked down to the pier to check out las isletas. Las isletas are 365 tiny islands created by an ancient lava eruption of Mombacho, the now inactive volcano overlooking Granada.

We spent a couple of hours on a lancha, a tour boat with a small motor, visiting the islands with Ernesto, an 18-year-old native islander who served as our guide and captain. More interesting to me than the islands themselves was talking with Ernesto. He explained to me the history of the islands and that almost wealthy foreigners now owned almost all of them. I pressed him further and learned that they used to be inhabited by indigenous islanders who, for financial reasons, sold them to foreigners for around $5,000 in the 1960’s (what they, in their poverty, thought was an appropriate price for owning your own personal island). Now, current inhabitants (mostly foreign business tycoons and other such people with too much money lying around, in my opinion) continue to buy and sell the tiny islands for hundreds of thousands of dollars, keeping the natives on to care for the house and landscaping during the 95% of the year when they aren’t vacationing there.

Visiting las isletas was certainly beautiful, but I couldn’t help feeling like there was a bit of an injustice glaring me in the face every time we motored past a tiny island with a two-story house on it and speedboat in the dock.

I don’t know; I’m still learning how things work down here.

Again, draw your own conclusions.

Ernesto was incredibly knowledgeable and professional. We talked most of tour about his life, his work, and his plans for the future. He currently gives tours everyday of the week and attends high school at night. He graduates this year and afterward wants to attend a university in the city to study English and tourism. It was obvious that he enjoyed his job; he shared with me that he particularly liked sharing his knowledge of the history of the islands with the foreigners who ride in his boat. After the tour ended we thanked and tipped him and wished him the best of luck, promising to send any other gringos interested in seeing las isletas his way.

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Anyway, as I’m sure you’re noticed by now, I’m seeing a lot down here—many fantastic and beautiful things, such as my wonderful family here, but also many things that aggravate me. I’ve noticed myself differently too. No longer a tourist or short-term volunteer like I have been before in countries like Nicaragua, I feel more invested here. I’m more aware of the corruption, more unsettled by the injustices, and more frustrated by how difficult it is to affect one ounce of change.

But this feeling is good. I think that we all need to experience this in order to better serve both in America and abroad, because there exists brokenness and suffering everywhere. Regardless of the more difficult things I’m seeing, this is still an absolutely gorgeous country and I am so blessed to be here. I am still genuinely loving my time here and falling in love with this city and culture more and more every day. A dear friend of mine facebook-messaged me some wonderfully heartening advice yesterday. She encouraged me to focus on simply abiding in the Lord— not to change Nicaragua or count the number of lives I've touched, but just to abide in God. Because only then can He really accomplish anything through me.

Anyway, I know that I’ve mentioned some heavy things, and although it must seem like I’m writing a novel, I really have left SO MUCH untold, especially some more personal thoughts and feelings. As always, please email or facebook me if you’re interested in discussing any of these things further. I’d love to!

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Yesterday was Mother’s Day in Nicaragua, so ¡feliz día de la madre to all the moms out there! Right now I’m attempting to finish up a second draft of the census format, and then it’s off to work at 1:00pm. I’m hoping to hold a discussion with the women and have them formulate a 1-2 sentence business “vision” or “mission statement” that we can work from in the upcoming weeks.

** Fun fact: Last night I was interrupted by some mysteriously loud and incessant chirping and learned that Andrea’s grandfather (Doña Marta’s husband who works outside the city but comes home on the weekends, Silvio) had purchased, at her insistence, 3 chicks at the market today as pets. Doña Marta says that they can grow up and live on the patio next to the kitchen with us. They’re names are Fernanda, Fernanda, and Fernando…. I have a hypothesis that Andrea named them like that because even though she pretends to know them all personally and intimately, deep down she really can’t tell them apart.

: )

LOVE TO ALL,

sarah

“But I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness! ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘Therefore I will hope in him’… You came near to me when I called on you; you said, ‘Do not fear!’ You have taken up my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life”

- Lamentations 3:21-24, 57-58

bienvenidos a nica

I arrived in Managua 2 days ago and was immediately struck by the humidity; southern Nicaragua’s climate is much more tropical than I expected. A staff member of Viva Nicaragua, Yasser, picked me up and drove me the 45 minutes or so to my home in Granada where I met my family for the summer. Marta, the mom, is extremely kind and accommodating. I love the house (Mom and Mags, yall would too!). Everything is open, almost like the whole house is a patio or courtyard with partial roofing over the rooms, and tropical green plants are everywhere!

Lying down in bed that night, I realized that I hadn’t stopped sweating since I exited the airport. I can say now, 2 days later writing this, that I still haven’t stopped sweating haha, but its wonderful!

The top 2-3 feet of brick latticework bordering my walls and the pane-less window underneath are both open to the night air. Looking up through my mosquito netting that first night, I was delighted to notice glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to my ceiling. Surrounded by the sounds of a tropical rainstorm and with my rotating fan positioned so that it would blow muggy but cool air from my head to toe, I lay on top of my sheets, wondering if I’d ever use them at all this summer. Enveloped by this scene, I was overwhelmed and excited at this summer’s opportunities. I couldn’t help myself from smiling and thinking gratefully— This is exactly where I want to be.

Yesterday morning’s activities only confirmed this. After a wonderful breakfast of gallo pinto (black beans and rice), mango, banana, and black coffee (sounds heavenly, does it not?), Yasser picked me up again and gave me a “tour” of the town, helping me purchase a Nicaragua cell phone and showing me some historic sites, a local internet café, and the beautiful and expansive Lago de Nicaragua, on whose shores Granada is located. I would definitely call Granada a town rather than a city; it feels very small and minimally urban. Except for a few traces of Spanish colonization such as several cathedrals and a town square, Granada is almost even reminiscent of a village more than a town. Most of the roads are paved, but there is not too much car traffic (and even less traffic rules or regulations). The streets are occupied mostly by people walking, driving motos or small horse-drawn vehicles, fitting way too many people on a bicycle, or even shepherding small groups of cattle or horses.

I cannot hope to describe the city to you. Photos to come, I promise. One thing to keep in mind as you envision Granada: color. Picture everything, every wall, every storefront, every home’s façade a different bright color. Corals, mint greens, and pale and dark blues make up the streets and squares of this city.

After touring Granada with Yasser, I met with Carrie and William; Carrie is my Viva Nicaragua contact and William is a local community leader. Carrie and I are hoping to use micro-finance to stimulate and help start and loan to a small piñata-making business in the community of Valle de Granada. As William has experience in making piñatas, he took me to a store and the local marketplace to purchase supplies. The marketplace was an absolute zoo. Remember that scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when Marcus Brody is alone in Egypt in the middle of a busy market shouting, “Does anybody speak English?” with people stuffing chickens and rugs in his face? This is a little bit how I felt. It was fantastic.

: )

When I returned for a short break I played escondite (hide-and-seek) with Andrea, the six-year-old granddaughter of Marta, the woman I’m living with. We played with my room as the boundary, so we were left with few places to “hide.” I nonetheless made a big show of looking for her throughout the room. When it was her turn to count, Andrea followed my lead by dramatically asking herself, “Donde está Sarah??” and searching for me under lampshades and in small drawers while I crouched obviously in the room’s opposite corner; all the while stumbling over their fluffy white dog, Osito (“Little Bear”).

(As I’m writing this, Andrea just poked her head in my room with a pink plastic toy computer and asked if she could sit on the foot of my bed and work while I write... ¡QUÉ PRECIOSO!)

Then came the part of the day that I am most excited about. Carrie picked me up and, dodging potholes, cyclists, and stray dogs, we took a short and very unpaved road into Valle de Granada, the community just 5-10 minutes from my home, which we will be working with on the microfinance project. To those of you who traveled with me or saw pictures of Guatemala last summer, Valle de Granada looks and feels a lot like Julio’s community, La Arenera. Like La Arenera, there is no electricity in Valle de Granada. From my observation, most of the homes appear to be small shack-like or lean-to structures made of plywood, chain-link, and corrugated tin. There is, however, one cement building which serves as a community center and preschool. There I met with several women interested in participating in the piñata micro-loan project and some of the local kids hanging out. As I walked up I noticed that one of the children had a brightly colored green and red bird sitting on his shoulder, pecking at his T-shirt and cawing the arrival of an outsider.

I also met Doña Sandra, a local woman from Valle de Granada who, in Carrie’s words, has ambitions and desires to completely revolutionize her community. It was her idea to start a microfinance plan with a small piñata business. She mentioned that an additional problem with the community is that it is very difficult to organize people, and that there hasn’t been a census done in almost 10 years. She asked that I work on that as well while I’m here, which I of course enthusiastically agreed to do! So… Does anyone know how to take a census? I guess email me if you have any thoughts on that… : )

She also said that I would be giving workshops several times a week on things like budgeting, accounting, and making a business plan. I even overheard her telling the women that I “knew a lot about business administration”…. Although I certainly do not “know a lot about business administration,” I’ll hopefully have the time to appropriately research and prepare for these workshops not only in their content, but in their Spanish-only presentation as well….

One thing I like so far about this endeavor is that Carrie and Doña Sandra want not only to augment these women’s income, but empower them within their community as well. Our business workshops will be coupled with team building, conflict resolution, gender studies, and self-esteem presentations as well.

Carrie’s tentative plan for me and for the women of Valle de Granada this summer is an ambitious one. As the project evolves over my 8 weeks, we aim to disburse the first loan to the women and begin selling piñatas 4-5 weeks from now, and finish up the summer evaluating and supporting the women in hopes that their business and the loans will continue and even expand after I leave. As Carrie and I briefly spoke this afternoon (in my first English conversation since arriving!), I realized that my project is somewhat of an experiment, and is going to be very independent. I’m very pleased with this. Discussing our visions together, I foresee us working through the trials and errors of this project together, alongside Doña Sandra and the women we will be serving. I feet like less of a college intern and more of a colleague, which, to be honest, is both extremely exciting and enormously intimidating.

At the end of my first full day last night, I couldn’t be more excited. My home and my work plan and environment are beyond anything that I could have ever anticipated. I only hope that I’m able to dig in and invest in these women and this community in a manner effective enough to produce some progressive results by the end of the summer. I already know that this will be a challenge, both intellectually and emotionally. But right now I’m just so thankful to be here and I feel so at home already—I have wanted to do this kind of work in this kind of environment for so long. With some prayer and perseverance, this is shaping up to be quite a summer.

And I’m already learning things! After dinner last night of black beans, homemade taquitos and queso frito (yes, fried cheese), I tried to help with the dishes. Marta giggled and kindly showed me that you’re supposed to scrub the dishes then reach a bucket into the sink filled with water and pour water over the dish, not put it in the sink and run the faucet. Silly gringos…

Sorry this post is so long; no one is expected to read whole thing (except maybe my immediate family). Honestly, I want to write as much as possible whenever I have to time more for myself than for anything else. Hopefully this blog post will give yall enough to chew on for a few days as I get settled in and dive into working with the Valle de Granada community : )

(And hopefully I can find some internet to upload this before too many more days and adventures pass)

More to come!

LOVE TO ALL,

sarah

“The aim of our charge is this: love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith… To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”

- 1 Timothy 1:5, 17

It's a magical world... let's go exploring

Lying in bed last night and just waiting to depart on today's flight through Miami to Managua, Nicaragua, I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't experiencing just an inkling of pre-departure jitters....

Will anyone speak english? Will my work be legitimate and meaningful? What level of poverty will I work with? Will I be alone? Do I look goofy carrying all of my luggage? What time am I leaving, again? Oh yeah, 12:15 pm.

Well that's one question answered! I'd say that's enough for now, don't you think?.... I'd hate to ruin all the surprises ahead!

:)

I suppose I'll simply have to follow the enduring wisdom of two of my lifelong comrades, Calvin & Hobbes, narrated in their final comic strip ever written:

Calvin: Wow, it really snowed last night! Isn't it wonderful?

Hobbes: Everything familiar has disappeared! The world looks brand-new!

Calvin: A new year... A fresh, clean start!

Hobbes: It's like having a big white sheet of paper to draw on!

Calvin: A day full of possibilities! It's a magical world, Hobbes, ol' buddy.... Let's go exploring!

LOVE TO ALL,

sarah

Dear friends and family,

This will be the location of my blog recounting stories of the joys and challenges of living and working in economic development in Nicaragua this summer.

The plan (I use "plan" loosely here; we all know that "having a plan" is overrated and rarely effective when living and traveling abroad):

From May 25 until July 26 I will be in Granada, Nicaragua, a small semi-urban colonial town on Lago de Nicaragua. I will be living with a family there and interning with Viva Nicaragua, a local organization committed to promoting the efforts of both public institutions and non-governmental organizations working for social justice and sustainable development in Nicaragua.

I have the opportunity to work in Valle de Granada where Viva Nicaragua is currently supporting various development efforts as a way to increase economic opportunities, reduce migration, and improve overall living conditions. I plan on working with the community to implement a micro-credit program funded by Viva Nicaragua that will support small, local artisans businesses. I will work with each small group to design their business, create micro business plans, calculate costs and prepare budgets, find markets, and give workshops on basic economic concepts, budgeting and loan repayment.

For those unfamiliar with micro-credit (also referred to as microfinance or micro-lending), it is a grassroots method of sustainable economic development and poverty reduction in which specific banks or private organizations make small loans to poor entrepreneurs. The goal is to provide the institutions necessary to capitalize on the determination, work ethic, ingenuity, and creativity of the poor. Through this, micro-credit aims to develop societies on a grassroots community level, through knowing and working with borrowers personally.

Sounds great, right? I thought so too. Does it really work? Ask me in 2 months and I'll let you know!

(For more information on micro-credit, I recommend the book Banker to the Poor by Mohammed Yunnus)

* * *

Before I head off in 10 days, I'd like to quickly celebrate all of my wonderful friends galavanting around the globe this summer working on various academic, missions, and service endeavors.

Very proud shout-outs to:

Kelly in India and South Africa

Maggie in Chile and Argentina

Leigh in Ecuador

Catherine in India and Bangladesh

Claire in France

Dean in Turkey

Sondra in Azerbaijan

Salar in Thailand

Courtney in China

Katie in Israel

Richard in Turkey

Joshua in Kenya and Uganda

Matt in Brazil

Drew in China

I have quite impressive friends, yes? Clearly.

I am beyond excited for the adventures that this summer holds. I especially look forward to building relationships with the locals of Valle de Granada, eating Central American cuisine, evaluating the effectiveness of micro-credit on improving quality of life, forgetting English words after only speaking Spanish for so long, and simply soaking up all of the amazing color and vibrancy of the world that comes with living in and loving another culture foreign to my own.

Special thanks to everyone at Rhodes and at home who have researched and discussed, deliberated and prayed with me in preparation for this trip!

Love to all,

sarah

"And one called to another and said: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!"

-Isaiah 6:3