more piñatas, germans, and the copa mundial

A quick update on our work with Piñatas Alegría:

Last weekend and this week, Shaun and I have been tweaking our system created to divide piñata profits into 3 categories: money to be reinvested for materials, small payments to repay the loan, and money for salaries. We’re calling it out “jar system”, as the idea it that the ganancias from each piñata can be split up among 3 jars—simplicity and sustainability is the goal. We’ve worked out a couple of charts and have begun to implement this system with the piñatas we’ve already sold. So far so good!

On Thursday we talked to the women about the importance of keeping the money from profits within the business. Shaun used an analogy of a bicycle—The wheels are like capital, and the bicycle can only move forward if the wheels are circulating (loan money à materials à products à profits à materials à products… etc.). Although the wheels are continually moving, they must stay firmly on the bicycle. Otherwise, the bicycle, the business, can go nowhere. We have more charlas planned for next week, including basic accounting and marketing.

Another aspect we’ve been working on lately is that of the loan. We created several scenarios with varying loan amounts and payment periods. Although we can see advantages and disadvantages to each, I think we’ve tentatively decided to make one loan of 1,000 córdoba to be paid back in small weekly amounts over 1 year. Shaun, Carrie, and I feel that this approach will give the women plenty of capital, opportunity to expand (which they’ve already showed an interest in doing), and a long enough time period to keep payments low and salaries high enough to reflect the amount of time and effort these three women are sacrificing for the business. I was originally envisioning payment periods of 1-4 months, but I like this better. This new approach really emphasizes the long-term goals of the business, and I’m becoming increasingly excited as I picture the success of Piñatas Alegría one or two years down the road. What an incredible blessing to be a part of this!

~~~

On Tuesday I got a call from a friend from high school, a German foreign exchange student who I knew briefly when he studied in America for a year. Ben has been travelling around Central America for several weeks and somehow found out that I was living in Nica. With no plan or cell phone, he showed up on Calle Real Xalteva (one street north of mine) at around 10:00 in the morning. I showed him around town, drinking frescos and browsing the artisans’ wares at the Parque Central, walking down to the lake via Calle Calzada, and buying mamones in the marketplace. In the afternoon he went to work with me and Piñatas Alegría in Valle de Granada.

Ben and I (photo taken by some of the kids):

A couple more photos from Ben’s camera:

After work we decided that it would be a shame if Ben came to Granada and didn’t get to experience the Laguna de Apoyo, the crater-lagoon just outside of Granada that I visited a couple weeks ago. So we called up Melissa and quickly packed our bags, not knowing if we’d make it back that night or the next morning. We started walking towards the busier streets, alternating scanning for buses and sticking out our thumbs. We just barely caught a bus to Masaya as it sped around the corner and asked the driver to let us know when to hop out for the laguna. As always, there are no bus stops. The driver let us off on the side of the highway near a smaller road that led down into the valley where the laguna is located. From there we started walking downhill and eventually caught a taxi to take us the rest of the way.

Like last time I went to the Laguna de Apoyo, Melissa, Ben, and I were the only people down there. After diving in and swimming out to a small wooden dock, we decided to grab a couple of kayaks and venture out into the calm water. Having left Granada after work around 3:00 pm, it was already beginning to get dark. The sky was also filled with heavy, ominous clouds. Tucked away in a pocket of lush green hills, this lagoon has never known a speedboat or motorboat or jet ski. Scanning the enveloping greenery, we could easily count the number of sparse lights we saw in the hills that completely encircled us. There weren’t even radio towers atop those hills. It was such a beautiful feeling. We paddled out from the shore and I lay back in my kayak and closed my eyes for a few minutes, feeling a slight sprinkling of chilly rain. When I opened my eyes again, the view was completely different than from when I closed them, and yet still the same—dark green, steep, forested hillsides and still water undisturbed in every direction around me, except for Melissa and Ben on their kayaks some distance away. At first I couldn’t help regretting that I didn’t bring my camera, but then I realized what a silly thought that was. It’s not like a picture could really capture it anyway.

The rain really started coming down and the sky had gone completely black when we decided to head in. In the darkness overlooking the laguna, we snuggled into hammocks and rocking chairs on the back porch and chatted with managers of the hut, several Nicaraguans who lived there and ran the place. Not a bad job, right? They were actually looking to hire another member of their staff… I seriously considered it.

After hanging out a while they called us a taxi and we made the winding, uphill trip back to the highway. There we parted ways; Melissa and I caught a bus back to Granada without waiting too long in the rain, and Ben headed off to find a ride in the opposite direction to continue his travels in Masaya.

~~~

Although Nicaraguans are bigger baseball fans than soccer fans (surprising, I know), they still love the Copa Mundial, the World Cup! The past two mornings I’ve woken up to watch the 5:20 am futbol games with a couple friends, which has actually been a lot of fun (though I can’t promise I didn’t doze off a bit at halftime). Although I genuinely enjoy the lack of modernized commercial centers and services here, I have certainly missed the convenience of a Starbucks or even a drive-through McDonald’s coffee these past few mornings. : )

Anyway, I leave this afternoon for a few days to Ometepe, an island in Lago Cicibola (Lake Nicaragua) made up of two volcanoes—Maderas and Concepción. We plan on hiking Volcán Maderas, supposedly an 8-10 hour hike, and then resting on the island’s beaches and exploring its small towns.

Of course, I’ll let yall know how everything goes!

LOVE TO ALL,

sarah

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge… Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world”

- Psalm 19:1-4

Mombacho y más

Last Saturday, 2 other interns (Shaun and Melissa) and I decided to climb Volcán Mombacho, the giant volcano which looms over the city of Granada:

First we walked to the marketplace to catch the bus to Volcán Mombacho. We weren’t really sure of where or how to catch the bus, but our questions were soon answered when we ran into men frantically shouting “¡Mombacho, Mombacho! ¡Mombacho, Mombacho!” and pushing people towards a broken-down-looking school bus. Assuming that that this was probably our bus, we allowed ourselves to be herded onto the crowded, dilapidated school bus. For the equivalent of 30¢ we rode the bus outside of town until some of the men indicated that it was our stop. So we hopped off the back and grabbed a mototaxi, a 3-wheeled tuk tuk-style cab. For $1 our driver squished the three of us in the backseat and dropped us off at the base of the natural reserve in which Volcán Mombacho is located.

The hike was a steep 2.5-hour journey— well worth it! At one point we were startled to hear what sounded like a pack of ravenous dogs coming from the trees above us. At further inspection we realized that they were howler monkeys, dozens of them! Half-jokingly, we began imitating their bark-like howls, only to be even more surprised when they howled and yelled back at us, loudly. It was actually a little scary, haha. We conversed with our new primate friends for a while and then decided to press on.

Besides the wildlife (which, in addition to the monkeys, also included lots of huge lizards, tropical birds, and a particular species of salamander that can only be found on Volcán Mombacho), I was also impressed and surprised by all of the flora on the volcano. The forest on either side of the trail was just stuffed with huge ferns, vines, bright white orchids, and other colorful plants that looked like they should be for sale at exorbitant prices in an American flower shop.




When we finally reached the top, we found two more trails, one that was 1.5 hours and another 4-hour hike that led past the three large craters on top of the volcano. We had to get back to Granada by 5:00pm, so we could only take the shorter hike. I can’t imagine we missed out on much, though. Our hike was gorgeous. The clouds cleared when we got to top and we could see Granada, Lago Cicibola (Lake Nicaragua), las isletas, the island Ometepe, Volcán Masaya, Lago de Managua, and I’m pretty sure I saw Dallas, TX and Memphis, TN off in the distance. : )
It was so beautiful and peaceful. The three of us sat alone at the top for a long while without really doing or saying anything; just looking, enjoying, being. I swear— a hammock, a book, and a cup of coffee or hot tea and I would have been beyond content to stay there for days.




On the way back to the original trail we stopped to check out a cave-like fissure in the ground that was emitting hot, humid steam from deep in the volcano. That was pretty cool.

I must admit that I assumed that the hike down would be a snap, that it would feel like nothing compared to the tough trek up. Surprise, surprise; I was mistaken. Shaun, Melissa, and I exchanged muscle pain for joint pain as we zig-zagged down Mombacho. Including a brief stop to check out a coffee plantation halfway down the volcano, the hike down took just about as long as the hike up. At one point we passed a truck carrying people up to the top. As we watched them effortlessly motor past us, admiring the jungle and the views from inside the car, we knew we had made the better choice. There’s no way to climb a mountain without actually climbing the mountain. Am I right?
: )

After we reached the base of the volcano around 4:00 pm, we realized that there was still a short ways to go along the dirt path until we could exit the nature reserve and reach the main road where we could catch the bus or another mototaxi. Having had our fill of walking for the day, we decided to give Nicaraguan hitchhiking a try. I waved and Shaun stuck his thumb out as a truck passed. The driver signaled to us to hop on in and we enjoyed chatting with him and the other passengers until we reached the main highway. Apparently he was working with a tour group that lead people up into the cloud canopy of Mombacho. After we reached the main road, we thanked him, hopped out, and caught another cute little mototaxi. For $1, the mototaxi sped us back to Granada where I enjoyed a much-needed shower.

Our mototaxi:


~~~

After waking up a little stiff and sore the next morning, Melissa and I met to find a bus to the nearby town of Masaya to check out the artisans market that we’d heard about there. We walked through one of, in my opinions, the coolest places in Granada—the marketplace. There we bought some very local nicaragüense snacks. First we bought a bunch of mamones for 5 córdoba (25¢); they’re small fruits that you unwrap from their peeling and suck on the pits. They’re kind of sweet and kind of sour, with a texture similar to what I would imagine an eyeball would have if you were to eat one. Appetizing, no? We also tried frescos for the first time (I’ve since had many more). Frescos are great; they’re like juice boxes except they’re sold in plastic bags. Women sell them all over town and locals are always sucking on them in various flavors—different fruits, cacao, pinolillo, cebada, and a couple other flavors that I’ve tasted but still haven’t figured out what they are yet (again, 5 córdoba).

Me and Melissa with our snacks outside the market:

Bus rides here are unlike bus rides anywhere else. There’s a man who stands at the front and shouts the destination to everyone on the street. He helps people hop on and off the bus, sometimes even while it’s still moving. There don’t appear to be any actual bus stops; one just jumps on or off whenever they want to. A couple times the bus pulled over on the side of the highway and people jumped off and ran into or out of the nearby, unmarked woods. We became friends with the man riding at the front of the bus, William, and he chatted with us in between shouting at passersby and hopping on and off to collect more passengers. He was particularly happy when he found out that we had no plans to go to Costa Rica—I guess most gringos he comes across are travelers or backpackers who plan on touristing there. Although I’m sure Costa Rica is lovely, I agree with William in that I’m glad I chose Nicaragua. I can’t imagine wanting to be anywhere else.

The Masaya marketplace was pretty cool— a dirty and unorganized mess of hammocks, bags, paintings and jewelry, along with an even dirtier and more unorganized mess of shoes, clothes, random electronics, foods, drinks, and dulces. One thing that I was surprised about was that I didn’t notice any other gringos. Although I don’t usually see gringos in Granada (or at least not in the in the areas of Granada where I work and hang out—the only other American I’ve ever seen in Valle de Granada is my fellow intern, Shaun!), I expected the Masaya market to be more of a tourist destination, the kind of place that you find in a travel guide book. But there really weren’t any others, just Melissa and me. I found out later that there was a nicer, more polished market where tourists are directed. Since Melissa and I weren’t adhering to anything we’d read in a guidebook or on the internet (we just hopped off the bus and started walking until we found a marketplace that we thought was cool), we’d missed the newer market completely. Apparently they have all of the same goods, just at (not surprisingly) higher prices. So it looks like going the dirty and unorganized local route pays off in the end.

~~~

Work in Valle de Granada the first half of this week was slow at best. It rained for a few days, and since people often stay in their homes when it’s raining, it was hard to get all members of the group together. We were supposed to have a man from another community come and teach them how to make more complicated piñatas (Cars, Barney, etc) but in typical nica style, he cancelled last minute.

Tuesday I found out that one of our women who was pregnant, Maria Auxiliadora, had experienced some complications and a near miscarriage and was bedridden. Only 4 months into her pregnancy, she will need to be almost completely bedridden for the remaining 5 months. I was shocked to hear that but extremely relieved to know that she and her baby appear to be OK. Needless to say, I want her to do everything in her power to keep it that way, though I will definitely miss her as part of our team, as I felt closest to her.

Shaun and I purchased some envelopes and made a chart splitting up the money from each differently priced piñata sold into 4 divisions: one to pay back the loan (this envelop doesn’t have anything in it yet as we haven’t made a loan, only donations so far), one to re-invest back into business and purchase materials with, one for Caracolitos, and the final envelope with money to be divided 4 ways (now 3 without Maria Auxiliadora) for salaries for the women. We wanted to create a system that was as simple as possible, something that will be easily sustainable after we leave.

I was excited to give them their profits from the first 4 piñatas already sold— 100 córdoba for materials, 30 for Caracolitos, and 40 córdoba for each of the women as a salary (about $2). I was frustrated to find out, however, that they didn’t feel comfortable holding the money and wanted me to continue holding it and paying them back for any materials they buy. None of the women felt like they had a safe and secure location in which to keep the money, especially since many of them live in a home with multiple families and family members who aren’t necessarily trustworthy. Additionally, I think that they’re just not comfortable with the responsibility of holding their own money or the business’s money, as most of them haven’t had much experience in handling their own finances before. This is a big problem, as you can’t really run a business and simultaneously avoid touching money. Shauna and I have been brainstorming all week on some possible solutions.

~~~

Tuesday the women had run out of materials and so we didn’t do any work and instead just hung out at Dolores’ house in their rocking chairs (everyone has rocking chairs in this country—they are equivalent to the nonexistent A/C). Maybe it was because I had spent the night before hanging out with Melissa and speaking English, or maybe it was because I’d spent my morning reading English books, or maybe it was because we were in their home and they were loosening up and speaking more colloquially, but I just couldn’t seem to express myself that afternoon. Although I know I have a lot of things left to learn in this language, I rarely feel as inept as I felt on Tuesday. It was exasperating. I couldn’t seem to understand 50% of what everyone was saying and every time I tried to join in the conversation, I felt like there was a 10-car pileup in my mind and in the words coming out of my mouth.

Operating almost everyday in a foreign language is a bit of a roller coaster—some days I feel practically fluent, and in other situations I feel as if I’ve barely progressed past Spanish 101. (Not to mention I can feel myself daily becoming less and less articulate and eloquent in English). I’ve concluded that speaking and learning in any language, even your first language, will always be a continuous process, one that I doubt anyone can say they’ve ever truly mastered. There will always be more words, more types of literature, poetry, more ways to express yourself and more ways to learn to listen and more fully understand others. Although some scholars and philosophers find language cumbersome and limiting, I happen to think it’s pretty incredible and beautiful.

~~~

The second half of the week was much more encouraging. The sun was out and Shaun couldn’t make it Wednesday and Thursday so I headed to Valle de Granada by myself. Lisset, Dolores, Magali, and I hung out and talked for a few hours, working on a large Barney piñata. On Wednesday Dolores sent one of the kids off to get us some 2 córdoba helado, a frozen fruit treat sold in baggies, like the frescos. We tore off a corner of the plastic bags with our teeth and sucked on the frozen juice while we worked and chatted, making really great progress.

On Friday we had a new teacher come to Caracolitos to help advance the women’s piñata-making skills, a teacher that the women found on their own. One of the biggest daily problems we face in these piñata-making sessions is the chavalitos, the little kids. It feels like children outnumber adults in this community, and with the combination of a couple of foreigners and what looks like arts and crafts, the kids usually come running to be a part of our piñata-making sessions. A dozen local kids running around can often cause missing materials, broken piñatas, injured children, yelling moms, and other such distractions. Since the women were pretty busy with their new teacher, Shaun and I distracted the kids by playing a few very muddy games of soccer and hopscotch, and exploring the woods behind the mango tree with the children for the whole afternoon. Lets be honest, I wasn’t “distracting the children” so much as I was having a great time myself.

The members of Piñatas Alegría with Carrie (the founder/director of Viva Nicaragua) and a giraffe piñata they made for Carrie’s son’s first birthday. They came up with the design and everything themselves! Even though I protested, they insisted on giving it to Carrie and wouldn’t accept payment for it, as Carrie is the one essentially funding this whole project. They were adamant and told me that they never wanted to be egoístas—selfish.
Left to right: Lisset, Dolores, Carrie, Magali



~~~

In other news: There’s a building on the corner of my street that holds daily aerobics classes; whenever I walk by at night I hear blaring 80’s music blaring. Doña Marta’s daughter, Loren, who lives with me, sometimes attends these classes. Thursday night Melissa and I decided to check it out. So for 20 córdoba (almost $1), we sweated through an hour of step class with no A/C and with a skipping CD of techno versions of American 80’s and 90’s hits in the background. I had a great time and intend on going back a few times a week.

~~~

The other day I woke up with my stomach feeling particularly iffy… not sick sick, just a little more rumbling going on than I was comfortable with. I decided to stay in bed that morning and steer clear of street vendor food for a couple of days to get over my little bug. Amongst the 5 other books that I packed for the summer, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had accidentally thrown into my luggage C.S. Lewis’ The Magician’s Nephew, the first in his famous The Chronicles of Narnia series. I haven’t read any of the Narnia series in 10 years, and I honestly have no idea how it got in my backpack. Regardless of where it came from, I spent the morning reading it cover to cover, and thoroughly enjoying it. I’ve never read the Harry Potter or Twilight series, but I can’t imagine there are any “children’s” books about magic that are better than the Chronicles of Narnia. I was sorry I didn’t pack the whole series.

I find myself in trouble though; as I’ve now already read 5 of the 6 books I brought (“Crazy Love” by Francis Chan, “Life Together” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “Nice Girls Don’t Change the World” by Lynne Hybels, “Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Day Slavery” by Siddharth Kara, and “Souls in the Hands of a Tender God: Stories of the Search for Home and Healing on the Streets” by Craig Rennebohm). Although these books were all really great (very different, as I’m sure you can tell from the titles), they were far too short.

So I’m off to explore the city this morning in search of some books in English! I know that a couple of local backpackers’ hostels have “give a book, take a book” libraries where I’m sure to find a few English titles. I’m not sure I want to part with any of my books, so maybe I’ll try and convince them to lend a couple out to me, just for the summer. Wish me luck! After that I’m going to watch the US vs. England World Cup game with some people. I wonder who the Nicaraguans will be cheering for?

~~~

Throughout the past week or so, Granada has been celebrating some saint’s day or something by shooting up bombas, loud firecracker-like explosions without color, at random times throughout the night and early morning. They shoot these bombas off from the Iglesia de la Merced, which is about a block away from my house; so they’re quite loud, especially when they wake me up at 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning. I asked Doña Marta what they were celebrating exactly, and she pretty much just told me that there’s not really a reason; Nicaraguans just like to celebrate things with bombas and justify it by attributing the celebration to a particular saint. Truthfully I’m not surprised at all by her response : )
Although its never fun to be woken up in the middle of the night, in these moments I usually smile as the bombas loudly and unabashedly remind me of the words to Phil Wickham’s song “Cannons”:

It’s falling from the clouds, a strange and lovely sound
I hear it in the thunder and the rain
It’s ringing in the skies, like cannons in the night
The music of the universe plays
They’re singing: You are holy! Great and mighty!
The moon and the stars declare who you are!
I’m so unworthy, but still you love me!
Forever my heart will sing of how great you are!

~~~

As always, I can’t help regretting that I’ve left so many stories still untold. More to come soon!


LOVE TO ALL,
sarah

Piñatas Alegría

First I have some sad news. Doña Sandra’s husband passed away last Sunday; he had been suffering from Parkinson’s for a long time. As Doña Sandra is immensely important to the community, Carrie and I decided to cancel all workshops on Monday so that the community could attend the funeral and burial.

Going to work again on Tuesday revealed to me how amazing this woman truly is. Not only was she present and instructing her fellow community members, but her speech was saturated with ambition and hope. She took my hand and walked me through Caracolitas, the cement community center that was apparently built during the revolution. In the tiny dark rooms, dozens of bats swooped down around us as she spoke to me, unflinching. She didn’t see the damage and dilapidation of the dark spaces; instead she saw library rooms so that the young children could learn to appreciate reading, computer labs for the older students to work, a bread oven and food kitchen in the back to serve the children of unemployed parents, a preschool room capable of housing 30 students (twice its current capacity), and of course, a room in which to store and sell our piñatas from. But her vision didn’t stop there. She then walked me around the neighborhood and pointed out where she wanted to clear away land, make desperately needed repairs to the roads, and plant gardens, and tend to a geological sinkhole that has become somewhat of a landfill.

And I’m learning that for Doña Sandra, it’s not just the poverty, the lack of money, the lack of stuff. It’s the destitution of the mind. It’s the lack of knowledge and hope that leads to so many of the community’s other problems: drugs, alcoholism, domestic violence, and decreased rights and respect for women.

I was so impressed and gripped by her every word, as she knows the work required, and yet remains unafraid and unfaltering. She spoke of the importance of the census, and how it would provide invaluable information to the community leaders who rise up after her. There is much to be done. I am just a foreigner and it’s very easy for me to already feel overwhelmed. Doña Sandra lives here and she is full of aspirations and expectations for the betterment of Valle de Granada… Needless to say I am blown away.

Here are a few pictures I took of some of the community kids climbing in a mango tree outside of the community center (Caracolitos is the cement building in the background)

These kids think this gringa is pretty silly...

In other news, another American intern, a grad student named Shaun, is going to start working with me on the microempresa project. This is great because not only will the piñata and belleza businesses need more individualized attention, but I’m also realizing that the census will be a huge project for me. On top of that, Carrie will no longer be working with me in Valle de Granada starting this week, so some help would be great. On another level, I think that for me, I get most enthusiastic about a project and get most ideas generating when I can chat about with others. My friends and family often joke that when I get particularly excited or passionate about something, I talk a million miles an hour. Make fun of me if you will, but I’m convinced that this little quirk of mine allows me to come up with more ideas and get myself more excited and committed to the project at hand. I think that working with a partner on this will help me to get that speech speedometer up, thus allowing me to approach this project with more creativity and confidence.

On Wednesday morning I met two of the women, Dolores and Maria Auxiliadora, at Gonpers, the local office supplies store. There we spend around 300 córdobas (about $15) on dozens of hojas of tissue paper and poster board. After that I followed them to the market (remember from the first post? This marketplace is a zoo! I love it!). There we spent another 100 córdobas ($5) on 3 ceramic pots, 5 pounds of newspaper, a ball of string, and 1 pound of starch. All of these start-up materials are a donation from Viva Nicaragua for the women to practice and perfect their trade. Starting next week, we’d like the business to officially begin and no longer receive these donations but purchase materials with small préstamos, loans.

I started off the shopping trip waiting outside of Gonpers by myself and feeling like a terrified kid on her first day of school— What will they think of me? Will they like me? What if I make a mistake? All of my anxieties were assuaged, however, shortly after seeing Dolores and Maria Auxiliadora. Like in most Latin American cultures, punctuality doesn’t exist in Nicaragua. We usually begin our working about 20-45 minutes after the pre-appointed time. Knowing this, I stressed to them the importance of being on time so that we could use these few weeks we have efficiently. With that in mind, Dolores and Maria Auxiliadora rushed up to Gonpers at exactly 9:00 am giggling and pointing to my watch, “Look! We’re right on time! Look at how punctual we are!” After a good laugh, I felt instantly comfortable with them and we enjoyed getting to know each other for the rest of the shopping trip. Since then, I feel like I’ve really become friends with the women, and I’m most excited about getting to know them and their situations better this summer.

As you may have noticed, things are incredibly inexpensive here. I never spend more than $2-3 any given day, even if I buy water bottles throughout the day and take a taxi at night. I’ve noticed that now, when I see things in stores or restaurants that are more than 10 córdobas and I think, “That’s ridiculous. It’s probably just the price for tourists. I refuse to pay that!”… Then I realize that 10 córdobas is 50¢ and I start to feel a little cheap…

After some piñata-making Thursday afternoon, Carrie brought in a local psychologist to give a talk to the women on self-esteem and the importance of valuing yourself and your work. I was pleased to see that the women seemed to appreciate the charla and participated. This talk was one of Carrie’s efforts to approach “development” holistically, not just monetarily.

Last night I got together with the other Viva Nicaragua interns to meet each other and to say goodbye to Micayla, my Boston hairdresser friend, who left for home this morning : (. Besides Shaun and me, there are 3 other Americans interning with Viva Nicaragua this summer, all of them staying here for varying amounts of time (5 weeks to 10 months). Everyone is working in different fields; 2 pre-med students are working in community clinics and the other is a Gender Studies major working with a women’s center. Although I won’t be seeing any Americans (besides probably Shaun) on a daily basis, it’s nice to know the other gringos working here this summer.

Friday afternoon was a big day for the piñata business. We “registered” each of the women as official members and declared that the donations were over and the business had begun. Shaun and I gave a small presentation on making a business plan with the women and facilitated a discussion to create a mission statement that each of the women can agree on and be excited about. I was thrilled with their participation; we didn’t even need to ask for it! We talked about our goals as a group, which included making high quality piñatas and earning some profit to bettering the community and mastering a useful skill. The women mentioned every single goal that I had in mind, and then some more! We also talked more about our vision as a business, and introduced the idea of splitting up responsibilities amongst the women (accountant, treasurer, etc). Although right now Shaun and I are holding the money and keeping up with the expenses/revenues, we eventually want the women to be responsible for these aspects of the business. I must admit, they have been progressing faster than I had anticipated, and showing much more drive and commitment than I expected.

So as of now,
Official name: Piñatas Alegría
Official members: Dolores, Magali, Liset, and Maria Auxiliadora

!!!!
Exciting, isn’t it??

Below is a pic of me and Regina, one of Liset´s children:

It’s funny; being an Economics major (quite different from a Business major I’m learning), much of this is new to me too! So although I may be continually feeling in over my head, the enthusiasm of Doña Sandra and the women gives me confidence in their success. With some hard work and perseverance on everyone’s part, Piñatas Alegría just might be something sustainable that these women can profit from for a long time to come. (Note: Regardless of the business know-how I wish I had, I still stand firmly on the side of Economics in the never-ending Econ-Business rivalry!)
: )

Since I research in the mornings at a local internet café, I have been blessed this week with not one, not two, but three wonderfully encouraging and gloriously uplifting skype-conversations with the lovely and talented Kristy Cannon, Maggie Rector, and of course, the Dockery family!! SO FANTASTIC. Thanks guys!

On Tuesday I passed the one-week mark of living here in Nica. And thus, like clockwork, beginneth the onset of Montezuma’s revenge. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this little digestive treat promised to the bowels of all foreigners visiting Central America for any length of time, I’ll spare you the details and just introduce you to a new friend of mine:



: )

I hope to do some hiking this weekend on Volcán Mombacho, the volcano that looms over Granada and can be clearly seen on a cloudless day. More to come, of course!

LOVE TO ALL,
sarah

“Rock of Ages, when the day seems long,
From this labor and this heartache I have come.
The skies will wear out, but you remain the same.
Rock of Ages, I praise your name!”

- Rock of Ages (hymn)

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