Community Development Trip

Well this past week we went on our Community Development Trip to Somotillo, which is about 4 hours north of Managua (20 minutes from the Honduran border). We had class in Managua at the Nehemiah Center on Monday morning so we were picked up at 6 am from Leon Monday morning to get to there on time. We had our history class in the morning and our worldview/societal transformation class in the afternoon. We just hung out that night and then the next morning had our worldview class again with Jim, our professor that took us on the trip. We left in the afternoon and it was the 6 of us students, 2 other girls that are interns at CRWRC, Maynor, our professor Jim, and Roger, a community development worker from the Nehemiah Center. It was a fun road trip with everyone but the roads were pretty rough. The roads in Nicaragua in general have many potholes, crazy drivers, horse traffic, stray cows and horses, and water covering parts of the road when it rains. So it was pretty dark by the time we arrived at our place for the night (which had air conditioning and hot showers; a stark change from the humid hot air and cold showers we have had for the past month!).

Wednesday morning was when we began our community visits. Our first stop was El Ojoche, a community just east of Somotillo. About eight years ago the small neighborhood began the community development process. It was very poor, but has gradually improved throughout the years. Many people grow their own food to sell and produce goods for the market. The community is affected by emigration though because many of the men have to leave during the dry season to get jobs in Honduras, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and El Salvador because there is not much work in the communities during this time. This is a very common concern throughout communities across Nicaragua as the women are often left to care for their households for 6 months or more, the kids also being left without a father, while the men find work elsewhere.

The next community we visited, El Jiñocuajo, was also in the process of development and doing fairly well. Their next project was to add more grades onto their school because they only had up to 3rd grade, thus many children had to walk a long way to get to school if they even went. This community was also deeply affected by emigration, as the men often go to other countries to seek work.

We visited another community in the afternoon called Sagrada Familia. Here we witnessed the beginnings of community development, as a development agency was working with the people that afternoon. We got to listen in and hear the agency prompt the community members to talk about what their situation was and what they were going to start doing to improve it. The approach they were going to use, they told us, was an asset based approach where they would look at the strengths of the community to see how they could focus and build upon those to help improve the community instead of just fixing the things for them. The people in this community were very divided and it was very obvious even in the way the two groups sat on opposite sides during the meeting. There is a lot of work that still needs to be done in this community and it was sad to see how this group of people, but it was cool to see the hopeful beginning of something better for them.

On Thursday we left Somotillo and drove about an hour and a half south to Chinandega. There we visited El Limonal, a community that is built beside and basically in the Chinandega dump. The people relocated here after Hurricane Mitch because their homes were destroyed. This was the worst community we saw and many of the people and kids sort through the garbage to find recycling to sell. This is sometimes the only work they can find. This is obviously very disease prone for these people, and they have had many problems with sickness and stunted growth in their children. The kids there were very precious, and seemed like a lot of fun. The kids looked pretty young, but we were told later that they probably were older than they looked and most of this is due to poor nutrition. We spoke a bit with a representative of Food for the Hungry, who explained the work they do in the community. They mostly work with the leaders of the community to ensure that there are medical supplies and that the children have enough to eat and are going to school. They also make visits to families to ensure the children are being looked after properly and educate them on how to better care for their kids. This organization is a lot about educating the people to make better decisions and allowing them to treat their problems themselves. It is hard though because many of the people are just wanting handouts and to be given food and clothes. A lot of development and care is still needed to help this community to get back on their feet, but I think FH has started the right way.

The last community we visited was one also affected by Hurricane Mitch. It is very sad all of the natural disasters that ruin communities, and force them to start over in a new area basically impoverished because they have absolutely nothing. The women that talked to us in this community were very fun and loved to chat about their community although the area they fled to after the hurricane was a very destitute of any resources to produce any sort of income. They were struggling to find work as there community was far from many areas of work. The kids in this community were adorable and fun-loving, they were so happy to see us and all gathered around the van to say goodbye as we left.

This trip was definitely a very educational one for us. It was so neat to see these things first hand and it will be so cool to learn more about the programs and theories of development and what it truly means to help a community in need. It was very depressing to see these communities in such impoverished conditions, but I think that these community development programs are definitely necessary to get these groups of people started on changing their ways of life.

We have our Rural Nicaragua trip this week which we leave for tomorrow! We will visit a few rural farms and learn about how they are developing and also going to stay overnight there and work on them on Wednesday. So I will have to write again to say how that went, until then, here are some documentation of our trip this past week....

we are talking with community #2 here...

a beautiful butterfly landed on me...

this is at community #3 when they were breaking out into groups...

community #5, the most run down we saw...

the adorable kids at this community...

so precious, it was sad to see them in such poverty though...

the trash dump right next to this community...

the last community we visited the kids were super excited to see us...

Cara.

Its almost been a MONTH. woah!

Well I would like to introduce telenovelas to those reading. My family watches this channel very often. It is basically a Spanish soap opera chanel. There are many different shows which are super dramatic but are so interesting to watch. I remember watching a similar show in my 10^th grade Spanish class, it definitely brings me back! The funniest thing is that my brother, Christian, is the one who likes to watch them the most. What a great cultural experience that I have gotten to partake in! ha

$1 manicure. That’s all I have to say really to get my point across. That is seriously how much it cost me to get my nails painted. It costs like $3 to get the massage and paint, but we didn’t have enough time for that. Next time I will totally splurge to get that though! The girls and I went on Tuesday this week. Megan’s host sister, Sadie, had told her about this place where they did manicures/pedicures really well so one afternoon this past week she took us. It was a great girl talk time and so fun to get our nails painted too. I think we will definitely go there again now that we know where it is!

 Well more about the food and drink here because we are constantly surrounded by it, having 3 meals a day. I also did my final Spanish presentation on “Comida y Bebida en los Estados Unidos” (Food and Drink in the United States). I showed the presentation to my family and we started talking about my favorite foods. I told them about avocados and a few days later they had avocados prepared for me for lunch. It was an interesting combination of chopped up eggs, onions, and avocados. It was pretty good actually and I was very excited to have one of my favorite foods in Nicaragua. Also, they sent along avocados and tortillas with Alejandra and I to the beach on Saturday, which was very delicious as well. Some of the foods they have here are such different combinations that I would never think of, but I always try them and have many times been really surprised because I have enjoyed it! ALSO, I introduced my host family to oreos with peanut butter and they loved it. It's a good thing I bought a family size jar! :)

This weekend was fantastic. On Friday we had our last Spanish class! It was such a chill day, we even acted out the Bible story of Jonah and the whale in Spanish! That was exciting and it was even more exciting that we were done with that class. Three weeks went by very slow, but we did learn a lot in those 3 weeks so it was a very accomplishing feeling. One more mistake I made in Spanish class this past week was saying that "When I have brown hair I want to have kids"...oops. We were practicing using the future tense, and I accidently used the word "castano" which means brown hair instead of "casada" which means married. What I MEANT to say was "When I am married I want to have kids". Our teacher laughed a lot at me and made sure I got the difference down for next time! haha. We also had our Cultural Exploration class on Friday where we learned a bit about Nicaraguan folkloric music. That night, my host family and I watched the movie, 17 Again, altogether, which was a lot of fun! Saturday was a good day because we spent it at the beach! It was Malorie, Megan, Curtis, Alejandra and I and we had beautiful weather until about 6 pm when we were leaving and it randomly decided to hardcore rain. Other than that it was a great day of playing soccer with some super talented Nicaraguan guys on the beach, burying Curtis in the sand, climbing the giant rocks in the water, and just hanging out playing card games and chillin’ by the water. We the bus brought us back into town around 7 we had to walk through a couple “water lakes” to get back to our homes. When it rains in Leon, the streets get filled with water because there are not many gutters in the streets. Thus, we have to wade through many deep puddles sometimes to get places. It’s an exciting adventure most times!

Well this week is a bit different in that we came to Managua to have class on Monday and Tuesday and now we are going on a community development field trip for our Worldview and Societal Transformation class. We will be heading out to Somotillo, Nicaragua this afternoon. It’s a city 4 hours north of Managua and 20 minutes from the Guatemalan border. We had our first 2 classes on Monday and Tuesday and we have 2 trips that we go on for this class; this week and next. We will learn a lot about theories of development in general and in Nicaragua specifically, and how it has worked, not worked, and what is needed to help a community improve in this way. It is a lot of heavy stuff, but I think the 2 trips we go on will be very good for us to see this development in real situations and learn about it through the people who are in these communities. Also, on Monday we had our history class which is also going to be a very interesting one as well. We had two 3-hour classes on Monday but they really didn’t seem that long because the stuff we are learning is so relevant to us, being here in Nicaragua. Our class is also only made up of us 6 students so the class would be terrible if we did not participate and engage in the topics discussed.

Its hard to believe I have been in Nicaragua for almost a month, I’ve learned so much already and I’m very excited to continue learning about this country. God is awesome, and He surely is keeping us safe here and we definitely thank Him for that often. Prayers are definitely still encouraged for us here in Nicaragua as we have a lot more to experience in our next leg of our journey here!

MY PHOTOGRAPHY...

This is one of the streets in Leon..it's very common to see lots of trash, horses pulling carts, and people riding bicycles (often times there are 2 people riding on a one person bike together!)...

this is mi mama and I after church on Sunday...

 this is the delicious avocado mi mama sent with me to the beach on Saturday...

 AT THE BEACH, we buried Curtis for fun...

 the beach was busier this time we were there, this is just before we left and it rained soon after, but the sun still made the sky very pretty...

 I found this little gecko (perrozompopo) on the wall in my room one night, so cute...

Cara.

"Gracias Dios"

The title of my post is referring to many prayers I have heard in the bible study groups I have gone to with mi mama and cousin. At the beginning of each meeting they start with a prayer. The prayers are very unique in that one person starts praying but then everyone joins in outloud saying their own prayer. It gets pretty loud but it is very neat to be a part of. It is very powerful, and the words that I hear most are, “gracias Dios, en el nombre de Jesús, gracias El Señor” which means “thank you God, in the name of Jesus, thank you Lord”. Oh, and these prayers are said at the end of the bible studies too so I think I will hear many of them over the semester. Who knows, I might even join in the prayers by the end!

Well as the 10^th anniversary of 9/11 was just yesterday, I was thinking about all the reminiscing and such that would go on in the U.S. on this day. Although 9/11 was a tragedy, it did in time bring the country together. It made me question what things in Nicaragua bring them together as a country. Well for one, there is an election coming up in November, and it has opposite of brought the country together. This election is pretty controversial as there are 2 candidates, and the younger generation is for one and the older generation is for the other. I don’t understand too much of it (I’m excited to learn more in our history class later in the semester) but mi mama and papa were trying to explain their government a little to me. It generally seems to be really selfish and not looking out for their people. The money that comes into the country is not used wisely for the good of the community and that is much of the reason their people are not improving their situations. As their government has absolutely no benefits for these people to help themselves, there isn’t much else a lot of them are able to do with their limited resources. There isn’t much togetherness in this country at the moment, so I hope in the upcoming election a much-needed authority takes charge to bring the country together.

In the Midwest we go sledding down hills of snow, in Nicaragua they go boarding down volcanoes of ash and on Saturday, the other students and I got the chance to do this crazy thing known as volcano boarding! This was so worth it. We went through a tour company and our guide was full of interesting information about the line of volcanoes at Cerro Negro. He lead us to an area of 13 volcanoes, the one we hiked was an active crater, erupting last in 1992. We first hiked up this volcano, it took about an hour! It was a tough hike because we were carrying our boards and protective suits and there was absolutely no shade the whole way up. Our guide who was leading us takes the trip up the volcano twice a day, I don’t know how he does it! We were so tired when we got to the top but it was all good news from there. We got a beautiful view of the other volcanoes and then we got to slide down the very steep incline, after first gearing up as to not get terrible burns! It was a crazy awesome experience, and it was too bad we only got to go down once.

Just a little story…On Friday night the 6 of us were sitting on the corner of the street by my house talking before we all parted for the night and we were, as always getting many comments and stares because we are North Americans; very much in the minority, we’ve realized this. We have been getting pretty good at ignoring these comments as it happens quite often. Some of their comments are just very creative, especially when some of them try to speak in English and you can barely tell what they are trying to say. But this one was very unique. There have been many trucks with loudspeakers driving around the city lately announcing Presidential campaigns and such. This particular truck driving past was one of those. As we heard a pause in the loudspeaker and a distinct whistle, we stopped for a second and wondered if the people in that truck did indeed stop their announcement to whistle at us on the corner. We confirmed this as true and proceeded to crack up laughing. As Nicaraguans are very obvious in showing that they notice us, as this example shows, I’m sure we will get many more creative comments/whistles! Ha.

This is our last week of Spanish class, and I think we are all ready to get started on our other classes. Spanish class has been super helpful but it has been a long 3 weeks of cramming in lots of Spanish knowledge and conversation techniques. It has really given me a good boost to understanding the basics of this language though and I will continue to put these to use in everyday conversations. I think practice is a valuable way to learn and as I don’t feel amazing at Spanish, I have confidence that if I keep practicing with my family everyday and with Nicaraguans I interact with, it will continue to get easier. I watched the movie “Los Pitufos” (The Smurfs) with mi familia the other night and it was fully in Spanish so that was actually really good for me to force myself to read the subtitles. I was surprised at how much I did understand! I think I like the Spanish name for smurfs better too, its very fun to say!

Some of my Spanish mess ups: They were both in Spanish class, so not too embarrassing but still! Our teacher was asking us what we did in the afternoon the day before and I said I went to a party instead of saying I took a nap. The Spanish word for party is fiesta and the word for nap is siesta, so they are very similar, but I should have known! In class another day we were talking about some activities we do at college. I was trying to say I dance with my friends but instead I said I dance with myself. That was interesting and I’m sure I’ll have lots more times of messing up because I am still learning! You just have to learn to laugh at yourself which we have gotten really good at.

Some PHOTOS>

This was before the loooooong hike up the volcano. that thing on my back is the board we "sled" down on...

the view up there was absolutely beautiful! it was the perfect weather outside too..

YES, we jumped off a volcano...

and there they go. Rachel and Megan went first!!..

we made it to the bottom, and of course had to take a picture with our awesome green and yellow suits...

Cara.

trying even MORE new things...

We had our first full weekend here in Nicaragua and it was a great time! It was nice to have a break from Spanish class, it was a long week...
viernes (Friday), 2 septiembre 2011....we went on a scavenger hunt of Leon after our Spanish class. We split up into 2 groups and each had a native Nicaraguan on our team, which was very helpful to navigate the buses and taxis and such! We took a bus, taxi and camioneta which is a covered truck basically. The bus and truck just go around the city in the same route every day and have different stops so you just have to know them. It is good that they have public transportation because I would never in a million years want to drive in this city. The drivers are crazy and are not afraid to use their horns. They drive really fast and I'm surprised there are not more accidents! I have learned that the people that drive here know what they are doing though, so its fairly safe. ha. On Friday night I played soccer in the street with my cousin, Alejandra and other cousin, Alan. It was crazy just playing outside at night, but its really common and it was pretty fun. You have to stop when cars and bikes come by too.
The most exciting part of our weekend was GOING TO THE BEACH (a la playa)! We took a bus from Leon to the beach for $0.50 and it took about 20 minutes to get there. The bus was pretty packed cause it was a great day for being by the ocean. We took Zhenia and Alejandra with us, 2 native Nicaraguans with us and so they took us to a hostel by the beach where we hung out and it had a great view. The part of the beach that we were at was so empty, like not many people so it was awesome to just have that section to ourselves! We got to see some people surfing which was cool, one was a little boy about 5 years old! I think we will be going to the beach a lot because its so cheap and a great relaxing day.
Church on Sunday was most interesting. I had heard a little about their church services and been to one the past Sunday but this one was different. First, my family and I got there a little late and people were just singing having a great time. We were about 20 minutes late, and they still sung for about 45 more minutes! It was a lot of time to stand, but no one seemed to get tired. They clap a lot which is different from North America in a way because they all seem to have their own beat; some people clap on the off beat and faster and slower, and its a very interesting combination! ha, they are very into their praise worship which is very neat! When the worship was done, mi mama and Alejandra and I went to help with the 3 and 4 year olds because they take them out during the sermon (which was about an hour long). There were a lot of kids, and we just played games with them, it was hard to keep them entertained for that long of a time, because they had tons of energy! The rest of Sunday was pretty chill, my family just hung out and took naps, a pretty typical Sunday. Their store was still open today so that was different.
Yesterday was a good day because I got cereal for breakfast AND supper. My family found out that I like cereal so I hope I get it more often :) I like trying the typical Nicaraguan dishes though. Today, I tried soapa de rez (beef soup). Their soup here is very different in that they have a bowl with the broth in it and then a seperate plate with all the vegetables and meat on it. That stuff is not cut up so you basically take a smaller piece and dip it in the broth. It was a very interesting way to eat soup. I also got to teach mi mama and cousin the game trash the other day with playing cards. They caught on pretty fast. They don't play many card games here, and at first they wanted to play memory with the cards so we did that, ha! It was fun, and my goal by the end of the semester is to teach them nertz (dutch blitz) so we will see how that goes!!
I had an interesting encounter with a cocroach yesterday, it crawled on my foot and as I felt something I just thought it was an itch, but it turned out to be the gross creature! I flicked it off as fast as I could and my family laughed at me. I haven't seen any since, but there are plenty of geckos around which are so cute, they don't bother me at all. Tonight us students are going out for pizza at a place called Hollywood Pizza, so we are super excited about that! We haven't had too much American food since being here so it will be a good change! Well it just got done pouring so I think we are going to head to the pizza place about 5 blocks away from the cafe we are at right now!

PICTURES>
my host cousin, Alejandra and I at the beach...

 the place we hung out for the day was very pretty....

 there were a bunch of hermit crabs that were running around the beach. lol...

Cara.

la cara=the face

Well, these past 4 days have been long! I was so nervous to meet my host family on Sunday, and it was a struggle at first. Luckily I had Derek there to help me with introductions and initial conversations, he was a student that went to Dordt who knew my host family and is working in Nicaragua so he had lunch with us that afternoon at la fiesta a la Iglesia (the party at the church). All of the families were there to greet us when we got there and a member of each family got up and said a few words about who their host student was and how they welcomed all of us to their homes whenever we wanted. It was so sweet of them, they were all SO excited to have us, you could just tell. That was helpful, but when we left from the churches with our families I was so nervous to begin everything. Mostly, because it was a LOT to get used to at one time. My family was so understanding about me not knowing Spanish that well though and it has been fun to have conversations with them using the words I know. My papa, Jaimie is taking English class every Wednesday and so has been talking some English to me already, although he is not that good yet! He already had me translate a Bible verse to English from Spanish that was for his homework, haha. I tried to teach him as I did it. It will be fun teaching each other the languages. My mama is good at explaining things with actions when I don’t get it and wanting to help me learn all the Spanish I can. She taught me some body parts the other day and said she was going to quiz me on them later, haha, so cute of her!

Their house is a cute smaller home, with a store in the front where they have essential items that people come to buy throughout the day. Mi mama y papa run that every day. So it has been interesting to hear people come into the house often (the store is blocked off from the living area, but you can still hear conversations that happen in the store) and say, “bueno” or “buenas” which just signals they are there and wanting to purchase something.

The weather has been very consistently hot and humid with rain about every other day. It only rains for like 10 minutes at a time though, so not much. I have been impressed at how hot it has been, so different in the midwest where it is very inconsistent and it can be super hot and humid the next day and then in the 50s the next. I like it so far though. Walking does get tiring though. Our Spanish class is at the church about 8 blocks away so it is a good walk going there and back. All of us 6 live pretty close to each other too so we walk together on the way to and from class which is nice. There is a big market right before the church and its so fun to see what they sell around there: just about everything! From fruit (so many different kinds!), veggies, juice in bags, meat, rice and beans, to dog food, clothing, cell phones, and random toiletries. Everything is so cheap, so sometimes we go out during our breaks from class to get fruit or candy.

Our Spanish classes have been interesting. Monday was the first day of our 4 hour class, from 8 am to noon and it was interesting to say the least. Our Professora for Curtis, Rachel and I speaks only in Spanish as she is a native Nicaraguan. Mallory, Megan, and Lisa have a native Spanish speaker as well. We are split up into two classes, ours being the beginner level. The first day was very overwhelming but once we got going, it wasn’t too bad, just a lot to learn on the first day. It has been an interesting way to learn Spanish being taught in the language, but it is probably the best way to do it, having to understand it and learn to speak it at the same time. It is going well, we have 2 more weeks of it. So as our class ends at noon every day, we have the rest of the day to ourselves, to study and hang out with our families.

Interesting fact: la cara means face in Español so when I introduce my name they have to ask me a couple times to make sure I am saying it right. Ha. Mi mama has taken to calling me Carita, and now I have just started to introduce myself as that!

At least one of my host parents has been home everyday when I get back in the afternoons from class because they have to run their store (which is open from 4 am to 10 pm!), and my cousin, Alejandra gets done with school around the same time. She is 14 and her mom works in Managua, so she lives at their house during the weeks. Also her brother Alan, is 21 and lives with them as well. Their brother Nestor lives here also and is a Doctor in Leon. They have 1 son, Christian, and he is my age. Mi mama is pregnant and is due in February, so I am sad I won’t get to see the baby but they are all very excited for that! It’s a full house, but at the same time they aren’t always home at the same time. Their meals are not eaten together as well, which is interesting to me, not even supper. For breakfast everyone leaves at different times, for lunch not everyone is home and then for supper everyone just eats whenever they are hungry. Usually they serve me first and then come and eat after me, which sometimes is around 8 pm. Their table is in the same room as the living room, and so they just eat around there, not necessarily at the table. Also, they feed me so much at meals! The portions are huge. They don’t necessarily eat that much, but they sure give me the biggest plate and fill it up. I always TRY to finish the food, but rarely ever do.  I have had to tell mi mama, “menos” (which means less) so many times and still have so much on my plate! They are very gracious with their food and I understand that. I am going to have to think of a nice way to say I never eat that much and hopefully they will start to give me smaller portions!

It has been interesting walking around the city. The houses are all pretty close together, with most of them being pretty run down and small. Most all of the houses are open to the outside somehow too. This gets ventilation going in the houses because they do not have air conditioning. It is interesting though when it rains because the hallway that my room is off of in their house is open halfway to the outside and so it rains and you can watch it from the living room. The houses are all much the same in the insides, at least the ones that I’ve seen, in that they have one living room/kitchen area and then a hallway with bedrooms off of it. There is also sometimes a laundry/sink area in the way back of the house. It is different to get used to, but not bad at all.

Another thing that has been different to get used to has been sticking out as white North Americans (they are Americans too, so we have to be careful to call ourselves North Americans). There are no other white skinned people here AT all, and we very obviously have white skin and light colored hair. So, walking throughout the city people take notice of us and sometimes stare as if they’ve never seen white people before. Lol. They often will refer to us as “chelles” or “chellitas” when they notice us passing by or when they want us to buy something from them. I don’t understand why they feel the need to call us out, but we are different to them so they do.

We are sitting at this here café called Café la Rosita (la rosita is little rose) and it is super adorable. The coffee, drinks and pasteries are super cheap here so this is our second time coming here this week. We came here for lunch today and I had a BLT. Yes, they have BLT's here, it made me feel right at home! We also get internet here, which we don’t get at our homes, so that is a plus. Well I am off to do some studying Spanish, and tomorrow is Friday! We have a scavenger hunt of Leon tomorrow, and then on Saturday us 6 plan to go to the beach, which is only about 20 minutes away. SCORE!

Some picturesssss..us 6 on our way to León to meet our host families, 2 volcanos in the background...

 My room is really cute, they painted it pink just before I got there!

 I have my own sink, toilet and shower in my room also which is awesome...

 The sign my family had on my wall when I got there, so cute...

Carita J