Last week we had another field trip, this time to rural Nicaragua to learn a bit about how the farming goes in this part of the country. It was us students and Alma, a lady who works at the Nehemiah Center that traveled to Jinotepe on Tuesday morning, about an hour away to an organization called Fundacion de San Lucas. This organization works with many small communities around this area; helping families start their own farms (by loaning money for them to start and educating them on how to organic farm), working with the local youth in a few neighborhoods and a variety of other groups of people. A few people from this organization took us to a land bank where farmers are given their own land to farm. This is a very exciting thing for these farmers and their families because it isn’t often that they own their own farms.
Many men in rural Nicaragua live on farmlands and work them while most of the profit is given to the rich landowners who own them, and there is not much left for them and their families in the end. So the families that we visited here actually had just recently moved to their farms within the past 6 months, but were very optimistic about their lives and what they could do with their own land. Our drive up there was very interesting as we took a truck because the roads to the farm were mud and very rough; like huge holes in the roads and many streams we had to pass through. We were glad the guy that was driving seemed confident because many times I wasn’t sure we were going to make it! When we arrived there we met the family that we would stay with that night; it was Hilberto and his wife Marta and their 4 year old son. They were very welcoming to us and wanted us to learn about what they were doing with their land and there plans for the future; they were very proud and optimistic. They had a very beautiful view of the mountains as well, and the stars at night were SO clear. It was a very developing area, but they had done a lot to the land already with only being there for a short time. The house was very tiny, with a room for the kitchen, beds, and then a small porch area. The floors were mud and the shower and bathroom were outside. It was pretty much like camping, but a great experience. Soon after we got there, we helped with several projects around the farms that Foundacion de San Lucas was helping the farmers with. We first helped dig up topsoil for a few planters where they were starting tomato and pepper seeds. We turned tires inside out, filled them with dirt, planted seeds in them, and then built a stick table thing to prop them up high so no animals could get them. The other project was a water filtration system to turn their dirty laundry and dishwater that drained off into usable irrigation water for the fields.
After these projects were finished we got the chance to meet the other families in this community; there were 4 in total. This community was pretty new and the longest anyone had lived there was 6 months, so everything was just developing but very exciting to see their new lives and what they are going to do now that they have their own land. Many of the houses on these farmlands were very small and the one house that particularly stuck out was on for a family of 5 people. It was a one-room area; I don’t think it even counted as a house. Granted these people had only been here for a few months, but they were definitely scraping by each day. Their lives will definitely improve with the profits they will make with their farming, but those conditions were still hard to see.
After supper we were all pretty exhausted and as the sun goes down around 5:30 pm, it was no use staying up too late because the sun also rises early, which means people get up with the sun! Sure enough we got up around 7 am, ha. It was an interesting night because Malorie, Megan and I shared a bed and it was basically a comforter on a bed frame…not exactly comfortable, but we made it work and it was only one night.
After eating some breakfast at the farm, we trekked once again on the rough road back to Jinotepe. Our afternoon was spent in a different community in a more urban area at a center for youth to hang out that the Foundacion de San Lucas also puts on. We got to play games, compete in ping pong games, and make bracelets with the kids who came. It was a great time just hanging out and attempting to talk to them. Ha. Later we got to attend a soccer tournament, which turned out to be way more intense than we imagined! I guess we should have expected intensity from Latin Americans competing in any type of soccer game. It was a good time, a few younger kids teams and many teenager teams; most of them guys but all of them amazing at soccer! Curtis played on the San Lucas team but us girls opted not to join the intense game. It was awesome to watch. Later that afternoon we headed back to Leon to our host homes. It was such a fun trip in which we learned a lot but also got to have a little fun interacting with people in the different communities we visited.
It was nice to be back at our host homes that night and to get some sleep! The next day, Thursday, we made a few visits around town for our classes. In the morning we went to the Museum of Myths and Legends in Leon and then in the afternoon we attended a Catholic Mass. Both were very informative but not worth writing too much about in here, lol. I already have to write papers about both of them!
Our weekend was definitely an amazing worthwhile one. We didn’t have class on Friday so the other students and I decided to head to Granada for an overnight trip. Granada, like Leon was one of the first cities in Nicaragua. There is a bit of a rivalry between the two cities because of their past, but it was a fun city to visit. It was a lot like Leon, but more touristy as we noticed in the higher prices of things and the amount of white people we saw compared to Leon. We pretty much spent the day walking around Granada, shopping around and stopping at random fun places. We didn’t have much of a plan for the weekend so that was a little fun to just kinda do wherever looked good. It helped that people on the buses watched out for us as we probably just looked like we had no idea what we were doing, and we pretty much were very successful at finding awesome fun. For the night we spotted a brochure for a tree house hostel type thing. We decided it looked sweet and right away called to reserve a spot! That was a great life decision. We had to walk a little ways basically in the jungle to find it but it was so awesome when we did. The people that owned it were very indie/hippie type and really chill. They were fun to hang out with for the night as they spoke English and were very friendly. We got to see an awesome sunset way up there, eat supper, and just chill in the outdoors. The next day we got on a bus that took us to Laguna de Apoyo, a gorgeous crater lake with clear blue refreshing water. We spent $6 to hang out there for the day and we got to use their kayaks, tubes, and rafts. It was a great relaxing day and we even got a little tan to show for it! We sadly headed back to Leon that night, as we could have easily spent another few days there. We were quite tired by the last bus trip as we counted up to 11 buses/taxis we had taken during 2 days, very exhausting but so worth it! What an adventure to remember.
Well mostly the rest of my semester (except the last 3 weeks which will change to working at FH 5 days of the week) will consist of 2 classes, History and Worldview, in Managua on Mondays, and Cultural class on Fridays in Leon. In the middle of the week (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday) I will be interning at an organization called Food for the Hungry based in Chinandega. This organization works a lot with kids and making sure they are living in safe conditions (http://www.fhi.net/fhinicaragua/) and getting good nutrition to grow up healthy and strong. I will be helping out in any area they need while I am there for about 5 hours a day. I will most likely go out on home visits with the workers to get a sense of what type of social work they do. I am very nervous about not knowing too much Spanish and having to communicate with the workers and the people we visit but am mostly excited to learn more about this type of organization and to practice my Spanish through that hopefully! I know that I also will be able to work at the arts camp that they put on during the last week of November for kids in certain communities. It is a great time to introduce them to art and being creative as it is a great way to stimulate these kids that might not get much of that in their homes. I think God placed me at this organization for a reason, and I am really excited to explore that reason. I ask for prayers though as this is very much out of my comfort zone. I will update on what I am learning and participating in as much as I can!
So here I am a third or more of the way through my semester, I can’t believe it. Next week the other students and I are heading to Corn Island on the east Caribbean side of Nicaragua for our semester break! We are super pumped to have a week to hang out at a beautiful location and once again marvel at how awesome God has made Nicaragua and its people and how blessed we are to be here. We will definitely enjoy it for everyone back in the Midwest gearing up for the cold and maybe snow soonJ
PICTURES::
at the farm on our trip, chillin with our awesome work boots on...
Cara.
Cara! I've been reading your blog, and got really excited when I saw you are going to be working with FH! That was my internship last year, although I only worked there the last 3 weeks. I wished I could've spent more time with the FH staff because they are all really cool. Could you tell them hi for me??
ReplyDeleteYou're going to do great though, its an
experience I would not trade!
~Hannah Ponstein