Week Two

Well, it's hard to believe that I've been here two weeks. Mostly it feels like I've been here much longer than that. I have another picture website for people to view. The link is kind of long, so I would recommend just copying and pasting it into your browser window. The link is: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/michaelkritzman/my_photos This website is from another volunteer here, and so there are many photo albums, scroll down and find the album that is entitled "Managua." If you click on it there are many good pictures of the area. The first pictures are from the city of Managua itself. Then there are other pictures of a concert that was performed here in our dorm when the first delegation was here. The next pictures are from a school we visited last week, and the final pictures are from a feeding station here in Nueva Vida. The feeding station is open everyday and feeds 400 children everyday from the neighborhood. These pictures give a good idea of what things actually look like here.

So I've made it through week two now. Overall this week was much more calm than last, since there was not a delegation of volunteers here. Mostly during the days us five long-term volunteers worked on construction at both the clinic and the compound where we live. Next week there is a large delegation of doctors coming and the clinic already has one building that they work out of, but we are scrambling to finish a second so it will be ready for the delegation. Mostly we have been working on tiling one of the large examination rooms and the adjacent bathroom. Toward the end of this week we worked on putting in a sidewalk from the office in the compound to another walkway. If you have never made a sidewalk before, I can assure you it is challenging work! We all feel a bit sore today after two days of digging dirt, dealing with huge blocks of stone and mixing and pouring concrete.

I also learned this week about the way things normally run around here. In terms of meals we volunteers go down to the main house and make our own breakfast, and sometimes lunch At dinner Kathleen, who is one of the founding community members, makes the food with the help of another community member or volunteer. There is never a lack of food, which can either be a positive or a negative, depending on how you look at it. On Tuesday of this week we went out to see a play in Managua. The play is called "El Nica" and it documents one man's struggle to live as a Nicaraguan in Coast Rica. It was written and performed by one man, and was based on his own life experience. While I am still struggling in my comprehension of the language it was a little difficult to understand, but his passion and amazing acting abilities helped me to catch much of what was going on. Which could be difficult in a play that is essentially a dialogue between a man and his crucifix!

The only other exciting items from this week happened yesterday when we saw our first large large taratula. We also saw a beetle that was probably five or six inches long. Luckily these were both outside, otherwise I might not have been so pleased with the sightings. I am planning on moving in with a host family in the next week, so I will keep this updated with my new adventures when that change takes place.

Water...

Well, the first exciting thing I have to share with folks is about some pictures that are available online from one of my fellow volunteers. If you go to the website, www.flickr.com/photos/egruen and find the pictures from Nicaragua you will see where I am. There aren't many picutres of our dorm, or the community, but you can get a sense of what things look like around here. They are actually really beautiful, and at the end there are a few pictures of our group with the delegation that just left, so you can see me on in one of them.

Things are going pretty well here. I have survived my first week, in what I would deem is a succesful manner. I found out the hard way that doing laundry in traditional Nicaraguan style is not only exhausting, it can lead to some problems. Doing laundry here is essentially like using a washboard, and it's certainly difficult to get the soap out, and to get them dry enough to hang up. I did my first load, and probably used too much soap, and then because it has been so rainy here I had to hang them up inside, and they didn't dry. Clothes that smell like mildew are not fun to wear. So this morning I washed them again, I'm hoping it's not going to rain. It is the rainy season here, which means it rains at least once a day. I've heard that when the dry season starts, somewhere in November or December it gets so dry that everything gets covered with a fine layer of dust. I don't think I've written yet about the water situation here. We have water from about 6 or 7pm until about 5am. Then the water gets turned off for the whole day. So we have to fill large barrels full of water at night, and then we use that water to wash our hands, fill our water filters, etc, for the next day. We also had quite the fiasco with water last night. I woke up at four am and found that there was lots of water on the floor. I walked out of where we sleep and found that the bathroom was filled with about 2 inches of water and had leaked out into most of the rest of the building. At first I thought it was from the rain, but later learned that the toilet had overflowed for most of the night until someone woke up at 2:30 and fixed it. Yeah. Luckily the floor of our dorm is all stone, so basically we spent a good hour this morning washing the floors and getting the water out. (Luckily it was clean water that had been running, other wise I might not have been very happy.) So here you never know when you're going to get water and what kind of water you might be getting. It keeps you on your toes.

Yesterday was the last day that the delegation from South Carolina was here. We spent their final day being a bit touristy. We started out the day going to a National park where there is a volcano that is not currently active, although it spews out a sulfur like gas all the time. Then we went to go see a potter who has been the recipient of a microloan from the community. He gave us a demonstration of his work and then happily allowed us to buy his work. He is a very gifted artist. We then went into Masaya for lunch and we went to their craft market. Masaya is a town about fourty-five minutes to the south of Managua and it has a large artist population there, so the craft market is impressive. After this adventure we made our final stop for the day at an establishment called The Monkey Hut. They cater to gringos in Nicaragua, and offer rooms for rent nightly or for longer stays. You can also go for the day and spend time swimming in the volcanic lagoon that they are located on. The water was amazing. It was warm and clean and we spent a few hours lounging on the side or swimming. It was a great break from our daily life. I think a few of us have thought about returning for a longer period of time.

There are a few of my latest experiences. I'm hoping that this week will provide a bit more of a routine and rhythm. I'm looking forward to getting to know the Nica's around me nad the community a bit more. In two weeks we have another delegation coming with 25 doctors, that will be quite a trip considering the delegation we just had was only 8 people! I'll write again soon. Oh, I've been having problems with my hotmail account, so if people want to try to email me you can use the following email address, hewesem@earlham.edu .

Rice and Beans

Well, my mom said I'd be eating rice and beans a lot, but I didn't know it would be for breakfast too! Actually, at breakfast with have rice and beans in addition to fruit and bread. And amazing coffee. I only have about ten minutes, not nearly enough time to catch everyone up on everything that's been going on. Overall things are really good. In the community we have had a delegation from a Presbyterian church from South Carolina here since Saturday evening. When a delegation comes life is a bit different than when there isn't one. So the community has about one delegation per month. The day with them around usually includes some sort of speaker, about either Nicaragua as a whole, the community or about some issue that people are facing here. Then for the past few days we have been going to work doing construction on a clinic nearby the community. Today, for example, in the morning we had a speaker who told us about CAFTA, which is the Central American Free Trade Agreement. I would like to get into the details, but I don't have time right now. In a nutshell, it is a new free trade agreement that has been signed between the US and Central American countries. It is comprable to NAFTA. Another day I will outline the concerns that this economist had. It was very interesting. Then we went to work at the clinic. The clinic already has one large building, but they are working on another so they can have other capabilities and space to help people. We were working on laying tile, doing electrical work and painting. After work we came back for lunch and then went back to work until about 4:30. Tonight we will go out for dinner, although usually we eat here.

I would like to give people an idea of where I am, what it looks like, what it smells like, etc. Although I am finding that hard to describe. The abject poverty that people live in here is astounding. I can't find words to describe it, nor would it seem like it is real. I will try. We live next to Ciudad Sandino, which is the poorest town in the whole of Nicaragua. There are 200,000 people who live there and the number of people who are either underemployed or unemployed is over 50%. Most of the roads are made of dirt, and are in such bad shape that it is almost impossible to drive on them. Some people are fortunate enough to have houses made of concrete or stucco, but many people have houses made out of cardboard and tin that is roped together. People live nearly on top of each other, with no spaces between the houses. There is trash everywhere and children play in the streets with no clothes on. I realize this picture seems bleak. But the situation in this part of the world is really quite depressing. Part of the problem is that the economic situation is terrible, the government is incredibly corrupt, they are always stealing from the people and the country. The community that I am working in is trying to change that. They have established worked owned cooperatives that give people a chance to work and not be exploited. Many people here work by buying something and then trying to sell it in the street for pennies more, in order to scrape by a meager living. The one huge success of the community has been the Women's sewing cooperative. They actually just became the first worked owned cooperative in the world to be a free trade zone. It is a huge accomplishment that these women have made, with the help of the Center for Development in Central America. I need to put a plug in for them, if anyone ever needs tee-shirts for anything please let me know, and I will put you in contact with the right people. You can buy a variety of wonderful tee-shirts and know that your money is not going to a sweat shop, instead it is being put into helping these women create a better life.

Well, I have to go get ready for dinner. I will keep people updated, I have so much to tell, it's hard to write only a little.

I made it!!!!

Hi Everyone,
I hae made it to Nicaragua. After three flights and about 12 hours of travelling it was nice to arrive. Two of my fellow volunteers picked me up at the airport and we all drove back to Nueva Vida, where the compound is. The area that I am living in consists of two main buildings. In one lives a family of five and two sisters who started the community. The other main building is a large bunkhouse, with a big community room, lots of bunk beds and some spaces for recreation. Compared to standards that we are used to it feels fairly rustic, but I think compared to Nicaraguan standards it is probably fairly luxurious. I asked where the structures came from, and someone told me they had originally been owned by a member of the Somoza family, dictators who ruled the country of Nicaragua for many years.

There are currently five volunteers including myself who are staying here. We are all between the ages of 22-25, and everyone is staying at least 3 months, and perhaps up to a year. The other volunteers are nice, they made me feel very welcome last night with a bit of a celebration. In addition, there are many animals that roam about that belong to the community. There are guinea hens, cats, a dog and three pet monkeys.

That's about all I can say so far. This morning we got up and made french toast, and tonight there is a delegation of volunteers coming in for about a week. They are coming from somewhere in the states and there are eight of them who will be staying in the bunkhouse with us. I guess in a couple of weeks there will be another delegation coming of doctors and dentists. There are often large groups that come through for short periods of time to volunteer and work in the surrounding area. I guess usually we work 8-5 everyday, and then Saturday mornings are a bit more relaxed, although some work does happen sometimes.

There are my ramblings about my first 12 hours in Nicaragua. It's not that hot today, at least it doesn't feel that hot, which I am glad for. If anyone has questions please post them on the comments part of the page and I will try to answer them. I'll write again soon.

Contact Info

So I leave tommorow for Nicaragua. Various people have asked for my address down there, as far as I can tell from the website the address is as follows:

Center for Development in Central America
Jubilee House Community, Inc.
c/o Emily Hewes
de Km. 11 Carretera Nueva a Leon, 1.6 km. abajo,
contiguo Hacienda Masili, Ciudad Sandino
Managua, Nicaragua

Phone in Nicaragua: 011-505-269-7073

It seems quite complicated, with directions in it even, so if I find out something different when I get down there I will put up another post.

Four days before I leave

Today is the 10th of October, I leave in only four days. It's pretty hard to believe it's that close. I wanted to make sure the website of the community I'm going to be working with is posted on my blog. I'm going to be with the Center for Development in Central America. The web address is www.jhc-cdca.org I would encourage people to check it out, they are doing really neat things there.