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 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.
posted by Emily at 4:20 PM
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