Noticias
I realize it's been since April since I last posted on here. Recently I have gotten emails from folks telling me they were felt like they should visit my blog to read up on what's been going on, I started to feel a bit bad that there would be nothing new for them to read, so I'm going to try to give an update.
Well, it's July in Nicaragua. We are technically in 'winter,' although that is a relative term. What this means is that it rains sometimes and that it's a bit cooler than when we didn't have any rain. Rather than sweating 100% of the time I perhaps am only sweating 85% of the time right now. When it gets to be 80 degrees it feels downright cold. People are telling me I must be a Nica now because there are mornings when I wake up and it's in the 70's and I feel like I need a sweater. That's actually quite a blessing.
Things with my work are going well. I was asked by my organization to work with them starting in September as a full time staff member. I have accepted that position which means I will be here for at least another year. Who knows after that. I'm quite excited about this new position, although the duties will probably pretty much be the same as what I am doing now. I have been working with our Women's Sewing Cooperative, mostly writing emails to clients in the States and all over the world, but also doing daily random chores and whatever else the others in the office don't feel like doing. I am fortunate enough to work with wonderful folks down here, so I am psyched to be able to continue in a formal position here. One exciting thing that has happened here at our work is that we have had a group of folks here working on a biodiesel processing plant which is a process by which you take used vegetable oil and make it into diesel to fuel vehicles. Our processer has not yet been tested, but we're excited about this and hope that we will be able to have affordable diesel for our own vehicles and perhaps set up a new cooperative in the near future.
As of August 28th I will be no longer living at the Quaker House, where I have been caretaking for the past four months. I am going to move into a small house, I hope, with a friend and her boyfriend. I think this will be a good change, I'm looking forward to having my own place and living in Nicaragua like I would if I was living anywhere else in the world.
Nicaragua continues to be a place full of sadness and of hope. I heard the statistic the other day that the mortality rate for mothers giving birth jumped 250% between 1993 and 2003. This is pretty unbelievable, one would think that we would be improving the status of healthcare here, but I find this pretty scary. Politically things are heating up. Elections are in November and while Nicaragua is always politically charged it is even more so now. There are pretty much two 'liberal' minded parties and two more 'conservative' parties. The most liberal of all the parties had a dynamic leader named Herty Lewites. He was the minister of tourism at one point here in Nicaragua, and was very popular among people here in Nicaragua. Unfortunately he died of a heart attack about three weeks ago which has changed the political spectrum for many folks. We'll have to wait and see what happens in November.
After having been sitting in front of the computer all day I'm feeling a bit brain dead. I hope that whoever reads this, if you have questions or want to know more about something I've said, that you will respond to this post and I'll get back to you.
Well, it's July in Nicaragua. We are technically in 'winter,' although that is a relative term. What this means is that it rains sometimes and that it's a bit cooler than when we didn't have any rain. Rather than sweating 100% of the time I perhaps am only sweating 85% of the time right now. When it gets to be 80 degrees it feels downright cold. People are telling me I must be a Nica now because there are mornings when I wake up and it's in the 70's and I feel like I need a sweater. That's actually quite a blessing.
Things with my work are going well. I was asked by my organization to work with them starting in September as a full time staff member. I have accepted that position which means I will be here for at least another year. Who knows after that. I'm quite excited about this new position, although the duties will probably pretty much be the same as what I am doing now. I have been working with our Women's Sewing Cooperative, mostly writing emails to clients in the States and all over the world, but also doing daily random chores and whatever else the others in the office don't feel like doing. I am fortunate enough to work with wonderful folks down here, so I am psyched to be able to continue in a formal position here. One exciting thing that has happened here at our work is that we have had a group of folks here working on a biodiesel processing plant which is a process by which you take used vegetable oil and make it into diesel to fuel vehicles. Our processer has not yet been tested, but we're excited about this and hope that we will be able to have affordable diesel for our own vehicles and perhaps set up a new cooperative in the near future.
As of August 28th I will be no longer living at the Quaker House, where I have been caretaking for the past four months. I am going to move into a small house, I hope, with a friend and her boyfriend. I think this will be a good change, I'm looking forward to having my own place and living in Nicaragua like I would if I was living anywhere else in the world.
Nicaragua continues to be a place full of sadness and of hope. I heard the statistic the other day that the mortality rate for mothers giving birth jumped 250% between 1993 and 2003. This is pretty unbelievable, one would think that we would be improving the status of healthcare here, but I find this pretty scary. Politically things are heating up. Elections are in November and while Nicaragua is always politically charged it is even more so now. There are pretty much two 'liberal' minded parties and two more 'conservative' parties. The most liberal of all the parties had a dynamic leader named Herty Lewites. He was the minister of tourism at one point here in Nicaragua, and was very popular among people here in Nicaragua. Unfortunately he died of a heart attack about three weeks ago which has changed the political spectrum for many folks. We'll have to wait and see what happens in November.
After having been sitting in front of the computer all day I'm feeling a bit brain dead. I hope that whoever reads this, if you have questions or want to know more about something I've said, that you will respond to this post and I'll get back to you.
posted by Emily at 2:38 PM
0 comments
