Welcome NICA 49!

On Thursday of last week Peace Corps Nicaragua received its next wave of volunteers. 21 people came in from Miami to begin their training as Health Volunteers. They will be training in the same towns that Jess and I were in for our first three months in Nicaragua. In April, they will swear in as volunteers and be sent all over the country to do the same work that Jess and I are doing. We´re hoping to get at least a couple in our Department of Madriz.

On the other hand, NICA 43 is preparing to head back to the States. This is the group that came in January of 2007 (a year before us). They will be finishing up their 2 years of service at the end of March and will be heading their separate ways. Jess and I live near 4 NICA 43ers right now, and we´ll be sad to see them go!

We, of course, are almost exactly at the middle point of our service in Nicaragua. We´ve got one more full year in Somoto before we are replaced by…who? If you guessed NICA 52, then you are correct!

Now, you might be asking yourself, “what happened to NICA 47 and 48?” You might also be asking, “who decides what sites these volunteers will live in?” Lastly, you might be asking, “What kind of interaction is there between Peace Corps volunteers during their service?” Luckily for you, this is the blog post that answers them all! Jess and I haven´t really talked about the structure of Peace Corps, and I think now is as good a time as any.

So, let’s start with country numbers. As trainees come into each Peace Corps country, their group is assigned a number. Here in Nicaragua we’re into the 40’s right now. In Honduras, they are only in the teens. Peace Corps has been in Honduras just as long as it’s been in Nicaragua, but their training style is different than ours, hence the big difference in numbers. In Honduras, all of the new volunteers are brought in once a year. They live together in a camp-like compound for their first three months. It is there that they have language and technical training. They don’t finally live with a Honduran family until they are sworn in as volunteers three months later.

Here in Nicaragua trainees are brought in every four months. We are divided into sectors, which determines when we come into the country. For instance, Health volunteers come in to Nicaragua every January and finish their service every March. Agriculture and Environment volunteers come in every August and finish their service every November. Small Business and English come in together at some other point during the year. Therefore, in a normal year three different groups come into Nicaragua and each of the three groups is assigned the next available number. In Honduras, there is only one new group number per year. And that explains the difference.

Another difference is in the training style. Our training is “community based,” which means we actually learn Spanish and technical skills while living with Nicaraguan families. I obviously can’t say our system is better than the Honduran one, but it was perfect for Jess and I. Nicaragua is also considered one of the best countries to train in. Pretty great, huh?

Now, on to site placement. Right now the two main people in charge of Health in Nicaragua are travelling around the country taking care of a process called “site development.” Every site that would like to have a Peace Corps volunteer must submit an application. Next, the Safety and Security Coordinator makes a visit to be sure the location fits Peace Corp’s standards for…well…safety and security. Once that’s been cleared, the Health staff make a visit to meet with the colleagues with whom the volunteers will be working for two years. If everything is in order, that community gets put on a list of potential sites. Because they staff know in advance how many trainees are coming into the country, they develop that amount of sites, and a few extra just in case. Therefore, every volunteer has a community and every community has a volunteer. A few weeks before the trainee becomes a volunteer, they are assigned a site based on their personal needs and interests. They are able to visit the site and meet their colleagues before officially moving there, which ensures a smooth start. A lot of thoughtful planning goes into site development and very few volunteers are disappointed in the site they are assigned.

Now, volunteer interaction. As you’ve seen throughout this blog, Jess and I are constantly seeing other Peace Corps volunteers. We are lucky enough to live in a central city that is a stopping point for many volunteers travelling to more rural sites. That being the case, we’re constantly having people over for lunch and dinner, and a few overnight stays as well. Those more rural volunteers, however, rarely see another gringo, as they tend to live at the last community at the end of a dirt road. Volunteers are encouraged to stay in their site as much as possible, but most leave for a weekend every once and a while to hang out with other Americans. This month’s meeting revolved around the Superbowl. It was a great game, but the commercials shown were all in Spanish, and none of the new ones highlighted in the States made it down here. That’s the part of the game I love the most, too! Oh well.

Sorry for the delay in blogs - we’ll try to get back up to weekly postings in the near future. Please keep reading!

Here's Astro on his first birthday. This is the little store in front of our house. He's been moonlighting as a security guard over there on the weekends...