¡Que nos les vayan muy bien! (May you leave us very well!)

On Sunday morning Jess and I hosted a brunch to say goodbye to the three health volunteers that are leaving Madríz. Kadesha, Lisa, and Leanne have all finished their two years in Nicaragua and are heading home. They are the volunteers that have shown us the ropes to Peace Corps living, and Madríz, and our guest bedroom, will seem a little more empty without them.
There are some perks to saying goodbye, however. Because none of their sites are being replaced by the new group of volunteers they have a plethora of stuff to give away. We like to keep things in the Peace Corps family as much as possible, as the settling in allowance really isn´t enough to settle in with, so things like tables and chairs, pots and pans, blankets, books, and stoves are all up for grabs. Jess and I now have a bunch of new furniture, a great new 4 burner stove and a few extra pots! We´re also storing a bunch of stuff for other volunteers in Madríz, current and future. Needless to say, the house is a little crowded right now, but we´ll get over it.

Chatting over brunch.

Our first attempt at home-made bagels. Not much to look at, but they tasted great!

Spinach quiche!

Happy times in Somoto.

After a long morning of cooking and eating, we decided to just get a bite to eat from a fritanga, which is street food. It's almost like Nicaraguan fast-food, but with a much higher chance of getting amoebas. Tasty!

Grilled chicken, enchiladas, gallo pinto, fried plantain, tacos, and who knows what else...

And we're off for no more than a few bucks!

Monday morning we had our first good rain since November. It rained on and off for about an hour. The ground got just muddy enough to remind us what a hassle it is to have a dog who likes to run in and out of the house like it’s his job. It’s still early for the official rainy season, so this was probably just a fluke. We won’t see daily rains until May, but this was a nice change of pace.

Last Tuesday we helped our Nicaraguan host family move houses. Akhnaton and Silvia finally realized their dream and finished building their very own house. It’s not big at all by American standards, but it is about as nice as they get in Nicaragua. We learned quite a bit about the moving process in Nicaragua, and you’ll be interested to hear it is a little different than the way we do it in the States.

Nicaraguans are shameless about asking for things. As Americans, we’ve been trained not to give a dollar to the guy begging on the corner, and we find it socially acceptable to walk right by the Salvation Army guys in the wintertime. In Nicaragua, however, your average person might give out a cordoba to four or five people just on their way home from the grocery store. If an older person walks into a restaurant and asks for a little bit of money, a lot of Nicaraguans will get out of their seat, dig around in their pockets for a few cents, walk over and hand it to the person asking, and thank them for the opportunity to help. So, because the rate of success is so high for people begging, a lot of Nicaraguans go ahead and ask for anything and everything. Here´s a list of some of the things Jess and I have been asked for over the past year:
- money
- food
- water
- alcohol
- backpacks
- shoes
- Astro
- our computer
- Jess’s hand in marriage
- our passports

That list is almost in order of importance, but not quite. Anyway, back to moving, you can imagine the scene outside a Nicaraguan home as a well-to-do family pulls item after item out of their house and onto the moving truck. So, I ask you, how do you avoid the mobs? How do you avoid the awkward refusals to give your stuff away? Easy! You move houses in the middle of the night when no one else is awake!

That´s right, Jess and I helped Akhnaton and Silvia move house from 8pm on Tuesday night until 3am on Wednesday morning. Akhnaton kept on going until 10am! As crazy as it sounds the strategy worked. We weren´t asked for a single item, and we dealt with a lot less traffic as we bounced down the road with waaaaaaayyyyy to much stuff in the pick-up truck. Luckily, it was only a move of six or seven blocks, and the only thing we lost out of the back of the truck was a smiley-face magnet from the fridge.

It took us a few days to fully recover, but I have to admit, the late night move definitely has its perks.


The next group of photos are from a recent hike we took toward the town of Cacauli. This is Astro in his desert motif.

Astro helping the local cowboys.

Here's a building that recently went up in the country-side. They are built with adobe bricks, which means people mix straw and much in a mold and then let it dry in the sun. The same mud is used as mortar to hold the whole thing together. They don't last nearly as long as bricks or cement blocks, but this one is built very skillfully and will probably last 15 years. It needs a final coat of mud to protect the adobe bricks, but then it should be fairly durable.

Nicaraguans drink soda and juice out of a plastic bag. Here's Jess demonstrating proper technique. You bite a hole in the corner of the bag and then you have to squeeze the soda out.


That´s all for now. Jess and I have a busy week planned, and then a weekend trip to visit a few other volunteers in Matagalpa, which is a totally different part of the country. Look for details next week!

Peace Corps Partnership

So, in addition to the regular projects that volunteers work on with any host agencies or counterparts in their communities, Peace Corps has set up a number of ways that volunteers can recieve funding for additional projects that they think are of importance to their community. One of these ways is a program called the Peace Corps Partnership Program.

With the Partnership Program, volunteers have the opportunity to develop a proposal and post it online. Once online, donors from the states have the ability to directly contribute to Peace Corps-implemented projects around the world.

Recently, I went through the process of developing a proposal, along with the help of employees at the Departments of Health and Education in Madriz (Somoto, where we live, is the capital of the department of Madriz). Speaking with the indivdiuals from both agencies, we decided that, given the significantly high rate of adolescent pregnancy in Madriz (30% of births are to mothers under 19 years of age) and the rising risk of HIV/AIDS, that information regarding thest topics could be an important addition to the existing curriculum in the secondary schools. So, we developed a modest proposal and plan to use the money to make materials and resources for secondary teachers to talk about these and other health topics in the context of their math, spanish, civics and biology courses.

If anyone is interested in reading about my specific project, or in donating, the link is:

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=524-069

To learn more about the Partnership Program in general, and/or to look for other projects, you can read up on opportunities at:

http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors&&

Astro and his birthday gift

A few weeks ago we received a great package from Mrs. Lyttle´s class. Inside was a birthday card for Astro, as well as a tuani bandana. Tuani means cool in Nica Spanish. Anyways, here are a few pics of Astro sporting his new look. Sorry they are sideways, but this cyber won´t let me twist them. oh well...

Thanks again, Mrs. Lyttle´s students!

A visit from the Irish

The potential tree house tree at Los Quinchos

Last week, as our trainees departed back to their host families, I welcomed another group to Somoto. Two members of the steering committee of University College of Dublin Volunteers Overseas (UCDVO) arrived in Somoto to plan their 2009 project. UCDVO is a non-profit organization based in Dublin, Ireland. Every year, UCDVO sends University College of Dublin college students to various countries around the world to help strengthen local efforts to improve the lives of those living in developing countries. They are currently working in 4 countries: Haiti, India, Tanzania, and, of course, Nicaragua. If you were reading our blog last year you’ll remember their 6 weeks in Somoto, when 23 students built a health center from the foundations up. In other countries the UCDVO projects aren’t focused so heavily in construction, so this year’s Nicaragua delegation spent last week organizing projects of a slightly different nature.

Some of our blog postings have mentioned Los Quinchos, an educational center where Jess spends a lot of her time. Los Quinchos is a place where at-risk students can go when they aren’t in school to receive a little extra attention. Most of the students come from families with abuse, very poor living situations, and very low financial means. All of that adds up to a difficult situation in which to live, so Los Quinchos gets them out of the house and into a healthier environment for a few extra hours a day. While at Los Quinchos the students receive homework help, skills training in areas such as sewing, woodworking, and piñata building; and a little time with a psychologist. They also receive a meal, and for some students that might be the only time they eat each day. Despite the difficult situation, the children at Los Quinchos are extremely well behaved, energetic, and eager to learn from anybody that comes through the door. Jess and I chalk up the great vibe to the wonderful staff at Los Quinchos, as they really make the most of aging buildings and a very inadequate budget.

It’s for all these reasons and more that we introduced the UCDVO team to the director of Los Quinchos, Glenda. UCDVO was looking for a substantial project and Los Quinchos was looking for a helping hand. Together, the two groups found a few projects that would fulfill the goals of UCDVO and help Los Quinchos better attend its students. This summer, 23 UCDVO students and one advisor will be working at Los Quinchos on three separate projects:

1. The construction of an all-purpose recreational court at the school. The court will have basketball hoops, mini soccer goals, and lines for a bunch of more informal games. Right now the students just play in a field, but the Los Quinchos staff feel that a more organized environment, including real basketball and volleyball teams, will really help the children develop in a more healthy manner and help them get over some of the difficult family situations they experience.

2. The connection of existing bathrooms to the city sewage system. When Hurricane Mitch hit Nicaragua in 1998, it wiped out a lot of the advances Nicaragua had made since the Sandinistas left power in 1990. Specifically at Los Quinchos, the massive amount of water blew out their septic tank, allowing waste to seep into the surrounding area. The bathrooms, which remain in working condition haven’t been used since the storm. Students and staff have reverted back to the use of a makeshift latrine that has been in service for the past 25 years. By connecting the sewage to the newer city system UCDVO can ensure that waste is properly disposed of and treated, as opposed to flowing into the stream that runs beside Los Quinchos.

3. The construction of a tree house in the Los Quinchos courtyard. Building on the idea that the more play space kids have the better, UCDVO, and Los Quinchos felt that a tree house will add to the overall good feeling you get at Los Quinchos. A lot of people argue that the money could be better spent of food, clothes, or books for the kids, but it’s impossible to really quantify the value of a space where kids can just be kids. Our goal is to build a safe, fun, and engaging tree house where kids can use their imaginations. We have a basic plan and design, but based on UCDVO’s budget, the goal is to add on to the tree house as much as money will allow. We’re hoping to “accessorize” with things like a fireman’s pole, a tire-swing, and a slide, but it all comes down to cost. We’ll keep you updated.

On top of the construction work, the UCDVO students will also be participating in the regular Los Quinchos classes and hopefully running daily literacy and art activities on their own. Of course language will be a barrier, but if anyone can really make a difference, it’s the students from UCDVO. After seeing them work last year on the El Kairo health center, I’m 100% confident that this year’s project will be a big success.

As for some of the concerns about Astro in the last blog, Jess and I were very glad to hear Mrs. Lyttle’s class is so interested in Astro’s well-being. We’re almost positive that Astro has some Labrador or Golden Retriever in him, and those dogs are known for their natural ability in the water. Astro started swimming when he was about 5 months old (look back to the May 2008 blog post where we carried him into the canyon). He was a little uneasy in the water at first, but he gets more and more comfortable every time he swims. Now, when we got the canyon, Astro chooses to swim up the river, as opposed to scamper over the rocks. His paws are webbed, like a lot of Labradors, so he can actually swim as fast as Jess or I. He can also paddle around in the water for at least 10 minutes without a break. So, as long as we are close to him when he’s swimming, we really aren’t concerned. Hopefully you’ll get to meet him when we move back to the States in April of 2010!

Here we are at the canyon last week:

More to come…