Hola from Matagalpa, Nicaragua!
After a week of living in La Concepcion we said farewell to our homestay families on Saturday morning. We all learned a lot and will remember this experience forever, and emotions raged from family to family. Some of us were able to deeply connect and create relationships, making saying goodbye difficult. For others, this was more of an experience of personal growth. But overall, we all learned more than we could ever have imagined about being a member of this tight knit community of La Concepcion…
With our bags packed and strapped to the roof of two vans, we drove off to Matagalpa to begin our time working with Seeds of Learning. The three hour drive took us through lush green landscapes, small towns, and industrial areas. After arriving in the bustling and vibrant city, we drove around the city center looking for our hostel – the result of minimal street signs ands addresses… Luckily Jorge, one of our leaders from Seeds of Learning, came to our rescue and guided us to our beautiful hostel… We were welcomed to our new home for the week with an amazing lunch followed by a short orientation at the SOL library, located a couple blocks away. This library, started by SOL, offers a space for some of the children in the city with extra educational opportunities through an after school program. Here students have access to shelves of books – unlike in most Nicaraguan schools – and engage in creative arts and science projects, This program is relatively new and growing, and we all are excited to learn more about its impact on the community by seeing it in action this upcoming week.
We wrapped up Saturday with a big group reflection, reviewing our week in La Concepsions and our experience living in our home stays. To say our group discussion was insightful is quite the understatement. We touched on large scale topics like what it means to be human, what we feel our life purpose is, and what matter most. We all acknowledged how grateful we are for this experience.
Sunday morning, after a yummy french toast breakfast on the hostel balcony, many of us headed to Mass at the nearby Cathedral. This was a special service, as the archbishop was visiting, a nun was renewing her 50 year vow to the church, and there were special for prayers for Venezuela in their time in need. Although the two hour service was a bit long, we all found it to be an amazing experience to share together.
After Mass, we all went to lunch at a nearby cafe and headed to a Ceramic Workshop. Here we learned about a unique type of pottery – black pottery. This practice hat has been passed down from generation to generation within a family in this city and is one of the few remaining parts of the native Matagalpan culture. Now the business is run by a few sisters and we were lucky to meet one of them and learn some pottery skills. We were also able to make our own pieces of pottery and are excited to see how they turned out. This was a great experience to learn about another artistic aspect of the Nicaraguan culture.
Later on in the day, we met back up at the Library to watch a documentary about the educational system in Nicaragua. The film followed a few students from different backgrounds and regions as they navigated the difficulties of the school system, which include lack of resources, difficult university entrance exams, and poorly paid teachers. Although it was frustrating to learn more about the shocking reality, especially after our first hand experiences and connections in La Conception, we all feel inspired to work with SOL this week contributing to the community!
Stay tuned for more updates!
– Elise, Rainey, and Autumn
