Hola and hello from the 2015 Nicaragua Immersion! I’m Chelsea, I’ll be your blogging companion for the next weeks! We apologize for not posting yesterday, we were unable to connect to wifi. We hope that didn’t worry anyone too much. But we made it here safe, we promise. I’ll give you a quick update on our travel day yesterday, and our amazing first day here in Nicaragua today.
Yesterday was our travel day. We met at the University of Portland campus at 2:30 am and drove to the Portland Airport. We waited for hours and finally boarded our flight to Huston, Texas. When we landed in Huston we had an amazing 6 hour layover that consisted of a lot of sleeping, eating, and chatting. Finally we boarded our plane and flew to Managua, Nicaragua. Immediately we went to our hostel and slept.
Today consisted of amazing meals, as well as amazing testimonies and experiences.
Our day started off with a type of orientation where we learned about what we will be doing with Witness for Peace over the next few weeks as well as a quick history and overview of Nicaraguan history and local gestures and phrases to remember. We talked about fears and expectations for the trip, which was encouraging I think for everyone to understand that we’re all a little nervous for this amazing adventure ahead of us.
After lunch we went out into the open air market to do a little socioeconomic contrast tour. We were separated into groups and were given family scenarios that represented the average Nicaraguan worker. From there we went into the market and bought food from our daily wages we were given. Its an interesting thing to see you know? To see what you can get for 3.50 US dollars (87 Cordobas) for a family of 6.
To continue with the socioeconomic contrast tour we went to the local large shopping mall that most all Nicaraguans cannot get to, as well as cannot even think about affording. As we walked around there were numerous shops that had guards, as well as shops that I wouldn’t even fathom going in. As Audra, one of our group members stated, “It was like two separate worlds that were so close to each other.”
From there we went to Pick up Yamileth, our first speaker, from her job at one of the free trade zones. We drove around her neighborhood that use to be the municipal dump, but then with the help of the Spanish president, they helped convert and clean up the dump. Before the dump was converted, 1,200 families used to live in the dump, work in the dump, as well as use the contents of the dump to provide for their families. Once the dump was converted and privatized, many of the families that lived and worked there really had no place to go, and 60% of the workers at the dump now didn’t even experience what those 1,200 families had to deal with. Then, we ended up at Yamileth’s house where she invited us in and talked with us more about her experiences, what she does in the community, such as running a health center out of here home. A very empowering and wonderful woman to talk to, one that makes a great impact and gives everything she has to her community. “We’re all called to serve, and if I’m not serving, there is no point.” Yamileth.
AAfter Yamileth’s house, we walked over to an organization called Podcasts for Peace, which “teaches children how to tell their stories though digital story telling.” We were lucky enough to see some of the videos the children made, and how excited they were to share them. It was something powerful, seeing the children put together some stories about their lives. One young girl made one about her being made fun of, but working her way up and realizing that she is strong and happy with herself. After we watched some videos we were able to pay games and sports with the kids, which was probably the highlight of their day as much as it was ours.
Now, we’ve returned home, had an amazing dinner, and are showering! YAY! I hope this blog post gave you an insight on what we’ve sort of been doing lately, and gives you a peace of mind that we actually did arrive safe!
Signing off!
Chelsea Cook