Global Academy in Granada, Nicaragua 2009

I haven't arrived yet...

2009-09-08T05:27:00.000-07:00

This interactive poem could speak for us all. We all left something in Nicaragua, as we all gained so much to bring home with us, and to share...

PROYECTO FINAL - "No he llegado todavía"

Click on the link above to read the poem on our WIKI.

Happiness

2009-09-08T05:16:00.000-07:00

La Felicidad

La Felicidad y La Felicitá
Ambos significan lo mismo
Pero la idea no puede ser traducida.
Porque la felicidad para El Nicaragüense
Y la felicitá para El Italiano
Son diferentes.
La felicidad, para mí
Es lo que yo vi.
La Felicidad
Es una corazón
lleno de amor
Que encontré en La Playa del Flor
Y la pulsación de las olas
Que repitían por horas.
La felicidad
Es tener solamente la luz de la Luna
Y la radio apagada.
Es no tener que esperar
El teléfono que va a sonar.
La felicidad
Es un rayo del sol
más caliente de lo que debería ser
Es el color y es el olor embriagante del mar.
La felicidad
Es la salida del sol
Aún más la puesta del sol
Que yo vi cada día
en Ometepe
La felicidad
Es la tradición de sentarse en la mecedora
Por lo menos una hora
Es estar lejos de casa
Pero sentirse como
Estar en casa
Es el amor que yo he recibido.
Yo he visto la felicidad
En los ojos inocentes de cada niño
En los sueños que cada uno me contó
La felicidad
Es la gente y su cariño,
Puede existir en la tierra y en el agua
La felicidad es todo de Nicaragua.

Happiness

2009-09-08T04:26:00.000-07:00

La Felicidad

Debo admitir que nunca hubiera esperado encontrarla allí en las calles de Nicaragua.
No puede ser.
No tenían los lujos necesarios para alimentarla. Sin olvidar algunos de los insumos esenciales para la vida.
No podrían tenerla porque no tienen lo que tenemos y están conscientes de eso.
Pero lo eran.
Y lo son.
Contentos.
No era la felicidad.
Había risa.
En este país en vías de desarrollo no me he encontrado a mí misma en el sentido triste y sombrío que yo esperaba.
Los valores de la familia, la religión y el amor. Sin teléfonos celulares, automóviles y cheques de pago.
Ellos saben lo que es importante en la vida.
Nosotros en el norte podemos poseer lo material, pero ellos conocen
la fuente verdadera de la felicidad.

ABC Nicaragua

2009-09-08T04:19:00.000-07:00

Abecedario de la cultura nicaragüense

PARTE 1 (A-M)

PARTE 2 (N-Z)

These are large .pdf documents. You will need some patience to open them, but they are well worth the wait for the images!

Cuento: "El viaje de las tortugas"

2009-09-08T04:10:00.001-07:00

Cuento para los niños de la escuela "La Epifanía" y el arte de uno de ellos...

EL VIAJE DE LAS TORTUGAS

¡Saludos!

Poema a los 10 Milagros

2009-09-08T03:58:00.000-07:00

10 Milagros

Los milagros en este mundo existen,
pero a veces no los creemos,
no los vemos,
no los observamos
pero yo los viví.
Diez milagros que hace que uno
sienta la alegría,
Dolor,
Historia,
Conciencia,
Amor
Vida.
Cada milagro les ayuda a cualquiera,
conseguir riqueza en forma de belleza.
Felicidad, una sonrisa que vive
sobre la cara de un chico joven,
apreciando la fortuna que tiene pero
con la esperanza de un mundo mejor.
Su Libertad lo deja conseguir las estrellas,
dándole la oportunidad de crecer como hombre.
Libertad que coexiste en los humanos,
besándonos en la frente y dándonos seguridad.
Generosidad, como el sol en el cielo,
nos da la oportunidad de brillar,
compartir la preciosidad de la naturaleza,
y absorbar lo que es la creación de Dios.
Desarrollo la mente en el universo de la realidad,
un mundo que solo existe en los libros de historia,
pero cómo puede ser que yo lo viví?
Mis ojos curiosean,
tratando de entender lo que es esta realidad.
Tradiciones que fluyen por el aire de Nicaragua,
Bailan con dedicación y cariño,
Cantan su canción para capturar los oídos,
Cocinan con fuerza y expresión.
Formas tan preciosas,
que ni el ojo de un artista lo puede detener
en su obra de arte.
Dignidad, puede aparecer en su mundo
Como una barrera firme
con una existencia dura,
pero el milagro de poder sobrevivirlo
hace que los nicaragüenses alcancen la gloria.
Igualdad, existe en forma de nube,
lo podemos ver de color blanco,
o de nube negra llena de lluvia que
puede cubrir el sol y su esplendor
que quiere repartir.
Ser iguales y ser los mismos
No es la misma cosa,
Pero ser familia en Nicaragua,
siempre es la aclaración de tener igualdad.
Prejuicios, una palabra hecha de diez letras,
que obtiene un poder que puede destruir la mente
de un humano si se usa como arma.
Una espada filosa que puede proteger,
Pero puede darle una puñalada al corazón.
Democracia, una oportunidad de ser igual con su voz.
Un momento en el cual podemos destacar nuestras ideas
sin ser juzgados.
La idea de cantar nuestra canción,
en la forma que la compusimos.
Un canto que agarrar la atención de los luchadores,
para seguir la pelea que estuvieron luchando hace años.
Respeto, un árbol que crece de hace siglos,
Un viejo con la inteligencia del mundo,
Una madre que trata de encontrar paz en su vida,
Un niño con la mente listo para aprender.
Una forma de vida,
que es un milagro de conseguir.
Es una fruta descubierta
la cual podemos comer y saborear
y cuando no llega al estomago no llena de alegría
porque sabemos que tenemos que compartirlo,
con el mundo.
Milagros no se ven todo los días,
No porque no existen,
Sino porque los ignoramos.
Cierre sus ojos,
Respira el aire fresco,
Aprende de su ambiente.
Allí están los milgagros.
Dale la oportunidad de poder cambiar su vida.
Y le doy gracias a las personas de Nicaragua,
que al poner pie en un país extraña,
era la gringa de los EEUU,
con mucho lugar en mi mente,
para crecer y entender el mundo.
Pero al irme ya no era más gringa.
Era una flor nueva que por primera vez,
estaba abriéndome al mundo que me esperaba.

Poema a la educación

2009-09-08T03:52:00.000-07:00

Son las siete de la mañana, hora de bañarse
A lustrar sus zapatos, para poder educarse

Ya llega a la escuela, saca su cuaderno
Raulito no vino, será que está enfermo

“Dígame profe, lo que aprenderemos hoy día”, pregunta el niño Fran
“Matemáticas, lengua y cívica” respondió la profesora con una sonrisa que los niños continuarán

Fue de ahí que Giordi dijo “Profe, no entiendo”
Y la profesora contesta “Anda y pregúntale a Andrés, que él es el experto”

“Es por eso que el cubo tiene seis lados” le dijo el grande al chiquito
Y lleno de alegría, el niño comenzó a practicarlo en su cuadernito

Fue así que los días pasaron, y los niños jugaron
A pesar que así fue que al chico alto lo lastimaron
Y cojeando iba y venía este chico extranjero
Para que cada día con ellos, no sea un desespero
Sino una experiencia única que ninguno de los personajes de este cuento
Borrara de su espejo retrovisor.

La Arquitectura - Proyecto Final

2009-09-08T03:40:00.001-07:00

Ver video en YouTube de la Arquitectura de Granada

PROYECTO FINAL - VIDEO

¡Saludos!

Inspired Song

2009-09-07T16:15:00.000-07:00

A reflection of From the Balcony of the Ruben Dario Popular Theater
by Raul Gavarrete.

The national anthem of Nicaragua birthed dreams of a familiar land, echoing on the walls of the theater. Desires of a new life and improved way of being became real through this national song.
The heart of the listener began to sing along with the song.
It was a new song. A song of change a song of development of a loved land.
The rich history of Nicaragua is appreciated as memories of the struggle push hope towards the future.
Change has happened through bloodshed and tears.
Transformation of rubble into beautiful parks. Small, smelly spaces in to luscious gardens.
Here is the change…there’s even more to be seen.
The greatest aspirations are for the children for their safety, time enjoyed, and discoveries
revealed. They must grow to perpetuate the change.
Sweet sounds of loving whispers. Honest declarations of commitment and
peace, embrace the community of improvements.
The inhabitants of the city maintain the beauty and are happily responsible for its upkeep.
Those less fortunate gain the basic amenities of life.
The listener can see beyond the present conditions of home.
The rich spirit of survival creates an undeniable love for this incredible country.
The National Anthem of Nicaragua is the backdrop for the dreams of a visionary.

Prejuicios

2009-09-07T16:10:00.000-07:00

¿Qué ves cuando me miras?
¿Puedes ver la historia, el dolor, las lágrimas?
¿Puedes ver la sangre perdida, los corazones rotos?

¿Qué ves cuando me miras?

¿Puedes ver mi fuerza, mi determinación?
¿Puedes ver el espíritu que nació en mí de mis abuelas?

Debes saber que sé andar con la cabeza en alto y los brazos abiertos.

¿Qué ves quando me miras?

¿Ves mi ropa que no se compró en un boutique?
Mi madre la hizo y los productos hechos a mano son mejores.
Mi camisa tiene colores de la tierra rica de inspiración.

¿Qué ves cuando me miras?

¿Puedes ver el espejo que enseña tu vida?
Tu vida llena de cosas pero vacía de honor y de valor
¿Dónde está tu cultura que te hace quien eres?

¿Qué ves cuando me miras?

¿Dices, “Aaa pobrecita. Ella es ignorante y no puede mejorar.”?
¿Piensas que no puedo ser presidente?
¿Quién será el juez?
No sabes que ni yo sé todo lo que puedo alcanzar

¿Qué ves cuando me miras?

¡No sabes quién soy!
Yo soy el ritmo de los DRUMS, la luz del sol.

¿Qué ves cuando me miras?

¡No sabes que después de mi trabajo diario estudio por horas aprendiendo otros idomas y leyes internacionales. Mientras mis hermanos están durmiendo soñando con dulces y con partidos de béisbol, estoy practicando mis matemáticas para saber cómo se usa el dinero después de EARN IT. Yo sé que yo puedo hacer todo con mi vida porque tengo mi fe y el poder de trabajar duro. Soy inteligente, fuerte y bella adentro y afuera.

¿Qué ves cuando me miras? ¿Qué ves cuando te miras a ti mismo?

La Tradición

2009-09-07T13:48:00.000-07:00

Each person has their own idea of what tradition means to them. Tradition may be cultural; religious, and political, and may also exist within families. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the definition for tradition is as follows:
1 a: An inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior (as a religious practice or a social custom). b: a belief or story or a body of beliefs or stories relating to the past that are commonly accepted as historical though not verifiable. 2: the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction. 3: cultural continuity in social attitudes, customs, and institutions. 4: characteristic manner, method, or style.

On Tuesday, August 18th; some of us had the opportunity to watch a documentary at Casa Angel. The title of the documentary is “De Niña a Madre”. If translated word for word, it would be called from girl to mother. However the production company’s website has it translated as “From Girls to Mothers.” The film won the following awards: UNICEF Films 4 lives award, the UNICEF UK Award, International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, Glasgow and the Dirkvandersypen Award. It also won Best Latin American documentary in Belgium in 2007. The first comment that was made about this documentary was the title itself: it is not called; “From Girls to Women”, but rather “From Girls to Mothers.” It is almost as if to say that girls have their futures already planned out for them.

Before giving a brief synopsis of the documentary, as well as my interpretation of it; I feel it is extremely important to point out that, although it takes place in Nicaragua, by no means should this film or this analysis be understood as a generalization of all adolescents; mothers, and fathers of Nicaragua. While the film was an eye opener for many, it also has the potential to confirm stereotypes; and that is not what this course was intended to do.

The documentary follows the pregnancies of three adolescents for three years. Each is from a different area of Nicaragua: Kenya, a girl from the city of Managua; Blanca from the northern mountains, and Viviana from the Caribbean Coast. All three girls were between the ages of 14 and 16 years old when the documentary first began following their pregnancies. It is also important to point out that although the fathers of the girls’ babies were included in this documentary and were interviewed, their lives were not documented and followed as the girls’ were. This alone says something of the involvement of the fathers in the lives of the girls, and after their deliveries; the lives of their children in this documentary. The production company’s summary of the documentary, taken from their website, describes the film in the following words:

“These aren’t love stories with a happy ending. They are stories to make you think. And act, since traditional ideas about women’s identity and the meaning of maternity bring us face to face with increasingly urgent questions”.

I had been looking forward to watching the documentary for some time, for I had wanted to write a blog on the feminine ideal in Nicaragua. However, the theme has the ability to be misunderstood and taken in the wrong way, and depending on how I wrote the blog it could have been interpreted as stereotyping. If I wrote the blog without having a framework to draw from, it would not have had much merit. Therefore, this documentary gave me the opportunity to discuss a topic of which I have much interest in.

The film shows that there are different attitudes regarding teen pregnancy from fathers and mothers. In the case of the mother and daughter, tradition mandates that it is the mother’s responsibility to give advice to her daughter. This can be in terms of explaining pregnancy; the role of the woman in the family, her marriage, the workplace, and society in general. In the case of two of the pregnant girls, the mothers were not pleased that they had become pregnant for it is mainly the woman’s responsibility to care for the children. Merely children themselves, it therefore became the responsibility of their mothers to show them how to care for their babies. The documentary showed that the news of a baby on the way, for the girl and her mother, was not so much happy news, but rather a burden of more work to be done.

Of the many traditional roles that the mothers pass down to their daughters, servitude is one. One of the mothers commented on how the man’s job is to provide for the woman, and in return it is the women’s responsibility, or duty, to serve her husband. The word servitude can be understood to be physical, emotional, and sexual. Another traditional role that the mothers teach their daughters is their role in the workplace, which may also be interpreted as a stereotype. The mothers teach their teenage daughters that the only jobs they are capable of performing are taking care of other children or cleaning someone else’s house.

The attitude of a father and his son regarding pregnancy and premarital sex is very different. Essentially, it is ok for males to have premarital sex; and in fact if it results in a pregnancy, the male is lauded for his accomplishment. For the girl however, it is a different story. One of the teen fathers in the film made a comment that after a girl has sex with him, they lose their value. Additionally, the documentary showed that it was the father (I do not use the word husband because not all of the girls had married their baby’s father), who had the decision making power of how many children he wanted to have. Not every girl in the film was lucky in the sense that she had the support of her child’s father. In fact, one of the fathers was not convinced that the child was even his, and he refused to recognize his paternity. His reason for doing so was that he already had children with another girl before the new baby was born. Essentially, he could not afford the financial responsibility that is required in fatherhood. His solution, therefore, was to deny that the child, and the mother, even existed.

Aside from the traditional roles of motherhood and fatherhood, the documentary also delves into the ways that girls become pregnant that have to do with tradition. In the case of one girl, superstition was the cause. She believed that she became pregnant because her mother gave her a cold medicine that was really a love potion. When adolescents are not given proper sex education, this is a concern because the proper precautions are not being taken. Additionally, there are also myths about contraceptives. Even for those who are aware of how pregnancy happens, it is believed that contraceptives are a cause of cancer, so they simply aren’t used. Another factor in teen pregnancy is the life expectancy and quality of health care, which impacts their decision to have children at a young age. Lastly, one of the teen fathers commented that he wanted to have as many children as possible as an investment for the future when he becomes old and can no longer take care of himself.

Teen pregnancy is not a dilemma limited solely to Nicaragua. It exists in many countries, including the United States. One of the biggest arguments for the cause of teen pregnancy by many scholars is the lack of education. If education is not a value within a family, it allows for adolescents to engage in other activities that may put them at risk for teen pregnancy. Furthermore, while many preach abstinence; there also must be a level of being realistic. If we know that teens are sexually active, solely preaching abstinence to them may not be sufficient. While some would say it would be better if teens were not sexually active, we need to make sure that those who are, are practicing safe sex. For those who do become pregnant and choose to raise their baby, services also need to be provided for them so that it does not become the responsibility of the teen’s parents to raise the baby. Services should also allow for the teen to continue with their education and graduate, while also being able to care for their child.

One organization in Connecticut that works with parents of all ages is the Nurturing Families Network of Connecticut. While the mission of the organization is to work with families that are at-risk of involvement with the Department of Children and Families, any parent can use their services. The best part is that it’s free. One of their programs, Nurturing Connections, is a “telephone support service [that] connects you to someone who can answer your questions and refer you to parenting resources or services in your community”. Another is called Nurturing Parenting Groups, “a supportive environment to share experiences and work together to become the best parents you can be”. There is also the Intensive Home Visiting Program, where “a home visitor comes to your home to help you care for your baby and adjust to the many demands of becoming a parent”. All of their programs will “provide you with important parenting information, tips on how to care for your baby and yourself and information on immunizations, infant health and community resources”. If you or anyone you know is a teen or young adult parent living in Connecticut and needs help, information is available at the following websites:

http://www.take5parenting.com/parenttobe_parents.php
http://www.ct.gov/ctf/cwp/view.asp?a=1786&q=296678
1. Merriam-Webster Online. Dictionary and Thesaurus. http://www.merriam-webster.com

2. De Niña a Madre. Camila Films (2006). Directed by Florence Jaugey.

3. Camila Films. Girls to Mothers, Chapters One and Two. http://www.camilafilms.com/realizaciones.en?idrealizaciones=11

4. Children’s Trust Fund. For Parents to be and New Parents. http://www.take5parenting.com/parenttobe_parents.php

El Desarrollo

2009-09-06T17:55:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, the entries for SPA 298 differ slightly from those of SPA 211/411. They are intended to be more objective and analytical, and less personal. That being said, I believe it is important to mention that everyone has their own set of values; beliefs, and ideas that are adhered to. Even when it comes to a scholarly interpretation of a poem; work of art, or a song; these beliefs have the capability of seeping through, no matter how hard the scholar tries to keep them at bay, and this occurs even at the highest level of academia.

In Gioconda Belli's poem "Trasmigraciones", the theme that is addressed is development. Development can be manifested in many different forms and when one talks about development as it pertains to culture; it makes sense that many would interpret it to be the physical development of landscape, such as the changing of the land as a result of new buildings to house businesses. Additionally, it makes sense that development in the context of culture would be understood as the development of its economy; political realm, educational systems, and language, because; just like culture, they all appear at the macro level. They are broadly applied, and to some degree, are abstract ideas. However; development can also be applied to the mezzo and micro systems, such as at the community; family, and individual levels.

Belli's poem addresses the relationship between technology and development. Technology can affect the development of numerous systems. Conversely, technology itself is always developing. Although the poet does not overtly mention the Internet, it could be interpreted within the context of the poem. In the third sentence; the words " navegando por mas informacion de la que puedo o quiero digerir", translated into English: "Navegating [Searching] for more information than I can or want to digest". Furthermore, while the subject of the poem seems to view her relationship with her computer and the Internet in a positive way, it does not appear that the Belli holds the same feeling towards technology. This can be interpreted from the tone that is used by Belli, it is almost as if the subject is being mocked. The relationship with her computer in the poem is viewed as a drug, "hay un placer adictivo y peligroso que me mantiene despierta hasta altas horas de la madrugada". Translated, the poet is saying that there is a dangerous and addictive pleasure that keeps her awake until the high hours of dawn. Lastly, a reference is made to Alice, from Alice in Wonderland. Although the cartoon is one viewed by many children, I took a children's literature class during which we read and discussed fairytales. In this one, there are many hidden elements. Among them are drug use; Freudian psychology, and sex and pedophilia. The story itself literally is about a girl who falls through a rabbit hole and finds herself in a frightening world of chaos and nonsense. It would not be a far reach to say that Belli was covertly calling cyberspace, or the Internet, a frightening world of chaos and nonsense as well.

The entire context of the poem is a remark for how the Internet replaces face to face, interpersonal relationships, and has the ability to reduce one's sense of community. Additionally, online communication reduces the intensity of dialogue, by totally eliminating nonverbal communication (in the sense you cant see facial expressions). Unless of course a web camera is used, but it is quite impossible to recreate physical intimacy--you lack the smell of someone's perfume or cologne, and probably the most important, the touch.

There are many more dangers of the Internet that could affect the communities and families within a culture, and they can happen in any country around the world with developing technology. One example is the social networking websites such as Myspace and Facebook, where young girls might naively post pictures of themselves and turn up as a victim to a sexual predator.

When the Internet was first created, it was done so for the use of the United States government. Originally, it was intended to benefit the government by enabling quick inter-agency communication. Now, the government spends millions, if not in the billions, of dollars to try to enforce laws against crimes such as Internet pornography; online prostitution, gambling, and other industries such as the sale of illicit narcotic prescriptions and the sale of tobacco without the collection of applicable taxes. As Nicaragua continues to develop, as access to the Internet becomes more available, what will be in store for the people of Nicaragua? Athough there are positive aspects to the availability of information to a culture, what will happen as its people also begin to have access to the above mentioned industries that the Internet fosters?

As someone who currently works in the field of substance abuse in a detox clinic, I have seen where addiction takes people. Physically, it takes them to places they would never have been to otherwise: crack houses, on the streets soliciting sex for money or drugs, and sometimes people just wake up in a city and they have no idea where they are and how they got there. I have also learned that sometimes, not always, but in many cases the mental component to addiction is a tougher battle that the physiological. We are now seeing more and more cases of addiction to internet gambling sites, pornography sites but we are also seeing, what could be called "innocent" addictions to the Internet.One of the biggest lately for many adolescents is the World of Warcraft, an online game. Neither form of addiction is better or worse than the other, but many believe that only actual drug addictions cause health problems. This could be far from the truth, as the United States is seeing obesity rates in children and teens skyrocket, and many feel this is due to outdoor playing with friends being replaced by virtual games. The Internet is not the only culprit, as other video games such as XBox and watching hours of television are also having the same effect. Additionally, as Belli comments in the poem when staying up until dawn is referenced, this is also happening among people of all age groups. Those that spend their nights on the Internet are usually not getting the recommended amount of sleep, and for children and teens it is absolutely an important requirement for their health, as well as their development.

As Internet Cafes continue to open up in Nicaragua; as the rate of homes with computers starts to rise, will their insatiable appetite and cravings rise as it did for Belli's character, and like for so many people of cultures around the world that have rapidly developing technology? Will the Nicaraguense still continue to puertear if more homes have computers? Is the Nicaraguan governent prepared to handle any of the potential Internet crimes against their citizens?

La Felicidad

2009-09-04T14:34:00.001-07:00

When we were first introduced to the ten themes, each person was assigned a theme and had to define it in their own words, plus provide examples that they had witnessed in Nicaragua. These next 10 entries are supposed to be more academic and less personal, but in order to really disect the theme and how it applies to a poem, song, etc., there's no way to avoid getting a bit personal because the definitions of each theme is subjective.

The theme that I was given was La Felicidad, or happiness. I had never understood the need for two spanish verbs to define the english translation of "to be", until I had to define happiness. I had always understood the differences between "Ser" and "Estar", and knew what situation would call for the use of which verb, but I never exactly understood why until I started thinking about my own definition of happiness. In English, we just simply say a sentence such as; "He's happy because he just got money". But does that mean he's a genuinely happy person? Does money buy happiness? In English, there's no way to separate temporary, conditional happiness from inate, unconditional happiness. Whereas in the Spanish language, the verb Estar would be used to describe the temporary, and the verb Ser would be used to describe the inate. They both mean to be, but their usage is different. Now, all of the Estar versus Ser business begins to make some sense. Personally, when I think of happiness, I think of the inate kind because although you can be temporarily happy, that feeling will go away and then what are you left with?

In the poem, "El Celular" by Ernesto Cardenal; the poet speaks of the temporary happiness of people from developed countries. We had learned that many things can be symbols for power, such as horses that were brought into Nicaragua from the Spaniards. In this poem, the symbol for power is technology in the form of the cell phone. He writes about how people; while talking on their cell phones, laugh and smile and display a sense of fulfillment. But if technology is a symbol of power, and we are its consumers, than that makes us the powerful and in order to be powerful, that means that there are the powerless. So while we may be happy to have the newest blackberry or I-phone, at what cost is our happiness? And we're only happy for a little while because there's this little thing that silicon valley uses called planned obsolescence, meaning that cell phone companies already have the next 5 models ready at the time that they put out the first model. They plan that first model to become obsolete, and from a money making perspective its a genious idea. As consumers, few realize this, and even fewer put any thought into how their product was made and those that were taken advantage of in order to make it. So yes, we may be happy as we text message until our thumbs cant handle it any more, but at what cost is this so called happiness?

As the saying goes, "Ignorance is Bliss"; however, not knowing the truth is no excuse. When you order food at a restaurant, don't you ask how its prepared, in case you have an allergy? Unless a food is made with peanuts, will a restaurant generally inform their patrons of food dishes containing allergens. Its up to the patron to ask for information, and as one consumes food, those that use cell phones, computers etc. are consumers as well, just of a different product. Major companies are not going to tell you that they have blood on their hands, and just because no ones informing the public does not absolve the companies' consumers of responsibility to be asking questions. We too, the consumers, have blood on our hands as well. A different industry with a problem similar to coltan in the technology industry is the diamond industry, and the movie Blood Diamond shows an accurate depiction. Essentially, in order for us to have that jaw-dropping, sparkling engagement ring, or whatever piece of jewelery, villages are raided and the men are taken and forced to dig for diamonds. In the movie, a man was separated from his family, and his son was taken and trained to be a renegade soldier, and was taught how to shoot up drugs and kill on demand. The boy, and many others, were brainwashed to despise their parents and to shoot them if needed.

Essentially, the poet is pointing out that our temporary happiness has been causing permanent loss of life, culture and resources to others. Crimes against humanity are being performed for the purpose of quicker and better communication, and these are crimes against our brothers and sisters, for we are all human beings. This is a form of oppression at its best because we deprive our fellow human being the opportunity to better their lives and the lives of their children. While knowing that the United States has been outsourcing jobs since we have used up our own natural resources, how can we not demand information regarding where the products are made and the conditions they are made under? This is not just a consumer's responsibility, but that of a human being's.

When we do not seek the truth, when we cease to ask questions, we cease to be fully human because we are no longer using what sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom; our brains and intelligence--which has helped us to adapt to, change, and destroy the world we were given. If we aren't seeking out the truth, then we also become apathetic. If we have arrived to the point of apathy, how can we ever truly feel happiness in the first place?

The human condition is not a political, nor ethnic issue. Some may argue its a religious issue but even in the realm of religion there are conflicts and wars involving death and destruction. The human condition; therefore, needs to be taken up by its namesake: humankind. If we are the caretakers of this world, and if we refer to the developing nations as "Older Brother", and we refer to developed nations as "Little Brother", than we have a resposibility; an accountability for and to one another. We cannot be the caretakers of this world without being each other's caretaker. How can happiness, serenity, and peace ever be acheived if its at the expense of our own brother?

Any type of exchange, whether of ideas, or material goods has a mutual dependency for both parties involved. Whether producer and consumer, or speaker and listener, neither would function without the role of its partner. Therefore, consumers are a part of production, listeners are part of a conversation. How can we acheive happiness when we, consumers, are killing our brother by an extension of, if not even our hand?

POEM BY ERNESTO CARDENAL: "El Celular"

El Desarrollo

2009-08-31T17:28:00.000-07:00

Televisión en cable
La Internet
Teléfono celular
Otro Walmart allí, donde los árboles estaban plantados.

Pero la corporación XYX tiene que mantener sus dividendos
Inversionistas se quedan inquietos
¡Progreso! Ellos dicen
¿Y cuánto es suficiente?

Ferrocarril de alta velocidad
Y otra carretera nueva
Un carro nuevo, flamante
Lavaplatos de acero inoxidable
Para ahorrar tiempo, por supuesto – Tiempo para más trabajo
Anoche dormí solamente seis horas

¿Dónde están mis tíos y tías?
¿Qué pasa con mis primos?
¿Adónde fueron todos mis amigos?
Tenemos que ir, ir, y siempre ir,
Pero, ¿adónde?

No conozco a mis vecinos ¿Cuál es mi comunidad?
¿Y quién tiene tiempo de conocerlos?
Gracias a Eli Whitney,
Gracias a James Watt,
Gracias a Johnny Rockefeller,
Y gracias a ti Henry Ford,
Ahora llegamos muy lejos y muy rápido – seis billones y aun estamos contando.

¡Ándate! ¡Apúrate! Quema el bosque porque necesitamos tierra para cultivar,
¿Sabes cuánto lucro recibiremos?
Y ahí viene la selva de piedra…
Espérate. Y estas tortugas. ¿Qué hacemos con ellas?

Diarios / Journals: SPA 298

2009-08-23T15:01:00.000-07:00

Hola estudiantes,

The Blog entries should now reflect the following content:

-Your 10 Diarios for SPA 298.
-A personal testimonial on your learning and life experience during the 4 week program in Nicaragua. (This can be one of your final Diarios.)

Our WIKI has a page with cultural materials for the 10 Diarios in SPA 298. You can write these in our Blog, or you can send them to me by email attachment. Please remember to make your vocabulary lists in Spanish if you choose to write the blog in English.

On the WIKI, there are links to the articles you chose from local news sources to present in class and to relate to our 10 themes for SPA 298 (Development, Happiness, Democracy, Prejudices, Equality, Freedom, Generosity, Tradition, Dignity, Respect).

For your 10 diarios for SPA 298, you can choose any of these news articles, any of the poems we will study tomorrow, any of the songs, plays, dances we studied in our review of cultural tradition and social change, or any of the documentaries we are showing this week. All of these, including my .PPT presentation, are linked to the WIKI page for SPA 298 DIARIOS.

This course was an experience I will always remember. Thank you for your letters and your kindness, your creativity and thoughtfulness.

Abrazos,
Alba

WIKI DIARIOS SPA 298

http://nicaragua2009.wetpaint.com/page/SPA+298%3A+LECTURAS+PARA+DIARIOS

Unemployed, Undereducated

2009-08-18T14:11:00.000-07:00

Under-employment of the youth of Nicaragua is a fairly new problem. Since the economic problems of the World have increased in recent years, it has been harder for youth to find work. Many parents look forward to the age of indepencence for thier children. Between the ages of 15 and 24, many families depend on the employemnet of thier young adults to help lighten the financial load of the household

Often times while one parent is laid off and dealing with the loss of thier income, the brunt of the finacial responsiblities of the the family fall on the remaining parent. This is a struggle for everyone. Not to mention the dificulties a single parent household deals with when the income is cut short or eliminated all together.

The article of El Nuevo Diario reports that one out of every five young people between the ages of 15 and 24 does not work or go to school. They have not even had technical trainng to help with job preparation.
The lack of education and training is a crucial factor in this growing problem of youth unemployment. Without education how will these young people find the hope of gainful employment in the future? For this reason many young people of Nicaragua want to migarte to other countries in expectaion of employment. Moving away doesn´t gaurantee a better life or the promise of employement. These young people need education and training.

In order to help these young adults the Spanish and US governments have created a program called ¨Ventana de Juventud, Empleo y Migración” .This program is proposed to help nearly 40 thousand young people from 11 municipalities of Nicaragua mirgrate to other countries to aquire employment.

Marcella

Augusto Sandino

2009-08-17T13:27:00.000-07:00

Todos cuando vamos creciendo tenemos un héroe una heroína. Puede ser alguien como Superman o alguien tan simple como la mujer que te dio la vida. Es muy raro que un país entero tenga el mismo héroe, pero si excite aquí en Nicaragua. El héroe de aquí se llama Augusto Cesar Sandino mejor conocido como Sandino. Hay estatuas, pintura, murales y fotografías de el por todo Nicaragua. La historia de Sandino es muy impresionante y se puede entender por que él es el héroe de un país entero.
Augusto Cesar Sandino fue el líder de la revolución aquí en Nicaragua contra los Estados Unidos como se comenta en el articulo Nicaragua por Thomas Walter en pagina 22. Nació en 1895 de una madre Indígena y un padre de clase media. Trabajo un tiempo con su padre pero tuvo que irse a México después de que hirió a un hombre que insultaba su mama. En 1926 regreso a Nicaragua y un año después comenzó su pelea contra los Estados Unidos. La revolución empezó no por el presidente del país aunque él tuvo algo que ver. Sino por la ocupación de los marines de los Estados Unidos que estaban en Nicaragua. Muchos nicaragüense pensaban como Sandino que lo ocupación de los Estados Unidos era insulto.
Sandino continúo su pelea contra el gobierno y los Estados Unidos hasta 1933 cuando los marines se retiraron de Nicaragua y él fimo el acuerdo de paz. 1934 todavía estaban haciendo negociaciones de paz cuando Sandino fue invitado a la casa de Somoza a cenar. Ahí tuvo su última cena. Fue capturado y lo mataron. Todavía hasta hoy no se sabe adonde esta su cuerpo. Algunos dicen que fue cortado en pedazos y regado por toda Nicaragua.
Sandino es el héroe de Nicaragua no porque peleo contra los Estados Unidos sino porque peleo y murió por la libertad de su país. Por el progreso y el avance de su país. Mucho piensa que los Estados Unidos son buenos. Hasta yo que me nací ahí pensaba lo mismo. No porque lo veía sino porque eso me decían mis profesores. Pero no es así. Los Estados Unidos toman atribuciones que no le corresponde. Sandino vio esto y peleo por la libertad y la libertad de su país y su gente.

I Am Your Child

2009-08-16T16:40:00.000-07:00

Where will I go if you don’t lead me?
What will I do if you don’t teach me?
What will say if you don’t speak through me?
I am your child.
Will you watch as my heart bleeds for attention?
Will you ignore the obvious signs of neglect?
Will you push me away when I ask too many questions?
I am your child.
When will you hold my hand?
When am I too old to cry?
When am I too young to die?
I am your child.
Who can I turn to?
Who will stand for me?
Who are the ones who fight on my behalf?
I am your child.
Why do you close your eyes to reality?
Why are you not concerned?
Why do you do nothing?
I am your child.

The voices of children ask these questions. Who will answer? If we make an effort to be the answer more of our children will become successful adults. Some of us may say that “All the children in the world don’t belong to me. I’ve got my own” or “I don’t have any at all.” Just think, what if no one ever supported you, took the time to teach you or spent a little extra time with you or even treated you the least bit special. What kind of person would you be? If no one has ever done these things what kind of issues are you dealing with today? We have to take care of our children. This care usually starts at home where the first stages of education take place. School is often a second home to many children. For this reason, school administration and staff should maintain good education for the mind and exceptional care for the soul.
How bad does a child feel when they know that their reading level is not up to par with their classmates? Not to mention if a student doesn’t even recognize letters in order to create words.
Here in Nicaragua, according to “Literacy in Nicaragua” by Juan Arrien, the illiteracy rate was 53% (for the population over the age of 10) until the end of the 1970’s. The year 1980 became known as the “Literacy Year”. This was a project of the Sandinista People’s Revolution. It “… considered literacy to be a human right…to his/ her freedom and self-affirmation…” How can we affirm our children when they don’t know how to read? This is a basic right and a basic teachable skill. Through the efforts of this project the illiteracy rate dropped 12% within the year.
No matter what the rate is now, I personally came in contact with too many children who are seriously underserved. Many children in the school that I volunteered didn’t know how to read or recognize colors, shapes and numbers.
But what do we do when children are kept home from school because their parents need them to work? What do we do when students don’t want to work with volunteers in their schools because they are too ashamed of what they don’t know?
I don’t have all the answers but I know that I take one day at a time, one student at time and I affirm them through instruction until that bright light is illuminated and they know more than they did before they met me.
Marcella

No Conoces Hambre. You don’t KNOW hunger.

2009-08-16T16:36:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been so hungry that you got a “hunger headache”? Have you ever been so hungry that you became irritable as you felt your blood sugar dropping? Have you ever felt the frustration of not being able to find a restaurant, in an unfamiliar area, that would suit your fancy? Can you relate to the utter disappointment and sometimes disgust felt when the plate of food that you just took out of the microwave was still a bit cool in the middle? Have you ever passed by a restaurant and just caught a whiff of the specially prepared delectables being plated for its customers?
I’m sure all of us have been hungry for one reason or another. Maybe it was because you were “too busy to eat”. Maybe some of you were fasting for medical or spiritual purposes. Maybe you’ve actually had no food in the house because money was “tight”. No matter what the reason is, not many of us have been so hungry that our only meal for the day would come from either the hand of stranger or a garbage bag.
As one of my classmates mentioned, the image of man sharing his meal with a dog out of the garbage is forever etched in my heart. My personal experience is another that I will not soon forget. As I ate dinner with my professor and her husband, we reviewed the happenings of the day and talked about how we couldn’t believe that we only have a little over a week left of our time here in Granada. We spoke to many of the vendors as they tried to sell us their wares, cigarettes, candies, earrings and hammocks, to name a few. Repeating, “No gracias, no gracias”, about 50 times, more for persistent ones. Then as I saw a young man approach our table with nothing to sell, my eyes widened in disbelief as he asked my professor for her tostone con queso (plantain with cheese). She gladly gave it to him and told him to be careful. My heart dropped to my toes. Wow… I had seen people beg for money on the sidewalk and even ask for leftovers after a catering event, but to see this young man so sincerely ask for what was on a stranger’s plate was a really surprising. Not only did he approach us but before the night was over all three of us had given away our dinner to various boys who asked. When all we had was the garnish left on our plates, a couple of the young men turned to say thank you.
I hope we think and take a different action when we leave our leftovers so long that they are no longer edible. I hope we hold our peace and reflect before we get agitated because we are “so hungry”. It’s a process to change our mind set but it is definitely possible. It takes a conscious effort; one thought at a time. Let’s not make our kids eat what they don’t want “because there are starving kids in Africa”. Teach and show them that there are poor, starving children everywhere dealing with more issues than they could imagine. Teach them and they will gain a greater appreciation for what they have while helping others.

In a docutmetry entitled La Nina a Madre there were thre great examples of hunger. Three young ladies, expectant mothers livedin very meager surroundings.Though they e were not educated and were unemployed they didin't seem to be to concerene with feedign thier children. They all seemed to be brave and had some sense of security knowing they would do whatever it took to take care of thier children. these young women seemed to have a hunger for survival. No matter how little help they had a or what obstacles they had to overcome...They knew that they were strong enough to take care of thier children.They would survive even through the sadest and roughest times.
Hunger for Survival.

Marcella

Photos / Fotos

2009-08-16T14:01:00.000-07:00

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. But the words of reflection on this blog are more powerful than any photo taken here.

Dear readers... This is critical thinking in process. Here is our updated photo album to help you share our journey. I have never been more proud of any group of students than these. --Alba

PHOTOS/FOTOS(CLICK HERE)

http://picasaweb.google.com/AlbaSkarWCSU/Nicaragua200902#

UNAN – Creator of memories and dreams…

2009-08-16T12:45:00.000-07:00

Our visit to the Unan (Universidad Nacional de Nicaragua) was more than just informative, it was a revealing experience.

The University shows on its walls its commitment to the history of the country and to education. It is visibly committed in maintaining the memory of the revolution alive and the social-transforming power the Nicaraguan people had and still have on their hands.

Among the many murals I could observe and appreciate, there were some poems of Ruben Dario, quotations from Sandino, paintings of protests, and the Nicaraguan reverence and respect towards nature. A very interesting mural showed symbols of the Sandinista Revolution grouped inside a drawing of the country of Nicaragua. I could read the symbols as representations of: the proletariat (the campesino), the armed fight (the fist and weapons), the labor (tools) and the education (book). This last one was in the center of them all, and to me, it said that real freedom is just accomplished with education and critical thinking. This mural spoke without words about the restoration of human dignity and real Democracy.

Another mural represented the call from the FSLN party to the students with -proletariat conscious- for a crusade against illiteracy. I learned then, that although the fight for democracy during the revolution used communist ideas, it could not be considered Marxist, nor Lenist or Socialist, neither Communist! It was a movement of its own. It had singular characteristics, such as its intense consideration for education and its alliance with the Catholic Church.

The call for the Literacy Crusade meant a two way process of learning: one where the illiterate learned its words, another where the militant learned about the reality of its own surroundings, which cannot be taught with words, it has to be felt! According to the reading of Jose Luis Rocha (Revista Envio ) the militants learned to become conscious by experiencing different life conditions, by overcoming prejudices and discriminations, and by dealing with its human task open minded and open hearted. And Paulo Freire’s educational philosophy helped in this fight for basic human rights, where education becomes a fundamental weapon against repression.

I believe that to a certain extent we, Westconn students, are doing something similar to that. We came to Nicaragua to learn not only from words but also from experiences. While we are teaching words and numbers when volunteering, we are learning firsthand about the kids’ lives, needs and dreams. We are learning to dream with them. We are dreaming of a better world. We are learning to become conscious.

Y todo comienza con un sueño...

Congratulations: your are "ambassadors" of Western Connecticut State University.

2009-08-16T11:23:00.000-07:00

Here is the Diploma given to all of you yesterday, August 15, 2009, students and Professor Dr. Alba Skar of Global Academy in Nicaragua for the great contribution of a musical instrument you donated to this Foundation "Luisa Mercado" in Masatepe, Nicaragua. Congratulations because you are "ambassadors" of your University, Western Connecticut State University. (Javier)

(click on the picture to read it better)

Teacher of the Year, Nicaragua, 2009,by Darla Shaw

2009-08-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

Taking part in the Teacher of the Year Program in Masatepe was definately one of the highlights of my stay in Nicaragua. Instead of going to an expensive chicken banquet at a banquet hall as we do in the U.S., here there was a lot of pomp and circumstance for the teacher of the year.

Here the ceremony was in a beautiful cathedral with the whole town and all the students invited to attend. At the given time the Teacher of the Year, Marcia Martínez Solórzano, walked down the aisle to the official national Nicaraguan hymn for teachers played by a classical orchestra made up of young musicians. The blue and white Nicaraguan flag led with procession, followed by the teacher and the top ranking students in the town. Everyone rose to stand and applaud and congratulate the teacher.

The elementary school teacher from Chinandega then sat at a long table with all the political dignitaries, including the president of the Fundacion Luisa Mercado, Dr. Sergio Ramirez Mercado. He is a former Vice-President of Nicaragua, and he is currently one of the most important novelists in Latin America. He established this annual award for the best teacher in the nation. After several speeches talking about her merits and why she had won over 30 other nominees, she was given a check for $10,000, a medal to wear around her neck, a proclamation, and a beautiful statue designed by the famous Nicaraguan poet and priest, Ernesto Cardenal, who also attended to congratulate the winner. Local students also came to the stage with their cards and words of celebration.

The teacher of the year then gave her own speech and everyone stood and applauded. At the end of her speech she recited a poem dedicated to teachers. The Luisa Mercado Foundation band played instruments donated by the French Embassy, and the French ambassador was recognized for that gift. The US ambassador to Nicaragua, Mr. Robert Callahan, was also recognized in the audience for his support.

The Luisa Mercado Foundation offers free classical music lessons and a library for local young people to develop a knowledge of culture. The band played several lovely pieces along with a group of children singers and a very talented soloist. The songs were mostly written by the Ramirez family in Masatepe.

The foundation president invited a student representative from the Global Academy from Western Connecticut State University to present their donation of a viola, and the group was recognized with a diploma.

When the ceremony was over the teacher came down to embrace all of her friends, family and students. She was very moved by the occasion and wanted everyone to sign her special book. We all did and were so pleased to meet her.

After the ceremony we went back to the foundation building, Dr. Ramirez's family home that is now a public cultural center. Here we saw the unveiling of the teacher's photo on the wall. This was a very emotional moment as she had now become a part of history. Students were able to learn about the foundation, and they took photos with Dr. Ramirez and Mr. Callahan, who both thanked them for representing the US and their university as volunteers in Nicaraguan schools and in their donation to the foundation.

What I liked so much about this ceremony as opposed to what we do in the U.S. is the involvement of all of the students and their families. These people get to play a major role in the ceremony and these are the people who helped to make her the person that she is.

Students in the program were also able to participate in traditional Nicaraguan culture in a small town, so different from Granada's tourism and Managua's paradoxes. They were able to see young people perform classical music, be recognized for their academic achievements, and enjoy a cultural event to celebrate education with their families. It was a beautiful evening to participate in the dignity and generosity of the Nicaraguan people and culture.

PS. Some details were added by Alba. :)

De niña a mujer

2009-08-15T14:59:00.000-07:00

Tener un bebe es algo maravilloso que te llena de alegría. Sentir como todo los meces te crese la barriga o cuando se mueve por primera ves. Es algo que no tiene ni palabras para explicarlo. Lo único que puede cambiar el amor que tu siente por tu hijo que no a nacido es cuando te embaraza después de una violación.
Estaba leyendo el periódico el otro día y vi un artículo que me intereso mucho. Se llamaba “Violencia sexual aumenta casos de niñas embarazadas.” Me llamo mucho la atención no porque es muy triste sino porque muchas de las niñas violadas aquí en Nicaragua son violadas por sus padres. El articulo describe que las niñas “son obligada ser madres a temprano edad y ser madres de su propios hermanos.” Estas niñas son obligar a ser madres porque en Nicaragua no se permite el aborto. Por lo mismo tienen que continuar con el embarazo. También muchas de estas niñas solamente tienen 14 años de edad. Sin el permiso de sus padres no pueden abortar ni si pudieran hacerlo.
El artículo también decía que de las 318 mujeres que fueron violadas el año pasado 46 resultaron embarazadas. Esto es muy difícil especialmente cuando no quiere ser mama. También porque estas niñas no tuvieron derecho de decidir por si mismos si quieren tener relaciones sexuales o no. Muchos de las niñas violadas el año pasado fueron por sus padres, hermanos, padrastros, primos o cuñados. Esto es un problema muy difícil de controlar aquí en Nicaragua no simple por la economía sino porque muchos de estas violaciones no son reportadas.
Es importante notar que violaciones pueden pasar en el mundo entero y que Nicaragua no es el único país que esta pasando por violencias sexual. Sino esto queriendo dar un ejemplo de cómo estos actos afectan nuestras niñas. No solamente en Nicaragua sino en el mundo entero. Estas niñas no piden ser violadas ni salir embarazadas. Es la responsabilidad del gobierno de todos los países ayudar disminuir las ocurrencias de violaciones que se cometen en sus países.

Nicaragua, tierra de poesía y de revolución

2009-08-15T10:59:00.000-07:00

Queridos/as estudiantes del programa, aqui otra columna mía publicada en Brasil y Chile, escrita hace tres días aqui en Nicaragua. Hice una breve investigación,

bueno aqui el sitio donde se publicó hoy sábado,

saludos

Javier Campos

Nicaragua, tierra de poesía y revolución

http://www.elmostrador.cl/index.php?/noticias/articulo/nicaragua-tierra-de-poesia-y-de-revolucion/

LA ESPERANZA

2009-08-15T10:51:00.000-07:00

Me deprime ver la cantidad de destrucción en Nicaragua en los últimos 30 años. Los ciudadanos vivían bajo un dictador por casi medio siglo, mientras la familia Somoza desaprovechaba de los recursos naturales por su propio interés y de una forma destruyó el país. Todo lo que hemos leído y experimentado aquí comprueba el estado frágil del país.

En nuestro viaje a Managua el fin de semana pasado, no vimos el centro histórico que tiene Granada, sino algunos edificios que se erigió durante los años 70’s por Somoza. Estos edificios no servían los intereses de la población cuando se erigieron, sino los intereses de Somoza. También, fuimos al lugar donde la Guardia Nacional de Somoza torturaba a los prisioneros que amenazaban las ideales del gobierno Somocista. Aprendimos los hechos de Somoza, incluso negar de reedificar la ciudad tras el terremoto de 1972 que arrasó a la ciudad de Managua. Por eso, Managua pareció a cualquier otra ciudad desarrollada. Los carteles pueblan la ciudad, árboles artificiales, tanto como los árboles de Mombacho. Lo que más me deprime es que, aún después de la época de Somoza, la riqueza extranjera en Nicaragua crece. Lo vi en Managua, a través de los muchos negocios, incluso T.G.I. Fridays y McDonald’s, entre otros. Los nicaragüenses no cosechan lo que cultivan, pero siguen trabajando. No les culpo por no ejercer el poder, porque creo que una parte integral de la cultura. Tienen cierta dignidad. Sirven a los demás, y les gusta servir a los otros; pero eso no debería significar que están ligados eternamente a las inversionistas extranjeras, sin ninguna esperanza de autonomía en el futuro.
A relatar lo filosófico con lo que experimento aquí; un día tomaba una tasa de café en Kathys Waffles antes de la clase, y oí por casualidad unos hombres hablando de la madera rentable aquí en Nicaragua, y otros asuntos perteneciendo a los negocios. En una lectura que dio Dra. Pinou, ella nos enseñó los arboles diversos de los bosques tropicales, incluso las funciones que desempeñan. Aprendimos que los arboles mantienen la tierra fina del bosque, para que el viento no la sople al otro lado, que revelaría una tierra rocosa, infértil, y adversario para cultivar árboles. Entonces asumí que viven en Nicaragua y que aprovechan de la cantidad de recursos naturales aquí, incluso la madera de unos arboles como Caoba (mencionaban la caoba-a que referían no sé). Por otro lado, la primera semana que estábamos aquí, sembramos unos arboles en el bosque que rodea la Laguna de Apoyo, con una organización nicaragüense dedicado a la conservación. Ya reconocen la disminución de los recursos naturales en Nicaragua, debido a la destrucción de los bosques, pero siguen trabajando repoblando el bosque, porque si ellos no lo hacen, ¿quien lo hará? Me impresiona mucho el espíritu Nicaragüense de la esperanza, a pesar de la historia, y la cantidad de trabajo que queda.

Literacy in Nicaragua

2009-08-15T09:06:00.000-07:00

There are many things that Ive realized that I have taken for granted, and it only took this trip to make me realize it. I still remember the woman who taught me to read. She was my first grade teacher, Hinda Squires and the impact she had on my life was so profound that when she passed away, I had to attend her wake. In a way I feel I have come full circle: this teacher who gave me probably one of the most precious gifts of all, who used give us UNICEF boxes so that we could take up donations, opened my eyes at an incredibly young age to embracing differences in other people. Now, here I am in a country that according to Jose Adan Silva, is 24% illiterate. The faces that appeared on those UNICEF boxes are very much a reality, and my first grade teacher isnt far from my mind.
My first major was education, before switching to social work. My reasons for wanting to teach were not just for my love of children, but because in a way I felt that just like the Alcoholics Anonymous saying puts it, that in order to keep it, you have to give it away. I wanted to give the gift of literacy and open up the world for other children, as my teacher had done for me. As my grandmother, who passed away this october, had done for many students. She had survived growing up in a foster home, being split from her brother and when she tried to find him, she survived him not wanting anything to do with her. She was a woman who lost her first husband, and raised 5 children on her own before she met my grandfather. She worked, took care of her children, and put herself through college. Its a devotion and determination, a love for education, that I rarely see back at home, but I see it in the woman who cleans the house where we have our classes. I´m not sure what made me switch to social work, maybe its how unappreciated teachers are in our society (not like social workers are any more appreciated), and so while I make that walk that seems like forever to get to the school that I volunteer at, my mind travels to the people that opened my world, which at times seems worlds away.
Last night, while rocking in the rocking chair in the tv room with my host family, I read "A Passionate Memory in Times of Disillusion" by Jose Luis Rocha. He spoke of a time not too long ago in Nicaragua, but of a Nicaragua that you have to look for carefully in order to see it. He spoke of Nicaragua's National Literacy Crucade of the 1980s, where literacy workers, or brigadistas, went into the mountains to teach the people how to read. If the literacy workers only went to teach a couple hours a day, it wouldnt have had the profound effect that it did. Essentially, these brigadistas went to live with their students. But to say that the brigadistas were the teachers and the campesinos of the mountains were the students would be a fallacy. I have had many teachers tell me that they learn from me and the rest of our class just as much as we learn from them. This was true of the Literacy Crusade.Rocha writes that the crusade was organized by a priest, Fernando Cardenal who was inspired by a Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, whose method as described on page one is "the illiterate learn their letters while the literacy workers, or brigadistas, learn about their reality and history and thus 'become conscious'". When I read this part, I wondered if Alba had read this article and then planned this whole trip around this theme, for I have been re-born. Before we went on our camping trip, I kept thinking to myself: you can take the girl out of Long Island, but you cant take Long Island out of the girl. When I look back on my thinking, Im mad for not believing in myself. For just automatically thinking that because I come from an area where Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are currently living, that just because I have parents that are able to provide me with certain luxuries, that I couldnt hack it. What I learned from that experience, is that I can. I also learned that I was stereotyping myself, and that thinking the way I did was preventing myself from growing as a person. At times, I have been my own worst enemy. But just as the article I read mentioned, I have learned more from the children that I am teaching to read, write, and perform basic mathematics. I have learned from them that you can break out of your stereotype-whether it has been given to you by others, or if you have placed yourself there. There is a name for what occurs when you stereotype yourself, which I learned from a social psychology class and its called the stereotype threat. Essentially, its that there is a fear that ones behavior will confirm an existing stereotype of the group that you think you are identified with, and often this fear effects your performance to the point that you fulfill that stereotype. Just the fact that Im still here on this trip is a testament to how my confidence has grown. Before leaving for this trip, I had my whole family tell me that I would be home in two weeks because the lack of air conditioning and the mosquitos would make me want to leave. I was told this so much that I started to believe it.
The second reading that I read was "Down, Down with Adult Illiteracy" by Jose Adan Silva. It doesnt give the year that it was written, but at the time this article was written the statistics were that 24% of the population of 5.1 million were illiterate (p.1) and that "Because of poverty, there are more than 300,000 children working in the streets, and they are not in school" (p.2). He goes on to say that according to Juan Bautista Arrien, a representative of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, that "out of every 100 children who enter primary school, only 49 successfully complete sixth grade". I'm not sure if the children that I work with know statistically what the success rate is, but I'm sure they see other children working on the street, and they may very well be working on the street at night. Many of my students are exhausted when they study with me, and the fact that there is no law regarding mandatory education until a certain age and they have the freedom to choose not to go to school if they dont want to, really inspires me. Although I cant read their minds, based on their attendance alone says something to me. They are saying that they are not giving up. When I see these children, exhausted, eating their lunch with a hunger I have never known, because perhaps they dont know when their next meal will be, it inspires me. But it also makes me feel ashamed. Ashamed of the times I have slept until 12pm and missed classes. WestConn is my 4th college, and Im a 26 year old junior. I have learned from them that if they can work as hard as they do, there is absolutely no excuse for me not to do the same.
Silvas article on the Sandinista governments plan to teach 100% of Nicaraguans over 15 to read an write is quite an ambitious goal. There are those who believe it can be done, and those who dont. Among the doubtful is Juan Bautista Arrien, mentioned previously. Theres another goal, which is "part of the Millennium Development Goals, and it is a set of commitments undertaken by the worlds governments in 2000, and is aimed at slashing poverty worldwide by 2015".In Nicaragua, and in the US I have seen graffiti with political connotation. There are goals of the government, here and at home, and even they dont agree not just on the goals, but on how to arrive there. Then, there are the wishes of the people, who all want different things.
The best comparison to the US that I can make regarding the debates here such as illiteracy; and potable water, is that it is much like the issues of health care, and the economy in the United States. I was watching a television program at home in CT once, and the current president and I believe he´s also the CEO, of Wallmart made a profound statement. He was talking of the very issues I just mentioned that are hot topics of debate in the US. What he said was, that both parties-Democrats and Republicans, need to stop debating on how to go about addressing these issues, and start acting on them. Debating about how to achieve a desired goal only wastes time, and the only thing that Democrats and Republicans seem to agree on is that something needs to be done about our economy and health care. He also said that, if you plan big, such as in my opinion the goals of the MDG and literacy campaigns are, your achievement will only be a grain of sand on the beach. If you start and plan small, you will achieve leaps and bounds.
On the day we leave here, this land where promises are made to the people by the government and are not fulfilled yet hope flourishes, it will be the nations anniversary of 20 somewhat years of their alfabetismo. I read a while ago one of our students blog entries, and this person wrote that the work that we´ve done here, will never, ever be enough. And that may be true, but if out of the 5 students that I tutor, if 3 or even 2 of them have advanced in their knowledge of what I have been helping them with, then I´m okay with that. If I have given hope and confidence to any of the children that I have worked with, that is enough for me-because I believe as the president of Wallmart believes-if you plan small, if you start at the bottom, as we have done with the children of today who will be the leaders of tomorrow, then we just may be able to achieve success on a monumental scale.

ADDED BY ALBA: PLEASE CONSULT SOURCES TO CORRECT DETAILS. GRACIAS. :)

(English Language Resouces)

Literacy in Nicaragua

Universal Primary Education Still Far Off

Quality of Life at School Boosts Learning

Literacy Campaign Changing Women's Lives

Down, Down with Adult Illiteracy

Memory of the Historic Literacy Crusade (1979-1980)
ENGISH VERSION
SPANISH VERSION

El volcán Mombacho

2009-08-14T20:00:00.000-07:00

El 9 de agosto fuimos a Mombacho. Para las personas que no saben mucho de este volcán. No es un volcán activo pero tiene cráteres activos que echan humo. Subiendo en camioneta toma como 45 minutos porque el camino es muy inclinado. A llegar a la sima puede encontrar una cabaña con guías para hacer pequeñas caminatas en el. Mombacho fue declarada una reserva natural donde habitan tigrillos, tigres y monos y toda clase de serpientes. Su primera erupción fue en la época precolombina siendo así la creación de las isletas en el lago de granada donde hace mucho tiempo solo existía solamente agua. En el tiempo que se crearon solamente estaban habitada de arboles animales, piedra e indios. En la actualidad ahora esta habitadas por personas. Donde hay muchos désenos arquitectónicos de casa y en la actualidad aun se venden algunas islas.
Como acabo de explicar en el primer parágrafo. El Mombacho fue declarada una reserva nacional por IRENA (Instituto Nicaragüense de recursos naturales y del Ambiente). En un articulo que estuve leyendo llamado “Environment Under Fire” dice que IRENA fue creada en Agosto de 1979 y tomaron responsabilidad sobre la abundancia de recursos naturales del país (pagina 154). También habla de cómo IRENA lucha por proteger y reconstruir ecología y la agricultura. Por igual trata de manejar los materiales agriculturas que se exporta y ayudar bajar la dependencia que tiene Nicaragua con los materiales importados.
Nicaragua es un país que tiene muchos recursos naturales. Por lo mismo tiene mucha potencia para progresar. El problema que tiene este país es que no sabe como usar esos recursos bien y también la contaminación. Mi pensar es que con la creación de IRENA, que ahora lleva el nombre de MIRENA, el gobierno ha reconocido que tienen un problema. Tomaron un paso para arreglar la situación. Tal vez este esfuerzo que están haciendo los ayude a conservar sus recursos naturales y mantener la ciudades y los bosques limpios.

El alfabetismo en Nicaragua

2009-08-14T18:57:00.000-07:00

A veces la gente no piensa que tiene le potencial de ayudar en las vidas de algunas persona. Muchas veces este pensamiento impide que ayuden o que dedique su tiempo en ayudar al prójimo. No soy una persona muy religiosa ni voy mucho a misa. Pero se que en este mundo hay mucha pobreza y angustia. Cuando mi profesora me dijo de este viaje no me apunte con la mente de venir a ser turismo ni conocer el país. Sino ayudar con lo que puedo. Cuando vi la oportunidad de poder ayudar a otra persona me alegre mucho.

Somos voluntarios en una escuela adonde hay niños que no saben ni escribir sus nombres ni algo simple como reconocer los colores. Durante estas 3 semanas he visto que estos niños aunque no tienen las mismas oportunidades que tiene en los niños de los Estados Unidos quieren aprender. Le gusta trabajar con nosotros. Para algunos esto no es mucho enseñarle a un niño como leer o enseñarle el abecedario pero para estos niños es algo que se queda con ellos para el resto de su vida. El agradecimiento que nos dan se va a quedar con nosotros para el resto de nuestra vida.

Se que tal vez lo que nosotros estamos haciendo no se puede compara con la Cruzada Nacional de Alfabetización pero para mi es casi lo mismo. En julio de 1979 los sandinistas le propusieron la idea de la Cruzada a sacerdote Fernando Cardenal. Esta cruzada fue el primer paso que cogieron para reconstruir el país por lo que leí en el artículo de José Luis Rocha en la primera página. El motivo de la cruzada era para que los campesino y alfabetos pudieran aprender escribir, leer y la historia de su país. Por esto es que yo comparo el trabajo que estoy haciendo en Nicaragua con la Cruzada.

También lo comparo porque como los estudiantes que participaron el la cruzada. Nosotros también estamos viviendo con una familia y estamos absorbiendo la cultura. Aunque no es igual porque los estudiantes o mejor dicho los jóvenes de la cruzada vivieron con los campesinos por cinco meses y vieron el sufrimiento que tuvieron que pasa los campesinos por siglos. En el mismo articulo que escribió José Luis Rocha el describe como los estudiantes compartían con los campesinos la comida, la ropa, el frio, el piso y los petates, (segunda pagina). Aunque nosotros no estamos viviendo con campesinos estamos aprendiendo como viven sus hijos y como la pobreza los afecta.

A veces no hay que hacer mucho para impactar la vida de una persona. Con el simple acto de enseñarles que nos importa basta. Por esto escribo este blog. Para demuestra que no cuesta mucho para ayudar y pensar que no puede solamente te encierra a las realidades del mundo. Si piensas que no puede hacer nada no lo haces pero si tienes la mente positiva puedes lograr mucho en el mundo.

Managua

2009-08-14T12:30:00.000-07:00

The other day I was on Facebook, which is something that I don´t normally do at home, but while being here, its actually been good for keeping in touch with people at home and seeing what the people I´ve left behind are doing. One of my friends put his status message as something along the lines of him being frustrated because he was stuck in his "crappy Brooklyn apartment with his crappy air conditioner" that apparently wasnt working as best as it could have. And the minute I read that and thought about the few material things that the people in Nicaragua have, and how they don´t complain about things like that, I just had to send him an email. Even though we all come from different socioeconomic statuses, we all should be grateful to have the basic necessities, because for many people here, these are luxuries. Here, my friend, whose family owns pizzerias all over long island and manhattan and including the one in Penn Station, here he was complaining. He can walk into any one of those restaurants and eat like a king for free, he has an apartment, and hes complaining about his air conditioner. I look back at things that I once complained about, the dinners my mother cooked for me that I didnt like so she made something else just for me, the complaints that I made because maybe there wasnt a specific type of snack in the house, and I become disgusted with myself. One of the things that Ive noticed here and among some of the few friends that I have at home, is that although a person may be poor when it comes to materialistic things, and the lack of essentials needed to survive such as food, shelter and water, these people are rich in their heart, and their personalities. Sometimes I dont know if I should feel grateful for the comforts I have at home, because sometimes I feel disgusted for having so much when others are struggling just to feed themselves. Nothing has brought out this internal war that I wage against myself more than when we went to Managua.
Upon entering the city of Managua, I noticed billboards with the picture of Nicaragua´s president, Daniel Ortega with various slogans such as citizen power, and another celebrating 30 years of freedom from US imperialism. To me, these signs are so funny, especially the one celebrating the 30 years because right across the street was a McDonalds sign. Although the US marines are no longer here, there is still very much a US presence in the form of development. Its also funny to me because it seems so hypocritical to have a slogan of citizen power, when the people here are starving, and their cries fall on deaf ears because protests are prohibited. In the article from Nicatimes.net, called "Sandinista Prayer Campaign Draws Heat", by Blake Schmidt, he speaks of Los Rezadores, or the supposed public prayers. They really are poor people who are paid by the government for the reason that Schmidt writes, "Theyve taken the rotundas as a mechanism to impede opposition protests". We actually witnessed this in Managua, when all of a sudden a crowd of protesters started running towards us and we were told by Raul to go inside the church. It turned out that this group was protesting for human rights, and the people living in the rotunda will turn to violence to do the governments bidding in hushing the voices of the people.
Schmidt also mentions the former banana farmers that are sick from toxins from pesticides used by US Banana companies. Since the government is unwilling to speak with the United States on behalf of their sick citizens, they are in a way doing a silent protest by living in the parks in shacks made out of cardboard and garbage bags. If you ask me, its as if the marines havent left.
Probably the most disturbing thing that I saw on this day trip to Managua was La Chureca, essentially a garbage landfill. Just as our view from the top of Mombacho volcano showed us the endless lake that could have been mistaken for a vast ocean, this landfill was an endless sea of garbage. The concern isnt merely for the environment, but for the people that live and work there. I saw a man crouched down on the ground, sharing the scraps of meat off the bone with a dog. What does this say for the human condition, when a man is eating his meal with a dog? At first I felt disgust, then sympathy. You can read about La Chureca all you want, but it means nothing unless you see it for yourself.
So what is the Nicaraguan government doing to help this dire situation? If you ask Dora Maria Tellez, who wrote the article "Nicaragua's Drastic Situation Obliged Me to Go on a Hunger Strike", the answer would be nothing. This is because a pact has been made with the former president, Aleman, and the current president, Ortega. They essential have control over every court and judge, and sadly she writes as they "They have divvied up the Office of Human Rights Ombudsmen, the Public Prosecutor's Office, and other autonomous and public service institutions". Additionally, she writes that Venezuela has provided Nicaragua with about 520 million dollars. From what I saw in Managua, and Granada as well, I cant help but ask the same question she asks. Where is it going? Because from working in the schools, I can tell you it certainly is not going there, its not going to families who need it so bad that they are forced to send their children out to beg for food or money.

Coming to Realize...

2009-08-14T09:56:00.000-07:00

Nearing the end of week three here in Nicaragua, I have come to a realization; at first I thought it would be difficult to adjust to the culture of Granada-culture shock if you will-however on the contrary I believe that my greatest challenge will be returning to back to the States. From spending such a short amount of time in a foreign country my vision of this world and of myself has been cleared drasticly-it's almost frightening. I'm not sure if I can simply readjust back to such a materialistic based country after witnessing what I have here with out a tremendous amount of guilt. There is a bigger picture and purpose (cliche I know) and so many of the mindsets of Americans are self-orientated that they are unable to see this.
Motivation.
I feel motivated.
Rather I feel obligated to do something.
I am almost ashamed of my life back at home before this trip. I have all of the resources and opportunities knocking at my door that has been kept shut and locked for far too long. America is an exception in this world. We have much more than the rest and much more than what we need. Why is it that I deserve all that I have and thousands of children walk barefoot? Why are they forced to start work instead of an education? Why would a child have to result to such measures as to dance in the street naked for less than a dollar? And how in the 21st centruy is this reality?
A month is not enought time to solve the vast conflicts found here in Granada everyday. My heart however goes out to the children. A child is a child. All you have to do is spend one hour with a child to realize we are all the same. They will make you laugh from the bottom of your gut till you cry or be a pain in your ass reguardless. A kid doesn't discriminate based upon color, lanugage, weath or weight.
A wise woman told me,"More time needs to be spent finding peace between our simmilarities and less time spent fighting wars between our differences". A change needs to occur in the minds of the children of Nicaragua. They need to find hope. They need to dream. And someone needs to tell them that they have worth to become beautiful people.
The wise woman also told me, "When you wake up every morning ask yourself-what will I do today to justify my existence in this world?". Will you donate a few hours out of your day to help a child learn their abc's? Or will you spend your day contemplating whether to buy the new blackberry or the iphone?
We have but a week left. How do I go back?

National Identity and the Arts

2009-08-14T08:48:00.000-07:00

On August 8th, a Saturday, our group visited Nicaragua´s capital, Managua. Up until that point, we had read plenty of articles out of the binder that Alba and Dora worked so hard to put together. However, the day before our trip to Managua when we discussed the culture and national identity of the people here, Alba asked us to read the people, and the buildings, rather than just looking. So on Saturday in Managua we went beyond the mere observations of just appearances and instead we paid close attention to their behaviors and mannerisms, and how buildings may be strategically placed to signify authority.
While performing this task, I encountered many paradoxes and contradictions. In order for me to connect the theme of natural identity to the arts and specifically muralism, its important to first understand national identity. It is not about physical appearances and how to tell that someone is Nicaraguan but rather; what are the common practices of a culture that bind the people together? Among them may be language, religion, holidays and rituals- in other words, a traditional practices that they share and evoke a sense of unity and a sense of pride for their nationality. The above mentioned practices I think are usually thought of when one tries to define national identity culture, but other things are included that sometimes are left out: popular music, art, literature, dances, and theater. These function to display a group or one´s pride (or disdain) for their country. When one is unhappy or ashamed to be identified as a citizen of their country, it usually has nothing to do with how their fellow mate behaves, but rather how their government functions. Therefore, it is impossible to discuss one´s national identity without discussing the nations government and politics. Before getting into that, I wanted to take the opportunity to address something: I think it is extremely important to note here that although their may be things here that I have seen that breaks my heart and that I may not agree with, I have not encountered one Nicaraguan who is ashamed of the person they are, nor their national identity. Currently we are discussing positive themes that we are asked to look for within the community here, because in the beginning some posted observations of the negative- one of the things I had said from the very beginning on one of my blogs was that horrible things exist all over the world, that poverty exists in the states as well where children are the largest population living in poverty. Something that I had said but did not write the first week we got here was that the difference is that when you travel to someplace new, one´s eyes are open, and one may be doing more observation than perhaps where they live. For example, someone from a heavily populated place such as NYC who is always in a rush to get to their next place may not notice the homeless person sleeping on the sidewalk, but that same person will probably notice the same thing but in a country they have never been to before once they arrive.
When I mentioned national identity as pride or disdain for being a citizen from one´s country, I want to give an example. Personally, at times I feel ashamed to be an American (or from the United States, since here an American refers to anyone from the Americas :-)). Some examples of when I´ve been ashamed to be an American have been when I learned the United States financed the Contras (which I knew from learning in middle school about the Iran-Contra Affair), but my teacher forgot to mention how the Contras were fighting against the Sandinistas of Nicaragua, and how our role in all of this destroyed the land, and in a way changed Nicaragua forever.
At first I was confused as to who the Contras were- were they solely Nicaraguan´s? Then I did some research on the Internet and read "Adios Muchachos: A Memoir of the Sandinista Revolution" by Sergio Ramirez. He mentions that the Contras were originally financed by the Argentinean government at the time; and according to the Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia, the label Contra was given to various groups that opposed Nicaragua´s FSLN (Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional). In Nicaragua the largest Contra group was the FDN (Frente Democratica de Nicaragua), or Nicaraguan Democratic Force. Essentially, the US CIA provided not only financial aid (which the reason the Iran Contra affair was scandalous was because Iran was considered to be a terrorist country at the time, and that money from the sale of weapons to Iran was used to back the Contras), but the CIA also provided weapons and training as well. The Sandinista movement, which was a revolutionary movement that the Contras were trying to prevent and resist, was a movement essentially of the people. When the US meddles with other countries affairs when its clearly not wanted, this is when I´m not proud to be an American. People may not agree with me, we can agree to disagree, and as Voltaire, one of the Enlightenment thinkers famously said, "I do not agree with a word you say, but I will defend to my death your right to say it". I also feel the same way about our involvement in Iraq, a country whose citizens clearly do not want us to be there, and that clearly lacked the supposed "weapons of mass destruction" that Bush claimed they had- but they do have oil, don´t they? Funny how the US government claims involvement in other countries affairs is solely political or for human rights issues, and at times it is such as Darfur but to me isn´t it a bit peculiar how before the war that is referred to as Nicaragua´s civil war, although it had multinational backing, was once abundant in natural resources such as fresh water, and now people are struggling to find drinkable water? On page two, Ramirez writes "They [United States] had plundered our natural resources, our mines, our forests".
So while I feel the exact opposite of national pride, and had I been living during this time would have wanted to be disassociated from my national identity, the end result of the revolution, the victory of the Sandinista movement elicited as sense of national pride from many Nicaraguans. For example, Ramirez writes how the US placed an embargo on wheat supplies from Nicaragua, so instead Nicaraguans turned to cultivating corn. There's a saying that he talks about, "El Maiz: Nuestra Raiz", meaning that they went back to their roots and farmed as their ancestors did, by farming corn. He also writes on page 2 that "Our nationalism emerged out of that conflict" (Between the US and the FSLN)
Being able to go to the university in Managua was an amazing experience because in a sense, we were able to see the past and what the students who were part of the revolution were thinking. We were able to see a part of Nicaragua's history through the murals that still remain at the university. After Ramirez writes how opposition to the US is necessary for Nicaragua´s liberation on page 2, the following paragraph he continues to say that the call for opposition to the US was "[... ] repeated with the most virulent rhetoric in public plazas, in radio addresses and in letters to the editor in the newspaper Barricada". Although it would have been amazing to witness this historical movement, it was still emotional to feel as if we were witnessing it through the murals the students painted. In fact, the protests among the students were so strong that they even had a name for their own fight against the Contras, called FER, or Frente Estudiantil Revolucionario (Student Revolutionary Force). If you want to compare how powerful their voices were, you can say that they were similar to how our parents came out in massive force to protest against the Vietnam war (well some of our parents, mine are 52 and 56). As I was walking through the campus looking at the murals, thinking about the students that painted them and of our own ancestors in the US that fought for change, I couldn´t help but think, why isn´t and why hasn´t our generation protested against the actions of our government in Iraq, especially when Bush was president? Are we really that apathetic? If you want to compare how this Revolution in Nicaragua was, how big it was, you can say it was similar to our own revolution against England. For me, I learned something about what Fer did. Whatever type of government a country has, and the US although a democratic republic (because we have representatives that vote on matters for us, we dont vote directly), its still a form of democracy nonetheless, and in order for a government to truly function well, shouldnt the citizens participate in it? Why aren´t we fighting for change, like the FER and our parents? One of the murals said, translated in English, "We don't want militaries [referring to the presence of the US marines], we want schools and hospitals" Why arent we saying the same thing? Because when there is a war, there isnt money to pay for social services and things like education, and is the same for any country that is fighting in a war.
I also saw two murals next to each other that totally contradicted each other. On the one hand, one mural had the words that in English meant against the dictator and imperialism and had a painting of Uncle Sam with a gun to his head held by one of the Sandinistas. The other mural said for democratic liberties, all are against the dictator. To me its contradicting because on the one hand they are saying they want democracy, and the other mural shows a negative view toward America which is represented by Uncle Sam. I guess I think this is contradicting because to me, Uncle Sam is the icon for democracy.
So although I have a better understanding of what the Contras wanted and who they were, I guess Im still confused because if the biggest Contra group was the Democratic Front of Nicaragua, and the students who were for the revolution painted murals that said they wanted democracy and not a dictator, didnt they essentially want the same things?

Love, Love, Love Granada by Dr. Darla Shaw

2009-08-12T09:40:00.000-07:00

I have only been in Granada for one day and I have already fallen in love with this wonderful city. It has incorporated the best of so many foreign cities that I have visited. Here you immediately feel relaxed, comfortable and transported to a magical place.

The colorful, stucco homes with lush indoor gardens, ornate wooden doors and iron gates adorn every corner surrounding the tree laden plaza with a great church and lines of decorated horse carts. The vendors are in the colorful market place ,while families ride together on their bicycles, children wear their school uniforms and the farmers use their horses to pull carts. Outdoor eateries are everywhere and a balmy breeze blows through the ancient cobblestone streets. As the backdrop for this cultural masterpiece sits the active and inactive volcanoes shrowded in clouds.

Equally impressive here in Granada is the program that Dr. Skar is providing for her students. Each morning the students take Spanish lessons at the local academy and then proceed to the schools to work with students in their native language. In late afternoon the students return for a two hour Spanish application session based on ten themes. Each student has selected a universal theme to develop into a product for presentation to the group. The presentation will include the arts, multimedia, research, critical thinking, currents events, politics, and discussion. Each presentation will be unique and fully developed by the individual student.

The students here in Nicaragua are taking part in a life changing experience. No student or professor will go home unchanged. The Global Academy is much more than just a language immersion experience, it involves living with a family, service work in the community, a true understanding of the culture, and constant communication in Spanish.

If we all lived in an ideal world, the Global Academy Experience, as developed by Dr. Skar ,would be available to all students. With such an intensive and focused experience, students would truly be able to make our world a better place in which to live with more understanding, sharing, compassion, simplicity, and service to others.

I am glad that Dr Skar and her students will be presenting their work developed here in Nicaragua at an international conference this fall. More people need to heaqr about the success of the Global Academy and how it can enhance almost any cultural learning program.

Ojos

2009-08-11T11:31:00.000-07:00

Los ojos; una parte del cuerpo

Que nos ayuda cada día

Para observar el mundo.

Vemos las comidas, los colores, la naturaleza,

Otras personas y las figuras,

Pero al mismo tiempo

Vemos las mentiras y la verdad.

Caminando por las calles

mis ojos ven los ojos nicaragüenses.

Un parte del cuerpo que compartimos

Pero cada uno tan diferentes.

Tienen sus propias experiencias,

Sus propios dolores, su propia historia.

El ojo nicaragüense me mira,

Soy ojos desconocidos pero soy ojos nuevos.

¿Que pensaran de mi?

¿Son ojos con maldad o con cariño?

Mis ojos misteriosos observan

Al mundo dentro Nicaragua

Y solo quieren entender.

Veo pobreza muy triste.

Veo hambre que duele.

Veo trabajadores tratando de vivir.

Veo familias tratando de sobrevivir.

Pero lo mas fuerte que veo;

La felicidad en cada par de ojos.

Aunque existen cosas horribles

Ellos siguen sus vidas

Con esperanza de un cambio,

Y estos ojos a veces llenos con la tristeza,

Con el hambre, con la pobreza y con los problemas;

Son mucho mas fuertes que los míos.

Tengo ojos inocentes

Que aprenden de los ojos nicaragüenses.

Me enseñan la belleza

que existe en un país duro.

En el micro aprendí de un ciego

Y aunque el no me podía ver

Sintió mi presencia

Y me dio bendiciones.

Sus ojos no podían ver

Pero tenían poder.

Mis ojos están abiertos

Pero a veces no ven.

Ojos nicaragüenses me enseñan sobre la naturaleza

Y su historia difícil.

Luchas que fueron perdidas, algunas que fueron ganadas

Y otras que siguen hoy día.

Como puede ser que estos ojos

Nunca abandonen sus sueños.

Estas fuerzas que existen

En los ojos nicaragüenses

Es algo que deseo que mis ojos tengan.

Al ver los ojos de un niño

Que les calle un par de lágrimas,

Mis ojos sienten su tristeza y les ofrecen ayuda.

Veo sus manos trabajadores y sus pies descalzos.

Mis manos les ofrecen algunas monedas.

Sus ojos se llenan con alegría y mis ojos ven su agradeció.

Los ojos jóvenes se dan vuelta y se van a comprar comida,

Para llenar su estomago vacio.

Al fin del día,

Mis ojos inocentes

Están llenos de información y están desarrollados con el nuevo mundo.

Me acuesto para descansar

Y mis ojos se cierran

Pero no se olvidan.

Este poema es solo una reflexcion de lo que siento en Nicaragua. Mis ojos son parte de lo que me ayuda entender todo lo que esta pasando en mi ambiente. Es importante ver es estilo de como viven las personas y que no tendriamos que sentir tristeza sino tratar de entender sus puntos de vista. Espero que este viaje les abren los ojos a algo nuevo y puedan entender apreciar todo lo que tenemos!

Cultural Production

2009-08-10T13:15:00.000-07:00

On Friday, August 7th we had our discussion on our readings that touched upon cultural production and national identity.I want to share some of the things I learned from Alba regarding the Nicaraguense and what they consider to be their cultural identity.
The two main themes that Alba wanted us to focus on for our charla on Friday was culture, and power. One of the questions she wanted us to think about was how is culture defined and who defines it, and who has the power. Aside from my passion for studying substance abuse as an illness and promoting awareness to others, I´m extremely interested in studying cultures and comparing them. I´m a social work major and I think it is an important topic to study, and unfortunately I think its understudied and not taken into account when it comes to working with families in the field. As Alba has said many times here on this trip, ¨everything is interconnected, you cannot separate one thing from another¨. Often immigrants who come to the United States and do not know about what is culturally acceptable in our country nor what is legal/illegal; wind up finding themselves loosing their children to child protective services because the cultures are different. For example, my social work professor told me she had a client who was from Jamaica, and according to her there are not laws that prohibit hitting your children, and so her clients child was taken away. There may be laws now in Jamaica, but its just an example of how its important to understand the cultural background of a family before taking extreme actions that may be irreversable.
According to my cultural anthropology teacher, the definition of culture is a group of people who share a common language, and relatively common values, or norms. Of course within every culture there is a possibility to have a subculture, which deviates from the beliefs and/or language that the culture shares. When it comes to who actually acts out these values and puts them into effect, it is usually the people, however government plays a big role as well in some cultures. In ours, there is a clear separation of church and state that does not exist here, so in a way the government is also defining the culture. When it comes to who has the power, its most often the government, which is often split up into different ideological parties, who fight to have the power. However, government is not the only entity with power, and I´m not sure if it exists here and I´d love to find out, but in the United States a lot of the power is held by the elite upper class, and by lobbyists who buy corrupt politicians to do their bidding.
In the reading ¨Liberating Nonviolence and Institutionalized Violence: Making Peace with Liberation Theology¨, written by John Dear, religion is the central theme and it discusses its relationship to poverty. On page two, he writes ¨Liberation theology cannot simply be pondered in the classroom; it is lived among the poor who seek justice. This praxis for justice combines ´both the goal and criterion´of liberation theology¨. He is not the only person to have argued this, in fact, the argument exists in other fields of study as well. In cultural anthropologists, those who merely observed cultures were referred to as ¨armchair anthropologists¨ while others chose to partake in participant observation, there are those that go out into the field of social psychology that disagree with methods of their colleagues that observe behavior in labs. The notion of having to see how a person lives within the context of their culture in order to understand them originated from England, and was started by daughters of pastors. They began to realize that it was necerssary to live with the poor in order to know what type of help they needed. Therefore, social work; which beliefs that poverty is the responsibility of the community to help others and does not believe it is each individuals responsibility, is really rooted in religion. Before shelters as we know it emerged, people went to churches to seek refuge. With religion having such a presence here, I wonder how come there arent shelters here and food programs for those that need it.
For our charla, Alba played music for us that spoke of the sentiments of the people. They are not sad songs, they are not saying woe is me, and I wonder if that has something to do with the lack of community programs here. Is it that they are too proud to be helped? Is it something else? I´ll leave that up to others to think about. But one thing I do believe, is that all people living in poor conditions do not want our pity, they dont want us feeling bad for them, they certainly dont want us taking their picture without even asking them so we can put it on the internet or show our families ¨look where I went and how the conditions were¨, I believe they want to be treated as human beings, and not as non humans.

Catarina / Laguna de Apoyo: Rainbow over Mombacho

2009-08-09T05:02:00.000-07:00

Altitude in the tropics

2009-08-08T16:34:00.000-07:00

Dear Students,
On Thursday the 6th of August we visited Catarina, a "Look-out post" on the northwest edge of the Laguna de Apoyo. The site registered 556 meters (or more than 1820 feet) above sea level on my GPS, and the temperature was 24 degrees Celsius (75F) at 5PM when we began to make our way down the mountain. Here I write for you a record of the change in temperature as we descend from Catarina. Our overall GPS position doesn't change very much (clustered around our home city of Granada) but what did change was our altitude above sea level. At 5:30PM we found ourselves at 542 meters (1,778 feet) above sea level and the temperature had begun to climb to 26 degrees Celsius (79F). Ten minutes later, 5:40PM, we dropped to 347 meters (1,138 feet) above sea level and the temperature was at 27.3 degrees Celsius (81F). Five minutes later, 5:45PM, we continued down to 289 meters (950 feet) above sea level and the temperature remained at approximately 27 degrees Celsius (80F). Fifteen minutes later we reached our home in Granada, located 160 meters (525 feet) above sea level, and the temperature peaked at 29 degrees Celsius (84F). Such temperature differences by altitude have profound effects on what plant and animal species can live at those altitudes. I'm curious about what you all have noticed about the plants and animals that live in the different habitats we visited and what time of the day would you go out to be able to observe their behavior?

Laguna de Apoyo

2009-08-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

Desde antes de llegar a Nicaragua mi profesora me esta diciendo como la laguna de apoyo es tan linda. Pero no lo pude creer hasta que lo vi con mis ojos. Es enorme. Nunca e visto nada como esto antes. Aparentemente no es un lago que fue creado por el ser humano. Bueno literalmente hablando no es un lago un una laguna. La diferencia entre un lago y una laguna es que los lagos tienen ríos que desembarcan en ellos y ríos que se originan en sus aguas. Lagunas son alimentadas por los ríos. También una gran diferencia es que los lagos son de agua dulce y las lagunas de aguas saladas.
Antes de ir a la laguna de Apoyo Raúl nos hablo de las diferencias y de cómo fue creada la laguna de Apoyo. Supuestamente fue creada hace 20 mil anos con violentas explosiones volcánicas. Pero también en la lectura de Jaime Barquero detalla en pagina 100 que ¨algunas de las lagunas fueron creada por explosiones volcánicas que decapitaron o destruyeron el cono volcánico que exista anteriormente en el lugar.´ Cuando vi el tamaño de La laguna de Apoyo me pude imagina que grande fue esta explosión. En su charla Raúl explica que La Laguna tiene como 5 kilómetros de ancho y una aria de 20 kilometro. No se si me recuerdo bien pero también digo que tiene como 200 metro de profundidad. Por lo que me dice mi profesora y Raúl el agua es medicinal. Que quiere decir que hace mucho para la piel y puedo decir que es verdad porque estuve nadando y mi piel esta mejor que nunca.
La laguna de Apoyo fue declarada reserva natural en los anos 80s. Por lo que pude entender el ministerio de recursos natural ha tratado de disminuir la cantidad de arboles que se cortan durante del ano. Por esto han buscado voluntarios para que ayuden a vigilar por los interese de la laguna de Apoyo. Pienso que esto es buena idea porque es un sitio maravilloso y merece que se conserve. Fue una buena experiencia poder plantar arboles en la laguna. Aunque no plantamos mucho arboles tratamos de hacer lo que pudimos y fuimos 13. Eso quiere decir que por lo menos pudimos plantar 13 arboles nuevos y pudimos ayudar la causa y ojala que todo el bien que hicimos se pueda continuar.

La Arquitectura de Granada

2009-08-05T12:09:00.000-07:00

La arquitectura de Granada es maravillosa y se puede apreciar sus edificios brillantes y hermosos. Nunca he ido a España pero me han dicho que la arquitectura de Granada es similar a la de los edificios de España. Unas de nuestras tares era que teníamos que recoger a Granada y admira la arquitectura. Le doy gracias a Dios que lo hice porque Granada es una ciudad maravillosa. Es hermosa. De verdad no hay palabra para describir su belleza.
Unos días después tuvimos una charla con Raúl y con nuestra profesora Alba. Raúl nos dijo que el Granada que hoy existe no ere el que esta antes. En 1856 fue quemada por el primer presidente Norte American William Walker. Walker se auto declaro presidente y fue presidente por dos años. Bueno como les dije el quemo a Granada.
Por esto es que la arquitectura que se ve hoy no es la que existía antes. El techo que hoy se ve fue introducido por los españoles. El tejado es una forma de ayudar a enfrascar a las casas. Como detalla Pedro Antonio Cuadra en su artículo ´La casa del nicaragüense´ muchas de la casa simple son hechas con ¨techos de tejas y paredes de lodo¨ (pagina32). Las casa mas pomposas tienen las paredes hechas de cementos. Claro que los pobre no tiene esta suerte. Como explica Pedro Antonio en el mismo artículo en página 31 los pobres tienen ¨techos de paja o de palmas; paredes de cañas o de palma tejida, o de paja.¨
La arquitectura de las casa y de los edificios de Granada son tan lindos. Se puede apreciar por adentro y por afuera. Los colores no son muy fuertes ni muy apagados. La arquitectura de Granada te invita a apreciarla. No es nada comparado con Nueva York que los edificio son tan grandes que te sientes como si te estuviera sofocando.

Salutations From The Sea

2009-08-04T21:25:00.000-07:00

Kisses from the sun
Whispers of the wind
The gentle caress if the disintegrating hand
Salutations from the sea.

Visions of time paused became reality as the moon was revealed
through the passing sprinkle,
To stay, to listen, to notice
To realize the peace in being still
The harmony of the waves, the chorus as one.
Secrets of life in the land to unfold
Beautiful treasures to be found though confident in their common majesty,
resting where they lay

We try to conceive the excellence of simplicity while receiving the
incredible gift of silence
As the ocean speaks of its travels, it roars then waits while reflecting the glorious hues of brilliant elegance.

Salutations from the sea.

Reflect, Realize, Redirect.

I was inspired by visual masterpiece at “La Playa Flor” and the incredible “charlas” given by Dora and the turtle reserve worker at the beach. Many times I used to go to the beach as a place of pondering and meditation. I had no idea about the bushels of lessons that could result in one night at the beach. Our turtles are so harmless and are a danger to no one yet they are endangered. They have a god-given home and a place to lay their eggs but humans have taken advantage of their docile nature and robbed the sea turtles of it basic necessities. Because of this, it is our job to replenish what has been stolen and help these animals stay safe. It is so great that the laws have been passed for the eating of these eggs to be prohibited.
We have an incredible view and many lessons of tranquility to be learned in just looking
and listening at the beach.

Ley de obligatureidad

2009-08-04T20:58:00.000-07:00

If there is one thing I have learned from being here in Nicaragua is that I take a lot of things for granted. I never knew how lucky I was to have a plate of food on my table everyday or even to have the money to buy food when I was hungry. Although food is very important there is something else that I have taken for granted and that is my education.

I could remember waking up everyday hating and wishing that I didn’t have to go to school. Always complaining to my mother and telling her ¨why do I have to go. I don’t need to learn. When am I ever going to use division or science? ¨ I could even remember skipping class my last year of high school. I´m not going to need gym or biology, why should I have to waste my time! That was my way of think.

Now I’m here in a country where there are 15 year old in 3 grade who done even know how to multiply and who aren’t really obligated to go to school. Most of them don’t know how to even spell their own names. It’s sad but the only thing that I could think of is that I had all these privileges and didn’t even know it or didn’t even enjoy it. I always complained about how I needed to learn and here there are these kids that want to learn but cant because they’re stuck in a class room with 49 other kids and can’t get the attention that they need and deserve.

Not only are these classes overcrowded but the president wants to make it mandatory for all children to go to school. Which is very good but there is nothing backing this up. When I say backing this up I mean they are not making the effort of educating more people or helping people on becoming teachers. They are also not building more schools. It is not a complete package.

I believe that if the government wanted this to work they have to build more schools. Educate and give better salaries to the teachers here in Nicaragua because they live off of about 100 dollars a month and also give more money to boost the education system as a whole because from what I have seen the education here in Nicaragua is not that important. This is probably why we see 6 and 8 year old kids out on the streets at 8 o´clock a night selling cigarettes when they should be home sleeping or studying.

I see that it’s a good thing that they want to pass laws to make kids good to schools. This might help with the literacy problem that there is here in Nicaragua. In order to do this you have to have a package deal. You just can’t make a law and assume that everyone can obey it especially when there financially unable to.

Sea Turtles

2009-08-04T20:24:00.000-07:00

At first it was hard for me to get us to being here in Granada. I must admit that it was a big adjustment to what I was use to in the United States. I was even more afraid when my teacher told us that we were going to go camping. Not because I haven’t been camping before but because I had never been camping in a different country. I think I was mostly afraid of the spiders because believe me no matter what anybody says to me there out there waiting to bite.

When we got on the bus we were told that it was only going to be two hours. That turned out to be a little more like four but I must say that it was all worth it. I had done a little reading about what we were going to be doing and seeing on our trip but nothing could have actually prepared me for what I experienced.

I read about the Sea Turtles in Nicaragua and I thought to myself who cares there turtles. It’s not that interesting. I was even thinking about going to sleep early because I was not interested in seeing them at all. I thank God that I didn’t. The reading talked about the beach that we went to called La Flor located in Rivas and how they were trying to help save the sea turtles. On this every page it went on to explain how sometimes thousands of turtles would come all at once. This would be called arribadas.

Most of this seemed to me as boring, until I met with Marlin, the director of the refugee. He was explaining to me how he had a serious problem with his beach because he was getting proximally 186,000 turtles a year laying their eggs but only 315,000 babies were being born. Now this might seem a lot to you but it’s not. In the reading Sea Turtles in Nicaragua on page 4 it states that a turtle can lay an average of 90 eggs. If we go the math about 4% of baby turtle are being born on average per year. This is not a good number.

My teacher believes that Marlin might have something wrong with his beach. His PH might be too high. He believes that there aren’t enough males waiting for females out in the ocean once they are done laying their eggs or that the females are laying eggs that are not fertilized. We don’t know exactly what they problem is. These are just hypothesis. What I do know is that La Flor needs more biologists to who are willing to come down here and help study the turtles.

Be Green

2009-08-04T20:17:00.000-07:00

In this day and time where we are suposidly so concered about the enviornment. Many people are talking about ¨going green¨, recyling and resuing. We need to add one more cause to our list of causes to support. Many people from the US probably don´t even think about it because it´s not part of our daily life. As some say ¨out of sight out of mind¨. This should not be true for our harmless docile turttles and our depletign forests. They are in great danger of being extinct. The turttles are one of the only animals we have left that date back to the prehistoric times of the dinsour. If we don´t protect the sea turttles who will?
We are all conected. We live on the earth along with the animals and plants. As we protect them they not only do some provide us with sustance but most with vital information about what we need to do. One of the many incredible points that stood out in our reading The Naturalist and our ¨charla¨with Dora was the concept of polycultural farming. While studing the palnts we can understand why farmers planted the way they did. Many plants were planted in one area to protect each other. One plant would attract certain insects and another would deter them. This would create a natural pestidcide producing an organic enviornment for various crops. Not only was a natural pesticide implemented but polycultural planting encouraged the maintence of rich soil. This soil that nutured many crops could be resused because the minerals were not depleted.
If we fully implemented this system into agricultural systems world wide we wouldn´t lose so many trees, soil and animals. Especially here in the tropics, when trees are cut down to create more farmland, wooden crafts, furniture and other ¨neccesities¨ animals die from lack of shade. Others loose thier homes and some loose thier food. What are we thinkng?
We share this earth with the plants and animals. There are so many ways to protect the earth. Let´s all pitch in and do our part. Support polycultural farming, proctection of the sea turttles, and reforestation projects.

It just makes sense if you want to stay on this earth as long as possible.

Primer dia en Granada

2009-08-04T17:36:00.000-07:00

Integrarse a una cultura nueva y acostumbrarse a sus costumbres puede parecer fácil pero no lo es. Fui asignada a una mujer maravillosa con el nombre de Raquel. Su casa es hermosa y muy diferente y distinta a las casas que yo estoy acostumbrada a ver en los Estados Unidos y en la República Dominica. Con todo esto no puedo dejar de sentirme mal y un poco enferma por estar lejos de mi familia, Esta reflexión plantea como es difícil integrase a la cultura y costumbre de Granda.

No puedo negar que estaba un poco nerviosa cuando conocí a mi madre aquí en Nicaragua. Pero desde que entre en su cada ella me ha tratado muy bien. Mi madre, Raquel me estaba diciendo que es abogada y que hasta recientemente estaba ejerciendo su profesión. Raquel es de piel blanca como detalla Jaime barquero en pagina 129. La población de piel blanca solamente aproxima 17% de la gente de Nicaragua. Es más común ver a personas mestizos como la persona que viene q limpiara la casa cada dos días. El mestizaje aproxima más o menos el 70% como se detalla en la misma pagina en la lectura de Jaime Barquero. Como estaba diciendo Raquel no esta ejerciendo su profesión pro el gobierno actual como no es del partido no puedo trabajar. Ella tiene un niño de 4 anos que es un amor. Ella trabaja con estudiantes dándoles un sitio adonde quedarse mientras están estudiando aquí en Granada. Actualmente hay dos estudiantes mas quedándose con nosotros.

La casa de Raquel es hermosa. Es muy diferente de las que yo conozco. Cuando entras a la casa te encuentras con la sala formal. Después sigues a otra sala donde se puede a preciar un jardín muy lindo. Aquí también se encuentran las habitaciones y el comedor mas atrás esta la cocina y el baño. Lo que encontré muy interesante es que las paredes del baño no llegan hasta arriba y que la bañera y el inodoro no están juntos. Me encanto tanto esta casa.

Can todo esto no puedo negar que estoy un poco triste. A noche no pude dormir y no era porque no tenia sueno sino porque realmente me sentía mal. Estaba incomoda y nerviosa porque no conozco bien donde estoy. Extraño mucho a mis niñas. Hasta estoy pensando que cometí un error grande con venir para acá. Se que tengo que esperar unos días para que se me quite este dolor de estar sola en un país extraño. Es que todo paso muy rápido y fue un choque muy grande para mi. Ojala con los días este sentimiento pase.

Granda es hermosa con personas bellas y casas totalmente maravillosas. Conocer y vivir con mi madre Raquel va a ser una experiencia extraordinaria. Espero que me guste que todo salga bien para mi y para todos que vinieron conmigo.

Tatiana Castillo

Revolucionario Ecología y La Chureca

2009-08-03T18:53:00.000-07:00

Not only humans desired liberation.
The entire ecology cried for it. The
revolution
Is also for lakes, rivers, trees and animals

Father Ernesto Cardenal

As I mentioned in my previous post, it is easy to criticize others without an education. One can go through a university and have a Ph.D and make criticisms without being fully informed of the situtation. One of our readings for this course that I have found the most educational from a human standpoint has been The "New" Chureca: From Garbage to Human Dignity by William Grisgby Vergara. La Chureca is situated outside Managua and is the largest open dump in Latin America, covering over 42 hectares with garbage. Although the conditions for the people who live and work in La Chureca sound like something out of The Divine Comedy, La Chureca cannot be dimissed as a useless horror. La Chureca is a valuable source of direct income for the thousands of people who pick through the 1,200tons of trash that arrive daily (including plastic water bottles from eco-tourists, hah), who then recycle and resell what they find in a complex economic chain.
La Chureca is a source of indirect income for those that benefit from those that work there, such as the women who pickle chilies in the jars that come from the dump. La Chureca is not isolated - it is not the only place in the world where this happens. Although it is easy to critize these "untouchables" and enact and enforce laws that require their children to attend school, school costs money and when the children are not working the families lose money. What is the right thing to do? What is the ethical thing to do? I don't think it's good or healthy for children, or anyone, to be working in the conditions described, but when you start to educate yourself of the facts and the importance that the workers of La Chureca provide for the economy and the environment, taking a hard stance becomes difficult.
This afternoon while discussing our final projects with Dras. Skar and Pinou I raised the topic of La Chureca and the complexity of the issues surrounding it. Environmental degradation and child labor are not things that I can defend, but I think that La Chureca needs to be studied and discussed. When an eco-tourist buys a bottle of water, or when I buy a bottle of water on my way home from Las Camellias, La Chureca most likely its final resting place. Places like La Chureca remind us that there is no ¨away¨ - everything has a final resting place, or is picked through by people whose hair has changed colors from all the chemicals they are exposed to. I am not immune from many of the things that I critically examine and find horrific, and through studying and examining the whys and hows, I think change can be enacted through study, critical analysis and dialogue.
I have been reading Enviroment Under Fire: Imperialism and the Ecological Crisis in Central America by Daniel Faber. He devotes an entire chapter to the Nicaraguan Revolution and the "liberation of nature". It is hard to divorce the environment from politics. In the United States, debates on "simple" environmental issues are complicated along party lines.
When the Sandinistas came to power, they started a series of projects to assuage the environmental damage facililtated and encouraged by Anastasio Somoza Debayle. The literacy campaign of 1980 included environmental education, and in 1986 a new constitution was approved with an article asserting the right to "live in an healthy environment: it is the obligation of the state to preserve, conserve and rescue the environment and the natural resources." Faber writes that the Sandinista government Nicaragua created and implented one of the most comprehensive programs for environmental education, protection and restoration.
Although the marks of environmental destruction and degradation are clear to my scientifically untrained eye, in my brief time here I can see the efforts being made to protect, defend and restore Nicaragua's land. Our work in the reforestation project and witnessing the efforts of IRENA (now MIRENA) at La Flor are evidence of conservation efforts.

Here is a picture of what I think is the local Sandinista headquarters, located directly across the street from my house.
A rough translation of the text is:
We´re going ahead for the front

We just turned 30

Let´s go for more victories!

We can win!

I hope they are talking about the environment as well as politics, but as I already wrote, the environment is political.

I have been asked to cite readings for my blog as these entries are part of my diario, but I urge you to read them to educate yourselves on the lives of others. I have been learning so much here through the synthesis of course readings and careful observation of my own. I have been very quiet recently because there is so much to take in and I don't know how to share it. Sometimes I find that it is easier to express myself through written words because I can edit my thoughts, and it is important for me to blog publicly instead of keeping a semi-private diario so all of you can gain a sliver of understanding what it is like for me to be here.

- Mercedes

Tortugas paslamas

2009-08-03T17:52:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Playa La Flor for the sea turtles was a beautiful experience. There are five species of sea turtles that make arridabas, or mass pilgrammages up the beach to lay eggs in Nicaragua, and the species that we observed early Sunday morning was Lepidochelys oliveacea, or "tortuga paslama" (English common name: Olive Ridley turtle). Tortugas paslamas are peligroso, or endangered, and I feel that the opportunity to watch their "circle or life" was bueno suerte (good luck).

(mama turtle laying her eggs)

Here is a good site to learn more about the tortugas paslamas at La Flor. Although I only witnessed the journey of two mama turtles up the beach to "give birth" to their eggs, we also saw a nest of baby turtle eggs hatch and we helped them make their way towards the sea. In the face of environmental degradation, I believe that it is everyone's responsibility to participate in conservation of some sort, especially those that participate in the cultures of mass consumption.
What constitutes conservation? This is a question that was raised over the weekend after a disagreement with other turtle watchers and "conservationists" who disagreed with our approach to conservation and documentation of the turtles. They had traveled to La Flor from Spain for an "eco-vacation", hoping to witness an arridaba as well. Is observation without documentation conservation? Personally, I don't believe so. While I don't think that every conservation effort requires documentation, I think that in order to "save the turtles" (or any endangered species) requires thoughtful and careful study, including documentation.

(baby tortuga paslamas making their way towards the ocean)

It is very easy to criticize others without knowledge of what they are doing and the intentions for such actions or beliefs. A good example is people from developed nations criticizing indigenous cultures for participating in activities that have been part of their culture for hundreds of generations. "Why don't they just stop eating turtle eggs? It's bad for the environment." The collection and consumption of turtle eggs is a cultural tradition, a valuable source of protein and a source of supplemental income for many impoverished people. Instead of criticizing those who poach, the tourists who spend thousands of dollars and consume vast amounts of petroleum to "conserve through observation" in various forms might consider investing in microloans for the economically devastated communities surrounding the resource-rich beaches so that the people living those communities do not have to resort to poaching eggs for food and profit. While tourism contributes money to local economies, I doubt that the poorest of the poor, who rely on eggs for supplemental nutrition and income often see the economic benefits of eco-tourism.

(relocation of 114 tortuga huevos!)

That said, the Nicaraguan government takes conservation seriously. There is a print campaign to discourage consumption of eggs, and I have read that there are limits on how many eggs can be harvested by local communities abutting beaches for personal consumption only. I have been reading Environment Under Fire: Imperialism and the Ecologial Crisis in Central America by Daniel Faber, which I find absolutely fascinating. Faber has enlightened me to the concept of "revolutionary ecology", a movement inextricably linked with the Nicaraguan Revolution and the Sandinistas. After the extreme environmental degradation under the Somoza dictatorship, the Sandinistas linked the importance of environmental and ecological stewardship to the revolution and self-sufficiency through the creation of the Nicaraguan Institute of Natural Resources and the Environment (Instituto Nicaragüense de Recursos Naturales y del Ambiente, or IRENA). Faber writes that the most successful of IRENA's wildlife initiatives was the Sea Turtle Conservation Campaign.

(field station and puesto militar at La Flor)

Today, La Flor has a field station for conservation with a puesto militar - military post. As the eggs started hatching, a member of the Nicaraguan Army came to stand guard over the eggs with his gun. It was surreal - 13 American students on the beach with Dr. Pinou, cranky Spanish tourists, and the Nicaraguan Army in fatigues with very big guns. All in the name of conservation. There is no American analogue and this is an experience I could only have here. I am so grateful that I saw the turtles. One mother laid 114 eggs and the soldier relocated the eggs to help protect against animals, poaching, etc. Of all the predators of the turtles, humans are the worst.

- Mercedes

Granada

2009-08-03T17:34:00.000-07:00

Así es Granada para mí, una ciudad que mezcla tradiciones y personas de pueblos y culturas diferentes.
La ciudad es definitivamente colonial, y la mayoría de las personas tienen orgullo de su historia y descendencia española, aun que las características indígenas y sus tradiciones están muy presentes en los trazos físicos, lengua y cultura de sus habitantes.
La diversidad natural es muy rica, y me encanta experimentar las frutas tropicales, mirar las aves y oír la lagartija por las noches... Los mamones son muy deliciosos.
Desde que llegue aquí, las experiencias han sido muy intensas y en su mayor parte positivas. Me hace triste todavía mirar en las calles niños pidiendo dinero, personas más viejas con el semblante sufrido en la humillante posición de pedir esmolas. A veces me pregunto: ¿Que deben pensar ellos cuando ven los gringos caminando con sus mochilas, tomando fotos y mirando a ellos con curiosidad y muchas veces compasión? ¿Que pensaría yo se tuviese en sus lugares?
A muchas personas aquí falta una educación formal que los permitan expresar una visión más crítica del mundo que los cerca. Sin educación y visión crítica las personas se mantienen condicionadas a idea de pueblo de ¨tercero mundo¨, impuesta a ellos desde la “descubierta” por violencia física y psicológica, y que sirve bien a lo sistema económico actual.
Tal vez, al mirar los estadounidenses y europeos que andan por las calles o en la televisión, estas personas deben querer saltar en muro del Norte y buscar por las oportunidades que les faltan aquí, o por los estilos de vida que son “vendidos” a ellos como “la manera cierta de vivir”… Mas interesante seria se el país pudiese hacer mas por sus habitantes, tanto en educación, como en salud, seguridad. Pero estos son cosas que non hacen gusto los grandes dueños de la tierra, o las grandes corporaciones.
Granada es, todavía, una ciudad muy bella y diversa - en varios sentidos: tanto en riqueza como en cultura, en los trazos físicos de sus habitantes, en naturaleza… Las personas son muy amables, y las edificaciones y calles forman un museo a cielo abierto.
Me alegra mucho estar haciendo trabajo voluntario aquí, experimentar la vida en Centroamérica y compartir estas experiencias y opiniones con otras personas del mundo.

Rebeca

Tortugas

2009-08-03T12:54:00.000-07:00

I want to thank everyone for their excitement and cooperation as we spent a lovely and rewarding weekend together at La Flor Wildlife Refuge. How wonderful to watch turtles emerge from the water together and look for that special place to lay their eggs. How wonderful to watch all of you engage with the park staff and help relocate eggs, record nesting, and release turtle babies. For most of you this was your first exposure to such a natural wonder, and our time together helped you think critically about the differences between global and local conservation of resources. Some of you were able to make new connections to vertebrate physiology, and begin to think deeply about how a vertebrate transforms from living on land to living in the ocean. I will always remember your thoughtful discussions regarding the purpose for laying more than 100 eggs per female per nesting event, and the amazement in your eyes when I told you that females can lay eggs more than once per season! Thank you for letting me share my research interest with you and engaging me in conversation that may help me improve the way I think about my work. I also want to thank you for giving me the encouragement to return to La Flor and work with Marlon, The Park's Director. I was so concerned that you, as students, may not completely enjoy the rustic conditions of a typical field station but your thoughtful comments, support for learning, and encouragement gave me the strength this morning to visit MARENA and begin the preliminary process for obtaining permission to conduct research here in Nicaragua. MARENA is Nicaraguas' national administrative organization that is analogous to our "Fish and Wildlife," and issues similar research permits. I would be very curious to know what your new friends and families here in Nicaragua think about sea turtle conservation, and the governments strong commitment to protecting these wonderful animals. You are all welcome to visit my lab at WCSU and continue your discussions of ways that your interests can be aligned with my work.

Sincerely,

Dora

Deforestation and Development

2009-08-02T16:08:00.000-07:00

While here in Granada, we are lucky to work with a man named Raul who worked dilligently to set up this program for us. The second day that we were here, we were able to take part in his project to battle against deforestation, and we did this by planting trees that are indigenous to the area.
It was by no means an easy task, or an easy day, at least not for me. It seems as if for every cause that people are fighting for, there are armies that fight back twice as hard and sometimes I wonder how people stay motivated to not give up although the odds may seem against them. Deforestation and habitat destruction are not issues limited to the tropics, it is a global issue.
The United States has been destroying its beaches and parks for years, and has forced the country to outsource jobs into other countries where the labor is cheaper and where the crops are able to grow. Many of our national forests are being destroyed in California due to its large underground marijuana industry, of which many families primary source of income is dependent on. Everyday, forest service law enforcement is out looking for these illegals plants that are being planted on public land. The problem is that growers leave behind fertilizers that contaminate the land, in addition to the destruction that is done because any plants must be ripped out. Many politicians point the finger towards Mexican immigrants that cross the border to plant their crops, but I´m simply illuminating a problem in the United States that is not only about ecology, but about politics as well.
On a bigger scale, is the example of how China´s growing development has forced them to take up where their farms once were in order to make room for industry. Once a country that produced soy in large numbers, has now much like America been forced to turn towards other countries so that they can grow their crops. In turn, Brazil, a country that contains a huge portion of the Amazon rainforest, saw an opportunity that would benefit themselves financially, and benefit China by providing them with soy. The problem is that the Amazon is being cut down to make room for soy to grow, and although officially Brazil may deem it illegal, remember about California´s illegal marijuana industry. Brazil promised to not sell soy that came from the Amazon, yet Greenpeace linked the soy from Brazil´s part of the rainforest to the chicken feed used in McDonalds and other fast food restaurants in Europe.
After this was exposed, the agricultural sector promised to work with the Brazilian government to figure out an effect mapping and monitoring system of the Amazon in an effort to promote sustainability. All of that being said, Alba mentioned that Granada is becoming more developed with each passing year. Will Nicaragua be growing pineapples and watermelons, or will they too be forced to grow their crops somewhere else?
Although we may never see the trees we planted grow, and someone may come and cut them down, its a fight worth fighting because although international policy effects efforts for conservation, deforestation is not a problem limited to one country, nor is it a problem that is ours. What kind of earth will we be leaving our children, and our children´s children?

FOTOS

2009-08-02T06:23:00.000-07:00

Hola,

We have updated our photo album with some highlights from Week 1.
http://picasaweb.google.com/AlbaSkarWCSU/Nicaragua200902#

Students attended their orientation for volunteering with La Esperanza-Granada on Monday. They are in three schools from 9-12 daily M-F, and some photos from one school, Las Camelias, are new here. Friday was a school holiday and a good day for writing journals / diarios. Some of them are here on the blog for our friends to read how we are all processing course readings, field experiences, lectures with professors and invited speakers, and life in Nicaragua.

Students have small group conversation and language sessions with native speakers from 8-9 am and 3-4 pm, and an afternoon group meets with Alba for Spanish conversation on current issues. This week's topic was education, including the role of NGO's, literacy crusades past and present, and current resource challenges for schools. Next week we are discussing recent political and economic events in Central America.

Our cultural "charlas/lectures" this week and field experiences included Reforestation and Tropical Ecology; the Architecture of Granada and the Nicaraguan House; the Indigenous roots of Nicaraguan culture and Mestizaje; and the San Francisco Convent Museum with Pre-Columbian Artifacts.

This weekend Dr. Pinou is travelling with students, our local guide Raul, and another teacher from Granada to the Refugio Silvestre La Flor for camping and sea turtle study. I am at home coordinating some of next week's experiences and lectures, watching the sun rise this Sunday over my garden and listening to the bells of Granada's cathedral.

For all of our readers, family and friends, we send our love.

Abrazos,

Alba

BLOG / DIARIO Reminder to Cite Sources

2009-08-01T04:47:00.000-07:00

Queridos estudiantes,

Please cite your course readings in your BLOG entries. This is the same for all Diarios.

For readings in the course packet:

Please include the title and author name from the reading packet when you post on a topic. These are located in the list of readings at the front of your binder. If you cite a detail from the text, please include a page number as well.

Example 1:
Topic: The Nicaraguan House
Reference: Pablo Antonio Cuadra. El nicaragüense.

Example 2:
Topic: El Mestizaje
Reference: Samuel Kirkland, Ed. Culturas indigenas de Nicaragua: Tomo I.

For readings in newspapers:

If you cite a newspaper article, please include the date of the article, the name of the newspaper, the topic and/or title, and the author. Online links are optional. See examples below for the topic of education from articles published this past week.

Article by Tania Sirias from "El Nuevo Diario" regarding conditions in rural schools (July 28, 2009). http://www.elnuevodiario.com.ni/nacionales/53419

Article by Tania Sirias from "El Nuevo Diario" regarding child labor and education (July 29, 2009). http://www.elnuevodiario.com.ni/nacionales/53490

Please remember...

Diarios (including BLOG entries) require specific references to the readings in your course packet and/or newspapers. This is to help you stay focused and give depth to your reflections so that we can all understand that our course conversations are based upon our learning experience rather than preconceptions. It also may help us to avoid cultural stereotypes.

TOPICS REMINDER FOR DIARIO/BLOG: CHOOSE 5

Option: "Mi familia en Granada" with specific reference to Reading 1 in Paquete de lecturas.

Option: "La Reforestación en La Laguna de Apoyo" with specific reference to Reading 1 in Paquete de lecturas.

Option: "La arquitectura de Granada" with specific reference to Reading 6 in Paquete de lecturas.

Option: "Museo Convento San Francisco" with specific reference to Reading 4 in Paquete de lecturas.

Option: "El Mestizaje en Nicaragua" with specific reference to Reading 4 in Paquete de lecturas.

Option: "El Lago Cocibolca" with specific reference to Reading 2 in Paquete de lecturas.

Option: "Tortugas Marinas" with specific reference to Reading 2 in Paquete de lecturas.

Option: Tema libre with specific reference to a reading in Paquete de lecturas or Nicaraguan newspaper in Spanish.

Saludos,
Dra. Skar

PS. It is great to read the connections you are making to your previous knowledge and experiences. All I ask is that you cite your sources from this course. Gracias.

Educación en Nicaragua

2009-07-31T14:28:00.000-07:00

Some of the students here have had the opportunity to have an hour long discussion with Dr. Skar during the afternoon. We are asked to read the local newspapers and choose articles that are of interest to us. Several students chose articles that are related to the education system and lack of resources in the schools.

One article cited a statistic that said that 60% of the schools lack sanitary bathrooms and drinkable water. Coming from the U.S., that statistic is astounding. We take it for granted that when we go to school, we will be able to use the toilets and have a drink of water. At the school I am working at, there are two faucets of running water outside of the classrooms, which I understand that 60% of the schools must not have. However, the bathrooms are simply latrines, four stalls with toilets that give way to nothing but holes in the ground. That is certainly not sanitary and on top of that there is no soap for the children to wash their hands with when they are done. Then they go and have snack time, for which they must bring their own bowl and fork from home. I have seen children that forget forks eat their rice and beans with their bare hands. Something that has surprised me and seems very positive is that the children are gauranteed to have a meal during school. The teacher or school (I haven´t had a chance to ask which one it is) provides uncooked rice and beans, and the children take turns bringing it home for their parents to cook it. They then return with the cooked meal to share with the class the following day.

Another article I read said that 235,000 children in Nicaragua are working selling food on the side of the streets, working in mines or coffee plantations. The kids may possibly go to school in the morning and then work in the afternoon. However, these kids are too exhausted by the end of the day to do their homework and continually fall behind in school. It is not a choice for these children, they are sent to work by their parents to help support the family. Some parents remove their children from school so that they can work full time. It made me wonder, why would they do that to their children, why would they limit their child´s opportunities so drastically? However in Nicaragua, even if a person finishes highschool and goes on to get a university diploma, there is still no gaurantee that they will get a job and have a successful carreer. Jobs are so scarce that there is no incentive to continue with a formal education, what is the point? Most families here make $2 per day and need to support a family with those funds. Mind you, that´s not $2 per person per day, that´s $2 per family. Teachers make around $100 per month, and that is one of the most highly respected fields.

There are so many children in the classrooms and at first I thought to myself, ¨Wow! They really need to hire some more teachers.¨ But I´ve come to realize, they can´t hire more teachers. When the government can´t even pay one teacher a decent salary, how are they going to hire two? A friend of mine who works in another classroom said that her class is supposed to have 40 children, but on a given day there are around 18. One may think, well why don´t they all come to school? We all assume that if a child doesn´t go to school, their parents will yell at them, the school will check up on them, or the truency officer will come to talk to the parents. However, as I just stated above, some parents purposefully take their children out of schools. Others may not have faith in the educational system, and others may just not care. And there will be no police officer coming to the house. There is currently no law that demands that children attend school. In fact, they need to pay to go to school, which is another reason why there is such low attendance.

A law is currently being proposed that will obligate children to attend primary school and to make this schooling free. If they don´t go, the police will check up on them and enforce it. That may be feasible in the U.S., but I really doubt there are enough police officers to check up on that many kids, especially when half of them don´t show up. And even if they do all go, with 40 kids for one teacher, not much can be accomplished. Even now with around 20 kids, half of them don´t recieve the attention they need, imagine if that number were doubled!

Dr. Skar brought up a good point during this discussion, why are the only volunteers the only ones lending a hand in these schools? With low employment rates, surely there are people sitting around their house all day that at least know the alfabet. Why aren´t they going to the schools? My mom here in Nicaragua doesn´t have a job. Neither does her daughter. Neither do many of the other family members of students here in Nicaragua. Why isn´t there that drive to help the youth here in Nicaragua? Why are foreigners coming here to help when the locals don´t even seem to care? Maybe it is because they have become so dependent of the non-governmental organizations´help that the Nicaraguans don´t think they have to. Why isn´t there that will for change like there was during the Sandinista Revolution? They see the daily conditions themselves and their neighbors live in and yet don´t seem to make an effort to change the current situation. Personally, I don´t have an answer. I don´t know. I don´t know what has to happen to make people take a stand for what they believe in.

El Mestizaje

2009-07-31T13:48:00.000-07:00

I had heard of the word mestizaje before when I was in Spanish 196 and 197, but when they teach you this word they teach you it in the context pertaining to people. El mestizaje in English refers to someone who has parents from two different cultures, therefore the person themselves is sort of a mixture of the two. However I just learned that this word can be used in a different context, to refer to two cultures that come together and mix.
In Granada there is a mixture of both indigenous culture, and Spanish as well. We see it in the buildings, the outside appears to be colonial, from the Spanish, the open gardens in the inside are from the Arabic culture, and the high ceilings are from Nicaragua´s indigenous culture. Religion is especially important here, and the Catholicism was brought by the Spanish who were influenced by Rome.
I remembered learning about this topic in the previous mentioned class, how two cultures mix together. We were learning about countries like the Dominican Republic, and how sometimes two cultures can influence an area, not completely blending, but sort of how you would shake oil and vinegar and see them both swirl together. Its interesting how two cultures can be similar, yet pose completely different ideologies. Catholicism holds the Virgin Mary in high regard, and although some may argue that Catholicism devalued women by not allowing them to be priests at one point in time, think of how important this religious icon, a woman, is to the religion. On the other hand, you have the Arabic culture that subjugates women, commands they cover up, and that they stay in the home. Think of how our feminine ideal came to be, what it once was before Rosy the Riveter during World War II when women went to work while men were at war, think of where machismo came from. In fact, its even there in language, the vacuum is la aspiradora, the kitchen is la cocina, where does the woman stay, in la casa..all feminine words. And where does her husband go while she cleans and takes care of their children? A trabajo..a masculine word. From Catholicism we get praise for the feminine ideal, and from Muslim religion, we get the sense of machismo.
Whats so great about this course is that you are required to speak in Spanish, and I think this was implemented not just as a learning tool for students, but to show respect to the people that live here. If you travel to a foreign country, you should speak their language. However, I cant stand it when my Republican friends bark out that Latinos should learn English. If two cultures coexist like it does in the United States, we shouldnt demand that Latinos assimilate into our culture, because what happens is that their culture is lost, and this is why I believe many of my friends parents refuse to learn English..because they see their children becoming Americanized and they lose sight of their traditional values. So for clarification, Id like to define the following
Assimilate- to make similar b: to alter by assimilation c: to absorb into the culture or mores of a population or group
enculturate- the process by which an individual learns the traditional content of a culture and assimilates its practices and value
acculturation-cultural modification of an individual, group, or people by adapting to or borrowing traits from another culture ; also : a merging of cultures as a result of prolonged contact

In the United States, we should begin the process of acculturation, because this way neither culture is refusing change because they believe their own is superior, and one culture isnt completely becoming similar to the other. When I was in high school, my french teacher told me that she knew french, spanish, and italian, which would make sense because they all come from latin but she also learned german from when France was occupied by Germany during the war. Why should only the Latinos learn English? Why dont more people learn Spanish? Why should it go only one way? We´re all immigrants, unless your heritage is Native American.

La Casa Nicaraguense

2009-07-31T10:34:00.000-07:00

La casa nicaragüense tiene una arquitectura única. Como dice en el titulo del artículo, esta variedad de estructuras empiezan con la mas rustica, que es la casa de paja. Este tipo de casa es comúnmente habitada por el campesino, quien por ser pobre, y estar contante movimiento, está obligado a construir una casa muy humilde. La casa consiste de paredes de pajas, sostenida por madera. El piso, es de tierra. O sea, el piso de todas estas casas es el piso en donde se construye.
El siguiente tipo de casa s e conoce como la casa proletaria, o casa típica granadiense. Estas casas se diferencian por la mayor parte por tener un techado de tejas y paredes de barro. Aunque no he podido explorar estas casas personalmente, se dice que estas casas son divididas por unas paredes muy frágiles, que son formadas por un marco de madera que se expande de pared a pared dentro de la casa. Para crear el poco de privacidad que ofrece este divisor, el espacio dentro de este marco es tapado por papel periódico o de revistas, que luego se solidifican con almidón. Estas mismas casas son decoradas durante los tiempos de fiesta, como lo es con la virgen de asunción y fiestas patrias. Estas decoraciones consisten de banderolas de diferentes colores, que decoran todo el interior de la casa.
Otro tipo de casa es la casa colonial. Esta casa es el tipo más antiguo de todos, y casualmente, es el tipo de casa en el cual me hospedo. La casa consiste de paredes de barro, pintadas de cal. Tienen un tejado (techo de tejas) y en el medio tienen un área de cielo abierto en donde se encuentra el jardín. En la mayoría de las casas, la mayor parte de estas es compuesta por el jardín, ya que toma un gran porcentaje de la infraestructura de la casa. Debido al inmenso calor que se vive diariamente en esta zona, los jardines y techos abiertos sirven para ventilar el interior de estos hogares.

Amar (to love)

2009-07-31T09:48:00.000-07:00

I love being here. Every morning I wake up at 6am to study, eat a huge plate of papaya, piña, bananos, sandía (watermelon), huevos (eggs) and tortillas. I have been walking a lot in Granada - I don't have access to a bike, and I didn't drive here :) The walk to class in the morning is pleasant, as the air is still cool and still, and sometimes the breeze from the lake is channeled up the narrow streets. I see women opening the shutters and sweeping the sidewalks, hosing the trash down the street, and men opening the doors to their businesses. Being here almost a week, I am learning the faces on my street and the "regulars", and I am certain that the Granadino/as notice me as I make my way on my daily route through the streets to the Convento.

Granada has been the base of the "conservadors" in Nicaragua - the conservatives. Conservative in Nicaragua does not carry the same connotation as the American definition - the conservatives have stood to defend, or "conserve" Catholic values. There are many churches and buildings with past and present religious ties, and our class is in the morning from 8-9am is held the Covento de San Francisco - an old convent that has been converted into a museum (and our classroom).

My Spanish class is one of the best parts of the day, but I find that I gain the most personal fulfillment from our work in the schools. One of the reasons I chose to participate in the Global Academy is because of our service work in the schools. After class, I walk for 20 minutes with four of my classmates to Las Camillias, a primary school, to help teach first graders. It is difficult and frustrating work because of the language barrier, but I love to teach because of the challenge it presents. Every day is a new day, and if what I am doing is not effective, I try something different. Yesterday I played a memory game teaching colors and shapes (colores y formas) with the children that I am working with, and I learned the shapes in Spanish! I only hope that the children get as much from me as I get from them.

Despite the general poverty and the lack of resources in Granada, I don't think that the lives of the people here are better are worse, just different. I am looking forward to working more with the children and helping them further their education. One of the things that I am struggling with is educational expections in the United States vs. educational expectations in Nicaragua. What constitutes a good education in Nicaragua? Yo no se (I don't know). It is difficult for me to ask because of the language barrier and my 23 years of enculturation in the United States of what an education should include. I am trying to suspend my ethnocentric ideas of a "good education" in order to actually help the children I am working with. Although I came to Nicaragua as part of the Global Academy, which is an academic course, we are not in the schools for ourselves. How can I help the children and remain respectful of Nicaraguan culture? Balance of all kinds is a theme that has been running through my mind ever since I got here - environmental, cultural, economic, political, personal... the list goes on.

I love all of the work that we have been doing here. The day after we arrived, we planted trees for conservation and tomorrow morning we are off to Playa la Flor for sea turtle conservation with Dra. Theodora Pinou. We are also going Mombacho Cloud Forest, and in preparation I have been reading The Naturalist in Nicaragua by Thomas Belt, a book written in the 1880s during Belt's travels in Nicaragua by mule. Obviously, the Nicaragua that Belt traveled of over 100 years ago no longer exists, but his vivid descriptions of the florid and lush tropical landscape jump off the page and provide important information for biologists in the present day. I read it before I arrived here, but rereading it upon my arrival is like unfolding a whole new delicious experience, now that I have (somewhat) have firsthand knowledge of the land that Belt traveled through.

We live on a beautiful planet and I feel blessed to be able to have experienced as much of it as I have. When I write here, I am not trying to make myself seem like a saint or a sinner, I am just trying to be honest about what I am experiencing here, for better or worse. I wish that I could bring everyone who is reading to Nicaragua so you could see how it is for yourself, for better or for worse. Thanks for reading what all of us write here. It means a lot to me.

-Mercedes

Architecture and the Nicaraguan House

2009-07-31T09:33:00.000-07:00

In the United States often when we look at the houses around us, we equate them with monetary value that speaks volumes on how we assume a family lives, and the type of socioeconomic class they belong to. However, few people realize that even back home that there is a psychology to the architecture, that houses are constructed with a purpose in mind.
Obviously one of the first things that stood out for the students here is how the houses lack a front yard and a back yard, but rather have a garden in the middle of the house. Although this may be the type of house that the majority of us are staying in, there is a reading that points out that there are four types of houses that exist here. The first is made of straw, the second of mud, the third has walls made of straw that are able to be moved around, and the last is colonial in appearance on the outside, but not what I consider to be colonial on the inside. In one of the readings, they refer to living in these styles of houses as living in a tree.
We talked about the reason for the high cealings here, for the lack of windows and although they are valid points to discuss, we didn't really talk about how the structures affect community. This is what I mean by how there is a psychology to building. In the United States, after World War II, there was a man named Levit who created houses that were not only affordable, but as my dad would call them, houses that are built right on top of each other. There are two towns named after him, one on Long Island, called Levittown. How does architecture promote, or dissuade, community? For a long time architects have tried to promote community back at home, and they have tried to break down barriers between ethnicities and for the most part it works among a race, however it hasnt been as successful between races. What is the purpose of a porch at home? Architects hope that families will sit outside, and engage in conversations with their neighbors, but it is often to no avail. The first thing I thought of when noticing that there essentially is no front porch here, and that families although seem like they are outside because it is open to the sky, are really inside, and I thought, this cant be good in means of promoting community. If youre inside all the time, how will you ever chat with your neighbors? There is a derrogative word called porch monkey, and it usually refers to either african americans or hispanics that sit outside on their porches for long periods of time. In fact, our government, especially Connecticut's, recruited Puerto Ricans to work the fields in Bridgeport and after work when they'd go home they would sit outside their porches and get harassed by police for loitering.
There's a funny thing about expectations, because what I expected about the architecture of the houses dissuading community turned out to be false. The second day I noticed that when people were walking on the streets, they were greeting each other, they knew each other. That doesnt happen in Manhattan, even when people live in the same apartment buildings. They are in such a hurry, New Yorkers expect to have had things done yesterday, while Nicaraguense dont care if it happens tomorrow. And as a native New Yorker, I can tell you that not having a set plan all the time is very hard at times, but you learn to just breathe and like you would do as the Romans do in Rome, do as the Nicas do in Nicaragua.
So I started looking more as I walked in the streets, observing what it is they do that allows for this sense of community. Although they lack a porch, they essentially sit in the living room with the doors open, so if visitors walk by, they can see they are home and ready for company. I think if architects want to learn a little something about how to promote community, they should take a trip to Granada.

Tourists vs. Travelers

2009-07-30T08:21:00.000-07:00

One of the most discussed topics among the students here and between students and Nicaraguense has been the subject of eco-tourism, and tourism versus those that travel. There are a lot of points I want to bring up that I think are important to highlight because many have been overlooked. The first is that for me, is there really a difference between a traveler and a tourist? I don´t really think so. They both do the same thing, travelers take out their digital cameras much like a tourist does, a traveler wears a huge backback like all of us have been doing and a traveler consumes culture just as well. The difference I guess if you want to say that there is one is that a traveler seeks to learn about the culture, but the best kind of learning is when you don´t realize that you are learning, so when a ¨tourist¨goes to a museum, are they not learning about the artifacts from the culture that they are visiting? In my opinion the label tourist is exactly just that: a label, a stereotype for someone who travels a lot to new places. Just because some tourists may do things that are distasteful doesn´t speak for everyone who considers themselves to be a tourist and just because a couple of people when visiting foreign countries make fools of themselves doesn´t mean that every tourist is a fool, and to make that assumption is to take part in stereotyping, its just as if you´re saying that all Irish people are drunks, that all Hispanics become pregnant at 15, that every kid from a poor neighborhood sells drugs, that all Asians are good at math and science. There is no such thing as a positive stereotype because you still deprive people of the chance to be individuals.
Whether traveler or tourist, they are still buying water bottles, and yes that contributes to the pollution here, and someone mentioned that if the country invested money in purifying the water that there would be no need to buy bottled water, but I think that statement lacks merit for a couple of reasons. One, to purify the water is expensive, money that this country doesn´t have. Second, even if they implemented a recycling program here, has anyone been to Manhattan? My dad lives in Queens and there´s garbage all in the street and there´s a recycling program there. Third, few people realize that back at home, where I´m from, the drinking water on Long Island has higher standards to meet set by the EPA than is set for Poland Spring, and yet no one drinks tap water there. Even if the water was purified here, people would still buy bottled water, ¨just to be safe¨. Yes, its important to think about what role you play in contributing to the pollution in where you live, and where you visit, but the point is that really there´s no difference between a traveler and a tourist, a tourist is a stereotype and even if you see a difference between the two, both perform the same actions that contribute to pollution.
Another point important to highlight is that economies depend, and thrive off of ¨tourism¨. Look at what happened to the city of New Orleans, that attracted people to party for Mardi Gras, and after Hurricane Katrina, the only people who went there were people that volunteered. What would happen if Miami, and Hawaii experienced the same thing? What if these horrible tourists stopped coming? Tourism provides jobs, it sustains an economy and the city of Granada is developing because people want to come here, tourist or traveler. To say that people should only go to countries in which they identify with, countries in which their heritage lies, is to promote an ignorance, to only learn about your own culture and to say the world is only what you know, and to only learn your own language. Because really if thats what should be done, what is an Irish blonde like me doing in Nicaragua? Why did I bother to learn Spanish, French, and Italian? To educate myself, to go to France, Nicaragua and Italy and participate in the culture, to open my eyes to the fact that the world is not just Long Island, New York. I couldnt believe yesterday when I was working at the school with a girl that in her notebook her teacher drew a map of ¨el mundo¨, or the world, and it was only of Central America.
The nephew that is staying in the room next to mine here is from Canada, and he was here to do his internship for international business. He told me that he worked with his uncle that works for a company that rents out houses or apartments to tourists, and if tourism didn´t exist, what kind of job would he be doing? Would I have even met Marco? Tourism doesn´t suck dry the culture, it doesn´t rob the people and take advantage of them, that´s where the role of governments come in.
Aside from the negative aspect of contributing to pollution, the only downside that I could think of is that it changes the culture and forces the people to learn English, but I found out last night that the people speaking English in the plaza are not Nicaraguense, and in fact the other day a vendor told me in perfect English that hes from Panama and used to live in Brooklyn.
And yes, the conditions are bad here in the schools, but don´t be so quick to dismiss children back at home. At least here, every kid in school gets bed. In Brookfield CT, my 14 year old brother buys his friends lunch because if they don´t have money, if they forget to bring lunch, they dont get fed. In April I met with the Children´s defense fund and they told me that the largest population in the US living in poverty is children and its important to realize that kids stop going to school in the US because they get lice and cant afford to treat it and the schools wont let them back in, kids at home are getting high and having sex and finding their parents drugs and guns, kids in appalachia have mountain dew mouth, their teeth rot because all they drink is mountain dew and they dont have money to go to a dentist and what started in appalachia and has now taken the entire country at storm is the epidemic of abusing prescription pills, children and adults alike. The only difference is its not in front of your face, and if you miss the news special you wont hear about it. Remember, kids cant vote for change, and their voices arent heard so while its good to be here and help these kids, I remember kids from my own country, and I´m not quick to brush them aside.
Remember, addiction, as well as poverty, doesn´t discriminate. Just open your eyes a little and you´ll start to see at home that what we see here, exists there as well.

Nothing I expected; Everything I hoped for

2009-07-29T17:43:00.000-07:00

While I was going to write this blog in Spanish, I decided ultimately that I could not articulate my words well enough to express all that I am feeling in a language other than my own. First of all, I think it is important to include a preface, so that the reader can identify more with what I am saying, because they will see my train of thought, and not just the outcome. This trip, in theory was very simple. It was a group of dedicated students traveling to another country to try to help in some small way, while also developing their meager spanish skills (I am of course referring to myself when I speak of the level of fluency in spanish). What one doesn´t realize, is that real life is actually a lot more difficult to understand, when actually experiencing it. Although I recognized that I would participate in this experience, while in the states, I did not realize the dedication required of me, and the multitude of emotions that I would feel during this trip.

Although we are only in the first week of our stay here in Nicaragua, I have seen such beautiful things. I have seen teachers, who despite their overcrowded classrooms, dirty classrooms (for lack of what we call a custodian), and no running water, continue on day by day, making a difference in children´s lives. I have seen families open up their homes to strange people, who do not share their cultural beliefs, and in some cases do not speak a common language. I have seen people on the bus, despite the lack of space crowd in to fit another passenger, although there are already two people sitting in the seat.

Despite the exultation I have felt from seeing the good in people, I have also had some very low moments. Blind, one-eyed men who rely on the generosity of others; others who already lack the resources to make ends meet, but contribute none-the-less. Water that runs blue from the detergent that was used to clean clothes, because people lack the amazing appliances called ¨washer and dryer¨--which solves two problems in one, cleaning our clothes and clearing our conscious of the damage we are doing to the earth (by emiting CFC´s--unseen toxic gases).

I do not mean to make anyone uncomfortable by what I say, but I speak the truth. I want to share my feelings with others in attempt to change the present into a better future. We can no longer avoid the solving the problem, because it makes us uncomfortable to think of other´s suffering, because in the end, they are suffering whether or not you are thinking of them.

This is my experience, an opening of consciousness...and for that I am very grateful. I hope to bring ESPERANZA to the future, not only of our country, but to the world.

Nicaraguan NGOs

2009-07-29T13:25:00.000-07:00

This morning in our Spanish conversation class, my group somehow got on the subject of the government and I saw it as a perfect opportunity to gauge our professor´s opinion of the political history of Nicaragua and the current debates they are having. He mentioned the Somoza dictatorship, what a victory the revolution was and how Daniel Ortega (the current president) played such an integral role. He then went on to lament the fraud that occurred during Aleman´s presidency and the current deception in the second presidency of Ortega. I don´t understand how someone like Ortega who played such an important role in ending the Somoza´s ruling can be so dedicated to the people during one presidency and then be so greedy and fraudulent several years later. He wants to do the same thing he called out the Somozas for doing, extend his presidency for more years than is constitutionally permitted in order to keep himself in power and keep the benefits coming his way.

All of this leads me to the project that I am currently beginning. As president, Ortega has called out several non-governmental organizations for being money launderers and fraudulent. In Nicaragua, there are NGO´s that support the citizens here such as schools and clinics, and there are also NGO´s that demand the rights gauranteed to Nicaraguans in the constitution, such as womens´rights movements. The organizations that Ortega has accused are the latter, saying that they are trying to destabilize the current government. He says they are commiting ¨tercerizacion¨ in which funds coming from outside the country are being used to destablize the Nicaraguan government. He believes they are money laundering and bringing in money illegaly to commit this crime. However, three months after raiding several organizations, the government still does not have any proof of their claims whatsoever.

This is a very bold accusation to make, especially without having any evidence. In addition ot ridiculas accusations, Ortega enacted new laws and deadlines that all NGO´s had to comply with in order to continue working within the country. This left the organizations scrambling to meet deadlines, which was understandably frustrating when they are only trying to help. In his hopes of discouraging these specific NGO´s that challenge his authority, he is also going to discourage the NGO´s that are relinquishing the government of their responsabilities. The NGO´s that provide schooling and healthcare are going to get fed up with his demands and decide that Nicaragua is too difficult to work with, creating more work for the government, and leaving the citizens even worse off than they are currently.

I don´t understand how Ortega can make these accusations. The organizations he is calling out are not radical at all, they are simply trying to give Nicaraguans their constitutional rights. The government wants to allow organizations to finance the citizens well-being, so that it is not their responsability, but not any activity that would challenge the government´s present agenda. The government says it is against the destabalizing of the government, but isn´t challenging the government a constitutional right? These organizations have been very clear about the origins of their funds. They in turn are claiming that the government is trying to suppress the country´s journalists so that the government´s own corruption and lack of transparancy is not evident to the rest of the country.

After doing all this research and reading countless articles from Nicaraguan newspapers, I have come to the conclusion that the government is making these accusations and restrictions as a way to silence their opposition, intimidate them and formce them into self-censurship. They want to monopolize the political floor by making sure they are the only ones that have a voice. To achieve this, the new laws allow them to decide where money goes, so they can direct it to NGO´s the support citizens´ health and education instead of their civil rights movements. The government seems to want to create not a civil democratic soceity, but rather a government that is more totalitarian in nature. To accomplish this goal, the government needed to justifythe restrictions and therefore made the accusations against these specific NGO´s.

Between Scylla and Charybdis

2009-07-29T10:52:00.000-07:00

As I reflected in my previous post, I have been thinking a lot about contrasts. As in the internet cafe and type this, I am spending for an hour of internet more than the average Nicaraguan earns in a month. I have traveled more than most people my age, mostly in developing countries, and I feel that my experiences have helped me learn about the world and people around me. I have learned about the shared commonalities of humanity, and I have come to the conclusion that the divide between rich and poor lies in finances alone. All classes share hopes, dreams, problems, fears and illnesses. The differences are more superficial than one might think.

(Turismas - a common sight. Often more common than Granadinas!)

Although I have been ashamed of the behavior of Americans and other tourists in my travels, my disgust has been especially pronounced on this trip. I have been trying to pinpoint the reason for this and I am grasping for explanations why I feel this way. I have been contemplating my motivations for travel and trying to weigh in my mind if they are worthy or valid. There are many reasons why I feel uncomfortable being here. I am aware of the judgments that I project based on my stereotypes, and I recognize that I might often be wrong. That is one of the reasons why I feel so uncomfortable - I know that others are projecting their judgments onto me, based on my pale skin and huge backpack that is my constant companion.
Last night at the volunteer meeting, the topic of tourist vs. traveler was raised. I feel like tourists come to a place to consume a culture without really caring about or respecting it, while a traveler gains knoweldge of a culture while respecting its people. There was more to it than that, but it is difficult to distill a conversation shared into a blog post. I have spoken to Dra. Skar about this, and this post is not what I intended it to be, and I have not written what I wanted to say, but hopefully I will find the words somehow.
Am I a tourist or a traveler? I don´t know. Maybe that is why I am so uncomfortable. Many of the things that I dislike or find distasteful I often do myself. When I was walking through the barrio on the way home from one of the schools yesterday, I saw a tourist sitting in the backseat of a taxi pour an entire bottle of filtered water over a bunch of mamónes (sweet and tart citrus fruits). When the tourist finished pouring the clean water that he would never drink over the fruits that he would probably never finish, he threw the bottle ¨away¨. There is no ¨away¨, and when people from the ¨First World¨ consume the rest of the world, often through the assistance of petroleum, the environment suffers. It will not be the ¨First World¨ that feels the effects of climate change - it will be the countries that they consume. That I have consumed. And I feel sick about it.
Why does genocide tourism exist? Why do people go on tours to the slums of India and other places in the world, to see how the poorest people in the world live, to consume their poverty and suffering? When they leave, they go back to their air conditioning and their wireless internet and filtered ice water and the pictures that they took so that they can consume. I think that the consumption is what bothers me the most, and that it is so easy to engage in without a second thought.
As I type this, right now, the woman next to me is talking about the consumption of Nicaraguan women. ¨...And he told me the paternity suit left a bad taste in his mouth, but he doesn´t care, because he just found another woman, and that it doesn´t matter anyway because all the women are beautiful and on the tourist street they grab his ass when he walks by...¨ No lo creo. But maybe it goes both ways. I´m not naive or colonial enough to rob Nicaraguans of agency, and if I were a woman here, who knows how I would be.
I do think that we have an obligation to help each other as humans, regardless of nationality, and I often use that as a justification for my travels, as many of my trips have been volunteer-based. Still, what gives me the right to travel to another country to volunteer to study just because I think it would enrich my life and hopefully the lives of others? Who am I to decide?
While in Granada, our group has the privilege of working with La Esperanza Granada, an organization dedicated to community development and the education of children. I am enthused about learning through service, and I believe that giving back to Nicaragua an obligation, especially as I am watching myself learn and grow through being here.
What gives me the right to be here? I don´t know. What gives someone the right to travel to a country that they have no natural ties to, besides the fact that they have money? I have seen so much disrespect and disregard for Nicaraguan culture and Nicaraguan people, and it is not an attitude limited to this country - I have seen it on my other travels as well.
When you bite into a mamón, it is a mixture of sweet and tart and bitter flesh wrapped around a pit. The flavor is constantly changing. You suck the fruit out and roll it around in your mouth until the flesh is gone and you are left with the pit. Somehow, I find that eating a mamón is a apt metaphor for being here and my emotional state. It is easy to digest the fruit, but I am left alone with the hard inner pit of my thoughts and the difficulty trying to reconcile my actions. What right do I have to be here?

-Mercedes

FOTOS

2009-07-29T10:22:00.001-07:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/AlbaSkarWCSU/Nicaragua200902#

Primeras impresións

2009-07-29T09:27:00.000-07:00

(The Cathedral in center of Granada)

It is impossible to separate history and economics, especially in Central America. The marriage of politics, economics and history is especially apparent in Granada, a city of sharply pronounced contradictions. In the short time I have been here, what has stood out most is the contrasts. Granada is the oldest colonial city in the Americas, and although the Spaniards may have officially left in 1821, the colonists are still here. They are now tourists.
We arrived three days ago and I have already lost track of time - I could have been here a week, or a month. Everything feels malleable - the time, the texture of my skin, language. Nicaraguans often drop the final S on the end of a word - Adiós becomes adió, gracias becomes gracias, and so forth. Although Gabriel Garcia Marquez is Colombian, one comes to understand how Latin America is the birthplace of magical realism. Anything seems possible in this insufferable heat and humidity and as I sit in an internet cafe typing this, salsa music plays, trucks barrel past and children shout in the streets, playing their games. I hope they are playing games.
In my short life, I have been blessed enough to travel to five continents and twelve countries. What gives me that right? I have the money and I have the resources, but this time is different. I have cried every day, sometimes several times a day, and I often find myself holding back tears as I walk through the central square.
Nicaragua is similar to Costa Rica, Jamaica, Brazil and Ghana - the other tropical countries I have been that are greatly impacted by decisions made by foreign countries. I am not comparing Nicaragua to the other countries that I named because the culture is similar - I have witnessed for myself how previous and modern foreign policy shapes and scars the landscape and the people. In Costa Rica, the land had literally been ripped apart. There were huge gouges in the hills where the topsoil formed ribbons that snaked into the ocean. I was very young when I was there, but I remember that. I remember the children who were my age, who I gave toys to... And where are they now? Have their lives changed? Has the land I traveled through started to heal? My boyfriend traveled to Costa Rica in January and his pictures looked like I remember - destruction for profit. For whose profit? For how long?
Our first day in Nicaragua we traveled to Laguna de Apoyo, the volcanic lake under the protection of the Nicaraguan government. We hiked down a steep incline to plant trees in the soil around the lake. Five years ago you could see the lake from the road, and now the trees are high enough for monkeys to climb and play and have families of their own. That makes my heart happy.

(Laguna de Apoyo)
What breaks my heart the most is the future of the children of Nicaragua. I was walking through the market and a man with a backpack walked past shouting ¨superglue! superglue!¨ Drug addiction and alcoholism is a problem for the street children of Granada, and inexpensive glue is often the drug of choice. When I walk to the convent in the morning for my classes, I saw a boy passed out on a stoop with a tube of glue shoved in his face. Was he dulling the pain? It was 7:30am and he couldn´t have been more than 10 years old. Today when I was walking through the market, I got a sharp whiff of glue that lasted for more than a second. It made me sick to my stomach for more than a moment and I felt dizzy. It wasn´t the smell of the glue that made me sick - I knew what it was, and what it was for, and I started crying. What else could I do?
The tourist brochures leave out the lost boys, the houses without windows, toilets and kitchens for a reason. Without attractions, foreigners would not come and ¨improve¨ the economy with their business and superior currencies. Is tourism bad? I don´t know. Yo soy turismo (I am a tourist) - I travel and I try to support the local economy in what I feel is an appropriate and respectful manner. I see tourists, who come in various flavors but have the shared commonality of money. They are often dressed well (and inappropriately), with expensive digital cameras to record their ¨awesome vaction¨ and huge backpacks, but when the children come to beg, they shoo them away. I don´t think it´s cool or OK to go on vacation and get drunk, rowdy and disrespectful in public, even if you paid a lot of money and it´s your free time, even if it puts money into the local economy. Because I am old enough now, the bipolarity of luxury and crushing, wrenching poverty here is painfully obvious to me. Does anyone else notice the street children and the old, dirty clothing on the vendors when they take their pictures in the central square like they are tourist attractions, similar to the cathedrals and colonial mansions?

When people tell me that I should help the children in the United States, that there is poverty at home, I tell them that I know. I do know. I don´t think that they know how bad it is here, and here could be anywhere in the so-called ¨third world¨. Sometimes I feel so lost and I don´t know what I can do to help. I know that no matter what I do, no matter how much I do, it will never, ever be enough.

-Mercedes DeMasi

"Lions, and Tigers, and Bears...Oh My"

2009-07-29T06:51:00.000-07:00

Although first read in Graduate school, I now have reason to reread and reflect on the writing of Thomas Belt's, The Naturalist in Nicaragua, one of the greatest record of the tropics of more than 100 years. I am encouraging our students to really focus on this work as we travel from ecosystem to ecosystem for two reasons. First to see examples of excellent descriptions of plants and animals and what these organisms are doing, and realize that this text represents his travel journal, thus a product of leisurely travel. Keep in mind that Belt was an engineer and his precise descriptions have been the starting point for serious scientific work in ecology and evolution, which was not his field of expertise. This brings me to my second reason for having students read Belt's documentation of Nicaragua in the 1800's. As we take notes in our journals ask yourself if what we are recording will be what students in the next century will want to know about Nicaragua, and the details of it's people and natural resources. Can we contribute to Belt's legacy and help develop a timeline of documented change or will our time here contribute to the gap of global knowledge that exists today regarding tropical biology?

Our day in the field was so rewarding for me, not so much because of the tropical species I witnessed and can add to my life list, but because students I had in Bio100 (WCSU's non-major science course) could make connections between what they were observing and theories we had discussed in class! Ideas of symbiosis between organisms, defense strategies in organisms, and intra-species behavior. Conversations about introduced species and habitat destruction. Conversations about water, sunlight, soil, and ecosystems. I am watching biology majors touch, hear, and see the world around them and the depth of their ideas of how the natural world functions. Exciting to think where these young minds can take me. What a refreshing way to observe students learn!

2009-07-28T11:25:00.000-07:00

Hola, aqui Javier. Excelente idea tener una pagina de comentarios. Me disculpan que no puedo encontrar el "acento" o "tilde" en español en esta maquina aqui en el ciber-cafe, al lado de "Tres Mundos". Uhhh, ¿por que TRES mundos? pienso que es por los tres razas que se unen en la poblacion de Nicaragua, y que es aplicable a toda Centro America y el Caribe, por lo menos en esta region donde estamos ahora todos, Uds. y yo. Pienso que el querido amigo Pedro Javier Solis Cuadra nos hablara mañana miercoles en la tarde sobre eso.

Bueno, solo algo muy breve aqui. Es buena idea que escriban lo que deseen, impresiones de lo que Uds. ven, preguntas tambien, reflexiones, etc. Es cierto, hemos llegado a la OTRA AMERICA, o al OTRO MUNDO. ¿por que?... Bueno, Uds. piensen y pueden escribir sobre eso aqui tambien.

abrazos a todos,

Javier

Bienvenidos

2009-07-27T21:56:00.001-07:00

For someone who loves teaching there is a unique joy in witnessing students' learning as it happens. My favorite moments are when students don't realize I'm there or looking, or they think I don't notice how hard they have worked, how much they have sacrificed, what difficulties they have faced or doubts they have had, to overcome, to grow, to learn to love learning.

We left Connecticut in a thunderstorm, left Miami in a thunderstorm, and arrived in Managua just after the rain had stopped. It was as though nature had welcomed us here with a sense of freshness and rebirth of winter rains.

We arrived at the airport and our friends from Nicaragua (Raul and Maria Elena, his sister) were waiting for us with our bus. All of our luggage arrived safely, even the 12 suitcases of donations for La Esperanza-Granada packed last minute with supplies for the schools.

After trying some Caballo bayo and Vigoron at a great restaurant along the way to Granada, the greatest test of my planning and trust in our friends in Nicaragua was just up ahead. We arrived in Granada for students to meet their families here. I was so happy to see so many smiles and hugs as though they had known each other forever, others who were more wary, but willing, to walk through the door into an unknown world, a new culture, the magic place that is the Nicaraguan house, like no other I have ever experienced in the world. We were all so tired after traveling all night, no one really having slept from anticipation, that everyone just seemed glad to have a home, their Nica mom waiting with the warmth that characterizes the people I have met here.

After students were sleeping and my cell phone did not ring, I knew we were going to be fine for the rest of the month. After so many sleepless nights of preparing, we are finally here. Students can begin to come to love what I see in this extraordinary people and culture: tenacity, poetic passion, devotion, and extraordinary generosity of spirit.

The next morning began early at 8 am with a conversation on reforestation, climate, lakes and volcanoes. We worked with a local community at Laguna de Apoyo and MARENA (Nicaragua's National Conservation Agency) on a reforestation project. We planted trees, had lunch, and swam in a volcano lake. It was quite a physical day, and we know next time to take gloves for everyone and require boots for hiking. The students experienced first-hand conservation in a developing country rather than pre-packed ecotourism. There is such a difference here in Nicaragua from Costa Rica that is so close. It is real, the earth, the land, and the people, without the scale tipping to unsustainable tourism, such as the mall in the Monteverde cloud forest. There is no mall here in Mombacho. Let's hope there never will be more than trees, birds, and the life of a beneficent volcano.

The students had great fun in the lake, which was a well-earned reward for all their efforts. It was a good reward for me too. I have to remember that it is ok to just have fun once in a while and laugh and swim and eat well. I am amazed at the energy of their youth, watching them play for hours, so many of them at that point between childhood and the long years of adult life. I hope they always keep their ability to play.

It is a learning experience for me to travel with a biologist and realize how differently we analyze learning experiences in the same context and where we can find points of contact between disciplines to create a dialogue for learning that we want students to have. We talk about it often. It is a challenge to make it happen, to go outside of the rigidity of our discplinary silos. The structure is not there in traditional education. We have to build those bridges, and there are so many challenges, and few well trained architects. I often feel like I am still playing with pick up sticks.

Dora's Spanish is really impressive, and she is so eager to learn, always asking questions that I would have never thought to ask. I think she is a real inspiration to the students. I hope I can inspire them as much with my interest in learning about conservation and science.

Today we had our small group language practice and volunteer work orientation in the morning, and dedicated the afternoon to a study of architecture in Granada and its relationship to colonialism, diversity of cultures, and economic development. Students at every level are getting challenged, which is good. Some need reminders that they won't understand every word and need to learn how to read ideas rather than translate. By the end of the month, they will be experts. They are so willing to work at it, even when I see they are tired. It is a fabulous group, the best one I have had. Of course, there are little details in the schedule to tweak here and there, but to be expected since this is our first time here.

I'm working 8-8 everyday and writing this at midnight now that Javier fixed the wireless at home, which is why the blog started a bit late. Dora worked on the satellite phone and the projector today while I went to the bank at lunchtime. The best thing about the bank was the long line, which I stood in twice. It was heaven. There was air conditioning! :-) It probably wasn't very green, but I am not superhuman. Noted.

I love this country and this city. The students can find their way around Granada easily and walk everywhere. They will take buses starting tomorrow in the volunteer placements in the schools... We will update then and post photos...

Poesia para pensar...

A ceibo tree's first century was begun
by a bird.
It drank
years of night rain. It swelled
with the vast stuff of earth,
unclean sap and forces
that only chemistry pardons. (A tree
is more thoroughly to blame than a corpse;
but its coffin keeps growing, rising to become a house,
a palace of stars, a factory
of feverish sweat and apogee.) Come
see this pavilion of physics,
this loom for weaving chlorophyl--leaves,
fruit, pollen's lust
and the wedlock of acorns: industrial
development of cellulose, active
and passive agents, numbers, columns...
The statistics show
all the years of hard work. And those
who are always passing judgement, devote
the energies of their articles to understand it.
But this tree we behold
with all its laws and majesty and cells
in round figures was built
so that on an April day
a branch would bear the weight of a singing
bird!

--Pablo Antonio Cuadra