Bubbles and Cheese

Well Seth and I are back in Managua for a quick respite after being in the campo for 2 weeks. We had a great first couple weeks out there, but found it hard to have time for ourselves. We constantly have kids at our house or are visiting families in the community. People in Bromadero are very friendly and nice. We are welcomed eagerly when we visit people’s house and are always given a tortilla with cuajada (a dry, salty cheese) and a cafecito (coffee). People are very generous, even when they do not have much to give. We have been invited to several houses for lunch and dinner, so we have only made 5 meals for ourselves in the last two weeks.

The kids are a lot of fun to play with, making the time pass. We introduced bubbles to them and they loved it. Every time they come to our house they ask to play with them. One thing in the last two weeks we have noticed with the kids is that many of them don’t wear shoes while running around, though most of them have shoes/sandals of some sort. It seems that parents don’t make them wear them. Seth and I have made a rule, if kids want to play at our house they have to wear there shoes/sandals. Also, we are talking to the kids about the importance of wearing shoes. There are cows, pigs and chickens everywhere, therefore their feces all over, so this is a public health issue we need to work on, but we figured we needed to start somewhere.

Another thing we trying is to always have fruits and veggies in our house to give to kids as snacks so they will get used to eating them. We will do workshops with families about nutrition and and growing vegetables in home gardens. Right now the area is very dry and people don’t grow things during this time, so we will have to try in our own yard to see how things work.

We have been attending the Mennonite church in the village 20 minutes from where we live. The Sunday church service lasts 3 hours, which is something we are still trying to adjust to. We are trying to be open to see how God is working in the church and not focus on the things that are different from what we are used to. We are constantly reminded that the reason we are here is most of all to show Christ’s love to others and not to complete projects, so we are really trying to focus on relationship building in the communities. Right now our focus is on the community we live in, Bromadero.

Off to the Campo

We are heading off to the campo, countryside, Saturday. We will be living there the majority of time this year as we build relationships and start projects. We will have another house, but are still looking to find one to rent. Will update the blog as we can since we will not have as easy access to internet as we have had. Check out the new pictures on our photo link.

Machismo

Before coming down to Nicaragua I was aware that the men here can be very machista. This word means that they treat woman as objects, not as equals. For example, it is a regular occurrence to walk down the street and get whistled at and then be called somebody's amor (love), even while walking with my husband. I did not realize how much this would bother me. I see the inequality between men and women everywhere I go. I have ridden many buses and taxis and I have never seen a woman driving. At first I did not think much of it, but the more I observe the more stuff creeps up that screams inequality. In the city one can see women and men both working, but in the country one will only see the men working in the fields with other men. Don't get me wrong the women work, probably harder than the men, but they are cooking, cleaning, watching the kids, carrying water, gathering fire wood, and other things I am sure I have not mentioned.
I saw this first hand a week ago while I was working on a small micro-hydroelectric plant in the country. Seth and I showed up to help the community to build a sand trap, but when we arrived I noticed I was the only female and remained the only female working the entire time. At first I was a bit intimidated, feeling inadequate about how I could really help, then I realized this is a rare occasion to show them that men and woman can work together on projects. For the two days of work not one of them talked with me, except for Seth and my boss. I worked as hard as I could trying to prove a point and at the end of it all I felt pleased. At the very end one man asked me my name and it felt like a small victory.
Nicaraguan women are starting to rise up, but not in the best manner. There is a group of women called the feministas that think women should be over men. I consider myself a free liberated woman, but I don't agree with this mentality. God created men and women as equals, not for one to be over the other. Look at Christ's example about how he treated women and not just the righteous ones, ones that were outcasts. If God wanted women to be treated less than human then would Christ have interacted with so many women in the bible? Both women and men were created in God's image, so equal in God's eyes. Men and women were given different attributes of God, so we can better know God.
I know this is something I will not be able to change in my three year term here, but I feel that God can use me and my husband to show that we are equal in our marriage.

We have come along way...3 months already?

We finished Spanish training on Friday, so we are now fluent...not really. We have learned all the grammar, but far from being able to speak correctly. It seems like the more we have learned the less comfortable we feel speaking because there are so many mistakes that we make...but people are very patient and gracious with us. Seth is more willing to speak, whereas I have become more timid in my speaking...which has switched since when we first got here. I just need to try and not get nervous about making mistakes. Our goal by this time next year is to be able to speak Spanish sufficiently. One thing that will help our progress with speaking Spanish is we are getting ready to start our jobs, so we will be forced to speak Spanish a lot more than we are now.

This week we will be helping with repairs on a small hydroelectric generator in a small community called Malacatoya. Obviously those of you who know us know that this is not our area of expertise. Our partner, Aso-Fenix, has expertise in renewable energy, so we are learning from them. We will be working there for this next week, and then we will be heading to Esteli for a wedding of a former MCC volunteer and then we have our team meeting in Matagalpa.

After that we will be moving close to the communities we will be working in. We had previously thought we would be living in Teustepe, but plans have changed. We will have a house in a town called San Jose de los Remates and we also have access to a house owned by the Mennonite church in a village called Bromadero, so we will be living in two places. The reason for the change is because we will be working in two different regions, Teustepe and San Jose de los Remates. One of the houses only has water and an hour of electricity for 1-2 hours a day from a solar panel, so there is no electricity in the village. The other house will have water and electricity. We are excited to get started building relationships with the communities and begin the work God has laid out for us.

...at least I won't die of hunger (Nicaraguan saying)

I have heard this saying several times during my three months in Nicaragua, and though it might not be the happiest of sayings at least there is a silver lining in the clouds. Though as my journey into Nicaraguan life and culture deepens, some light has been shed on these words through the increasingly darkening sky. Since I have been here the price of beans, one of the three staples, has skyrocketed. Rising from 8 cords (40 cents) a pound to over 20 (little over a dollar) with no plateau insight. Now granted for most of you reading this the price might not seem that bad, but than again we have to look at all factors. First of all, rice which is another staple food has nearly doubled in price over the last year. Second, it is not only food that has risen in price, in the last 8 months almost all products found on the shelves of stores, or in the hot, dusty clamor of a busy market has at the least gone up 30-40%, with most having doubled. Now we citizens of the world are all used to inflation, so let us delve deeper into the storm. Currently the minimum basic salary to live off of (includes food, rent, transportation to and from a job, etc) is around 3500 -4000 cords a month (roughly around 200 dollars or so). Well that actually seems quite doable, I mean if you made only 5 dollars an hour at your job working 40 hours a week, heck you would have more than enough. In fact you would be living in the lap of luxury. As I have heard form various people that most people make around 80 cents to 1 dollar a day, translating to about 2500 cords a month. Now I'm not talking street vendors, beggars, and all those people with out an education (because with an education you can reach the stars), public school teachers earn this, low level civil employees and so on. So this begs the question, how do you make up the extra money. Second job would probably go along way, but sadly to say you don't have that option. About 30-40% of Nicaraguans are unemployed, out of the remaining 60-70%, 70% of those are underemployed. So most of the people that are working won't make that full dollar a day, and because of the lack of finding full time first jobs find a second job is out of the question. This underemployment is fairly even spread throughout the social ladder (except the very wealthy), causing most college grads (even lawyers and doctors, though they have a slight advantage) to have a hard time finding full time work.

So what does all this mean to my recently turned 30 year old mind. That life can be a bit rough down here.....to say the least. Nicaraguans are generally overlooked by the world because they are not starving in the streets (at least not yet) like they are in Africa, or killing each other in civil wars. But I am happy to report that Nicaraguans are a smart, kind, and infinitely resourceful group of people. One small family can not survive here on their own, but with the help of relatives and neighbors they can all work together to get by and even thrive. Nicaraguans can also make businesses out of anything. Whether it be washing windows at stoplights, selling anything and everything on buses (towels, food, pop rocks, and even Spyrographs), to repairing anything to keep working forever, to sadly (for me and them) begging on the street.

So I keep coming back to my role here in Nicaragua, trying to think what I can do in the face of such odds. Well, to be honest, nothing at all. In Jesus time people lived and died and suffered and rejoiced just like those around me. And what did He do, He lived and died and suffered and rejoiced with them. But through His life he changed them and helped them and I believe they impacted Him too. So as I sit here working on my plan for the following three years, I find I can only offer Jesus to these people through myself, my life, my actions, my culture, and my gifts that He has given. And I pray that I will be changed to be more like those I serve who live life simply, sharing time and resources with any in need, and of course rice, beans, tortilla, and a nice sweet cup of coffee with plenty of milk and sugar.