Reflecting on the Summer Vols

The summer volunteers from session 1

Leading a summer volunteer session with Andrew Hemby was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had this year. From May to June, we hosted our first group of volunteers, a group of 9 students and recent graduates from all over America. They constantly challenged and encouraged me with their enthusiasm and work ethic, and their humor and good nature kept me in high spirits for the whole month. Summer Sessions, I came to realize, meant sharing a house with twenty people and handling and coordinating ten new schedules, but the tradeoff was the privilege of getting to know some new friends!

One of things I really enjoyed over the course of two months was taking a group of summer vols to partner with House of Hope, an organization that empowers former/current prostitutes by employing them in a bead-making program that provides alternate income. Each Tuesday morning, I went with a group of girls to volunteer at this nearby nonprofit. We sat with the women and helped make the beads made of wrapping paper. The results were pretty awesome, and I know all of the volunteers who worked in this program were touched by the women and girls they met. We spoke with the owner about Nicaragua's sex trafficking issues and were all shocked by the intensity of the problem. Young girls are sold into the sex industry, generations of women in the same family make a living out of prostitution, and the government does little to nothing to stop this travesty. I only regret it's the end of the year and I have less time to work with this organization and learn from the women who work here every Tuesday morning.

The summer volunteers were very helpful with a range of programs. The first group attended our Child Sponsorship field trip to Laguna Xiloa and kept all of the children entertained and safe in the waters.

Summer session one also organized all of our donations to get ready for the Clothing Sale held in Cedro Galan during session two (more on the sale in another post). This was a huge (hot, sweaty, smelly) task as we did it outside one morning, but everyone was positive and helpful in organizing the clothing.

Both sessions enjoyed meeting the people we work with in the nearby communities of Cedro Galan and Chiquilistagua. Our friends at 13.5 hosted a dinner, and the antics of the chavalos didn't disappoint!

Leah and I had great helpers in our Children's English class. Here are our session two volunteers with the kids. Thanks guys!

One of my favorite things about summer volunteers was the opportunity to see Nicaragua all over again through their eyes. The following are some of their photos:

THANKS Summer Volunteers!!!

23 days & counting...time to live it up.

Tuesday morning found me light-headed, weak-bodied, slightly sick...I stayed it this mode until Wednesday afternoon. I guess Kid’s English perked me up. Perhaps it had something to do with making silly faces with Marcos. That always lifts me up.

(despite appearances, this kid always makes me really happy)

Thursday heralded the month of July, and the month of July meant 23 days left in Nicaragua. Thursday meant three more weeks left in the place I’ve called home for the last 12 months. All this time I’d been dreaming of home (family, friends, American food, aiiiiir conditioning, etc etc) and here it comes...REALITY CHECK! Realizing “the end is near” must have kicked my butt into shape. Walking around on Thursday in the community, I realized it’s time to live every day as if it were my last (in that I don’t pass over any opportunity) and also the first (in that I bring that same enthusiasm to each and every moment as I would have during my first days here). I also want to start blogging more about my last days here so as to shed more light on my day-to-day. So here goes.

THURSDAY.

Thursday morning after Chureca as usual, I went to my last Comedor. Comedor is a time where all the kids in the Cedro Galan are invited to have a meal, and we come to help serve/wash dishes. After Comedor, Manna hosts “Tuani Hour.” As this wasn’t my designated day to wash dishes and/or plan Tuani Hour, I went to visit friends who live in the community. I ate fresh calala ice cream and walked down the road to pick mamones at my friend’s sister’s house. All of this was completed in time to join in the last bit of Tuani Hour fun - an art class involving sketching faces. I had some very interesting interpretations of my face done by a few mischievous students. Next my friend Mayquelin invited me to see her pictures of her recent Quinceanera party. The girl was decked out princess style with a huge pouffy pink dress and a tiara. Absolutely gorgeous. I told her so, too.

After these adventures I walked down to 13.5 where I was heralded with the “You don’t visit us enough!” greeting. I made myself a promise to come back as much as possible and spent the rest of the afternoon playing SET with Maycol. Great game. Great boy.

FRIDAY.

With both of our cars out of town, Daniel & I figured we’d try our luck and see if the kids wanted to walk from Farito to the Library for our usual Library hour. We walked from our house the back way to Farito, a dirt road passing families, dogs, chickens, beautiful hills. Greeted by a group of ten little ones waiting our arrival, there were mixed emotions about the walk to the library. In the end, walking won and off we went. I mostly chatted with the girls, held hands, learned about their schools (they’re on winter vacation now for the next week), and then raced across the field to beat the boys to the library. After an hour or so of reading in the Library, Armando and I were off to pick mangoes. And then we were all off to an afternoon of soccer before the long walk back. According to my promise, I detoured on the way home for a 13.5 visit and more SET.

The night didn’t bring much scandal or interest, but I did learn to play desmoche, a Nicaraguan card game reminiscent of Jin Rummy.

SATURDAY.

Today I went to a soccer game held nearby in which the girls from 13.5 played (and won, might I add). Leah and I convinced the Lesther and Marcos, two younger brothers of a teammate, to accompany us. Their shenanigans didn’t disappoint. Lesther and Marcos are always full of energy and Marcos kept passing me nancites (disgusting fruit) of which I ate a few before declining the others. People here love nancites; from what I know, gringos usually don’t. There are plenty of other Nicaraguan fruits - mamones, jocotes, icaco, mangoes, pitahya - which are absolutely delicious.

I promise to have more reflective/interesting updates in the future. I just wanted to get the scattered details of the last few days on paper...well...on the blog.