Hospital Espana and Santa Matilde

This past Friday and Saturday were super relaxing. Friday afternoon was spent at the beach (the interns are lucky – we get to go to the beach with the groups EVERY Friday!), and Saturday was spent prepping for the next group. The group this week is from all over – a few are from Crossroads in Cincinnati, a few are from Canada, a few are people who’ve invested in the bike program, a few are artists who are painting a mural at the new property, etc. It’s been really fun to get to know everyone and to have lots of adults around. It also seems to be dad week, though, and it makes me wish more than ever that my dad was here!

On Sunday, I went on my second volcano climb. This time, I took the hardest route up Cerro Negro. This way is the steepest and requires you to climb on all fours. Plus, this side of the mountain is basically gravel, so when you take two steps forward, you slide one step backward. It’s mentally and physically exhausting, but it was worth it at the top. The view seemed so much better than it had when I took the easy way, and my lunch tasted better at the top, too. It was awesome to watch the rest of the group climb, as well. One of my friends, who had given up last time she tried the hard way, made it up to the top. Another person who impressed me was a 63-year-old woman who climbed. She made it up before I did! It was an all-around awesome day.

Yesterday, I went with part of the Purdue group to one of the general hospitals. Mostly I felt like I was in the way of the nurses and doctors because I have no medical skills and sub-par Spanish, but the experience was worth it for sure. I was heartbroken when I first entered the hospital, it was hot and smelly, and there were flies everywhere. There were patient beds in the hallways because there weren’t rooms left to put them in. Supplies and staff were limited. I couldn’t imagine having to come to that hospital for any sort of illness.

I was also heartbroken for the diabetes patients. We saw probably thirty patients with missing toes and huge open wounds. Clearly these people had gone undiagnosed and untreated for a long time before they ended up at the hospital. The nurses let each of us help clean and dress the wounds of one patient. I actually enjoyed getting to help, which proved to me that I have a strong stomach. I also really enjoyed talking to and comforting the patients, and I was reminded of why I want to become a nurse.

Today, Brittany (my fellow healthcare intern) and I went to Santa Matilde to help the Purdue group with lessons on first aid and dental hygiene. I helped with the first aid lesson, and Brittany helped with the dental hygiene one. The kids were so great and so willing to participate. It was a great opportunity for me to practice my Spanish and see how to improve on the charlas that Brittany and I want to plan. We can’t wait to do our nutrition charlas and our community clean-up day in El Chonco!

Week two and our first charla

This week started out kind of rough. Inevitably, I got sick, probably from my body trying to adjust to the weather, so I slept for most of Sunday and Monday. Tuesday we were back out in El Chonco. We were putting pipe and spigots in at all of the houses in the community. It was exciting to start to see the light at the end of the tunnel that is the El Chonco water project. We are just weeks away from 1200 people having hundreds of gallons a day of clean water right at their doorsteps! Now, these people don’t have to walk miles a day for only a few gallons of water.

On Wednesday, we visited the handicapped orphanage again. Here are a few pictures of some of the Amigos crew and the Purdue group members spending time with the kids:

Yesterday, we had our first charla (“chat,” or lesson) at the school in El Chonco. The topic was handwashing, and our lesson had three components. The first was a skit about germs and the ways you can get them. I pretended to cough into my hands, Brittany pretended to sneeze, another person pretended to have a cut, and another pretended to pet their dog. We put glitter on our hands to represent the germs, and we shook hands with and gave high fives to some of the kids in the front to show how easily germs are passed.

The second part of our lesson involved a mascot, Mario la Mano, who showed us the steps of washing your hands. Rinse, soap, lather, rinse, and dry were the five steps that we went over with them. Pretty basic, but always important to reinforce for a group of kids. The last thing we did was sing a song about when you need to wash your hands (before you eat, when you touch animals, when you go to the bathroom, etc.). It was both fun and funny. A group of gringos teaching a lesson in their broken Spanish was probably sort of hilarious to these kids, but it was an all-around good time and a good start to our charla series.

We were hoping to do our charla in each classroom (so maybe six times total), but the whole school was together in one room to celebrate Mother’s Day. The best part was that all of the moms were there. They were super supportive of us and even participated when we asked questions (which may not have happened if it were just the kids). It was an unexpected blessing, I think, because it was great exposure for us. Now more of the moms know that we’re here.Hopefully it will help our attendance levels when we start to have afternoon charlas for adults!

Here are some pictures from our time at the school yesterday:

Picture time

Here are a few pictures from the past week...

At the base of Cerro Negro

At the top of Cerro Negro! Babs and I

Cutest kid in El Chonco

Chonco kids

Lacy

One of the kids actually took this picture, but I really liked it

Bianca, my shadow

Maren and Isidra

Getting settled

A lot has happened in only a few days. All of us interns keep saying that we feel like we've been here for weeks rather than days just because of how much we've done.

Climbing Cerro Negro (a volcano whose name translates to Black Mountain of Death) on Sunday was a lot of fun. We lucked out on the weather - it was a little overcast and less hot than usual. I took the easy way, which was less sandy and more stony. It was also a lot easier to take pictures, so I took a lot. It took about 40 minutes to get to the top, and when we got there, we cheered on the people who were coming up the steep, slippery way. When everyone got to the top, we took some fun pictures before sliding back down the side (which almost destroyed one of my two pairs of tennis shoes).

Monday morning was another visit to the dump. For me, it felt miserable. It was hotter, so the smell of garbage was worse. We had to walk through the trash because the rain had sort of washed away the path we had taken the last time. All I wanted to do was leave. And when we finally got through the dump to the community living next to it, there was nothing to cheer me up. There were no happy, hopeful faces, only people whose goals consisted only of existing.

One of the staff reminded us that the reason we come back to the dump every week is to remind the people there that Amigos for Christ is still there and still working. Maybe they can begin to see that we're here to stay and that they can trust us, that God has bigger plans for them and that we are dedicated to helping carry those out. These people already do a lot with very little, so I can only imagine what they could achieve if they had just a little more to work with.

After the dump, we headed to El Chonco to dig and move rocks. That afternoon and the following day, we worked on building retaining walls for the water system they are putting in. Working with the community felt like a huge party. People of both genders and all ages came out to help. Little kids carried small rocks, men shoveled and moved boulders, women formed assembly lines to move rocks, and music was played (in particular, a Backstreet Boys album - the 90s have hit Nicaragua). Everyone was joyful and hopeful - they will have abundant water in just a few weeks! The kids can be clean, and the health of the community can be improved.

It was so much fun working alongside the kids. One little girl, Bianca, would not leave my side. First, she was kind of in the way, but when I showed her what we were doing, she was eager to help. She carried the biggest rocks she could manage right alongside me, and it was beautiful. She knows something big is coming, and now she gets to be a part of it, too.

Tuesday was also the day that we sort of started our healthcare charla ("chat") project. We came up with a survey of questions about health problems in the community. On Thursday, we will head out into the community to ask people a little about how and what they cook, their daily hygeine, how they get sick, and how they try to get better when they are sick. Here in Nicaragua, people have some strange beliefs. They think drinking cold water makes you fat because taxi drivers drink it and they are fat. They think putting a small spoon in a fresh pot of beans ruins it. We need to know how they view things related to personal health and what challenges they face daily before we can help them improve their health. I can't wait to get out into the community and get all the info!

Today was super chill. We played with kids at the handicapped orphanage with the mission group that is currently here, ate lunch in Chinandega (I went to Smudi, a smoothie and sandwich shop), and went shopping. I got a Nica cell phone number, which was really exciting. We also got stuff for our new house - lamps, a mirror, and some shelf-type things. The girl intern house is yellow and green, with a really tiny porch. Adorable. We have two bedrooms, a big front room, a bathroom, and a little kitchen. I can't wait to move in on Friday!

I've taken lots of pictures so far, so I'll be sure to put at least a few in my next post :)

Back in Nica!

Yesterday was my first day back in Nicaragua. The plane ride went smoothly, and we were lucky enough to have an air-conditioned cab ride to Casa Blanca (but of course it's been hot ever since). We put our stuff upstairs, but we were informed that next week, the girl interns will be moving to a house down the street. It's going to be great for us to have our own space so that we can really settle in, and it will be great bonding for us girl interns :)

A medical team has been staying at the house the past week (they left this morning), so after we dropped our stuff of, we went with them to the dump. The dump is what inspired Amigos for Christ to do what they do. The story behind it starts with Hurricane Mitch. The storm hit Nicaragua a little over a decade ago, and the people whose homes and livelihood it destroyed were moved by the government to this dump. They were promised that it was only temporary, that they would be provided with new land on which they could farm and new housing. But years later, they are still living at the dump, away from their source of income, in houses that they built from trash. They make a living by digging through the dump for metal and plastic that they can sell to recyclers for less than $6 per 100 lb. bag.

Amigos is working to move these people out of the dump to places where they can find jobs in agriculture (their former source of income), have access to education for their children, and have a dramatically improved standard of living in general. They build houses, schools, health centers, and wells for these people and other people in Nicaragua who are in living situations that they just can't get out of without outside help.

The sad part about it is that even when some of these people see the Amigos communities that they are invited to live in with their own eyes, they don't want to move. They have lost all trust that they will actually be better off because of the broken promises of their government, and they would rather stay where they believe they are safe. And they weren't meant for this. God created them for greatness, for fulfilling, healthy lives. There is so much potential in these people, and Amigos is working to bring that to the surface and provide ways for these people to thrive.

After visiting the dump, we went to El Chonco, a community that Amigos has been working in for several years now. Amigos has built a school there and is now building a well. It is a place where people are full of joy and hope, a total turn-around from the dump. We played with the kids for a little bit, and all of them were laughing and smiling. They wanted to hold your hand, be picked up, be chased, have their fingernails painted, and just enjoy our company. I can't wait to learn more about this community and spend more time there.

When we returned from El Chonco, the interns and some of the staff ate dinner at Tacos Mexicanos and played games after. It was a great time of fellowship - I can't wait to get to know this group better! It's a caring, passionate, fun-loving, all-around great group.

We said goodbye to the medical team today (a team which, by the way, performed 48 surgeries in 5 days!!), and soon we'll be saying hello to some UGA girls who are here for the week. I can't wait to meet them, to see how God works this week, and to really dive into work here in the communities!