As I find myself sitting and writing again. I hear my friend Callie’s choir class singing in the background. They are an amazing group. There are a lot of problems here in Nicaragua that I find myself running into. Since I live such a privileged life in this third world country I find myself getting mixed up in my own “Americanisms”, which aren’t necessarily bad but they do seem to stand in my way in keeping on track why I am here.
Today, my boss, Peter, who is one of the most amazing genuine men I have ever met explained to me that the center in Quebrada Honda has been turned into the lost child of Fabretto. Why in the world God placed me there out of all of the people in the world I can’t figure out!! It scares me to death that I have the opportunity to help turn a center around for the organization. It is mind-boggling! Which leads to me just trying to get by day in and day out with no real change…just surviving like I would in the states. Just to pass the time.
There is another group visiting our areas right now and they are the most good hearted lovely people I have ever met. They are a group from The Tin-Roof Foundation who helps with different projects here in Nicaragua. The most amazing thing I have ever seen happened this afternoon. I will get to that in one moment. The group picked me up the yesterday and I went up to Cusmapa with them where I learned about a family who lives in a house smaller then my room at my house in America. This family has seven people living in the house. The adult in the household is a woman who has children of her own and I believe some grandchildren. When Peter has spoke to her before she has said that she never learned how to read or write but she wanted her kids and her grandkids to have more of an education so she did so she takes care of all of them. Her son is on a scholarship right now attending one of the local universities and she is at home taking care of the house and the children. The children come to school everyday and I have been so wrapped up in myself that I do not even know how the children I teach live. They all come to school in uniforms so you cannot tell by looking at them individually that they might have more or less money then the student living next to them. I find it to be a good thing because I think I would try to cater to the kids who have less and that isn’t fair to anyone. While Peter was telling us this story my eyes welled up and that’s when I realized the extreme poverty I am working in. How can a person over look such a thing? I know I have been the last couple of weeks maybe because the pain is too much to bare. I mean…I cry because I miss my mom here and children are starving…but they come to school everyday with a smile on their faces. As I said goodbye to one of the woman today as they dropped me off she said “You have to go more then halfway with these people, because no matter what they are going to love you and then you are going to leave them”. She is so right. My time here is temporary but how do I really get involved with the community and make something change? People always tell you that if you can help one child then your time has been worth it…but one child doesn’t feel like enough to me. Another man who was traveling with us said that it was such a blessing to have the centers in these rural areas like we do because compared to where they live the centers are like oasis’s for the children to come and be at and have a good meal. It is also an oasis for me. If I had to stay in my tool shed all day long I would go crazy. Oh…and my boss finally admitted it was the old tool shed. It only took him three weeks. =)
The most amazing experience of my life happened today. The woman who runs the music program in Cusmapa has a young six year old child who suffered from a stroke when she was an infant. It has left her paralyzed in her left leg from the knee down. Her foot is turned in a little over 90 degrees and she can’t put weight on it at all. She has a wheelchair but how do you use a wheel chair with no sidewalks, dirt roads, no ramps, and no transportation for wheelchairs. Her mother carried her up to see the doctor in the group and he looked at her foot and said that it was fixable. Why hadn’t this been taken care of before? This is my assumption but I do not think the doctors in Cusmapa knew what to do and even if they did her mother can’t afford an operation. As the doctor told her it would be fixable and she could be walking within a year of the operation her mother bursted into tears of happiness. Her daughter told her not to cry. Due to the stress this has had on her mother she has been ill lately with headaches. The doctor also things it is linked to her worrying about her six year old daughter all of the time. I had never seen such happiness come over someone in my life. She praised God and thanked the doctor. I was in tears, so was Callie and I think my good ol’ friend Peter was a little choked up himself.
Maybe you are wondering what polgas are by now? Well polgas are fleas. I have fleas. Yes, it is not a joke it is the truth. The unfortunate truth. I think they might be in my bed. I am not sure. They are disgusting though. I mean really disgusting. I found one in my shirt the other day and showed it to my friends and they all just started laughing at me. Tomorrow I am going to wash my sheets and put my mattress in the sun and use a lot of raid in my room. It is actually pretty funny. And it is better then Malaria or Dengue Fever so I can’t really complain!! Well! Hope all is well at home and you are enjoying the snow! God Bless you all! And a very Happy Ash Wednesday!
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Dear Steph: Not only are there lessons for you, but for those of us reading your stories. Interesting, isn't it, how when we have so much, we focus on what somebody else has and we don't, or what we want and think we can't get. But when you have so little, the focus is on what you Do have and doing all you can with it. Every time we go to Mexico, I think of the expression "an embassasment of riches" - I don't even remember where that saying comes from, but it always comes to mind as I look around at all the luxury the Americans and Canadians expect when they vacation there and how they never venture out of the 'Golden Zone' to see what life is really like. Ixtapa was the most like that I've seen yet - except for the ride to the airport, it would be totally possible to go there and never see 'Mexico' at all. Even though the dollar is worth a lot in exchange for pesos, it gets more expensive every time we go. They have really started to figure out how to stick it to the tourists. But even then, all the profits don't stay in Mexico, most of the hotels and restaurants are owned by big international hotel chains from the US and Europe.
We took the bus to Zihautanjeo(for 7cents each per ride)and I used my very elementary Espanol to ask where to get off to see the things we wanted to see. Definetly NOT touristy there and the cervesa is only $1 and the food is genuine. Another day we hired a taxi to drive us around the countryside and the driver told us all about the villages and farms and his family. Better than listening to all the touristas complain because there aren't enough chairs around the pool (no kidding - it's a real serious problem that can erupt into arguments!)
None of those people could even wrap their heads around your adventures, much less learn the lessons and succeed in the situation. Every time you look in that mirror, remember how special you are.
love, Susie
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