Hola Parentals,

            Today was Working Like a Local day, and we got to help a local farm with their daily duties. We woke up at 4:30am and made our way to La Canavalia, which was about an hour drive from our hostel. Most of the bus was asleep as we made our way there, but the few that were awake got to experience their first Nicaraguan sunrise. Our PC’s noticed we were zombie-like and decided to feed us and give us all coffee. We then split into 4 groups, each of which had a different section at La Canavalia. One group got to plow lettuce fields and fertilizer. Another group had the opportunity to chase chickens, collect their eggs and shovel their poop. The coffee group picked weeds and collected soil to plant coffee . The final group pulled dead vines and cleared anything decaying in a Chayotes field.

After working for about 4 hours, we realized how much work actually goes into getting food on our plates. The Glimpses struggled with the heat/humidity, the bugs, and the physically taxing work, it gave us an appreciation and gratitude for the easy accessibility for fresh fruits and vegetables at the local grocery store. It taught us that supporting local growers is important because of all the hard work and respect they give to the produce. What surprised us most today was that how much effort went into each task. We’re proud of our peers for keeping a positive attitude and a consistent work ethic. Everyone went in not knowing what they were getting into, but adapted to the environment and made the difficult jobs fun.

After the exhausting morning, we went back to the hostel to prep for tutoring and exchange our money, then we continued preparation for our CAP project. Based off of our visit to the ADIC yesterday, we decided to have a miniature garden(baby farm), so that the kids could learn to live sustainably. We also agreed upon painting the ADIC center in order to make it more kid friendly and provide the children with a colorful space. We then ate dinner and headed out for our second day of English tutoring. Today was better than yesterday because we are now getting into the swing of things(kudos to our teachers). We began actually teaching, rather than going over the rules. After, we headed back home and had our nightly meeting and self reflection. Overall, we’ve learned many things today about Working Like a Local.

#1 ITS HARD

#2 New found respect for agricultural work

#3 Unfortunately, all the hard work has little pay

Today was long, hard, and sweaty, but it has made the biggest impact on the Glimpsers so far. Often times, we just look at items as things, but in reality there is a vigorous process behind them that goes unnoticed. Building on today, we want to influence people to have respect for their items and not just think of them as things.

If you’re worried about your kids not getting enough exercise, don’t worry we got some good exercise today! 

Charley & Christiana