Glimpsers today not only visited a family that lives on a dollar a day but they also experienced this lifestyle when waking up in the morning. We started the day with simple “frijoles” (beans) and the rest of the meals consisted of food that poverty stricken communities regularly have to eat. Today we traveled to the city of Saraguasa, where we visited a chain of homes living in poverty only about one hour away from Jinotega. Upon arriving we were all assigned into groups of about 4-5 people. All groups walked to the house of their family for the day where they first handed came face to face with real poverty.
The houses of these families had the basic necessities that all households require. From the materials scavenged to build the houses to the way rocks were purposely set in certain ways, the houses were simple. Although as foreigners we recognized differences in their lifestyles from ours, the families living in these homes recognized how blessed they are to have a roof over their head and food on their table. The families had Glimpsers making corn tortillas from scratch to washing clothes by hand on a rock with your soap in one hand and your water in the other. I personally enjoyed chasing hens around the yard and directing them into their coop. Although I thought the hen would peck at me, I picked it up and walked over to its coop and set it inside. Overcoming that fear and doing something I’ve never done before was the highlight of my day.
We then said goodbye to our Nicaraguan family for the day and traveled back to Jinotega where we started planning our english lesson for the night. We then had dinner and set off to the local high school where we teach, Benjamin Zeledon. I felt that todays class was one of our best teaching days so far because not only did we teach english we also had a short informational session for the students about the difference between being Chinese and Vietnamese. This distinction was important to a student and we took the time to make it clear that not all visible Asians are Chinese.
Although today was both a physically and emotionally demanding day, the Jinotega team stayed strong and we recognized how impacting a simple visit to a community can make a difference to our selves and those we visit. We know why we are here and who we are doing this for. Families and friends we are changing the world one community at a time.