On Politics Day my peers and I learned a lot about politics in general and politics in Nicaragua. We talked a lot about corrupt politicians and how they affect a country. Our group also visited the home of the ex-vice president of Nicaragua, Jose Rizo, where we learned a lot about the Nicaraguan government.
At his house, we talked to the ex-vice president about his life in politics. The former vice president said that there was a lot of corruption in the Nicaraguan government and that it was almost impossible to punish corrupt politcians. During his time in office, the ex-vice president campaigned against corruption. He also talked about how education was very important it is to him. His main goals, while in office, were to improve institutions and the education system in Nicaragua. The education system in Nicaragua is not as good as it should be. A lot of universities in Nicaragua, said the ex-vice president, give out diplomas to students who haven’t done much work or learned much in school. The former vice president said that he went into office to change that because having better education equals less corruption.
While talking with the president our group learned a lot on our trip. Jose Rizo was a very interesting person who seemed liked a very nice person. The glimpsers and I had a very educational experience.
After meeting Jose Rizo, we all returned to the hotel and worked on our CAP projects. We split up into three groups and each group worked on a different part of the our project. One Group was in charge of construction, one group was in charge of painting, and one was in charge of gardening. For our CAP project we are planning to construct a homework/study area for a primary school. The school we are working with says that they need a structure that shields students from rain when students are doing homework and study after school.
Once each group was done planning, we all presented our ideas to the people who work with the primary school. We discussed our ideas and figured out the different materials we need for our project.
The school seem really excited about our project and so are we!