Millions of flies invading our face’s personal space, tens of children melting their way into our hearts, and a handful of mini heart attacks as we embraced the true Nicaraguan experience during our first public bus ride. Needless to say, Poverty Day was full of memories, all wild yet insightful.
The dreaded wake up call hit everyone hard at 6:30 a.m. Everyone slowly awakened from their beauty sleep and prepared for a jammed pack day. We were met by a different breakfast dish of pancakes and pineapples at the usual spot Commedre Imabite. After our delightfully American meal, we headed back to the hostal for a fun-filled academic seminar. The seminar was jumpstarted with a few rounds of Little Sally Walker to get people up on their feet. After the quick energizer, we immediately dived into an eye-opening seminar. During the seminar, Daniel and Elly gave us a lesson on the 5 P’s of poverty: Place, People, Politics, Past, and Peace. We all then learned about how each of these “P’s” or factors of poverty affected poverty here in Nicaragua. To wrap things up, we ended the seminar with an educational activity that involved a group share out about which of those “P’s” of poverty most affected Nicaragua.
Soon, we threw our thickest and longest pair of jeans, shirts, and even shoes to mentally as well as physically prepare ourselves for the long day ahead of us, starting with the trip to the Municipial Dump of Leon. As always, we took our private bus armed with deafening American pop music to the place where about 100 Nicaraguans worked tirelessly to support their family members. As the bus made its way near the entrance of the dump, the stark contrast of the piles of trash and the surrounding lush moutain views shot at us as hundreds of flies invaded into our supposedly private bus. Soon after stepping off our bus and leaving our belongings safely into the hands of our bus driver, our group of 24 amigos learned more about the dump as Hector, the manager of the place, gave us a 10 minute introduction about the process and background of the dump. As leaders of the day, we (Ada and Cecilia) presented Hector with a small token of appreciation (a poncho from Sports Authority) and before we knew it, we all embarked on a mission to gather and invite the workers to a friendly match of futbol as well as some small games for the less futbol enthusiastic crowds.
Smoke littered the blue, sweltering skies while humongus black crows circled crowds of dirt and trash, ready to pounce at any edible creatures [note: no glimpsers were harmed during this tour ;)]. As we inched closer and closer to the smoky area, we spotted more workers rummaging through the piles of trash in search for any recyclable materials. Slowly but surely, we approached these workers and encouraged them to join us. Less than 5 minutes later, 25 men and women joined us as the men engaged in the intense futbol match while the women sat down with the other half of us for some icebreakers and questions. As the futbol match went on, the women shared their experiences and stories. Then, reality hit us… hard.
Dirt ridden skirts and ripped, short blouses attempted to protect their damaged skin and wrinkled faces, but as we could tell quickly, it didn’t work. As we conversed more with these three women, it was clear that they were truly affected by the dire effects of poverty. From waking up at 4 a.m. to walking 6 hours plus every single day just to put food on the table, it is truly disheartening yet respectable to see that these women really do it all. As it turns out, they were all sisters who still had a whole life ahead of them, with the oldest being only 45 years old, yet appearing to be much older than her story tells.
After a true and tried battle, the global glimpser crew lost to the workers 1-4 in the most glorious way one can lose. Then, everyone participated to help hand out some baked goods and chilled juice to the workers. We then boarded the bus after an insightful visit at the Municipial Dump and commenced to head back to the hostal for our mandatory showers.
Gallo pinto, chicken, and salad– lunch was the usual as we then did a quick self reflection of the emotions felt and sights viewed during our tour of the dump. Quickly thereafter, Noel led our group of eager glimpsers to catch our first public bus. After one of the most hectic yet fun bus rides of our lives, our group arrived at the orphanage where we were met by Sister Maria Christo. She showed us a short tour of the orphanage, where groups of children were on different corners playing sports from futbol to a parachute game. Everyone then quenched their thirst of knowledge as we asked the sister some questions regarding the orphanage. After presenting the sister with a gift, we then went on another roller coaster of a ride on the public bus one last time for the day.
Finally, 6:00 p.m. came by and another stressful day of learning and exploration came to an end as everyone then held English tutoring classes for the second time. Filled with educational lessons on the preposition “by” and some games of “Slap It,” we personally felt that due to better preparation and experience, our class in particular went especially well.
To cap it all off, we all came back to the hostal and directed the nightly meeting, ensuring to sum up our day’s activities as well as hand off the torch to our next leader, Natalie!
*****Note from leaders Daniel and Elly: The internet at our hostel is very slow and often resists our photo upload attempts. We apologize, but we’ll try again tomorrow!*****
Hey STELLA!!!!
Sounded like a crazy experience jeez. But hey thats why you came there right? 🙂 That’s really cool that you got to live that life for a day though. The people who live there in my opinion are very strong just the environment seems so crazy to think that people actually live that way everyday. I honestly don’t think that i’d survive what you’re going through right now so stay strong!!!
I hope you’re still having fun though!
Love and miss you a lot 🙁
Thank You for the descriptive blog. Hey maria I know that yesterday was a day that you will remember throughout the years just like I still remember. I cant wait to start hearing from the CAP project. I can’t wait for you to come back home it is starting to get boring back home.
Thank you for the thorough description of a day that is difficult to read about but I think was an important lesson for all.
I’m trying to imagine what my reaction would have been to something like this at 16 or 17 years old.
Sophia- I hope you can call me today on Josefa’s number but if not, please try to call Obahchan
Love mom
Wow, Seem like a very busy day. We often take for granted how good we have it in the United States. I’m sure the experience was humbling. Looking forward to hearing the stories first hand. Everyone is doing well at home. We love and miss you Michael. Mom
WOW, what a day you guys had and such a stark contrast to your American lives back home. We often forget and under-appreciate the conveniences of our daily lives and it’s experience like what you had today to put everything in perspective.
Ada and Cecilia, thank you for a very insightful report and great job leading the team on this experience. Ada, I’m SO proud of you! Love and miss you!
Thank you Cecília and Ada for this very moving and inspiring story. So proud of you Ada and know that this will give you a compassionate and broader view of the world and benefit you immensely as you move into that world.
Kush,
Sorry my message didn’t go through on the last blog post. 🙁 But It’s really great hearing about what an impact you guys are making in Nicaragua. I miss you so much it hurts; I hope you miss me a little too. Hope you’re safe and well and having a good time. IMY
Wow, what an experience. Great recap of the day. Sounds like you all had fun playing futbal with the workers.
Pancakes and Pineapples sound good to me. Special, Im sure you liked that 🙂 Cant wait to hear more about your days in Nicaragua.
Love Mom
Aditi
I love to read the blogs everyday.Proud of you for doing the community service in Nicaragua. Family misses you a lot especially Dipti. Hope you are doing fine, drink lot of water and have a good time. Call whenever you get a chance. Are you enjoying eating rice and beans? I will make your favorite food when you get back home.
Love you
Mommy
It’s vital to see how others in the world live in order to develop a clearer understanding of the human experience–I feel this was an important day for the group and it’s great that this was part of the trip. We’re looking forward to hearing your thoughts and observations when you get back, Maya, cannot wait for your return 🙂
Hello Gina!
After learning about the living conditions of Nicaragua, it makes you really appreciate the resources that we have here in SF right? This week is moving slowly along as usual. Doing nothing much besides gaming and catching pokemon. Wish I was working and making money, but oh well. How are you doing? Heard you got a bazillion bug buts, so I’ll get some ointment ready for when you come home. Miss you as always!
Love,
Michael
Natalie, it was great to hear your voice today. I can’t wait to hear more about all your adventures. Stay safe!
Love you!
Mommy,Daddy, Nathan and Olive
Wow, what an incredibly challenging & eye-opening day. You are not only “Glimpsers”, you are also “Troopers”. May you continue to keep your minds & hearts open in all your interactions with each other and the people that you are meeting, tutoring and serving so that it will be a mutual experience of growth, learning & appreciation. Onward Glimpsers! You guys/gals are amazing! 🙂
Hello New Delegation! It’s finally good to see you guys experiencing what we witnessed! Hope this trip is an eye opener like it was to us. You guys are in good hands Nancy & Noel are the best! Thanks to Nancy and Noel for always never giving up on us! Love ya take care
Aditi-
I miss you so much. Hope you are having fun and enjoying helping the people there. Cant wait for you to tell me all about it when you get back! Call me if you can.
Thank you for your thoughts and feelings about your experiences through the daily blogs. I hope the bonds that you are making with one another through your varied experiences will bring memories that will last for a very long time. Remember what you are eating there so that we can try to find similar food here when you return to recapture some of your happy memories of Nicaragua.
Kali, Just wanted to let you know that grandma continues to do well on her daily therapy sessions and will go home maybe early next week. I wll see her again this coming weekend. Say hi to Hillary and Ada as well. Corrina, Jennifer and Eric left for their trip to San Cristobal yesterday.
Hey Cecilia,
Wow what an amazing description of one of your action packed days in Nicuragja! It really opens your eyes when you take a look at how it is in the other parts of the world. And I know we’re not completely oblivious to the idea that we are lucky to be living in a place where we don’t have to worry about certain things, but it never exactly hits us until we see it for ourselves. These small, but impactful experiences will, hopefully, allow you to see the world through a different set of lens, ones that will forever change the way you interpret things. We all see it, but doesn’t mean we take it in the same way and because of that, some see it goes much deeper than others. I hope you enjoy the rest of this adventure and fill us in with more of your trips and experiences as it goes on! We’re all doing great here at home. Stay safe and we miss you! Now time to read those other blogs because we just found out you guys are doing this!
-your fanbam