Question of the Day: What are the similarities and differences of poverty in the US and Nicaragua?

 

I never thought that I would be saying this, but waking up at 7:00 AM today felt like sleeping in.  The entire group was pretty well rested for the intense and serious day.  We ate breakfast and got ready to leave for our field trip to the basurero (city dump in Estelí).  Before we got on the bus, though, we had an academic seminar about poverty in the US and Nicaragua.  We discussed what it was like back home in the US and what we expected at the basurero. We drew pictures of what it would be like.

 

Then we boarded the bus and drove to the dump.  On the way there we were mostly silent and reflected on the question of the day to prepare ourselves for the challenging day ahead. Once we arrived, we were swarmed by flies and other bugs, but were saved by a lot of bug spray and courage! The leaders were very proud of everybody on the trip for respecting the homes of all of the people living in the basurero and you all should be too.  Doña Francisca is one of the people who lives in the dump and makes a living by searching through the basura (trash) to find things like plastic, glass, aluminum, and much more to sell.  She was very happy to see us there and have the opportunity to speak to us.  She enjoyed telling us about her life and her work.  Before we left we walked around the dump and gave Doña Francisca a few gifts for her time and commitment.

 

We then returned to the hotel where we all had to take showers.  After this we had a small group reflection about the say so far and then continued with another academic seminar about living like a local.  Following this we watched a documentary about poverty and then had about an hour of free time.  We then ate dinner and headed out to teach our English lessons, which are getting better and better the more we do it.  We returned to the hotel at around 8 o’clock and had our nightly meeting.  The torch was passed to Julia as the next leader of the day! We then had some time to relax before we went to bed.

 

Note: Cameras were not allowed today so there will be no pictures.

 

 

-Erich