Hola from the boonest city in Nicaragua!
To start off our day of living like a local, we woke up at 6 A.M with a simple breakfast of just gallo pinto, a bread roll, and water. After breakfast, we took a bus ride to a poor, small local community nearby Matagalpa. We stopped at a school and watched the local children play outdoor games such as tag while we were split up into pairs to be placed into a home.
We got to spend part of the day with our host families and got to experience their lifestyle. Each home consisted of about an overall 10×10 foot wooden structure. The interior contained a small table, a bed, and a stove made purely from stacked rocks and wood. Throughout our experience living in their homes, we helped our host families with their daily chores and had the opportunity to ask them questions about their lives. Some of the chores that we did included washing clothes and dishes with a bucket of water, rolling out tortillas, sweeping the dirt floors, and retrieving water from a well 15 minutes away. We ate lunch with our host families, providing them with a nice meal and some juice. It was sad saying our goodbyes knowing that it was our first and last time being able to see them.
The biggest takeaway for many of us was how genuinely happy each family was with the little that they had. The members of the community were all very kind and giving, and even the children with the little that they had, offered to give us small gifts. This experience open our eyes, leading all of us to realize all the little things that we take for granted in our daily lives, including running water and the wide selection of food available in our country.
Back at the hostel, we worked on our Community Action Project (CAP) proposals and presented them to the leaders of the organization our project is directed towards (ADIC). Our delegation proposed the ideas of creating a garden and a mural to beautify their community center, and their leaders gave us feedback, approving our plan for the project.
We finished our day of living like a local with another simple meal of gallo pinto, bread, and water. Although many of us felt exhausted from the full day of work, we still had lots of fun at English tutoring, seeing our students again and continuing our journey in teaching them English.
Living on approximately $2 a day by showering with a bucket, using flashlights as our source of light, eating simple meals, and more, ultimately taught each of us an important lesson about the realities of living in poverty. Today was a very life changing experience, and we are all excited to continue learning about poverty tomorrow for Deconstructing Poverty Day.
Today is our halfway mark, can’t wait to see all our friends and family in a week!
Amazing reflection and even more amazing idea for a CAP. Excited for photos of you guys putting in the work to give back to Matagalpa. Poverty day is said to be one of the strongest and most emotional part of the trip and I encourage you guys to fully dive deep and keep an open mind for tomorrow. UPDATE: Your 2016-2017 NBA Champions are……THE GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS! Kevin Durant was finals MVP averaging 35 points per game in the series
Thanks for sharing this special day with us. It sounds like you had a life changing experience, and met a nice local family. We are very lucky with all that we have, and where we live. Some times when you have less, you appreciate everything and everyone more. So proud of you for going on this journey of discovery. Love you Nicole!
How lucky and privileged we all are. I can’t imagine. i hope your all staying healthy and happy. I can’t wait to hear more. Would love to see more pictures too. Miss ya Charley Girl!
What an experience! Sure appreciate everything I have been given and worked for! Twins doing well. Dad says Mabel is fine. Megan and baby Elijah Declan doing well. Hugs
Great update and pictures. Glad you all were able to spend time with locals. Reminded of the quote..Happiest people don’t have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything.
Missing you sooooo much Tanya! It feels like you have been gone forever.
Hola Gabby and the Matagalpa M1A Crew! Thank you for sharing your day living like a local. We felt the heartwarming emotions through your activities as you connected with your host families, the children and with the town. We are very glad you were able to experience firsthand and will always remember and never forget those memories and personal connections. Keep up the great work and we are all very proud of you and your crew! Miss u Gabby! Love Dad
I always believe the best way to learn about a country and its culture is to live like the locals, to eat what they eat, to do what they do…it’s an experience and memory that would stay with us for life.
Now, Bridget, see if you can live on $2 a day when you come back. Now, that’s a challenge!
Love you and miss you…lot, lot!
mom & dad
Ups por poco me pierdo de este post. Me dio gusto verte Mariquita. Estamos ansiosos de escuchar tus historias. Love U???
Greetings everyone! Thank you for sharing your day. What an experience I’m sure it was to live like a local in poverty. Love that you all are learning so much about the culture and helping to do what you can to help the families, children and the community. What a great CAP proposal! I look forward to seeing all your wonderful ideas come to fruition! Can’t wait to see more pictures and read more about your experiences. Miss you very much Gabby and so proud of all the work you are doing in Matagalpa. Tight hugs and lots of love! Mom~