Our question of the day today was to ask ourselves how Nicaraguan people work relative to what they earn and whether or not we think it is the same in the United States. Today we woke up at 4:30 in the morning in order to embark on our journey to the local boarding school of La Bastilla, a school of agriculture which we traveled to in order to reach our goal of fully understanding what it is like to work like a local. Although the sun had not yet risen, we were all full of bright thoughts and we started this early day with an open mind. We boarded the bus, and while some of us napped, others of us enjoyed the breathtaking view that was seen from the window.
We soon arrived to a spot where we rode a tractor through a very bumpy ride while taking in amazing scenery. Once we got off the tractor, we separated into two groups; two groups went downhill and three groups went uphill. The groups who went uphill milked cows, collected chicken eggs, cleaned the chicken eggs, and had a detailed discussion about cheese production. The groups uphill had the opportunity to work at the bakery, clean after pigs, and work at the vegetable garden. Working with these lovely people allowed us the chance that would otherwise have been missed, a chance to empathize and thoroughly understand people who help us put food on our table.
This experience was personally my favorite so far, and I hope we will remember this experience for a long time and that we never forget the people we met. After our tours, we shared a very delicious meal with the students and we were able to ask questions and tell them about our experience and how we felt about the trip. Then, we came back to our hostel and had a few hours of free time and prep for English tutoring. Once we were prepared and well-rested, we taught our English students new words and phrases of the week. After tutoring we came back to the hostel and had the Nightly Meeting where the question of the day was once again asked. Some answers that were given were that the way animals are treated here is a lot more thoughtful and caring than back home, that many things that are done by machine in the U.S. are done by hand here, and that Nicaraguan people are not making anywhere near the amount of money they deserve for their hard labor.
Overall this was a very enlightening and inspiring day that will definitely always remain as one of the most important and eyeopening days of my life. I realize that there are people and processes that we are sometimes oblivious of and that we mostly don’t take the time to stop and think about how it is that people from other countries work in order to make a living. From now on, I am sure that we will all be more thoughtful and aware of other people who help us without us having any knowledge of it.
