This being Pam's return-to-Canada day, the alarm rang at 4am, and by 4:45am, we were in a taxi to the August Sandino International Airport in Managua. Traffic was basically non-existent at that hour, so we arrived right at 5am. Pam was quickly checked in for her flights to Halifax via Houston and Boston. I had arranged for the taxi driver to wait and return me to the Hilton, so I was back in my hotel room just after 5:30am, trying to catch a few more winks,
As normal (if four mornings in a row can constitute 'normal'), we all met for breakfast in the hotel restaurant, checked out, and were on the bus by 9am. This was our last day to visit a project site and do home visits, and the focus was on a project where vocational training factors largely into the programming. Due to its successful focus on vocational training and the fact it is enroute to San Juan del Sur, where we will conduct our Board meeting, it was decided that we would visit project site NI-231, in Diriamba. (Diriamba is located 41km southwest of Managua.)
Diriamba clock tower
La Basilica de San Sebastian in Diriamba dates back to 1891.
We arrived in Diriamba just after 10am and split the morning between a church service with the staff of NI-231 (led by an articulate 11-year old kid with major leadership potential!) and visiting five vocational training workshops at the site: computers, barbering, beauty parlour, piñata-making, and baking.
As part of our welcome at project site NI-231 in Diriamba, these cultural dancers performed.
The cool guys' barber shop (for vocational training) at project site NI-231!
The NI-231 gals have their own vocational training in the form of a beauty parlour.
At noon, we went into a barrio (Spanish for neighbourhood) within a kilometer of the project site, and split into groups of five to visit a number of homes of children registered at the project. My group went to the home of a grandmother, who has two grandchildren in the project. What an amazing woman - so amazing, I'd like to take some space here to tell you about her. Later in life, her husband threw her out of their home. She secured a loan of 15,000 Cordobas (about $500 USD) to purchase a piece of land. S he took her husband to court - a brave act in Nicaragua for an elderly woman - and he was forced to build a ram-shackle structure for her on the land. When she tried to have a power line connected, the power company told her the previous landowner had a debt of 8,000 Cordobas (about $250 USD) and would not connect her until she paid that debt. She went to their office and pleaded, and the debt was forgiven.
The grandmother works from 10am-4pm preparing tortillas and a Nicaraguan dessert, which she then takes into the streets to sell until 9pm. Her tortillas are sold for 3 for 1-cent!! Imagine at that labour and effort for such a tiny return, and you will understand how massive the 15,000 Cordoba debt load was for the land. She proudly told us she paid it off last December. Her faith is incredibly strong, and the her story inspired us greatly.
Tuk-tuks ply the roads as taxis throughout Nicaragua. And people are very creative about hwat they transport in them, such as this mattress.
Papaya tree
The grandmother, whose home we visited, is deeply proud of her grandchildren. She wanted so badly to show us her grandson's certificate of graduation from primary school.
Phil, trying his hand at tortilla-making. Imagine: the grandmother sells these 3-for-a-penny!
The grandmother and her three grandchildren
At 2pm, we walked back to the project site to serve afternoon lunch to the children. We respectfully bought the grandmother's tortillas prepared for that day's sale (so that she wouldn't have to spend her typical 4-5 hours selling in the street) and gave these to the project, which served them to the children for their lunch. We then played with the children, before leaving for San Juan del Sur at 3:30pm.
Feeding an afternoon light lunch to the children: rice and freshly-made tortillas (which we bought from the grandmother whose home we visited)
Playing 'pass the ball' in the project site
The drive to San Juan del Sur, which is on the Pacific coast near the Costa Rican border, took over two hours. Enroute, we saw volcanos and ranch-land. A beautiful countryside!
When we arrived in San Juan del Sur, we had to say good bye to the translators who'd been with us all week. This is Leslie - talk about a guy with a good heart. We were coffee buddies all week and became connoisseurs of gas station coffee-machine java. I gave him my well-worn, well-traveled fedora, so you know he made an impression on me!
The sun was just setting as we pulled into our hotel, overlooking San Juan del Sur.
This was the last day of visiting project sites. The days have been long, but so rewarding. We checked into a hillside hotel overlooking the town of San Juan del Sur, said farewell to our translators with whom we have grown very attached, and ate dinner as a group.
Tomorrow's focus turns to our Board meeting, followed by a day of rest before heading home.
Upon approach to Newark (Manhatten in background), I was shocked that there wasn't a speck of snow or any ice to be seen in the lakes! Abit scary, given that it is only the beginning of February.
