Again, the theme of our project in Nicaragua is “safe water and the environment”. I believe the responsibility lies on those who are most informed. I came to this conclusion by thinking about this theme in both developing and developed countries. For instance, in the U.S. most people are well informed on what constitutes clean water and why it’s important. The government has laws that lay out these facts for those who need a reminder. Laws have been instituted for water. For the environment, laws have also been enacted, but some of these laws are less clear and sometimes people interpret them differently. Also, not all environmental areas are covered under the law. For example, there is debate on whether carbon dioxide levels should be regulated and if yes, how it would be regulated. With countries similar to the U.S. the government has already laid out laws for the most part for the theme “safe water and the environment”. It’s up to the people to follow the laws that have been enacted. Also, in developed countries we have constantly been told and reminded about the benefits of recycling and composting. It’s up to us to do it. In developing countries, most people are not well informed on the theme. Culture and family history has ingrained in them customs and habits that aren’t necessarily the healthiest for their bodies. However, most people don’t know any better. In these cases, I believe it’s the responsibility of well-informed organizations, such as CARE or the government to educate the uninformed and to install programs to ease people into a different way of living that they aren’t use to. This may take a long time to successfully be completed, because there are more problems beyond economic limitations. As I mentioned, history and social customs lay a big part. But I stay firm on my statement those that are most well-informed on the social issue and have the means to educate have the responsibility to alleviate these conditions.

One thing I definitely noticed was that here in Nicaragua the approach that CARE takes is a very basic introduction to hygiene, sanitation and clean water. For example, I met two girls from Matagalpa that work with CARE. They both attend university there, studying agricultural/forestation engineering. They are in their last year (5th year) and part of their requirements (at least to my understanding) is completing some type of internship. They currently are involved in a CARE hygiene project where they visit homes to check and ensure the homes are meeting hygiene “standards”. I put the last word in quotation marks because CARE has no actual control over these homes. It’s more of a helpful suggestion/education that CARE teaches. The jovenes also told me that they are installing some kind of faucet or a similar device, but most of their energy is being spent on teaching (or reinforcing) people how to wash their hands, how to bathe and why it’s important to drink clean water. These lessons are almost instinct or common knowledge in the states. There are no non-profits (that I am currently aware of) that go around the country and teach adults and children how to wash their hands. In the states, it’s more about new technologies used to purify water, or more on new products to help you stay clean. In the states, the basics of hygiene and safe water are usually common knowledge. I don’t think one approach is necessarily bad; I just that that a country’s level of development calls for a different approach. One advantage I see with teaching and reinforcing the basics is that once people start applying these lessons to their daily lives without having to be reminded, they can move on and start learning about another important and necessary topic, for example nutrition. The disadvantage I see appears when we, as a community or country, develop so much that we start learning about new, unnecessary technologies or products to aid us in our efforts to keep good hygiene or further purify our water. This is when we face a problem; when communities and countries continue to buy and buy and buy. I don’t have a solution for this problem, I just see this as a huge disadvantage with a variety of repercussions for developed countries such as the United States. What’s going to happen when developing countries catch up to our wasteful ways?

It’s taken me a while to get to this journal entry. These past days have been pretty busy and I haven’t gotten much alone time. I believe my service is making a difference. I really want to invest more time on the CBI, now that we’ve gotten started. Also, after talking to my supervisor, I really want to make a list of activities that I haven’t done or people I haven’t talked to in Maria Jesus and make an effort to take advantage of those opportunities. One thing is going to see a water system up in the mountains that community members have been working on. We weren’t able to go because the day before we were scheduled to go, I sprained my toe during a soccer game. Also, I’d like to get to know my host-mom’s grandfather. He’s such a sweet man and I would like to have a conversation with him that goes beyond, “Buenos dias, senor.” I’m sure he has great stories to tell about his life. In regards to improving my service, I’m excited to compile all the fun lessons we’ve done into a binder and leave with the jovenes of the community. It’s our way of (hopefully) leaving a little bit of us in Maria Jesus. As of now, I have nine days left in community, so I better get started on that Maria Jesus bucket list.

I honestly can’t believe that I’m writing this entry, the very day after I wrote about doubting the value of my service. Last night, my partner (Estrella) spoke to our supervisor. Estrella was mainly updating Emilia on some personal matters. I was eating dinner with my host-mom when Estrella ran into the kitchen and exclaimed, “We got the grant, we got the grant!” I literally almost spilled the delicious fideo soup Tania made that night. We both just hugged and screamed and threw out about one-hundred “Oh my gosh!” After the difficult talk with our town leader and days of uncertainty, we finally got word that our application for the construction of the preschool was accepted! To make the news even more exciting, we could start as soon as the next day! I was without words, but full of squeals that whole night. We celebrated with buying a coke and sharing it (I know, a little silly). The grant means a lot to me and my partners; all three of us spoke to many community members who all expressed a great need for the preschool. Yes, this is a success for us but it is so much more for the community. The town leader didn’t really want the preschool project; this worried community members because most of the time what he says goes. But every member we spoke to talked about how it would not only help parents and children now, but it would be something that would benefit future generations as well. This is the main reason why I feel productive, but there is more! =) This Thursday we are having a workshop on teen pregnancy for all the young people of the community; and next Monday, we are having a workshop on human right for the community as well. Both workshops are being facilitated by great and reputable non-profits. On top of that, today is our first day including our second young person in our campamentos. She knows the two other jovenes we were hoping to include, so hopefully we can get them for the last three days of campamentos this week. All in all, I’m really looking forward to these last 14 days; even though it seems like a short time, I believe there is still so much to do and I can’t wait!

Well there are only 14 more days left until I leave Maria Jesus. I keep changing my mind on whether 2 weeks is a long or short time. In regards to seeing my family back at home, it honestly seems like a long time. But in regards to my service, 2 weeks just doesn’t seem like enough. The campamentos (our educational classes) we’ve been having are my own personal measure of success on a daily basis. At first, these campamentos were great; we had high attendance and full participation. But as the weeks have past, our attendance has greatly decreased. But on the other hand, the small classes we had did have its advantages. For one thing, we were able to do more one on one work in addition to less physically intensive activities, like poems and songs. The kids were more focused and we got feedback right then and there. The success of the other main project is a bit more difficult to measure. Like I said, we have 14 days left in community and we are still waiting for confirmation on a grant. I keep reminding myself that AMIGOS doesn’t define a CBI as a completed project. They look more at the process you’ve taken. For example, our construction project of a preschool is expensive, but the whole community is in full support of it. So instead of scrapping the expensive project and completing a more affordable and smaller scale project, our supervisor and our group decided to go for a grant that will hopefully allow us to build the school. Although we haven’t built anything yet, we have been taking all the possible steps to get the money for this project. We also have plan B in case the money falls through. Also, my group and I have really tried to use the resources of the community. For example, this Thursday we are having a lady, Aleida, from a local non-profit called CESEMA co-facilitate a “taller” (workshop) on pregnancy prevention with Efrain, a guy who works for another non-profit named Movimiento Comunal. I believe our small successes such as these make the community more unified and in a way more responsive to AMIGOS and the presence of its volunteers. If the community sees that we are actively pushing and fighting for a project they want and are genuinely incorporating their human resources, they will know that AMIGOS volunteers are here to collaborate with them, not simply to impose our ideas and our projects on them. At the end of the day, this is the goal, so even though we don’t have as many kids attend our campamentos and even if we don’t see a finished pre-school, I have the satisfaction of knowing that we’ve gained the respect and warmth of the members of Maria Jesus.