Riding Buses in the Campo

At first, you may think it is kind of fun, just part of the experience. Then, you realize that this experience is part of people's daily lives. After your third bus trip or so, the novelty begins to wear off.

30-45 minutes before departure time the bus arrives in its slot at the terminal. During most times of the day, especially the last two buses on Saturdays and Sundays, people are clamouring over each other with pushes and shoves in order to get a seat and a space on the overhead racks for their stuff. People are taking dozens of eggs, huge bags of sugar, bottles of oil, and boxes of hair gel to sell at their rural pulperia. People are piling sacks and buckets of goods on top of the bus as well. I have heard that mattresses are carried this way but have not seen this yet.

It is literally a fight for seats which are saved with boxes and bags, as well as saved by friends. Often, I have not been lucky enough to have a seat. In this case, you must carefully plan your strategy of leaning on the edges of seats with your hip and/or grabbing onto overhead bars in various configurations. Also, it must be stated that courtesy rules that are often unspoken in the US regarding the eldery and mothers are rarely followed. I have seen some cases where the eldery have been offered seats but this gesture is an offer from people who know them and not from strangers generally. Finally, I have seen babies passed forward while the mother squeezes through the crammed aisle.

spider webs

This morning I was reading about spider web's in Lederach's Moral Imagination. Nature can be such a powerful metaphor for conflict resolution. However, I think we fail to realize or rather, REMEMBER, that we are part of nature too. Living in La Grecia on Finca San Martin has gotten me thinking more than ever about the environment. Today, there is a bubbling water source, which had only been a hint of humidity when Vicente and his family arrived there. They cultivated the land and continue to protect the water source with a reforestation project. There are so many examples in the surrounding area of farms that are exploiting and stripping the land of her goodness. However, you cannot make a living by saving the earth. The earth does not pay you for this service because our relationship with the earth is not based on money. We cannot be owners of the earth. Money is not the language of nature. Money is inconsequential.

Enough of that morning musing...

I spent last night in Matagalpa with Rose and Molly. It was nice to get out of the campo for the night. I had not realized how much my body was being effected by the diet of rice, beans, tortillas, and pasta. We went to the lovely Italian restaurant that we had been to in October. La Vita y Bella. I ate a SALAD, pizza, and bruschetta. My stomach was very very confused. Although it is nice hanging out with my compañeras and taking a warm shower, I really miss La Grecia and Vicente, Carmen, Wilmer, Levi, Bismark, and Erika. I cannot describe how much I love this family. In such a short amount of time, I have formed relationships with them as well as the place itself.

One morning I sat for a little over an hour waiting to see a guardabarranco (the national bird). I did not see one until I returned to my house, but I saw other birds and enjoyed the breeze beneath the bamboo trees. Finca San Martin is IDYLLIC. This place could easily be my favorite part of Nicaragua. Before coming here and starting ISP, I felt like I would easily be happy never coming back to Nicaragua (except maybe to teach English on the Caribbean Coast and hang out with the Garifunas). However, now I have come to love this little part of Nicaragua and the work that is being done there. People are actively trying to address violence and give alternatives for people to resolve their conflicts...

But conflict resolution is not sustainable...we need CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION, which is where human rights promotion comes in and projects that address injustice. Social injustices and family life are the roots of conflict (or so I am starting to conclude and reconfirm in my heart and soul).

Spider webs connect themselves to a place with humility and a profound understanding of a soul of a place (Lederach, The Moral Imagination).

ISP Independent Study Project

Nov 10th-Dec 10th is the period of ISP. I am currently living in rural Nicaragua outside of Matagalpa in Yasica Sur and in the community of La Grecia. I am living with a man called Vicente Padilla and his family.

Link to article about Vicente and his past nonviolent struggle for his land rights:
http://www.envio.org.ni/articulo/3355

My project is focusing on conflict resolution and the culture of peace in the context of rural coffee growing Nicaragua. It is also the coffee picking season right now in Nicaragua which means everyone is focused on this task.

Yesterday, I observed a mediation that his son, Wilmer, facilitated. It was interestin and different from my experience at home.

The place where I am living is pretty incredible. Vicente does organic farming and has several animals. I also have an actual bed/mattress even though I was expecting a wooden bed. We also have electricity, running water set up, and a tv. Vicente and his wife have 5 children. One is studying medicine in Venezuela. The youngest is an 11 year old girl who gave me a drawing my first day. She also likes to dance and I have been trying to teach her some African dance steps.
I have a feeling that I will be very sad to leave this place. But...One month left! And I am back in the States.

The ISP period has already been frustrating...after only 3 days! Research is difficult but we are finally putting into practice everything we have learned. Vamos a ver.

El Salvador

What we did in El Salvador in summary
Site visits:

• Equipo Maiz (a popular education organization) for a history of El Salvador

• la Divina Providencia a hospital for the terminally ill where Monseñor Oscar Romero lived his last days and was killed giving mass
• the Centro de Encuentro Juvenil that works with providing an alternative to at risk youth
• Centro Pastoral Oscar Romero
• Jabali Coffee Cooperative
• Radio Victoria!! a community radio station in northern El Salvador
  
• the National Assembly and met with represenatives from the FMLN and ARENA parties
  

Lectures:

• juvenile justice and gangs
• Migration, immigration, and deportation
  
• liberation theology (and what we do when we return to the US)
• promoting peace and art in Suchitoto (plus some great life advice)
  
• historical walk in Santa Marta
• the current context and political sitution in El Salvador
  
• Testimonals about life before, during, and after the war (the atrocities and struggle)

I really cannot begin to describe all the daily emotions and transformations that I experienced in El Salvador.

You cannot talk about El Salvador and the past atrocities or civilk war without talking about Oscar Romero. He was an archbishop who stood up against the human rights abuses that the government was committing. We visited la Divina Providencia, a hospital for the terminally ill where Oscar Romero lived and was assasinated giving mass on the 24th of March, 1980. Everywhere we walked there were t shirts and other paraphenelia being sold with his image. There is also an effort to canonize him. It was odd but I really felt a connection to him while I was in El Salvador. At the same time, I was also reading The Search for a Nonviolent Future by Michael Nagler. The book also includes stories about volunteers working for peace in El Salvador during the 1980s. Somehow all of these ideas were coming together for a greater understanding of El Salvador and my hopes and dreams. I believe that violence will just produce more violence and there is another way. Oscar Romero stood up to the violence around him because he loved his people and believed they were the most important and deserved to be respected.

A lot of our time in El Salvador was spent talking or thinking about violence and gangs. Sister Peggy at Centro Arte para la Paz said that violence is like oxygen in Nicaragua. Yet, I am able to see hope. Projects are working on improving the lives of at risk youth and giving them other opportunities than going to gangs. Simply cracking down on gangs is not enough because it does not address the root causes. Restorative Justice was mentioned a couple of times as an option or new approach. However, I am concerned about how restorative justic is thrown around as an idea when sometimes people do not fully understand the concept. Restorative justice can be communities working together and can exist outside of the context of the justice system. I am definitely interested in how this approach could develop in El Salvador and would love to come back and be involved in some way.

RADIO VICTORIA
http://www.radiovictoria.org/
For a couple of days, we went to the northern town of Santa Marta and lived with members of the community radio station called Radio Victoria. Today, there is a mining company, Pacific Rim, that wants to excavate gold in the area. The company offered to pay Radio Victoria $8000/month for advertising etc. The Radio refused because they do not support the mining and know it would be bad for the community. There is already a water shortage and the mining would use incredible amounts of water as well as contaminating whatever water would be left for the people. Over a year ago, a social and environmental activist was killed. The police did not really investigate his death and attributed it to every day or gang activity. His body was found tortured at the bottom of a well. Since then, the Radio station was receiving death threats and the equipment was being damaged. The community came together to protect the station and watch in 24 hours a day for a period of 4 months. During this trying time, only one person left the radio station. There are many more details to this story. Overall, Radio Victoria is truly serving the community and standing up for rights and against corruption. We were able to work at Radio Victoria one morning. Molly, Nicole and I worked on a sociograma or skit with a social message. We decided to promote the idea of environmental conservation and that you shouldn't litter. I was la Madre Tierra or Mother Earth. As we were driving away from the town of Victoria, you could hear our skit being played several times.

There were so many things I enjoyed about El Salvador although it was extremely emotionally draining. I loved eating pupusas and learned how to make them. The Spanish accent was a lot easier for me to understand. I enjoyed interacting with El Salvadorian youth (on the University of El Salvador campus and at La Luna- bar/music venue). The people were open to sharing their stories. Hotel El Oasis where we stayed in San Salvador had amazing food and staff. The owners were such caring individuals.

a long awaited update

Hi all,
Sorry that I have not written in awhile. I promise I will add more details soon. Since I last wrote we have studied Culture of Peace and received from great lectures in Managua. Then, we went to El Salvador for a 9 day educational excursion. We stayed in San Salvador, visited Suchitoto, and lived in Santa Marta near the Honduran border. This experience was intense, inspiring, heart breaking, and spiritual all at the same time. El Salvador is a place with a violent history and a violent present. Yet, there is so much hope and potential for practices of RESTORATIVE JUSTICE. Perhaps, I will return one day to work in this area in El Salvador.

After we returned from El Salvador, Molly, Amber and I went to San Juan del Sur with Molly's parents. It was a much needed vacation (or fall break even). We stayed in a gorgeous house on the hill of San Juan del Sur that overlooked the beach as we sat in the infinity pool. It was hard returning to Managua but I felt rested and ready for the final days before ISP starts Novemeber 10th! For those of you who do not know, ISP stands for independent study project which is part of the SIT program format. Students complete project during the final month of the semester. (More on my project later...stay tuned!)

Finally, in one hour, I leave for Ometepe for an island adventure this weekend. I love exploring Nicaragua and it sure keeps me busy!

finding your place and your own pace

I have been in Nicaragua for well over a month now. The vacation feeling has worn off and I am starting to feel homesick. Sometimes I just want a good confidant. Now, I am becoming closer to two of the students in the program and am getting more confident with my Spanish. It really is amazing how much my Spanish has improved over the last 6 weeks or so.

I cannot decide if I like Managua or not. I have realized that I just do not enjoy big cities. Denver is not a big city, especially in comparison with the cities of the East Coast of the US. I remember when I lived in Dolores, CO this time last year. Dolores only has 800 people and many of this 800 do not live in the town itself. My time in Nicaragua is part understanding the culture of another country and gaining a better understanding of urban culture as well. I have studied migration to cities in class but am seeing it in a different way in Nicaragua.

I am trying to find a routine and time to do things to relax and destress. It is hard sometimes to balance life when we have a lot of work to do (essays, presenations, readings, and preparing to lead class discussions). This week I plan on cooking and doing more yoga. I also just got a hair wrap done today--it is brown with a mix of blue, green, and yellow. Sometimes you have to do little things for yourself to find...INTERNAL PEACE. (Today, in class we talked about a culture of peace and the necessity of internal peace in the field of conflict resolution.)

Coconut Bread, Crabs, and dancing with the Garifunas!

The trip to the coast is something that many Nicaraguans are not able to do. We were in bus for 6 hours or so and then 2 more hours in panga (motor boat). We spent the first night in Bluefields and ate rondon (a stew of fish, cassava, other vegetables, and coconut sauce). The next morning we took another panga to Pearl Lagoon. Here we stayed at Green Lodge and had Mr. Wesley as our on site director. In addition to being the owner of Green Lodge, he works with mediation and conflict resolution. I wish that I would have had more time to talk to him about this subject. (As we begin our module on the culture of peace, I am starting to become sure that I want to work in conflict resolution after college. I already do some work with conflict resolution, but I believe I could truly be happy devoting my time to this field. My friends for the SIT program, Amber and Molly, think that I have the skills or personality for this field as well).

Back to the Coast...We learned a lot about the situation of Autonomy. The Coast was originally a British Protectorate and was never formally colonized. Now, the Atlantic Coast has been incorporated/conquered by the Pacific Coast and the central government of Nicaragua. I used both verbs because this unification is controversials. Costeños feel like they have been conquered and feel like second class citizens. The Autonomy Law aims to give more rights to the Costeños but at times, these rights only exist on paper and not in reality.

One right is to learn in their mother tongue. There are bilingual schools that teach English and Spanish. However, many children have other languages for their mother tongue. A common language is Creole. One guest lecturer, Angela Brown, told us that Creole should not be called a badly spoken English. When a child hears that their language is inferior, this opinion translates to an opinion that the child is inferior as well. Children need to be empowered and language is part of their identity. Also, Angela Brown argued that if a child learns to read and write first in their mother tongue, then it will be easier to learn other languages like English and Spanish.

We visited a school called PLACE (Pearl Lagoon Academic Center for Excellence). This school is very progressive and is trying to get parents and the community involved in their children's school. The school also offers classes in music, art, and computers. They understand that not everyone will be gifted in the traditional curriculum of school and need other areas to excel and perhaps make a living. Music and art can be great options for these children. The school also works with teacher capacitation and has a system for placing substitutes when teachers are sick. When we were in el campo and visited the comunity of La Ceiba near Maltagalpa, teachers canceling class seemed to be a huge issue.

On Thursday afternoon, we went to the Keyes of Pearl Lagoon. We were very lucky because during other past fall semesters, the weather has not permitted this kind of activity. We collected sea shells, snorkeled and swam in the beautiful water. The Keyes are interesting because they are mostly (or all) private islands. Currently, Pearl Lagoon is going through a process of land demarcation and titling. Most land will become communal property. I am curious to see what will happen with these islands.

On Friday, we spent most of the day with families. Rose and I spent the day with Sony McCoy and his family. (We caught crabs for 3 hours or so. I can tell you more details if you want about the process.) It was a great experienced but I burned my back pretty badly. Afterwards, his wife cooked the crabs in a delicious coconut broth and we ate them with plantains and rice.

On Saturday, we returned to Bluefields and visited the BICU (Bluefields Indian and Creole University). Later that night we had a performance with a Garifuna dance group. The Garifunas are an ethnic group of African and indigenous decent. Some of the rhythms and dances reminded me of West African dance in Boulder. When I danced with this Garifuna dance group, I felt like I was back in Boulder. It was one of the happiest/care free moments of my time in Nicaragua thus far.

Food: fish, shrimp, cassava, pasta, and coconut bread (made with coconut milk)
And of course, crabs that I caught myself.

Finally, I was able to do yoga two mornings on the balconey while the sun was rising = one of the peaceful experiences of my life.