Introducing the 2012-2013 PDs!

The last of the old PDs left this morning and us new PDs are officially in the swing of things! We learned a lot from the old PDs in the short time we were together; their stories and achievements were encouraging and inspirational. I hope that we can continue to improve and strengthen MPI's programs just as they did. Last week we had the annual despedida/bienvenida party at El Farito to say celebrate both teams and the community. It was the perfect way to say heartfelt goodbyes and meet new friends. Especially since a piñata and a cake were involved.

Click here to meet the new team!

Kid's Camp

Today in El Farito the Summer Interns taught the kids a new craft! We made these awesome little start doorknob hangers.  So proud of how they listened and everyone was excited to take their finished project home! .... such a great day @ MPI Nicaragua.

The Little Things...

The Little Things

While it may seem intimidating at first, making the leap to volunteering in another country is something that everyone should experience. I know what it's like to live in a comfortable little bubble, hiding behind all of the eccentricities of middle-class American life. I grew up in a small town in Ohio, and haven't seen much else outside of that town. However, upon entering college, I began a desperate search for new sights and experiences.

Since coming to Nicaragua, I've talked to mothers in La Chureca, helped teach English in Farito, and played soccer with kids in Salero. I've seen kids dance their hearts out on the dirt floors of their homes. What we're told is the face of poverty actually has a smile on it. These people truly enjoy the little things in life, and make the best out of less pleasing situations. They have inspired me so much, and I truly appreciate being able to meet them.

Whether it's volunteering with Manna Project or not, find what is calling you and go after it. Stop hiding behind all of the comforts of home, and explore the world. Volunteering abroad has been one of the most rewarding experience I have had, and I am glad that I did it. The types of people I have met and the experiences I have had are just not something that I would have been able to take part in if I hadn't ventured outside of my comfort zone.

_Bryant Sheppard

Bowling Green State University

Manna Project Intern '12

Things that made us smile this week

Davis playing Jenga with Janice and Arexa

Maggie and Henry

This past weekend, Fiona shared her most recent blog post, titled “Things that made me smile this week.” After reading her post, several of us in the Manna House were inspired to write similar blogs and emails for our friends and family. The idea is a great one, and helps to explain what makes our work so meaningful here in the communities of Cedro Galan, Chiquilistagua, and La Chureca. Together we’ve compiled a list of experiences that made each of us smile this past week. I thought I’d save some for our next blog post, so stay tuned for more smiles to come!

Things that made us smile this week:

· Randomly running into one of our teen English students, Francisco, at the market on my way to catch a bus, and him actually being excited to see us. –Fiona

· An amazing mother helping her three year old daughter to start learning English, by attending class with her and practicing outside of class as well. –Fiona

· Hearing Lesther, a two-year-old in our child sponsorship program in La Chureca, laugh for the first time. –Fiona

· Realizing that FOIL (an acronym we learned in high school algebra) doesn’t translate to Spanish, and deciding to use a sandwich as an analogy for binomial multiplication. While finding the product of binomials, Jose Antonio, my math student, now mutters “Here is the bread, here is the lunch meat…” –Sam

· The incredible drawings that 14-year-old Samuel makes after math and literacy and lets me take home. Samuel has dropped out of school for the semester and suffers from low self-esteem, so it’s great to see him create something he’s proud of. –Sam

· When our previously unruly girls soccer team responds super well to direction, and doesn’t complain about running suicides! –Sam

· Receiving a drawing of myself and Aydel holding hands. Aydel is a mentally handicapped boy in the community who is 16-years-old and I work with him on learning the alphabet and numbers. He can understand most everything when you talk to him but has a very difficult time saying anything. –Carrie

· Watching the women in exercise class dance Zumba to Shakira’s “Waka Waka” and having the 3-year-old children imitate us! –Carrie

· Singing the weather song with my kid’s English class. (“What’s the weather? What’s the weather? What’s the weather like today? Is it sunnyyy, is it rainyyy, is it cloudyyy, out today!”) –Carrie

· Last week, Davis and I walked home with one of my Kids English students, Norlan. We realized that he walks one hour each way just to come to Farito English classes twice a week. We got a chance to meet his mom and I told her what a great student he is. He was so proud and was grinning from ear to ear. I am so thankful for students like Norlan! –Christin

· Watching Ariel from our loan program making cinderblocks using materials he bought with our loan; also meeting his family and getting to know him better. –Matt

· Hearing from Alejandro that the other students in his math class ask him for help with polynomial expressions—the subject we've been working on for the past few weeks. –Matt

A Bittersweet 'Despedida'

          The time has come to say goodbye to the program directors of 2010-2011 and transition into the new group of volunteers for the upcoming year, which always makes for a difficult yet exciting change.  Two nights ago in El Farito we held our annual despedida party, formally presenting the new volunteers to the community and giving the old ones a chance to say goodbye.  This year was unique in that we had the opportunity to introduce the new program director, Katie Messick, to the community as well.  Even though this happens every year, it still was no easy task for the program directors to bid farewell to all of the people they had become so close with this past 10-13 months.
          So the evening began with a trivia game that required the community to investigate into the lives of the new program directors, trying to discover which of the volunteers paired up with the list of trivia facts given.  Then after Amira introduced Katie and the new program directors, a handful of girls from the community performed both folklore and reggaetown dances.  Along with the help of program directors Steph and Carly, the girls were all dressed up for the occasion, wearing traditional Nicaraguan skirts and tops with makeup and hair to along with it; they all looked beautiful and danced wonderfully.  It was then time for each of the program directors of 2010-2011 to say their own special goodbye, which lead into the final and probably most anticipated event, the photo slideshow.  The slideshow was a brief five minute video of pictures that captured just a handful of the many memories and experiences that took place this past year.  The rest of the night was then spent eating cake and hanging out with the community members.  There were tears and there was laughter and of course photos being snapped in every which direction, making the entire evening absolutely awesome but definitely bittersweet as well.

A snapshot of the community members present.

Dayana dressed up in her traditional Nicaraguan folklore outfit.

Cake!

The new program directors of 2011-12.

Steph and Carly dancing with some of the community members.

Community Art Show

          This past week was the last for the summer volunteers of session two and so as sort of a farewell to them we hosted a community get-together in El Farito.  It was focused around the recently switched kid's art program and was a time were they could display the crafts they had made.  Up until recently program director Katie Hathaway had been teaching a music class in which she taught the kids basic information about rhythm and reading music.  Well after her concert a few weeks back she decided to change the program into an art class because there were more people who seemed interested and skilled in that area, especially from the summer volunteers.  Two girls in particular stepped up to the plate to lead it, Baylee and Priyanca, and had the kids do a variety of creative and different projects.  For example they made masks, noise makers, painted their favorite places and things they loved, and then painted a mural as well.  So on Wednesday night they presented all of their hardwork on tables in El Farito so that everyone could walk around and see.  It turned out to be a super fun night filled with goodbyes but then a lot of laughter as well.  Dayana even performed a surprise dance for the summer volunteers that they all loved and in which she danced to traditional Nicaraguan folklore.  

          This weekend we also welcomed our new program directors for the year 2011-2012.  So exciting!  These first two weeks they are going to be in language school and participating in homestays with families in downtown Managua, meaning we won't really have the chance to see them.  The two weeks following are when we actually get to work and train with them.  As sad as it is to have to think about leaving, I and all of the other program directors are certainly looking forward to getting to know the new program directors and work in helping them get acquainted with this huge new life transition.

Summer Volunteers Priyanca and Baylee with their art class.

Mural made by the kids in the art class.

Dayana dressed to dance. 

La Venta de Ropa

Every year Manna Project hosts a clothing venta, or sale, for the families of the communities living nearby.  Throughout the year the Manna house fills up with donations from a variety of different sources, whether it be past program directors and volunteers or organizations and groups that bring random bags to donate.  Needless to say there ends up being an immense amount of clothing and so this annual sale gives the communities a chance to purchase these clothes at an extremely low price.  The venta is also pretty infamous and families will line up and wait to make sure they have a chance to come in and look around.  So at 6:30 Friday morning we loaded the car up with at least fifteen to twenty suitcases full of clothes and shoes and headed to El Farito to set up and open at 8.  The process is slightly different each year, but to decide who entered first we had the women draw numbers and enter in intervals of ten.  Each group then had ten minutes to look around and pick out a maximum of fifteen items, and then after that if they wanted they could get back into line and reenter at a later time.  For the most part everything ran smoothly and the women and men were extremely pleased.  Because the new summer volunteer group was here we also had lots of extra hands, which was wonderful, and all in all the event was a grand success!

Clothing venta in Farito.

Carly in watching the little girl's clothing table.

Summer vols Erin and Katherine with the clothes.

Summer volunteers Katherine, Stephanie, Jackie, and Lucie.

Megan and Rebecca manning the checkout table.

El Día de Las Madres

Today was Mother’s Day here in Nicaragua, or as they call it in Spanish El Día de Las Madres.  Being an extremely important and widely celebrated holiday, none of the kids had school and no one went to work; pretty much everyone takes the day to dote upon the women who have so much influence in their lives.  So here at the Manna House we organized a Mother’s Day brunch for all of the women that help cook for the feeding program  that takes place in Cedro Galon.  About twenty-five women were invited to come to El Farito where we served them a breakfast of eggs, toast, fruit, and juice and planned different games and activities for them.  The games included ‘pin the worm on the bird’s beak’ (a variation of pin the tail on the donkey’), trivia, and wordsearches, all of which came with the chance to win premios.  The women loved them all.  Chatter, smiles, music, and laughter filled the morning, and everyone ended up having a wonderful time.

After the brunch, many of us program directors and summer volunteers then drove over to Nicaraguan Christian Academy for a Mother’s Day assembly/concert, which is where one of our good friends Dayana attends school.  Dayana is in the sixth grade and we wanted to watch and support her as she sang with her grade.  Lorena, her mom, also came with us.  The assembly was sincere, all of the kids performing songs, skits, and dances to express their gratitude for their moms and families on such a special day.   

Chef Luke cooking the eggs.

From left: Jesenia, Lydia, and Esperanza.

Noelia playing 'pin the worm on the bird'.

All of the women sitting down to eat.

Dayanna performing with her classmates.

The whole crew after Dayana's performance.

toy soldiers

If you’ve ever peeked through the slatted window of an elementary classroom in a Nicaraguan public school, you’ve witnessed chaos in its purest form. Full of packed desks and colorful wall decorations, the room is usually brimming with many, MANY (yelling and wiggling!) uniformed children and one very patient teacher.

In this education system, schools are often under-resourced and overcrowded. Though many teachers are enthusiastic and responsible, a lack of materials and space often causes children to be passed from grade to grade without ever completely learning the desired objectives. Basic math skills are missing; reading and writing are frequently far under par. For this reason, MPI offers afterschool literacy and math programs to supplement what is learned in school and to give attendees a heads-up in the classroom… and in life.




Though most PDs came here with no teaching experience (especially in a foreign language!), leading math and literacy has become a bright spot in my week. In math group A (I love the little ones!), we are learning to add and subtract… using anything and everything to enhance the learning: toy soldiers, legos, M&Ms. Cristian rocks with her numbers and dominates the games! Ulises counts on his fingers so well, touching each to his nose as he says its number! And though Armando is often the last to understand, he giggles at everything and loves to guess the answer!

These children that attend El Farito each Monday and Wednesday afternoon have demonstrated vast improvements in their reading and math skills. And more notably, we hope that they have gained a deeper understanding of the importance of numbers and the value of books. But far more significant than any skill learned or objective passed is the confidence we hope to instill in these children. Mastering long division promotes self-assurance. Reading challenging chapter books opens minds to faraway places and cultivates dreams beyond housewifes and farmers. We want to foster a deep ambition in these children, to encourage them to think outside their neighborhood, to let them know that they have the capabilty to do great things.

Perhaps it all starts with adding toy soldiers...

Emily