finding joy in beaches and basura (trash!)

As a reward for studying hard and acing their end-of-semester tests in December, Maddie and I organized a trip to the beach for our respective intermediate and advanced English classes. This morning we filled up two large micro-vans with gringos and Nicas and started the hour-long trek down pothole ridden highways and bumpy dirt roads. The weather couldn't have been more perfect or the water more refreshing. Norman and Gabriel jammed out on the guitar. Dayana and Fabiola collected nearly a hundred sand dollars. The boys played sand soccer and the girls tossed the Frisbee around in the ocean. Emilio was buried in the sand and had his body shaped into a beautiful sirena (mermaid). Adriana, Gelme, Elena and Olga had a sand and water splashing fight. I learned that Mercedes' favorite song is "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and more about Olga's life as an aspiring attorney. All in all the day was wonderful and injury free, phew! Getting to know our neighboring Nica community via our English program has been a HUGE blessing thus far and I'm excited to deepen these friendships in the upcoming months.

Last week our Child Sponsorship team had a long overdue meeting with the La Chureca clinic staff and Ministry of Health officials to sort out some long standing questions and concerns. We thankfully made some headway and plans but continue to be frustrated by miscommunication that seems to plague our program. But wait, good news… we're graduating a number of children who have reached and maintained healthy weight, woohoo! Thus, we'll have ample room to enter more needy children in the upcoming months. I'm saddened to see a number of my favorite children and mothers go – familiar faces will be exchanged for new families and stories once again – but overjoyed that some of the children have grown and have some semblance of 'healthy bodies' amidst such a toxic environment.

Working in La Chureca has been by far the most challenging and shocking, yet joyful and rewarding, experience that I have had thus far in Nicaragua. It's one of those "you can't understand 'til you see it" kind of places, and even then you may not believe it exists. I feel compelled to overcome these insufficiencies and somehow share this incredible place with you. Here is a trailer for a short film being made about Día de Luz, a day long concert and celebration sponsored by 'Love, Light and Melody' in La Chureca. The film documents last year's event, which is when I was first exposed to La Chureca while on a spring break trip with the Nicaraguan Orphan Fund. Please check out the video and other pictures on this website to get a fuller picture of this place I have grown to know and love.

http://www.lovelightandmelody.org/index.php

Peace, Christina

back where we belong

Manna PDs returned to Nicaragua earlier this week, eager to begin another six months of sudor and amor. We’ve been well-fed, well-cleaned (with hot water!), and well-Christmas-ed up – totally ready for Nica life to begin once again…

And it’s now going in full force! We’ve been joined by two new PDs, Kyle and Jed-Josh (see pic below) and the ten of us have been busy preparing for programs, cleaning the house, taking rides on our newly-fixed motorcycle (thank you, Kyle!), and trying to keep our psycho male dog from impregnanting his mother. (We think a litter of incest puppies is on the way…)

Two days after our own arrival, we received a group of occupational therapists from Worcester State University, two professors and four students. After a restful weekend at beautiful Laguna de Apoyo (a gorgeous crater lake just outside Managua), these visitors began work at a school for children with disabilities and a special needs orphanage. While these women spent the week pouring their hearts into therapy for numerous children with both physical and emotional delays, Manna PDs had the privilege of serving them through transportation and interpretation.

And it truly was a privilege. In driving around Managua and attempting to translate between gringo and Nica, my eyes were opened to a population that is often overlooked and mistreated. Because special needs children require such specialized attention and expensive care, many developing nations simply do not have the resources or knowledge necessary for proper growth.

Yet both the school and the orphanage handle these children with amazing love. Sitting in a cement “playpen” with five deaf, autistic, or downs toddlers, tears streaming down my cheeks, I couldn’t help thinking about how different their situations would be had they been born into the prosperity of the United States. It’s a sad truth indeed. But more importantly, I was blown away by the daily enthusiasm of these babies’ caregivers and the way that these Nicaraguan women exude such a deep gentleness and grace. While money and training are undeniably essential, a mother’s love (and the orphans do call these women “mamá”) is powerful.

Who knows what the next six months will hold?! But we’re thrilled to be back home where we belong.

Emily

all in the family

Whether in the States or south of the border, December brings invitations of all kinds. Over the past week, Manna PDs have been invited to numerous end-of-the-year festivities taking place in the community, from parties to school ceremonies to hilarious singing holidays! Participation in these events usually means a) we are the only gringos and b) we have no idea what we are getting ourselves into…

First was Enrique’s promoción ceremony from sixth grade to primero año at Niño Jesús de Praga, the local Catholic school. Next was Norma and Lester’s First Communion on Sunday morning. In both occasions we sat in our seats amongst a sea of Nicaraguans, a very close knit community that welcomes us warmly but stares with such curiosity, thinking, “Who the heck are these gringos and why are they here?”Yet among the stares and long ceremonies and “gringa, gringa!” yells, we find it such a privilege to be invited to these events. In rural Nicaragua, they are the milestones of life that mark a sweet coming of age and will be remembered with a special fondness. Graduations, communions, holidays- these are events to be celebrated with family, and although we’ve been in Managua for only five months, I have grown to love these people as just that. Yesterday as we thanked Yamileth, the joyful mother of Enrique, Norma, and Lester, for inviting us to participate so richly in her family’s life, she simply said, “You all are also my family.”

As relationships here strengthen and we are invited more and more to be part of significant life moments, differences that once seemed so evident fade. Meandering through the Catholic church with a Nica child holding each hand, I forget that I am very tall, very blue-eyed, and very much not hispanic. Situations that once seemed awkward or foreign are now just life. We’ve been embraced by a community here in deep friendship, and I am so often caught off guard by how natural it is to call these people family. Before heading home next Tuesday, there remain a Purisima celebration, a birthday party, and a graduation to attend… What a blessing that in leaving one family behind in the States, we find another in Nicaragua!

Emily

conquering the bug

This week crackers and ginger ale have been in high demand. Sickness hit the Manna house with full force! With Nikki away in the States for med school interviews, there were only seven of us here to hold down the fort. And the stomach bug dominated us seven for seven. Lovely vomiting passed from Mose to Emily to Christina to Michael to Josh to Maddie… and the cycle was complete when Tressa threw up two days ago. Sick people taking care of sick people leads to general lack of hygiene and some pretty foul smells. But thanks to lots of Gatorade and Immodium, we’ve conquered the bug and are now back on our feet! (Although I’m not sure Tressa has left her bed or eaten anything today.)

On a happier – and healthier! – note, Josh (our go-to construction man and veteran PD) has been working hard on a series of wooden structures to be used at Tesoros de Dios (Treasures of God), a local school for children with disabilities. He was contracted by Jackie, a professor at Worchester State who has served at the school, to build equipment to aid the school’s physical therapy program. He has dreamed up, designed, and constructed a large round rocking “pig” that encourages kids to maintain their balance… and a sturdy square walker to assist children in learning to stand on their own... and there are more inventions to come!

Josh’s creativity in construction shines through in these projects, demonstrating the way that Manna allows each PD to pursue his or her passions. Additionally, the construction serves to foster a cool bridge between MPI and this unique young school, with both organizations combining their resources and strengths to love on Nicaragua. Just an example of how MPI overcomes the throw-ups!

Now let’s hope that our current visitors from Vanderbilt don’t get sick – I mean, how do you disinfect an entire house!?

Emily

life in the barrio

You’ll have to excuse last week’s lack of a blog entry… I was just too busy cooking rice and beans, taking bucket showers, and killing scorpions. Manna Project had moved to the barrio! Over the past two weeks, the current eight PDs have been doing homestays in Cedro Galan and Chiquilistagua, two communities in which we work. And to say it was “an experience” would be quite an understatement. Maddie had to cook Nica food for the whole family (for the first time, by herself!). Mose and I got a little (a lot!) sick and spent a few days vomiting. Nikki kind of didn’t shower. Christina woke up each morning with children on top of her. Michael learned sign language. Tressa was constantly running away from a crazed grandma (wearing feathers?!). And Josh celebrated his 22nd birthday watching Spanish movies with a 10-year-old. But despite such hilarious adventures, the opportunity to live alongside the families we daily serve was invaluable. Sleeping in a 3-room concrete house, showering with a bucket, hand-washing my clothes… all of these simplicities form a way of life here, a dear existence stripped of the luxurious security of the “first world” that so often forms a bubble of stale and lazy ambivalence. My heart was indeed humbled by the generous spirit of my “madre” Raquel and the way she served me with such strength and grace. It was a modest home – but one brimming with hard work and a deep joyful determination. When life is hard, a purposeful perseverance is fostered. It was a privilege to witness this.

And so we’re all back in the Manna house now (which almost feels like the U.S. sometimes!). We have peanut butter and cereal, flushing toilets, and tile floors – but I’ve learned that everything I really need fits nicely in a backpack.

Emily

day of beauty

On Thursday morning two huge vans pulled up to the clinic in La Chureca, ready and waiting to be filled with gleeful children and excited mommas. It was Milk Day time again… but this morning would prove to be far more exciting than the normal organized chaos of distributing milk, oatmeal, and vitamins to our child sponsorship families. We were taking the mothers and children from the city dump on a field trip! Christina had planned a Day of Beauty…

And so the crowded vans drove from the heart of Managua’s dump to “the land,” a wide open space in rural Chiquilistagua where we run many of our sports and exercise programs. We’d hired two beauticians to treat the mothers to hair-dos, manicures, and pedicures. (Many a Chureca toenail was washed and painted in the mixing bowls from our kitchen, yum). And it was a rare chance for the children to swing, slide, and play soccer in clean, green space.

Little Estéban rolled down the grassy hill over and over. Leonardo loved playing soccer with Michael. Arlen and Arelys just lay in the clover and frolicked around the volleyball court. Arlen was very careful to not “botar” her trash on the ground. “This is not La Chureca. We cannot put our trash on the ground here,” she told Arelys in her bossy little girl voice. (That’s my rough translation of little kid Spanish).

All in all, it was a fun day of rare treats – personal time for moms to be pampered, green play space for the kiddies, and an opportunity for the Manna team to witness the sweet enthusiasm of these children as they experienced a new and clean place to explore.

Highlight: We gave each child a new pair of precious little bitty shoes…


Emily

pizza fiesta

Last week the Manna house turned into party central – a pizza party, that is, with our Advanced English students! The MPI Advanced English class consists of about 15 “adult” students, a group of enthusiastic and sassy Nica kids who have grown to be our good friends. Because the majority of the class is our age, it has been so natural for in-class relationships to grow into solid friendships. We visit their homes and meet their families. Maddie and Christina spend hours each week learning guitar from Gabriel. Mose has a fierce chess rivalry with Fabricio. As months go on, friendships deepen. It’s incredible to see the ways that differences in culture and language fade into the background…

So, for said crazy pizza mixer, we ordered tons of Valenti’s (Nicaragua’s very-Latino version of Pizza Hut) and piled the red boxes high on the dining room table. Drinking too-sweet/too-red Nica soda and eating hundreds of Tressa’s cookies, the crowd played guitar and chatted in a hilariously creative English-Spanish lingo. I found myself astonished by the normalcy and joy in these Nica-gringo connections. The sing-a-longs, jokes, deeper one-on-one conversations… all parts of the night meshed into a beautiful picture of what Manna Project is all about: communities serving communities. Mutual learning, mutual sharing.


And of course a night so dear could only end with a little “let’s throw everyone in the pool completely clothed” fun. Basically, Nica boys are mischievous and have no concern for nice gringa jeans :)

Full of pizza and still trying to dry my chlorine-y clothes,

Emily

*Definition. Gringo: white, English-speaking, obviously foreign individual