Men's Health Class at Colegio Chiquilistagua

I'm very excited to introduce our newest program for Manna Project Nica... Men's Health! This class came about 8 months after the Sexual and Reproductive Health class for girls at Colegio Chiquilistagua was started. SRH has a class of 11-13 year olds on Wednesday, and a class of 14-16 year old girls on Thursday. During these times, the boys in these classes would have an hour for extra recess! Seeing that this was a great opportunity to provide for the boys, JJ, Jamison and Javier decided to start a complementary Men's Health class. It's just beginning but we're all really excited about it. Here's what JJ had to say:


"This month we began a health class for 6th-8th grade boys at the public school in Chiquilistagua.  There was already a program in place for the young women at this school, so MPI Nicragua expanded our efforts to teach to the young men as well.  Now, we teach two classes a week to boys whom before the class begun had a free hour while the girls were in heath class.  Just like the women health class, we use Como Planear Mi Vida as a resource for our subject material.  A lack of information about health, gender relations, and sexual relation is present in this community so we see a lot of potential to provide a beneficial class.  We are very excited to continue get to know the students and provide a valuable lessons to the young men in Chiquilistagua."

Apply to be a Program Director!!

Tomorrow is the first deadline to apply to be 2013-2014 Program Director in Nicaragua, Ecuador, or Guatemala. But don't worry, you can still send in your application after October 15th!

Below is a video that I made for my family and friends about my experience thus far in Nicaragua. I spent my first year out of college working in an office and decided to go abroad to get more experience and adventure under my belt. It's been the best decision I could have made.

Click here to apply!

We Are Family

This blog post was featured on Hannah's blog, and I thought it was beautifully written! If you are interested in applying to be a Program Director in 2013-2014, apply soon! The first deadline is October 15th.

"One of the aspects of Manna that really drew me to apply was it's very unique, strong relationship with the communities it works in.  There are many programs that can teach English or do microfinance which don't get me wrong are very helpful in developing countries. However, the people we are helping are not numbers, but people with personalities and families and life stories. They have experiences and values that can be shared and are important to understand toreally touch them in an impacting way.  Just like my own family, they face struggles and hardships as well as find happiness in the celebrations of births and graduations.  This is why since coming to Nicaragua and meeting the community members of Cedro Galan and Chiquilistagua, I have never once felt like an outsider or a person incapable of understanding their culture. Instead, I have been welcomed with open arms and been invited into each of their families.

Two nights of the week I am invited into Lorena's home for a delicious dinner while we sit in rocking chairs on the front porch talking about life.  She hugs me tightly and says "adios mi bebita" when it's time to go. Despite the rain, Jaqueline and Proyanka carry me through the lake of a road to their house so I can teach them English on a Friday night.  They don't hesitate to give up one of their sweaters so I don't catch a cold and give me their only candle when all the electricity is cut off. Tammy and her mom Lupe come over to my house to have fun in the pool and eat some lunch. As Tammy and I are catching up in my room, I am nearly knocked over when she throws her arms around me and says "you are my aunt!"

These are just a few examples of the love and acceptance I have received since coming to this beautiful country.  I am reminded of the beauty of human connection every day and I know I will forever be impacted by the kindness I have experienced here. Every day I can feel myself learning how to become a better person and I have the beautiful people of Nicaragua to thank for that."

Women's Exercise

Twice a week the beats of Danza Kuduro can be heard throughout Cedro Galan.  The sounds may be mistaken for a filming of a latin music video, but in fact it’s our Women’s Exercise class. Two hours a week four PDs (Hannah, Robin, Kiely and Julia) teach a fun, energetic work out to the powerful women of Cedro Galan.  Although the age separates the women, their goal unifies them.  In a routine where caring for children and putting food on the table three times a day is what is expected, giving women a sense of empowerment and free time is a valuable.  Due to the imposing theme of machismo in Nicaragua, women are rarely allowed to leave the house and do something they enjoy for themselves.  In addition to this, women are often subordinated and made to feel worthless through either emotional or physical abuse.  Our program tries to combat these issues through our exercise classes and self-esteem charlas given by our psychologist.  

We have gotten to know each woman personally through the class and it is amazing to see them open up more each week and find a new sense of ease in completing each exercise we give them.  In each hour we do a warm up, cardio, weights, abdominal exercises, yoga.  Each class we try to add something fun, Danza Kuduro and The Wobble are our personal favorites.  We often end the class with free dance so the women have a chance to express themselves and release their stress.  The women always come in with a huge smile on their face and always have new ideas to make the class even better.  Here is a picture of the women in exercise action:

The other component of the program is to provide empowering charlas to help women overcome issues machismo in the household.  Through knowledge of women’s rights laws in the country as well as understanding their self worth are very important to combat inferiority complex present in this community.  Our psychologist, Elisabeth, has come twice to discuss self-esteem and healthy communication within relationships.  The women responded very positively to both charlas and really connected to Elisabeth.

We are very excited to continue growing and improving this program.  We hope to start a nutrition class to supplement the exercise class to educate the women on how to lead a healthy lifestyle.  In the past there have also been cooking classes which we hope to start back up again as well.  This program has so many directions to improve, and we know with the overwhelming support from the women we will be able to make a great impact in the community!

 (Written by Hannah Peterson)

Retreat at Laguna de Apoyo

 This past weekend we had our first retreat at Laguna de Apoyo. We had all heard great things about this spot but I think all of our expectations were surpassed! The clean, blue lake and lush, green slopes of the crater were breathtaking. It was the perfect backdrop to our time of team and vision building.

My favorite part of the weekend was when we reflected on everything that has happened so far. Even in our brief two months of being in country, we have achieved things together-- big and small. Looking forward, we have a better vision for what we want to learn and how we want to grow the programs of MPI Nicaragua. We are all invested in our programs and want to see the people in our communities flourish for the rest of this year and the years to come.

Roscoe

Last week we introduced a new member into the family... puppy Roscoe! He is going to grow up to be an awesome guard dog, but in the meantime, we're happy spoiling the little pup.

Milk Day

Milk Day was one of the most anticipated tasks to complete as a group of new PDs. This is the day that our families involved in our Child Sponsorship program receive a combination of milk, cereal, vitamins, and beans to last them the month. We measure and weigh each child and talk to their mothers to see how everything is going. We never got to see the old group of PDs actually do a Milk Day, but with the help of the MPI staff here Milk Day was a huge success! If you are interested in sponsoring a child in our program, please click here!