So I live on 4000 chords a month, which is about 200 dollars. That rate changes as the dollar does, but it stays right around that. Its what most teachers make,and have to provide for the families with. I can´t imagine, its hard enough for just me to feed, buy house supplies, transport, and the periodic entertainment. I can´t imagine how it is for people with family members. The teachers make so little, that they don´t pay taxes.
Here is an interesting article about the embassador here. He served in the embassy in Honduras during the contra wars, and now is in Nicaragua, making his appointment somewhat contraversial. I like him, he seems like a decent, personable fellow, but I´m not super familiar with his politics. But this was interesting. http://www.nicatimes.net/nicaarchive/2008_09/092608.htm
Oct 3, 2009
Sep 29, 2009
So there are some funny subtle cultural things that I´ve noticed as of late. I´ll give an example. The other day we were out at a health post. We were sitting outside around a table reviewing charts, taking bloods pressures, and handing out meds (well, I wasn´t really involved in any of the above, I like to think of my work as still being somewhat observational. I´d set my backpack down on the ground next to me. After an hour or so I went to pick up my bag and realized that it was completely infested with these nasty biting red ants! I looked around and noticed that everyone else had put their bags up on the table. One of the nurses laughed and said something to the effect, ¨All you gringos do that, put your bags on the ground. Why is that¨? I guess being from the Northeast at least, we have an attitude of your bag is dirty don´t put it on the clean table, where as here, the ground is dirty so keep your bags of the ground. How many times growing up were we told to ¨get our backpack off the table¨?! I´ve been trying to make a point now to not make the same mistake, but old habits die hard. I´ll be sacraficing a few more oranges, and cracker wrappings I think..
Sep 26, 2009
So I know that I just logged on because I wanted to write about something, now what was it....? I have such a wonderful memory...
Oh yes, I just finished reading a book called ¨Blood of Brothers: Life and War in Nicaragua¨´. It’s by ummm Stephen Kinzer, a journalist who has worked for The Globe, and New York Times (I think those are the two big ones). He started his reporting career in his early twenties in Nicaragua, and has stayed highly interested in the country, its politics, history, culture since the late 70´s. He has over 10 years of reporting experience here, and has some interesting insight, and a broad knowledge of the history of the country. I highly recommend looking into this book.
One thing that struck me about this book was that it really explained the U.S intervention in Nicaragua, really from its start with William Walker up through the early 2000´s. We are maybe taught that William Walker existed, and Maybe that there was this thing that happened in the 80´s that involved Iran, and this country called Nicar-something (Its in the Central America I think, or wait is it in Africa), and something/somebody called the contras, and something about some sort of gun sales....? But really. That was about where my knowledge was when I left the US in January. (Im really bad about investigating a country before I get there, for example Turkey, I lived there for a few months, and still don´t know a lot about it although I just found a book by the above mentioned author about Turkey that I´ll be buying!)
But we aren´t taught how disastrous our policies here in Nicaragua were, for Nicaragua and for ourselves (it seems to have solidified in the minds of many countries that we´re tyrants etc etc, and gave foundation, and legitimacy for a lot of mistrust other nations (especially poor ones) have for us). It shows how all parties involved, the Contras, Sandinistas, the US, Honduras, Costa Rica viewed each other, the philosophy behind various actions taken, and most importantly (I think) put it all in the context of the Cold War and a larger world picture.
Having a basic understanding of the history, really has made me understand some of the more subtle parts of the culture, that I hadn’t even noticed before. Its allowed me to be more patient and forgiving (at least in the short term)with some things that drive me insane. I think in a way it somewhat makes me feel guilty about our history with this country (I wasn´t even born yet, but that doesn’t really matter) and really gives me inspiration to be here, to work with a people who´ve been hit hard from all vantage points, internal and external. It explains the perceived passivism (aka everything is out of my hands, which historically it has been), the chronic self degradation of some of my friends.
But anywho Its a good read even if you´re not in Nicaragua, if you like good writing, history, and overall just to read.
I´ve been reading alot and I´ve got some other books I´ve liked:
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
The Other Boylen Sister (no idea who wrote it)
East if Eden: Steinbeck
There are many others, that I am having a hard time remembering what the others are (doesn’t help that a local ¨bolo¨aka drunk is trying to talk to me. He´s a story, US educated naturopath, speaks English, is a good businessman, but can´t quite the bottle. There have been many mornings that I´ve had to step over him on my way out the door to work)
Well if I remember any other good ones I´ll let ya´ll know!
Oh yes, I just finished reading a book called ¨Blood of Brothers: Life and War in Nicaragua¨´. It’s by ummm Stephen Kinzer, a journalist who has worked for The Globe, and New York Times (I think those are the two big ones). He started his reporting career in his early twenties in Nicaragua, and has stayed highly interested in the country, its politics, history, culture since the late 70´s. He has over 10 years of reporting experience here, and has some interesting insight, and a broad knowledge of the history of the country. I highly recommend looking into this book.
One thing that struck me about this book was that it really explained the U.S intervention in Nicaragua, really from its start with William Walker up through the early 2000´s. We are maybe taught that William Walker existed, and Maybe that there was this thing that happened in the 80´s that involved Iran, and this country called Nicar-something (Its in the Central America I think, or wait is it in Africa), and something/somebody called the contras, and something about some sort of gun sales....? But really. That was about where my knowledge was when I left the US in January. (Im really bad about investigating a country before I get there, for example Turkey, I lived there for a few months, and still don´t know a lot about it although I just found a book by the above mentioned author about Turkey that I´ll be buying!)
But we aren´t taught how disastrous our policies here in Nicaragua were, for Nicaragua and for ourselves (it seems to have solidified in the minds of many countries that we´re tyrants etc etc, and gave foundation, and legitimacy for a lot of mistrust other nations (especially poor ones) have for us). It shows how all parties involved, the Contras, Sandinistas, the US, Honduras, Costa Rica viewed each other, the philosophy behind various actions taken, and most importantly (I think) put it all in the context of the Cold War and a larger world picture.
Having a basic understanding of the history, really has made me understand some of the more subtle parts of the culture, that I hadn’t even noticed before. Its allowed me to be more patient and forgiving (at least in the short term)with some things that drive me insane. I think in a way it somewhat makes me feel guilty about our history with this country (I wasn´t even born yet, but that doesn’t really matter) and really gives me inspiration to be here, to work with a people who´ve been hit hard from all vantage points, internal and external. It explains the perceived passivism (aka everything is out of my hands, which historically it has been), the chronic self degradation of some of my friends.
But anywho Its a good read even if you´re not in Nicaragua, if you like good writing, history, and overall just to read.
I´ve been reading alot and I´ve got some other books I´ve liked:
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
The Other Boylen Sister (no idea who wrote it)
East if Eden: Steinbeck
There are many others, that I am having a hard time remembering what the others are (doesn’t help that a local ¨bolo¨aka drunk is trying to talk to me. He´s a story, US educated naturopath, speaks English, is a good businessman, but can´t quite the bottle. There have been many mornings that I´ve had to step over him on my way out the door to work)
Well if I remember any other good ones I´ll let ya´ll know!
Sep 24, 2009
I had my first youth group meeting yesterday in one of my rural communities. We have a youth group in the main town, by my counterpart refuses to schedule meetings if we don´t have funding for food to give the kids. I still think we can meet and get work done without having food, but she seems to disagree. So I actually up and self motivated, and met up with the remnants of a group from one of the rural communities. There were 4 girls that showed up. I gave them a mini lesson about the immune system, and why HIV/AIDS destroys the immune system. They were really patient with my Spanish, and I think I actually got the main points across! We are hoping to participate in a nationwide art competition about HIV, so I used the meeting as a time to introduce the theme and get to know the girls. It was a highly satisfying experience, and I finally feel like I´m starting to work on my actual assigned work! (reproductiva health and child/maternal health education).
Sep 17, 2009
A few weeks ago I went out with one of the nurses to work on census. We caught a bus out of town, and walked down the main road taking down the number of people in the house, age, type of house, if they had utilities or not, and what sorts of animals they have. We came to our last house of the day, a ranch. The family had multiple cows and 4 children. The youngest came running out of the house, practically tripping himself over, carrying an egg. He hands it to me, and says something in timid Spanish (which of course I didn’t understand). I asked the nurse later what the little guy had asked me (I can understand her Spanish because she knows to speak slowly and clearly) and she repeated how the little guy had asked that if he gave me the egg, would I not give him a shot? I guess the majority of the time when nurses go house to house its for a vaccination campaign.
I was able to view another birth yesterday. It was less emotional this time, and the mother wasn´t scared like the first. In Spanish they call giving birth ¨Dar Luz¨ which translates to giving light. Its quite appropriate really. Randomly I was stung by a bee in the middle of the delivery, (my first bee sting) although I must say I’m glad it was me, and not the lady in labor.
This picture is from today (I’m going to try to be better about taking photos) We made a roadside stop under a mango tree to give a month old little baby its polio, and retro viral oral vaccinations.
Before I came here I had a chat with a friend of mines mother who is a natural path. I explained to her that I was joining the peacecorps in the health sector. I told her how I was impressed with the high levels of vaccination that they have here. Her response to that was ¨well I spend most of my time here dealing with the repercussions of vaccinations like autism and other autoimmune disorders. (well there isn´t any solid proof that vaccines cause autism, nor is it as far as I know an autoimmune disorder) I then asked her if she disagreed with vaccinations and she said yes, and that none of her children had vaccinations, nor have they been sick. (they´re really health fanatics, exercise eat well etc etc.) I asked her if vaccines were valuable if we could eliminate diseases like smallpox, and she responded with; well if you look at trends, the diseases like smallpox are already in decline when the vaccination comes out, so we really don’t know if the disease went away naturally or it was the vaccine that did it. Can you imagine? and this lady has a doctorate to give people medical advice. If you have been exposed to a place where people, not just babies, die all the time from preventable diseases I feel like she´d sing a different tune. Even is the shots do cause autism personally I think if we can save thousands of lives its worth the few hundred that get autism.
Another thing is that this lady, her children are living in a developed country. There is a phenomenon known as ¨Herd Immunity¨(I believe that’s the name, I´ll explain). Herd immunity is when a population are immune to a disease (aka receive vaccinations) no one has the disease. So if a person goes without the vaccine in an area where no one else can catch the disease, then there is no one to pass the illness to that specific person. So in essence, this lady´s children are safe from things like hepatitis, because everyone else is getting vaccinated.
I pushed the natural path more to explain how vaccinations cause autism, and she didn’t have an answer. Its not that I have anything against naturopaths. Their work is valid. Not all modern medicine is 100% nor is natural medicine. I think the two could work together really well if the two camps would just listen to one another and not see each other as some great evil.
More on health care. In the US I think we take for granted the people to people interactions we have between medical providers and the patient. Doctors have a reputation of being impersonal and un-empathetic. Nicaragua puts this on a whole different plane. For example today a little girl was crying because she fell. Her mother said to her ¨if you don´t stop crying, that doctor is going to give you a shot¨ the doctor nodded in agreement. The threat was totally empty, but the little girl (she was probably only 3) did shut up. Maybe the immediate outcome was what the mother had wanted, but I don´t see how threatening kids with injections is good for anyone´s mental health. Also a kid crying from falling is totally normal. Adults constantly are calling their kids ¨necio¨or annoying/stupid for normal kid things, like playing, running around. I asked if necio has a negative connotation, and was told that it indeed is a negative word. So these poor little kids, the majority here in my site at least, grow up learning that normal kid behavior is annoying, making them in essence a bad person. There is little discipline here, so situations tend to escalate ending with someone getting smacked. The behavioral problems aren´t nipped in the bud, so kids learn to push their parents limits, and the parents loose patience very quickly. It’s a cultural problem that I can´t even come close to touching, nor do I feel it’s my place to so, as I’m an outsider.
Well that was all super cynical. I meant this to be a more optimistic post. I guess cynicism is a bad habit, which I need to work on breaking...
I get to come home for Christmas in 14 weeks! So for wants/needs I have requests out for the following: apple pie, peach cobbler, Spencer’s ice-cream in Milford, fish chowder, hot cocoa, and sledding, apples, blueberry muffins, Thai iced tea, sushi, apple cider, good wine, Moscow mule, chocolate cake, good company, speaking English, snow, cooler climes, exercise....oh how the list grows...
Cue the thunderstorm, time to log off! (saw a rainbow today hanging over the volcanoes, absolutely beautiful)
I was able to view another birth yesterday. It was less emotional this time, and the mother wasn´t scared like the first. In Spanish they call giving birth ¨Dar Luz¨ which translates to giving light. Its quite appropriate really. Randomly I was stung by a bee in the middle of the delivery, (my first bee sting) although I must say I’m glad it was me, and not the lady in labor.
This picture is from today (I’m going to try to be better about taking photos) We made a roadside stop under a mango tree to give a month old little baby its polio, and retro viral oral vaccinations.
Before I came here I had a chat with a friend of mines mother who is a natural path. I explained to her that I was joining the peacecorps in the health sector. I told her how I was impressed with the high levels of vaccination that they have here. Her response to that was ¨well I spend most of my time here dealing with the repercussions of vaccinations like autism and other autoimmune disorders. (well there isn´t any solid proof that vaccines cause autism, nor is it as far as I know an autoimmune disorder) I then asked her if she disagreed with vaccinations and she said yes, and that none of her children had vaccinations, nor have they been sick. (they´re really health fanatics, exercise eat well etc etc.) I asked her if vaccines were valuable if we could eliminate diseases like smallpox, and she responded with; well if you look at trends, the diseases like smallpox are already in decline when the vaccination comes out, so we really don’t know if the disease went away naturally or it was the vaccine that did it. Can you imagine? and this lady has a doctorate to give people medical advice. If you have been exposed to a place where people, not just babies, die all the time from preventable diseases I feel like she´d sing a different tune. Even is the shots do cause autism personally I think if we can save thousands of lives its worth the few hundred that get autism.
Another thing is that this lady, her children are living in a developed country. There is a phenomenon known as ¨Herd Immunity¨(I believe that’s the name, I´ll explain). Herd immunity is when a population are immune to a disease (aka receive vaccinations) no one has the disease. So if a person goes without the vaccine in an area where no one else can catch the disease, then there is no one to pass the illness to that specific person. So in essence, this lady´s children are safe from things like hepatitis, because everyone else is getting vaccinated.
I pushed the natural path more to explain how vaccinations cause autism, and she didn’t have an answer. Its not that I have anything against naturopaths. Their work is valid. Not all modern medicine is 100% nor is natural medicine. I think the two could work together really well if the two camps would just listen to one another and not see each other as some great evil.
More on health care. In the US I think we take for granted the people to people interactions we have between medical providers and the patient. Doctors have a reputation of being impersonal and un-empathetic. Nicaragua puts this on a whole different plane. For example today a little girl was crying because she fell. Her mother said to her ¨if you don´t stop crying, that doctor is going to give you a shot¨ the doctor nodded in agreement. The threat was totally empty, but the little girl (she was probably only 3) did shut up. Maybe the immediate outcome was what the mother had wanted, but I don´t see how threatening kids with injections is good for anyone´s mental health. Also a kid crying from falling is totally normal. Adults constantly are calling their kids ¨necio¨or annoying/stupid for normal kid things, like playing, running around. I asked if necio has a negative connotation, and was told that it indeed is a negative word. So these poor little kids, the majority here in my site at least, grow up learning that normal kid behavior is annoying, making them in essence a bad person. There is little discipline here, so situations tend to escalate ending with someone getting smacked. The behavioral problems aren´t nipped in the bud, so kids learn to push their parents limits, and the parents loose patience very quickly. It’s a cultural problem that I can´t even come close to touching, nor do I feel it’s my place to so, as I’m an outsider.
Well that was all super cynical. I meant this to be a more optimistic post. I guess cynicism is a bad habit, which I need to work on breaking...
I get to come home for Christmas in 14 weeks! So for wants/needs I have requests out for the following: apple pie, peach cobbler, Spencer’s ice-cream in Milford, fish chowder, hot cocoa, and sledding, apples, blueberry muffins, Thai iced tea, sushi, apple cider, good wine, Moscow mule, chocolate cake, good company, speaking English, snow, cooler climes, exercise....oh how the list grows...
Cue the thunderstorm, time to log off! (saw a rainbow today hanging over the volcanoes, absolutely beautiful)
Sep 11, 2009
Hello all!
My local volcanoe had a minor erruption last week, which was kind of exciting. Alot of smoke, and ash. I think the type of volcano that San Cristobal is, isn't prone to violent firey explosions.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h2XeRIAo4H1klveujf8GudAobTsAD9AI61480
It was shooting up pretty large mushroom clouds a couple days later when I rode past the base of it.
I just had my first in service training. we were put up in the city of Estili for a couple days. We had sessions on everything from how to work with youth, to how to procces soy from beans to make milk, and soy meat.
My local volcanoe had a minor erruption last week, which was kind of exciting. Alot of smoke, and ash. I think the type of volcano that San Cristobal is, isn't prone to violent firey explosions.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h2XeRIAo4H1klveujf8GudAobTsAD9AI61480
It was shooting up pretty large mushroom clouds a couple days later when I rode past the base of it.
I just had my first in service training. we were put up in the city of Estili for a couple days. We had sessions on everything from how to work with youth, to how to procces soy from beans to make milk, and soy meat.
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