Hello family and friends! I am finally bringing to you a report about the 5 service locations that our group is working with. 2 peopl are assigned to each location for the semester to do service for around 4 hours on the mornings of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of nearly every week we´re here.
Pajarito Azul (Little Blue Bird)
This place is like an orphanage for the mentally and physically handicapped, though almost all the patients are mostly mentally handicapped. Though they have come very far from where they were, the organization is still extremely short staffed and because of this the patients do not receive much interaction besides help with showers, changing diapers, and eating. This is where volunteers are extremely helpful to aid with various types of therapy programs. All of things, in my opinion, drastically improve the lives of these people. They come to be there because families don´t want them, and basically give them to the government or just leave them somewhere.
Quincho Barillete (Named after a song about a boy who overcomes his familial situation and drug problems)
This organization is helping young kids (up to age 15 I think) who have drug addictions or are in threat of drug addictions. They also work with the families of these children, who are usually the source of the issues varying from domestic violence, to abuse, and forcing the children to work and sell things in the street. If the children do not return with money they are punished, so many times the kids just don´t go home because it is better than being there. They have 3 levels, starting with an at risk level, which is what our group is working with. The other two are for those who do have addictions, and the third level is when they get involved with the family and follow up on the kids progress.
Aldo Chavarría Physical Rehab Hospital
This location is for people who have sustained physical injuries, often times losing a part of their body. Many times it is a leg or part of a leg, and one of the main causes (I think) is motorcycle accidents, which happen ALL THE TIME here, as the roads are by no means civil. The students working here spend time listening to the patients and overseeing their exercises which often times are painful, frustrating and uncomfortable. There is also a shop at this hospital where they make and fit ¨fake body parts¨ (I can´t remember the intelligent word for it right now, long day) and this is another aspect the patients most go through.
Olla de la Soya ("Pot of Soy")
This program is combatting malnutrition in Nicaragua and they have spread to six locations throughout Managua now. They care for pregnant mothers (fetus) to age nine (I think) unless there is still an extreme case of malnutrition in the child. Along with providing a meal that usually is a soy product, they have programs for the children to help promote their education and learning, especially about cleanliness. They also provide programs for the mothers to help them deal with the stresses of their homes, improve their self esteem, teach them about cleanliness, and help them to become better mothers for their children. The students working here accompany the children in their morning classes and help ensure they are all washing their hands before eating.
La Mascota Children´s Hospital
This is the only Children´s hospital in Managua, and they care for all cases and never turn a patient away, even if the family can´t afford to pay. Because of this they are always way over capacity. The situations here are very difficult because usually it tears a family apart. One family member must stay with a child and another has to work, so it is up in the air who cares for the other children and in all cases it´s a very hard situation for the family. Especially in the long-term illnesses. Because of this, students are working with the cancer patients to interact with the children and give the family members a break; as well as accompanying the family as they deal with grief when there is not good news from the doctor.
These are all of our service locations, but there is MUCH more to them than I have shared. However, I am only working at one of these places, which is Pajarito Azul. I will be posting more information about my experience there after my second week of work is over and it is possible that you will learn more about the others as I speak with my other group members. Hopefully soon is more pictures! (If they will ever upload) Much love and stay safe in your snow if you have it!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Some Views of Managua
Greetings! So I´ve successfully downloaded some more photos for you, and this time you are getting a brief tour of the city I am living in, Managua!
This is Kenneth, Kenia, and I standing in front of Lake Managua, which is clearly far away cuz you can´t see it; and this was actually like my second day in Managua. Which feels like forever ago.
This is a copy of a popular painting of Sandino, who was the figure-head of the major revolution in Nicaragua. This was located in the Sandino Museum. (in Mangua)
This is our group standing in front of the Sandino sillhouette (sp?) that is on top of a large mountain/hill. I believe it was drawn by Ernesto Cardinal, who is an extremely famous poet in Nicaragua, who I will here speak in two weeks!!!! Once again: (left to right and top to bottom) Ryan, Juan, Anna, Kayla, Zeke, Liza, Abby, Irene (Trip Leader), Katie, Brooke, Kenia (my N. sister), Kenneth (my N. brother), Me, and Nieves (she is the N. sister of one of the students but I always forget.)
A nice view of the New Cathedral, which is where I attend mass every sunday at eleven. It looks strange but I do love going there.
Nicaraguan money! Very important, the exchange rate is 1 U.S. dollar equals 20 Nicaraguan córdobas.
The Sandino sillhuoette, which I can actually see from my second-floor room in the neighborhood I live in.
The Old Cathedral, which is no longer in use, but looks way prettier.
And finally a closer view of Lake Managua, which is super high right now, that road actually goes down to a dock that you could walk out on, thus those lamp post things.
Tomorrow I will hopefully get some pictures up from some excursions I´ve gone on outside of the city and definitely information about the service sites!
Much love and misses to all!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
It´s Not All Bad!
Just so everyone can know that everything is not morbidly depressing, I thought I´d share my exciting excursion to a baseball game from last Wed.! (Yes, I´ve been slacking on the blogging.)
This is me between my Nicaraguan sister, Kenia (20), and my Nicaraguan brother, Kenneth (9), as we wait for almost two hours for the game to start. They do not have numbered seating, so you have to get there super early if you want a good seat!
This is my Nicaraguan dad, Martin (age unknown), and he is not as serious as he looks in this picture. He is actually quite a prankster and he is very paternal towards me which I love. He is impatiently waiting for his favorite baseball team, Boer, to come out and play. This game was a championship game, so it was going to be really intense!!! Some Americans there related Boer to the Cincinnati Reds, just for some perspective.
Nicaraguan sunsets, the source of my entertainment for many evenings, especially for this particular night!
This is my Xavier gringo group excited that the sun is almost gone! Top Row: Juan, Martin (my N. Dad), Irene (Trip Leader), Kenia, Kenneth, Gabriel (a neighborhood kid), and a guy I forget the name of, and above him is Tim (Trip Assisstant). Bottom Row: Kayla, Zeke, Abby, Nieves (also from neighborhood), Anna, Katie, Brooke, Ryan, and Liza.
Me getting back in touch with my creeping skills. They had tons of police on the premises, and it was a good thing because later on near the end of the game a fight broke out just a few seats away from me! They had three police to a guy and it was intense!
The game finally starting!!! Go Boer!!!!! The first 7 innings were depressing because the opposing team was winning 2-0, but in the eighth Boer scored once, and again in the ninth! The crowd was INSANE! This night made me SO happy because it was almost like being at a Red´s game with Andy, and I just had so much fun!
The crowd! It got a lot more crowded later on, especially because a huge ¨Pep Team¨ showed up of intense fans; and our group was unfortunately on the opposing teams side, so our cheering got lots of glares! The fight that broke out was right next to us and we were nervous to cheer after that. lol
A crazy happy Boer fan after we finally won in the 13th inning!!!! It was a very energizing and fun night.
Coming tomorrow (hopefully) are pictures of Managua, and information about the service site locations!
Stay tuned, and much love and hugs to all of you that I´m missing so much!
Eva Marie
This is me between my Nicaraguan sister, Kenia (20), and my Nicaraguan brother, Kenneth (9), as we wait for almost two hours for the game to start. They do not have numbered seating, so you have to get there super early if you want a good seat!
This is my Nicaraguan dad, Martin (age unknown), and he is not as serious as he looks in this picture. He is actually quite a prankster and he is very paternal towards me which I love. He is impatiently waiting for his favorite baseball team, Boer, to come out and play. This game was a championship game, so it was going to be really intense!!! Some Americans there related Boer to the Cincinnati Reds, just for some perspective.
Nicaraguan sunsets, the source of my entertainment for many evenings, especially for this particular night!
Me getting back in touch with my creeping skills. They had tons of police on the premises, and it was a good thing because later on near the end of the game a fight broke out just a few seats away from me! They had three police to a guy and it was intense!
The game finally starting!!! Go Boer!!!!! The first 7 innings were depressing because the opposing team was winning 2-0, but in the eighth Boer scored once, and again in the ninth! The crowd was INSANE! This night made me SO happy because it was almost like being at a Red´s game with Andy, and I just had so much fun!
The crowd! It got a lot more crowded later on, especially because a huge ¨Pep Team¨ showed up of intense fans; and our group was unfortunately on the opposing teams side, so our cheering got lots of glares! The fight that broke out was right next to us and we were nervous to cheer after that. lol
A crazy happy Boer fan after we finally won in the 13th inning!!!! It was a very energizing and fun night.
Coming tomorrow (hopefully) are pictures of Managua, and information about the service site locations!
Stay tuned, and much love and hugs to all of you that I´m missing so much!
Eva Marie
Monday, January 24, 2011
La Chureca vs. Rich Elite
Hello family and friends! Another update coming to you, regrettably with still no pictures because I forgot my converter (so used to those Macs) but I promise there will be some before Friday!
I would like to preface this post by saying that I have become acutely aware that I am and am going to be exposed to some very heavy issues. As many of you know, I´ve always had a bleeding heart, but I do not want to appear as a saint nor impose my personal opinions upon you. SO, I have decided to present this particular issue with as little bias as possible, and then give my reflections and emotions on the subject. So without further ado...
La Chureca is a neighborhood of 2000 people that live in the dump of Managua. There are another 4000 (I think this is correct) that live off of the dump, but live near it. To survive these people pillage for leftover food. A particular woman we spoke with, Yamiletha, said that they would put eggs in water and if they sank they were still able to eat it without it smelling to terribly, and if it floated, they would not open it because the smell would be too rancid. She also said that many families would also go through leftover organs dumped by meat companies to find any pieces of meat that they missed, and the people were knowledgeable on the different states of decomposition in order to decide how to cook it and how strongly to spice it, so that they could not smell or taste the food. Another aspect of living in the dump is scavenging for various items of value to sell, and many families would be an expert in a particular area. These materials can include plastic, all types of metal, jewels, and various electronics that the families would be able to sell to buyers that recycle or repair the materials. The largest health problems in the area are HIV, most commonly reported in the women, and lung problems in the children, including severe asthma and pneumonia (sorry for spelling.) The living situations would be situated out of scrap materials, and they currently do have water from Managua (which was granted in the past twenty years by the city, if I recall correctly) and they also have electricity, but it is "illegally used," as in no one pays for it. They have one clinic of a nurse, a doctor, a pharmacist, and another lady that does everything else and they function off donations and provide all of their services for free. They nearly shut down this year because donations have been shrinking over the past few years. Spain has currently been involved with La Chureca, and I believe has been so for a year. They are building a recylcing facility and building housing for the families that is close to but not in the dump. I do not know to what extent these plans have been planned out, etc. But I was told that the housing will be completed in one year.
This is as much information as I can currently recall about La Chureca.
After visiting La Chureca, we visited one of the richest neighborhoods in Managua. We did not get to go in the houses, but we were informed, through advertisement of selling the house and what was included in it, as well as from the 20 plus years of experience from Irene, that many of the houses include indoor pools, private security guards, large rooms, and anything you could possibly desire to entertain yourself on your own private estate. These houses were all surrounded by one or even two walls, with electric fencing and a security guard out front. They were extremely decorated with a lot of plant life. We also visited an extremely large shopping mall, and it was similar to that of a mall for middle class Americans, to help give you a perspective.
I do not have as much first hand information about the rich elite, but to my best understanding, the rich elite of Nicaragua have become extremely fearful and paranoid of the poor and have entirely separated themselves from their existence, because their homes and social places are so privatized and expensive, that the poor could not possibly have interaction with them. Many of the streets in Nicaragua also have roundabouts as opposed to stop lights, this way the poor that are selling various goods at the stop light cannot "disturb" the rich elite in their fancy cars. The issue I was personally most upset about, was that I felt safer and more comfortable in the places for the rich, than in the places for the poor. I did not cry in front of my group but I was crying inside and did cry later, whem Yamiletha was telling her story. She informed our group that the biggest issue with La Chureca is that the people have such a low self esteem that it is impossible to leave because they will not even think they are good enough to look for or do anything else. Yamiletha lived their for three years and she now runs a free pharmacy for the people and does many things to help with mental health and provide other training to help people get out of this neighborhood. I do not want to say what these people do is terrible, but I do want to say that they have to go there because there is no where else to go IS terrible. And this is not the only example of extreme poverty in Nicaragua, or in Central America. These types of communities are quite common and there are other communities that lives in a similar manner, without the trash. If you are interested in getting involved with donating to these communities, you can email me and I will get more detailed information from Irene (our trip leader) who truly is an expert with all things related to Nicaragua especially, as well Central America.
After this long post I need a break! But coming soon is information about the service sites and pictures!
Love and hugs to all of you!
Eva Marie
I would like to preface this post by saying that I have become acutely aware that I am and am going to be exposed to some very heavy issues. As many of you know, I´ve always had a bleeding heart, but I do not want to appear as a saint nor impose my personal opinions upon you. SO, I have decided to present this particular issue with as little bias as possible, and then give my reflections and emotions on the subject. So without further ado...
La Chureca is a neighborhood of 2000 people that live in the dump of Managua. There are another 4000 (I think this is correct) that live off of the dump, but live near it. To survive these people pillage for leftover food. A particular woman we spoke with, Yamiletha, said that they would put eggs in water and if they sank they were still able to eat it without it smelling to terribly, and if it floated, they would not open it because the smell would be too rancid. She also said that many families would also go through leftover organs dumped by meat companies to find any pieces of meat that they missed, and the people were knowledgeable on the different states of decomposition in order to decide how to cook it and how strongly to spice it, so that they could not smell or taste the food. Another aspect of living in the dump is scavenging for various items of value to sell, and many families would be an expert in a particular area. These materials can include plastic, all types of metal, jewels, and various electronics that the families would be able to sell to buyers that recycle or repair the materials. The largest health problems in the area are HIV, most commonly reported in the women, and lung problems in the children, including severe asthma and pneumonia (sorry for spelling.) The living situations would be situated out of scrap materials, and they currently do have water from Managua (which was granted in the past twenty years by the city, if I recall correctly) and they also have electricity, but it is "illegally used," as in no one pays for it. They have one clinic of a nurse, a doctor, a pharmacist, and another lady that does everything else and they function off donations and provide all of their services for free. They nearly shut down this year because donations have been shrinking over the past few years. Spain has currently been involved with La Chureca, and I believe has been so for a year. They are building a recylcing facility and building housing for the families that is close to but not in the dump. I do not know to what extent these plans have been planned out, etc. But I was told that the housing will be completed in one year.
This is as much information as I can currently recall about La Chureca.
After visiting La Chureca, we visited one of the richest neighborhoods in Managua. We did not get to go in the houses, but we were informed, through advertisement of selling the house and what was included in it, as well as from the 20 plus years of experience from Irene, that many of the houses include indoor pools, private security guards, large rooms, and anything you could possibly desire to entertain yourself on your own private estate. These houses were all surrounded by one or even two walls, with electric fencing and a security guard out front. They were extremely decorated with a lot of plant life. We also visited an extremely large shopping mall, and it was similar to that of a mall for middle class Americans, to help give you a perspective.
I do not have as much first hand information about the rich elite, but to my best understanding, the rich elite of Nicaragua have become extremely fearful and paranoid of the poor and have entirely separated themselves from their existence, because their homes and social places are so privatized and expensive, that the poor could not possibly have interaction with them. Many of the streets in Nicaragua also have roundabouts as opposed to stop lights, this way the poor that are selling various goods at the stop light cannot "disturb" the rich elite in their fancy cars. The issue I was personally most upset about, was that I felt safer and more comfortable in the places for the rich, than in the places for the poor. I did not cry in front of my group but I was crying inside and did cry later, whem Yamiletha was telling her story. She informed our group that the biggest issue with La Chureca is that the people have such a low self esteem that it is impossible to leave because they will not even think they are good enough to look for or do anything else. Yamiletha lived their for three years and she now runs a free pharmacy for the people and does many things to help with mental health and provide other training to help people get out of this neighborhood. I do not want to say what these people do is terrible, but I do want to say that they have to go there because there is no where else to go IS terrible. And this is not the only example of extreme poverty in Nicaragua, or in Central America. These types of communities are quite common and there are other communities that lives in a similar manner, without the trash. If you are interested in getting involved with donating to these communities, you can email me and I will get more detailed information from Irene (our trip leader) who truly is an expert with all things related to Nicaragua especially, as well Central America.
After this long post I need a break! But coming soon is information about the service sites and pictures!
Love and hugs to all of you!
Eva Marie
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Hola Todos!
I am in Nicaragua!!!!! Our travels couldn´t have gone more smoothly aside from Tim losing his pillow. My departure from Cincinnati was a dry, bitter, freezing 20 degrees; and my arrival in Nicaragua was a balmy 80 degrees! No complaints there, but in the day it is SO hot, and it is only getting hotter. By the end of march it will be 100 degrees every day! I am sorry to say I am not able to put pictures up today, but plan to this weekend.
Our first night in Nicaragua, we stayed en La Casa San Juan, where we ate a ten o clock dinner and then showered and went to bed. In the morning we had breakfast with father Joe Mulligan, who is a priest here that works with Christian Based Communities, and will be very involved with our group over the next three months. After breakfast, the exciting and nerve wrecking part came, meeting the families!
I LOVE my family! I have a papa, Martín, who drives the bus for our group, so I basically go with him to work everyday; which is advantageous for me because I will NEVER BE LATE!!! My mama, Blanca, stays at home with her baby, and she is very outgoing and laughs at me a lot. She likes romantic movies, and does not like Lady GaGa. lol My baby sister´s name is Valentína, and she is one year old, and I think she might learn to walk while I am here! Her name is so because she was supposed to be born on Valentine´s day, but she was born in January instead. My other sister is Kenya, and she is 20 and we have so much to talk about. She was so happy that I wore jewelry and paint my nails, because she enjoys these things as well. She is attending University and is studying Business Administration, and she also like romantic movies. She also does traditional Nicaraguan dances in shows, so hopefully I will learn from. And finally, my one brother is 9, and he and Peter would get along so great! His name is Kenneth and he loves soccer, and Fifa, and the videogame Fifa, and his favorite team is Barcelona, and all of his possessions say Barcelona. There is a joke going that Kenneth is my boyfriend because all of the nieghborhood calls me Barbie, and his name is like Ken. My family is very fun and I really enjoy being with them. However, they have two dogs, Pocho and Quito, and they bark at me EVERYTIME they are aware of my presence. Quito is small and starting to like me, but they said Pocho will never like me. So when I use the restroom at night, I must walk past him, and he wakes up the whole barrio (neighborhood). SO this is my family in a nutshell.
The second night (last night) there was a party for us and we got to interact with all the families, and there was a church group that sang to us many times, and various cultural dancers. There was one many that Mom would have loved, but I was not able to find out his name, they just called him profe (professor). My sister Kenya was one of the dancers. After the party I stayed up with Kenya and Kenneth and showed them all my pictures of the family and Andy and Ashley and Kristin and we talked about various things. My Spanish is doing amazingly well!
Today we went to Pajarito Azul, (Little Blue Bird), which is a home for the mentally handicapped. It was so so so sad, and I wanted to work there, but it really pulled at my heart strings, so I do not know yet. I took a girl in a wheel chair outside, because most of the children never go outside because they are short staffed, and the girl could not talk but she just stared at the sky and smiled. She seemed very happy for a while. There are four more work sites to see, so no one will decide until after we´ve seen them all.
Tomorrow, I have an interview that will decide my placement into a Spanish class, but other than that I do not know what we are doing. Our general amount of information is very low, and we only know what time to get on the bus. But once we start our service sites, we will have more of a schedule to follow.
For now this is all, but pictures are to come this weekend, assuming these computers work. As a side note, this is not an American keypad, so if there are issues with my spelling, etc. I apologize. Oh, and all of the food has been delicious! (Except the cheese is really strong, like feta or goat cheese)
Mucho Amor,
Eva (Barbie)
I am in Nicaragua!!!!! Our travels couldn´t have gone more smoothly aside from Tim losing his pillow. My departure from Cincinnati was a dry, bitter, freezing 20 degrees; and my arrival in Nicaragua was a balmy 80 degrees! No complaints there, but in the day it is SO hot, and it is only getting hotter. By the end of march it will be 100 degrees every day! I am sorry to say I am not able to put pictures up today, but plan to this weekend.
Our first night in Nicaragua, we stayed en La Casa San Juan, where we ate a ten o clock dinner and then showered and went to bed. In the morning we had breakfast with father Joe Mulligan, who is a priest here that works with Christian Based Communities, and will be very involved with our group over the next three months. After breakfast, the exciting and nerve wrecking part came, meeting the families!
I LOVE my family! I have a papa, Martín, who drives the bus for our group, so I basically go with him to work everyday; which is advantageous for me because I will NEVER BE LATE!!! My mama, Blanca, stays at home with her baby, and she is very outgoing and laughs at me a lot. She likes romantic movies, and does not like Lady GaGa. lol My baby sister´s name is Valentína, and she is one year old, and I think she might learn to walk while I am here! Her name is so because she was supposed to be born on Valentine´s day, but she was born in January instead. My other sister is Kenya, and she is 20 and we have so much to talk about. She was so happy that I wore jewelry and paint my nails, because she enjoys these things as well. She is attending University and is studying Business Administration, and she also like romantic movies. She also does traditional Nicaraguan dances in shows, so hopefully I will learn from. And finally, my one brother is 9, and he and Peter would get along so great! His name is Kenneth and he loves soccer, and Fifa, and the videogame Fifa, and his favorite team is Barcelona, and all of his possessions say Barcelona. There is a joke going that Kenneth is my boyfriend because all of the nieghborhood calls me Barbie, and his name is like Ken. My family is very fun and I really enjoy being with them. However, they have two dogs, Pocho and Quito, and they bark at me EVERYTIME they are aware of my presence. Quito is small and starting to like me, but they said Pocho will never like me. So when I use the restroom at night, I must walk past him, and he wakes up the whole barrio (neighborhood). SO this is my family in a nutshell.
The second night (last night) there was a party for us and we got to interact with all the families, and there was a church group that sang to us many times, and various cultural dancers. There was one many that Mom would have loved, but I was not able to find out his name, they just called him profe (professor). My sister Kenya was one of the dancers. After the party I stayed up with Kenya and Kenneth and showed them all my pictures of the family and Andy and Ashley and Kristin and we talked about various things. My Spanish is doing amazingly well!
Today we went to Pajarito Azul, (Little Blue Bird), which is a home for the mentally handicapped. It was so so so sad, and I wanted to work there, but it really pulled at my heart strings, so I do not know yet. I took a girl in a wheel chair outside, because most of the children never go outside because they are short staffed, and the girl could not talk but she just stared at the sky and smiled. She seemed very happy for a while. There are four more work sites to see, so no one will decide until after we´ve seen them all.
Tomorrow, I have an interview that will decide my placement into a Spanish class, but other than that I do not know what we are doing. Our general amount of information is very low, and we only know what time to get on the bus. But once we start our service sites, we will have more of a schedule to follow.
For now this is all, but pictures are to come this weekend, assuming these computers work. As a side note, this is not an American keypad, so if there are issues with my spelling, etc. I apologize. Oh, and all of the food has been delicious! (Except the cheese is really strong, like feta or goat cheese)
Mucho Amor,
Eva (Barbie)
Sunday, January 9, 2011
About Nicaragua
I would like to provide you with some information about Nicaragua, so that you have some context for what I am writing about.
As you can see Nicaragua is located in Central America between Honduras and Costa Rica. Managua is the capital, which is where I will be living, and it is located between the two freshwater lakes at the southwestern region of Nicaragua.
I'll be there during the dry season, and it's climate is tropical so my days will be humid and range from 80F pushing upward to 110F by the end of my stay.
Nicaragua was settled by Spanish explorers starting around the 1520's and Nicaragua did not gain it's independence until 1821 when it joined the United Provinces of C.A. and became an independent republic in 1838.
The population is around 5.8 million and growing.
Their official and predominant language is Spanish.
59% is Roman Catholic and the neighborhood that I am staying in seems to be predominately Catholic (Dr. Hodgson may correct me on this later.)
Beyond these general numbers and statements, the Nicaraguan people are a social people, who value honesty, friendliness, respect, and good humor. They are giving even when they have nothing, and people are more important than sticking to their schedules. These are all things I have learned and heard, but I am very excited to experience this community for myself! I hope this provides a nice little background for you, and you may always ask me questions!
Finally, though I will be extremely busy, and may not always be able to contact you personally, I DO care about you, and it is important to me that I hear from you and know what is going on in your life, so please email me!
Un Abrazo Fuerte,
Eva Marie
As you can see Nicaragua is located in Central America between Honduras and Costa Rica. Managua is the capital, which is where I will be living, and it is located between the two freshwater lakes at the southwestern region of Nicaragua.
I'll be there during the dry season, and it's climate is tropical so my days will be humid and range from 80F pushing upward to 110F by the end of my stay.
Nicaragua was settled by Spanish explorers starting around the 1520's and Nicaragua did not gain it's independence until 1821 when it joined the United Provinces of C.A. and became an independent republic in 1838.
The population is around 5.8 million and growing.
Their official and predominant language is Spanish.
59% is Roman Catholic and the neighborhood that I am staying in seems to be predominately Catholic (Dr. Hodgson may correct me on this later.)
Beyond these general numbers and statements, the Nicaraguan people are a social people, who value honesty, friendliness, respect, and good humor. They are giving even when they have nothing, and people are more important than sticking to their schedules. These are all things I have learned and heard, but I am very excited to experience this community for myself! I hope this provides a nice little background for you, and you may always ask me questions!
Finally, though I will be extremely busy, and may not always be able to contact you personally, I DO care about you, and it is important to me that I hear from you and know what is going on in your life, so please email me!
Un Abrazo Fuerte,
Eva Marie
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