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Reflecting at Laguna de Apoyo

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Thursday morning we packed up the Micro, said goodbye to our beloved dogs, Roscoe and Tola, and took off for our Quarter One Retreat. We drove an hour southeast from Managua to our final destination, Laguna de Apoyo.

Laguna de Apoyo is one of the most breath taking places in Nicaragua. It’s a clean, warm, beautiful lake inside the crater of Apoyo Volcano. The views are so serene and although this was my third trip to Laguna, I always have to blink ten times to make sure it’s real.

We had the pleasure of staying at Casa de Sol, a beautiful house equipped with hammocks, an infinity pool and pool floaties (our favorite part)! It was the perfect place to take a step back from programs, reenergize and relax for a weekend.

After running programs and administrative roles on site for two months we had a lot to debrief and discuss at retreat. We learned more about the history of Nicaragua, strategized on how to continuously improve programs, and most importantly, set team goals for the year. Some of our goals include: continuing to support the team, practicing Spanish and building community relationships.

On our last night together we watched the 2013 documentary Living on One Dollar (it can be found on Netflix). The film follows four college graduates to rural Guatemala where they live on $1 a day for two months. The four boys face the many challenges that come with living in extreme poverty including hunger, illness and financial stress. I won’t spoil the rest. Here is the trailer:

After watching the movie (and shedding a few tears) we discussed the similarities between what is shown in the documentary and what we see everyday in our communities here in Nicaragua such as informal labor, inconsistent pay and tough family choices that are forced to be made due to lack of financial stability.

I would recommend this movie to all; it is moving, to say the least, and has the power to put everyone’s life into a new perspective in an hour.

Over all I would say Quarter One Retreat was a huge success. We were able to see positive progress from our first two months, as well as set goals and strategize for how we will carry out the rest of the year!

Stay tuned for more adventures and updates from MPI Nicaragua!

- Carissa

WOAHmetepe!

This past weekend was by far the best weekend that I have had since arriving in Nicaragua two months ago (it’s crazy that it’s been that long)! Because September 14th and 15th are holidays in Nicaragua, we had a four-day weekend. Being that we had those extra two days, we decided to head to Ometepe, which is an island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. Ometepe is noticeable to all travelers as there are two volcanoes that make up the island, Maderas and Concepción. We were all pretty excited because we had heard a lot of great things about Ometepe from past Program Directors and new friends in Nicaragua.

We headed out on Friday afternoon, and had to take a bus, two micros, two taxis, and a ferry to get to our hostel in Santa Cruz, which is a community in Ometepe. The view from the ferry was beautiful and showcased what was to come in the next couple days. The hostel we stayed in was very quaint, and the staff were all extremely welcoming and helpful. The seven of us squeezed into a room with five beds, but we made it work! That night, we just hung out and ate dinner as we needed to get some rest before a full day of hiking and kayaking.

When we had arrived in Ometepe, we met Roberto, who was our personal taxi driver for the weekend. He worked with a tour company on the island, so he knew all the ins and outs of what to do, where to go, etc. He suggested that we hike to La Cascada de San Ramon, which is a waterfall in the Maderas Volcano, and go on a kayaking excursion in the lake and down the river. We started our morning off with the waterfall, but first we had to hike about an hour and a half up the volcano. It was a great hike! The waterfall was about 160 feet tall, and boy, was it beautiful. It was almost like it was a hidden gem because it was tucked away into the trees. The water felt fresh and cooling after our hike, which had caused me and everyone else to sweat through all of our clothes. After enjoying the waterfall, we hiked back down the volcano and ventured off to the shore for some kayaking.

If anybody ever wants to learn how to kayak, then just go on a three hour trip in water that has a tendency to be decently rough when the wind is blowing. That’s what I did! It was weird because I was the only one who hadn’t kayaked in the past, but I guess I never grew up around it like some of the others. I made sure that I was in a double kayak, just so I could get used to it and have somebody else to help me get to our final destination. Props to Carissa for being an awesome partner, because there were definitely some times where I was tired, frustrated, and saying a few things to the kayak, water, wind, etc. that weren’t too nice. Part of the trip was down a very shallow river that was supposedly home to some alligators. Luckily we didn’t see any, but if we had, then I would’ve been hopping out of that boat and sprinting to land. Although some points were difficult and I was extremely sore and exhausted at the end of the three hours, I had a great time and would definitely kayak again – maybe just in calmer water!

The next day, we headed to Ojo de Agua, which is a natural spring for tourists and residents to visit. We then headed to Playa Santo Domingo for the afternoon to hang out by the beach and work on our tans. You would think that we would all already be tan from being down here for two months, but being that a lot of time is spent in programs and planning, we don’t have much time to ‘get some color’ during the week. The beach was very nice and relaxing because we got to chill and take in the views of the water and volcano. After a few hours on the beach, we headed to dinner near the beach to have a change of pace from the hostel food. We were able to sit right near the shore, so we had a great view as the day turned to night.

On Monday we left Ometepe to join Liz, one of our fellow Program Directors, and celebrate her birthday in Grenada. We had to get back on the ferry, which was a little bit rougher than the first one, and then take a taxi to Granada, which is "traveler central" - there are people from all over the world in the city, which is the oldest city in Nicaragua. We arrived in Granada, dropped off our stuff at our hostel, and headed out for lunch. After not having pesto or berry smoothies for two months, I was able to eat some as I got a chicken pesto sandwich and a strawberry/blueberry smoothie for lunch. I was perfectly content with getting another round of food, but my wallet wouldn’t have been too happy. We then went to a restaurant outside, which was nice because we were able to sit out on the street and enjoy the sights and sounds of the city. It was great to celebrate Liz’s birthday in such a beautiful city!

We left the hostel the next morning, headed to breakfast (where I ate bacon for the first time since being in Nicaragua), and then traveled on back to Managua to the Manna House. This weekend was perfect, and I am glad I was able to spend it in a beautiful place with some great people! Here’s to our next adventure in Nicaragua!

- Michael Graham

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Martes De Español y Futbol

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This Tuesday was the first Martes de Español for the Manna Nicaragua House. The rules of Martes de Español are simple: Spanish must be spoken all day – no exceptions. From the time we wake up in the morning, to the time were are in and preparing for programs, we must only speak Spanish. This also includes our personal downtime. If someone speaks English, they have to pay 1 cordoba to the house piggy bank (1.00 cordoba = about 0.04 US dollars).

Waking up on Tuesday morning was hysterical. For a while, the breakfast table was pretty silent. We all knew we needed to embrace the challenge and were just waiting for someone to break the silence. Slowly, we all began speak Spanish and the room quickly became filled with laughter. Let me give some context to this situation, all Program Directors (PDs) have a solid foundation of Spanish but only a few members of the house are fluent. So all of us communicating our daily schedules and intricate details of our programs in a foreign language quickly became a combination of Catch Phrase and charades. We tried our best! If we didn’t know how to specifically say something, we knew similar phrases - and if that failed, we knew how to act out the situation.

Despite the challenges of only communicating in Spanish, it forced us to immerse ourselves into the language. The more we practiced our Spanish, the easier speaking became. I have to admit, most of us were not able to communicate in Spanish for the entirety of day. It was mentally exhausting and bit-by-bit, English snuck back into our vocabulary. However, forcing ourselves to speak Spanish forced us to practice the language and work as a team. When one person was struggling, another person typically knew the context of the conversation and together they were able to effectively communicate the message across to others.

The other exciting part about this past Tuesday was Nicaragua played Jamaica in the FIFA World Cup Qualifying Game. This was the first sold out game in the history of Nicaraguan Soccer and the PDs were lucky enough to have tickets to the game. Unfortunately, Jamaica won in a last minute goal, but it still was an amazing experience being able to cheer on Nicaragua in this history making game! Sí Se Puede!

-Kayla Sloane

Program Successes and Updates

Our transition phase is just about over! We are finally running our programs as a team and have been quite successful so far.

English classes are about a month into the semester and so far English 5 has already had their first quiz. The class is a small class and it’s nice to have students so eager to learn. They are not required to be at class; instead they choose to come on their own free time in hopes of learning English. English 5 is the highest level we offer as a program and everyone in the class has an advanced level of English. We have done various activities with them so far this semester including presentations, skits, listening activities, writing activities, and small group activities. Our most recent activity is a class debate. The two topics up for debate are global warming and the legal drinking age in the United States. They are in the process of researching their debate using articles we printed out. The global warming is a bit challenging considering the scientific vocabulary being used. We’ve been helping explain the vocabulary and I have full faith they will have a great debate on Tuesday!

Also, math tutoring for our Generation program (for youth preparing for careers in the medical field) starts this Sunday. Manna Project has hired a math tutor to help the students of Generation who hope to take the entrance test at UNAN in order to pursue studying medicine. The UNAN placement exam is extremely difficult and has a low passing average. For young adults within the communities to attempt such an endeavor is a success in itself, but our goal is to get them prepared as possible and the math tutor is a great resource. The math portion of the exam is one of the most difficult challenges, so the tutor will be working with them the next 15 Sundays each 3 hours long. Although I haven’t met all the students within Generation, a few have been gaining experience in the Cedro Clinic by shadowing and helping where they are needed. Kevin has come and volunteered three times since I’ve been here, and it’s been amazing to have someone so eager to learn as a helping hand. He’s been most helpful with the Spanish barrier between the patient and us as Program Directors during patient check-in and taking a patient’s history. I can’t wait to meet the rest of the students in the Generation on Sunday.

This week we had our second Milk Day for the Child Sponsorship program, and it was a success! It’s nice because we now know the kids by face since we have been visiting them weekly at their houses over the last month. The best part about Milk Day is watching the kids carry out their can of powdered milk with both arms wrapped around the can, and smiling as their parents carry the rest of the monthly supply of vitamins and oatmeal. The program has been successful so far, and we anticipate exciting improvements in the weeks to come.

The jewelry cooperative, Camino Nuevo (COOSMECH) has taken a turn for the best. The 22 women in the cooperative have been inspired to create new jewelry designs and I am proud to say they are to die for! They seem very excited about what they have created and we PD’s are even more enthused to show off these brand new designs. We are also hosting a NFL special order bracelet campaign, where the women will be making single and triple-wrap NFL team color bracelets to coincide with football season in the States! So, if anyone is interested in NFL bracelets handmade by the COOSMECH women, please let me know. Also, if you are curious to see some of the jewelry designs, visit http://caminonuevonica.org/.

Nica life has been great so far. I need to keep practicing my Spanish, but hopefully sooner rather than later I will be able to say that I am at an advanced level of speaking. We have a four-day weekend next weekend and we have plans to go to Ometepe, a volcano island, for the time off. I wish everyone the best and I can’t wait for what else Nicaragua has in store for me!

-Jessica Whitney

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Lessons Through Lacrosse

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¿Qué hubo?

Today we had two new players at afternoon lacrosse practice at Lacrosse the Nations (LtN), one of Manna Project's partner organizations in Nicaragua.

After a few weeks of inconsistent practices during late July—due to holidays and earthquakes—we are trying to get our numbers back up at practice. We’ve been encouraging all the kids to get the word out and bring their friends, family, and classmates, so we were all really excited when lacrosse player, Josseling, brought two of her cousins.

While LtN Coach and Country Director Javier Silva, and LtN volunteer, Miles, organized our warm up and passing drills, I got to teach Kevin and José Martín the basics of how to pass and catch. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried, but it is not an easy task to learn to throw the first time you pick up a lacrosse stick - and that’s not even considering that I was teaching them in Spanish (and I’m probably worse than I’m willing to admit). To their credit, both boys took everything in stride, and listened to and made adjustments from all of my suggestions. José Martín especially turned out to be a complete natural and was banging passes around and even putting a few shots on goal by the middle of the practice.

Even more impressive than their skill improvements were Kevin and José Martín’s attitudes. At the end of practice everyday, we go around and everyone says one thing that they liked and one they didn’t like, or something we could improve during practice. When Kevin was up, he said he enjoyed learning to play lacrosse and playing in the scrimmage with his team. José Martín said that what he didn’t like about practice was that during the games “No me dan pases,” (they didn’t pass to me). He said this with the same confidence of a player who knows once he gets the ball he’s about to tear it up. I have no doubt that as soon as everyone gets to know them a little better, these guys will be some of the first looks for passes. I personally am super excited to watch these new players develop during my time here, and I have no doubt they’ll be back playing again on Wednesday.

In addition to our new teammates, today’s practice was the best I’ve seen so far. Everyone had a good attitude and was giving 100 percent from before practice even started, during warm ups, all the way through drills and into the charla (class lesson) at the end of practice. After only one month, I’m incredibly excited to see where this energy and all these awesome kids take us during my year here.

On a more bittersweet note, today’s practice was the last for Miles, an LtN volunteer and all-around great guy who’s been here for the past month helping us with some of our behind the scenes work. We are all are certainly sad to see him go, but the work he’s done for us will definitely help us make some changes and make LtN an even better organization.

Until next time, Tuani,

Dan