I'm conflicted with touching base with friends and family back home. While it does make me very happy to hear their voices, tell them about my life here, and listen to what's going on stateside, it's hard when I get off the phone. I am left feeling very homesick. If anyone has any advice about this, it would be greatly appreciated. This weekend has been the first time in several weeks that we have a break from our jam packed schedules to get a chance to speak with friends and family in the states, which I am thankful for.
Over these past couple weeks, I have made a greater effort to reach out to my host family and other volunteers. This, of course, helps to feel a bit less homesick. We arrived from back home last night after a week away for practicum week. My host mom, when I walked through the door yesterday evening shouted "Amandita" while our neighbour greeted me with equivocal excitement. When the person she was on the phone with asked who she was talking to, she responded "mi sobrina gringa." In talking with other volunteers, it's reassuring to see my fears, frustrations, and challenges reflected in their experience. Misery doesn't need company, uncertainty needs support.
If you've been paying attention, you'll notice I mentioned that last week was our practicum week. What the hell is that, you ask? Well, it's exactly what it sounds like, a practice round. We, as aspirantes or trainess are given the peek into what our work and lives will consist of as volunteers. Throughout the week, we gave seven different charlas or presentations. The first three days were centered on one of our goals: HIV/AIDS Awareness and Prevention; Maternal and Child Health; Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention. After being prepped with a wealth of information and dinamicas to involve our audience, we were pushed into the deep end. Sink or swim. *Spoiler alert: we all swam.
To put this in perspective, during training we have given one charla which we were given about 2 weeks to prepare. At the get go, the prospect of creating three in the span of an hour was terrifying and seemed undo-able. One of the greatest things about this week was that it showed me that I can. Even when my mind is telling me I can't, I can. I have everything I need to succeed.
Matt and Melissa, the volunteers that hosted us in Nueva Guinea (and coincidentally have the cutest pit bull puppy named machete) structured the week to be top heavy, with the first day being the most intense and the last a day of relaxation. The first day we broke into two groups of four and began. We gave three charlas that day.
1. Grupo de Jovenes (Youth Group) - 1 hour
2. Patients in a waiting room located on the sidewalk bordering the hospital - 15 minutes
3. Bomberos (Firemen) - 1 hour
Though there were fortalezas and debilidades in each one, I will share with you only the best. With the youth group, we started with a dinamica to break the ice called spell your name with your butt. To a group of 15 year old girls, this game is hilarious. We helped the girls who felt particularly penosa or embarassed by standing alongside them to spell their names with our bums. These kinds of games make it alot easier for people to talk about things like HIV/AIDS or teen pregnancy because you're calling attention to the body and getting people way outside of their comfort zone.
After dinner, we headed to the fire house. Men in uniform are a high risk population because of the nature of their work. The fact that they were so involved and interested in what we were talking about made it a lot of fun to work with them. We started with a game called gente bonita that they really liked. Throughout the course of our charla, we realized that we were missing several of the materials we had planned on using. Por eso, we made several adaptations to our charla as we went along. At the end of our presentation, we did a condom demonstration. Now, one of the things we were missing was the wooden dildos we use for this. The idea of substituting a water bottle, was quickly replaced with a volunteer's glasses case. To which a co-worker responded that if we're going to use a glasses case, we might as well use his. As fear started to set in, our boss comes running to us waving a wooden dildo in the air. As we rehashed the story later, a fellow trainee said he'd never been so happy to see someone running at him with a wooden dildo.
Alongside our ingenuity and adaptation, I was able to real the group back in by shouting "oye" at them. Additionally, as Kelsey explained abstinence as a way of protecting yourself, a man raised his hand to point out that abstinence wasn't a method that was applicable to them. I pulled from the training we had received earlier that day to explain that abstinence can mean abstinence for the moment and can include abstaining from sex for thirty minutes to find a condom so you are able to protect yourself and your partner. They laughed and you could tell that it was a great way to explain protection in ways that apply to them.
The next day we went to the Casa de la Mujer. This is a privately funded NGO that houses women in their 8th or 9th of pregnancy. There is a great push here for institutionalized birth to decrease rates of both maternal and infant mortality. These women are from various pueblitos surrounding Nueva Guinea. The women were very shy and reserved which surprised me as I thought that men would be a great deal more reserved on these topics than pregnant women on child and maternal health. A volunteer explained that this has a lot to do with the machista culture where these women have been told that their place is in the home and don't really get a chance to develop their voice. Additionally, they are completely seperated from their family and friends for the remainder of their pregnancy. They obviously have alot going on. They don't, however, have alot to do during their time there. (Enter Peace Corps) Our charla that day was on Leche Materna. David started a remix to la bomba, substituting the words la bomba with la leche materna. Our language instructors and staff helped us with the lyrics. We made a music video when our bus broke down on our way back to Managua.
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| When our bus broke down, we used a family's latrine. Kelsey made friends with the swine. |
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The next day, I was out sick. In the evening, however, I did make it out to a pool hall to observe a charla on HIV/AIDS. Pool halls are for men only and are also a high risk population. These men were much more characteristic of what I had in mind when thinking of men publicly discussing sexual practices. They were want to participate, especially when it came to demonstrating they knew how to use a condom, explaining that it might turn them gay.
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| Fritanga with a fresh melon jugo (my favorite drink!) Tip: When everyone else orders chicken it's probably a safe bet to go for. Choosing meat may result in the acquisition of a parasite. *The only other person in our group that ate it was a staff member who is from Nica, has had dengue and lived to tell about it. My stomach was no match. |
The next day we headed out of Nueva Guinea to the neighboring community of El Almendro where a volunteer showed us her garden project. She is working with MINSA (the Ministry of Health) and has, to date, created about 20 gardens in the backyards of community members requiring additional nutrition. We then headed to a private Finca where we swam in a waterfall and after lunch said goodbye to our lovely hosts and headed back to Managua.
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| If, during your service, anyone invites you to their private finca, accept! Bring some gaseosa or some fruit to say thank you. We brought sandia or watermelon. Vale la pena! |
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| Mural in Managua - Universidad de CentroAmerica |
