Sorry I have not been keeping all of you up to date on the goings on here in Nicaragua. The Rotary delegation has had me jumping around for the last week - but joyfully so. I met a small band of wonderful people and some of their children and grandchildren, and we traipsed about Nicaragua.
We did some of the same things I have done before - visited the silhouette of Sandino on the hill overlooking Managua, visited the old cathedral, heard the story of the earthquake aid that Somoza stole which tripped the balance on what people would put up with, listened to Ayn Setwrite's history lesson, and description of the current crop of election craziness, and drove about in the rain!
We had planned a trip up a mountain, but the constant rain had closed many places, and damaged roads all over. The rain let up a bit here in the center of the nation over the weekend. On the way back from the beach, we passed many clotheslines strung out for the sun! But now a tropical storm is forming just above Nicaragua - but it looks like it may move to the north - leaving just some residual rain down here. The lake here in Managua is a few centimeters below its historic high.
I have now been to 4 "real" Rotary meetings, 2 of a new club being born, and one fund raising dance and dinner here! I have to confess that I like the Nicaraguan version of Rotary meetings a bit better. They have more fun and music. Although the music here last night was just a LITTLE LOUD! We were in a pretty small place, with an amplified marimba, keyboard, drums - and something that the drummer kept wacking that sounded just like a cowbell!! If you haven't seen the Christopher Walken piece on Saturday Night Live - you can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRzds1HHkas&feature=related
But we all danced, and we had nacatamales, and especially the young people had a great time. I took a few videos, etc.
Our reflection period was stellar - what a fine bunch of human beings these folks are. I am typing up the notes from it. I don't think I can share those with the world - so I'll just give you a bit of my own - I think that is legitimate. I had two insights - they are both recurring ones.
When I had just finished graduate school, and I was wandering the streets looking for full time work. I thought that with 12 years of college under my belt, SOMEONE would want to hire me. To hold my finances together, I got a job one month as a Good Humor man. It was without a doubt, the toughest job I ever had. It was 10 hours a day. I was an independent contractor. I bought the ice cream in the morning, rented the company's truck, and rented their uniform, and headed out on my assigned route to sell ice cream. Needless to say, you have to sell quite a bit to pay for the gas, truck, uniform and investment in the ice cream, before you start to show a profit! I would come back every night beat to death, pulling the bell, starting and stopping the truck, jumping out and serving 500 or more pieces of ice cream to kids. I was tired and filthy by the time I got home.
Here on the streets of Managua, there are hundreds of guys pushing these little carts of Eskimo ice cream. I am sure they are not the owners, and I am sure they are all just trying to get by. The other day, I was just struck by one young man - tan, intent, creased lines on his forehead, working hard, pushing his cart on the side of the road, looking for a sale. When I did it, I knew I had something better waiting for me - but this guy, and the other hundreds like him, may be doing this forever. Just getting by. Needless to say, I buy some whenever I can.
The other insight I have every time I come here goes like this. I see the run down infrastructure, bad roads, poorly maintained fields, tin and plastic housing, litter and trash everywhere. I learn about the corruption, the broken political system, the courts and police that do not work, the difficulty in getting a loan to do anything, etc., etc. And I think, man, this is a disaster. Who can anything here? I would be better off just going home and forgetting about it. I asked Luis once how he handled that after all these years. He said, he goes and talks with the people. They have hope. They are raising their kids, doing their jobs, trying to make a better world for their families, trying to fix the problems, grow the crops, make a buck - anything to get ahead. And when you meet the people, they are so welcoming, they are working so hard, they are so filled with hope. As Luis says, if THEY have hope, given where they are, then I HAVE to have hope. So I do - and I hope you do too.
Don't give up on Nicaragua- or any of these lovely places with economic distress. When they get it figured out and working right, the hope is that they will teach us something about how to do it! It's not like we have it perfected or anything.
Remember, we're all in the together - and I'm pulling for you. (Red Green)
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