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- Education - Health |
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* Health Insurance * Aguas Negras * Doctor |
| - Miscellaneous |
| Doña Nubia |
The education program, as previously mentioned, is a program that runs for 2.5 hours in the morning and another 2.5 hours in the afternoon, tutoring kids so they can advance in their studies. We currently pay two teachers, and have about 5 volunteer teachers. About 50-60 kids are involved in the program. They come in either the afternoon or the morning, and go to the regular school the other half of the day.
The education program has changed slightly from last month. As I mentioned last month, we were thinking of replacing one of the teachers, Lionel, in the afternoon program. Well, Lionel's last day was on July 15th, however, the teacher that we tried to hire was not able to start right away, so we are still looking. In the morning, Rita and Eric are no longer coming, as Rita found another job. So we are a little shorthanded, but things are still running along.
On a lighter note, we had a pinata on the 18th, to celebrate the Day of Happiness here. We had 2 pinatas and juice and candy for all the kids. Everyone really enjoyed it. The only problem was that it was delayed by an hour because of the rain. It was raining so hard that no one could come until the rain stopped.
The insurance program starts August First. Don Wilfredo, the project coordinator, is doing well in his Windows/Excel classes. He will be using Excel to oversee the medical insurance project. Meetings with the various groups are now finished, so now everyone (except a few that missed the meetings) knows about the project. We are now gathering names to start issuing ID cards and we will receive the first contributions from participants at the end of the month.
We have started some research into the sanitation project. We had a community meeting this past weekend to discuss it and we are also meeting with some students at the university here to see if we can get some engineers to do an engineering study for us (for free). The engineering study can then be used to help Stuart look for money back in Canada.
Another of our projects is paying a Cuban doctor who comes to the barrio three half days per week. There is a government doctor who is supposed to come every day (Monday to Friday), but I have yet to meet/see her. So, we pay $100 US per month to the doctor, which is enough to pay for about half of his time and he volunteers the other half. Dr. Marcos is a generous man.
Our other projects here include:
Our house that we are staying in is a project, in the sense that we pay $100 US in rent each month for the house and the money goes directly to the community and the various projects that the nuns are coordinating here, such as the food program for the children. The house is still being fixed up, with a new room being built for a Spanish Psychologist who is coming in September.
Dave Lewis, as mentioned last month, has finished studying Spanish and has been helping with teaching in the education program. This has freed up some of my time to concentrate on our other projects.
Computer contracts: We have 2 computer contracts at this time. One is with Cantera, a popular education NGO here in Managua. We provide them with computer support/systems analysis in exchange for courses for people in the barrio. This month, 4 of our teachers will go to another course at Cantera, to improve their teaching techniques. Our other contract is with Oxfam Canada, for whom we provide some computer support and are hoping to receive some advice from the people there when we are writing up our various funding proposals (especially Aguas Negras).
Doña Nubia is our housekeeper and also a volunteer for several projects in the barrio. She is a small woman, probably less than 5 feet, but she works harder than anyone else in the Barrio. Well, to be honest, almost all women here work incredibly hard. Doña Nubia works at our house Monday to Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. She makes our lunch, cleans the house, and does our laundry (by hand). She makes our life much easier, especially since I am working almost all day, every day.
In addition, she volunteers once a week to help the Ancianos program which provides exercise and help to the elderly in the barrio. Every Saturday she goes to the market to buy the food for the children's food program and for us. She also helps out with cooking sometimes for meetings. She and Doña Paula got up at 4 a.m. to cook the lunch for our community meeting last Sunday. Then of course, she has to go home and clean and cook in her house as well, although her children help her out a lot.
She is also our friend. She looks after the house when we go out of town and during the day when we are out working. She's our confidante and educates us about the culture (like how much to pay for vegetables at the market). Her children come over to visit all the time and play games with us.
I have been here just over three months and I'm are starting to slow down, i.e. I am starting to get worn out. So I took another few days off when Gretchen arrived last week. Dave, Gretchen and I went to Granada for 2 days. It was nice to relax. We took a boat out on Lake Nicaragua and saw all the rich American and Costa Rican houses in the Isletas. It was a beautiful ride anyway.
The 19th of July was revolution day, so all the Sandinistas came out for a big party in the plaza. Dancing and music, but mostly political speeches, unfortunately. We stayed from 8 until 1 or so, and boy, was I burnt. I missed a spot on my neck with the suntan lotion and got a small burn with several blisters. In other cultural news, the first of August was the feast of Santo Domingo here in Managua, so there was a Marti-Gras type of festival/march through the city with the saint's icon.
Read a good book while Allan was here called "When corporations rule the Earth" by David C. Kirten. A favorite line that the book quoted: "To attract companies like yours ... we have felled mountains, razed jungles, filled swamps, moved rivers, relocated towns, ... all to make it easier for you and your business to do business here." - Philipine government ad in Fortune magazine from 1975.
Skills needed for the education, computer, health or other programs:
Civil Engineers, Computer Analysts, Teachers (Math, Spanish,...), and the nuns are also looking for a driver for the truck - to drive the nuns around 6 days a week for 6 months. It's a pickup truck, so a regular license will do.
Please email for details.
Naturally, we still need money for the projects. We will also need money to fund the Aguas Negras engineering study. Any help with these things is appreciated.