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- Education - Health |
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* Health Insurance * Aguas Negras * Doctor |
| - Miscellaneous |
| Manuel |
Things continue to roll along with the morning and afternoon programs. We have 2 new volunteers. Gabriela helps out in the afternoons (3 days a week) and Eric in the mornings. There is a slight problem with one of the teachers named Leonel and we are thinking of hiring another to replace him. Leonel has been coming 45-75 minutes late to class for the last few weeks, so we have given him an ultimatum and are investigating other teachers in the area. It's sad, but life. His behaviour is a bad example for the other teachers and the students...
In other news, the teachers and I are having a taller (education workshop) on Monday to discuss various teaching techniques and share new ideas.
The insurance program is now tentatively scheduled to begin August First. A meeting with Don Wilfredo, a prominent member of the barrio, went well and he has agreed to be the coordinator of the project. In exchange, I am going to teach him how to use our computers here. A useful skill for him to learn... Also, meetings with the various groups are starting, the first on Monday.
The sanitation project has yet to be started. My priority right now is to find an engineer or engineers to help do an study. The engineering study can then be used to help Stuart look for money back in Canada. Also, I am trying to find funding here for the engineers or to find local engineers who are willing to trade engineering work for computer support.
Another of our projects is paying the Cuban doctor who comes to the barrio twice per week. There is a government doctor who is supposed to come every day (Monday to Friday), but I have yet to meet 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 really 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.
Allan Aoyama was here for 4 weeks, helping out in the afternoons with the education program and also helping out with the contracts we have at Oxfam and Cantera (see below). Allan is a friend of mine from Vancouver, also involved in Youth Challenge International as I was. He was a great help especially with the computer contracts, but as well it is good just to have someone else around to help out with the small chores in the Barrio. Recently arrived is Dave Lewis, also from B.C., who is studying Spanish currently, in Esteli, for the next 2 weeks.
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. Two months ago, 5 of our teachers went on a course at Cantera for teachers, 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).
Manuel is one of the teachers in the afternoon program. He is one of the two teachers that actually lives here in the barrio. He is a good guy, studying to finish high school on the weekends and working with us during the week. He hopes to go to university and perhaps study teaching. He lives with his mother and 3 (I think) brothers 2 or 3 blocks from our house. His father lives in another barrio with another woman and Manuel is pretty unhappy with his father right now. His situation is not atypical, however. The men here are fairly transient and there are many single mothers here in the barrio.
This month, I think I'll describe our house and some of the changes that have occurred recently here. Our house is a small one room cement house about 20 feet by 20 feet (my rough guesstimate). We have wooden dividers up, dividing the house into 2 small bedrooms and one larger room where we cook on the propane stove (3 burners). The shower stall in the back yard, formerly 4 and a half feet high, is now about 7 feet high with a roof and a door that it did not have before. Also, our latrine has been rebuilt and now has a proper roof and a door. It used to leak quite badly so that if it was raining, you would get very wet. Also, a garage and a new 8 foot wall has been built, so our house is now much more secure. The house itself was always secure, but now the backyard is totally enclosed and safe to hang out in... The nuns now park their truck in the garage, saving them having to pay for safe parking in another barrio...
In other news, I took a vacation. When Al was here, we went to Leon for a day. We saw the old church, quite impressively big and old colonial style. We also went to a couple of beaches and a quick dip. Also, the last weekend in June, I went to Costa Rica, visiting some friends there near San Jose.
Also, we had a small party when Al left, with the nuns, 2 of the local families that we are friends with and a few of the teachers over for dancing and a bit of food. A good time was had by all. Al even got up and danced a few with some provoking.
Skills needed for the education, computer, health or other programs:
Civil Engineers, Computer Analysts, Teachers (Math, Spanish,...), Psychologists, ...
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.