Here are some recent pictures from the past week: Two are from Nueva Vida... two are of me and Sammy with our 
My dearest professor,
Here I am, just finished up week four. So far we have had three teams come through from the US; from Washington, California and Virginia. As I have been here, my role has become more defined. I have definitely found my passions here. They lie in the youth culture in Chiquilistagua (surprise, surprise!) and the development of the teams from the US that come down. My goal in being here isn’t to change the world or lives by offering a saving haven for the people here. My goals and interest lie in helping to develop an impactful community center that encourages healthy recreation and relationships.
My favorite times here are Fridays at 7pm. We have “Youth Night” for 14+ kids. One HUGE cultural difference I’m noticing is that it is not abnormal for people who are 24, 25, 26 to be at youth night and to hang out regularly with people who are in their early teens. As long as we have games and time to hang out with a large group of people, most young adults are in. I have started taking more ownership in youth night. I am the game gal. I rack my brain weekly for different games to play. The trick is picking games that can cross cultural/language barriers. Amanda, one of the El Salero founders from California, is fluent in Spanish and is very competent in understanding and discerning what works and what won’t. We go through the games the night before to decide. The thing is, people will cheat here at games. So we have to do games that will be either hard to cheat in, or cheating won’t matter. We play a lot of games here that are competitive and involve teams, which seem to be the favorite. So before youth night, I set up sound and music, and brief the teams on what happens during youth night. Some teams are very prepared for youth night and bring their own special talents to share while others would rather participate. We encourage US teams to bring something to share, either a message, testimony, skit or other abilities. After games we head to the Ranchon for a message or music, smaller games, and skits. Last week the Virginia team had some musicians and came prepared with some AWESOME contemporary Christian Spanish music. That was SUCH a treat for everyone at youth night. After the message, or about ¾ of the way through, I help get snack ready in the kitchen, then everyone just hangs out and eats a snack until about 9pm. On Saturdays we usually have Game Night. Sports in the covered basketball court, cards and board games in the Ranchon and a “girls only” room in the library where we do crafts or paint nails or make bracelets. This follows the same time frame as Friday, 7-9.
BUT there’s a catch, Keith. We usually only do youth nights when we have a team here mostly because we don’t have the staff/resources to manage and entertain 75 kids w/ only 4-5 of us. This totally bums me out because, well, I LOVE youth night. So I was talking to Thomas, Amanda's husband, and we decided that we are going to go for it. He has a huge heart for youth too, and we want to give some more stability here for them. So I am going to do a lot more planning and developing for our youth nights so that we can create a structure and keep the kids out of parties and in a healthy environment. I am asking the next team to bring down some supplies like nail polish, string, prizes and some kooky game supplies for me. BOO YA! Can’t WAIT! J
By far my biggest responsibility and role has been with the US teams. Our first two groups were no bigger than 9, and our last one was 20. As I mentioned earlier, each one brings a different skill set, so the projects and community involvement are different. I’m learning that with each team comes constant adaptations. I can’t claim to be culturally competent when it comes to understanding the Nicaraguan Culture, but I have learned a lot and I like to think some of the sensitivities I have towards relating to other cultures and people are natural. Sometimes it feels like a battle trying to help people to understand and adapt to a different culture. And to be completely transparent, it’s been hard for me to not feel ticked off when people say things that are are downgrading to the culture here. Even though 99% of the time it is unintentional, which is why I don't get ticked off. A consistent one has been “I wish I could trade tickets with them, so that they could go back to the US and have a better life.” It’s hard to get Americans past the point of pity and in line with compassion. We talked about that quite a bit in class. Having pity on someone doesn’t accomplish anything, it’s compassion and empathy that can inspire change. Nicaraguans are very proud people. They love their country, as they should. It is beautiful here, and is rich in tradition and culture. It seems ignorant to want to take that away from them. Instead, we should be encouraging them to take ownership over their own lives, to get away from poverty not through giving things away or buying stuff for the Nicaraguans, but by coming alongside through relationship and opportunity. Again, I don’t claim to know it all, heck, I’m probably sounding pompous right now. But I do know that we are not meant to be here to travel back with pictures of poverty in our 6GB camera cards so that we can show our friends how we changed the world. If anyone should be changed, it should be us.
Raaaaaamble. I can’t wait to look back on that and laugh in a few months.
So part of my job here is to encourage different thinking within the teams through discussion, one on one building of relationships. Reminding others that we are guests here, we can be graceful and loving by offering service and compassion and energy. We can show the culture here that women can do more than raise the kids by being on the road shoveling dirt and cleaning trash and painting walls, building pathways, playing with kids, playing sports, talking to boys just as friends. I help lead the teams through project leading, I make their beds, help them when they’re sick, answer questions, get what they need, introduce them to the community that I’m building a good rapport with, ETC. I LOVE IT! J
I will send off more to you soon, Keith. Hope this is sufficient. But I will write to you about the finer details of this recreation program. I am learning that this is like tourism, community development and outdoor recreation all in one. A 3-in-1 deal. Heck ya!
MUCHO amor,
Mikay k.
That's all for now, folks.
