Category: Nicaragua

Education Plus Nicaragua Needs Help

I’m way behind on posting because we have not had good internet but this post needs to be done in any case. It isn’t about our recent activities, it is about Education Plus Nicaragua which we visited back in May last year.

I didn’t give this organization enough mention in my May 15, 2017 posting. We visited the school and talked at length with a couple of staff members and met some of the kids. The children love going there each day, if for no other reason that they get a decent meal. But most of them appreciate the supplemental education that they get as well.

I received this email today and feel compelled to post it and ask anyone who reads this to consider giving $5, $10, $25, or more one time or on an ongoing basis. I can just about count the monthly contributions that I do regularly on one hand and this is one of them.

“Dear friends and family,

Where to even begin.

Last week, political protests erupted all across Nicaragua, leaving more than 30 dead so far.  Protesters are sick of what they view as their corrupt and inept government, and government forces have met peaceful protests with guns and mortars.  New laws were announced increasing income taxes, higher taxes on social security payments, and decreased medical coverage.  At the same time social security is almost insolvent, its funds having allegedly been used by the main political party, the Sandinistas, to purchase luxury housing and private businesses for themselves.  Censorship has kicked up – news channels that are not pro-government have been shut down, and things only seem to be getting worse.  “President” Daniel Ortega has announced he will be rescinding the social security reforms, but the number of protesters is still growing, with some police forces disobeying orders and joining the side of the people. Businesses in the capital are on strike today, demanding the release of political prisoners and an end to censorship and violent repression.

While the social security reforms were the main trigger of the protests, this really has been a long time coming.  Several other issues have caused the protest, including the government’s inept handling of a recent natural disaster in the Indio Maiz region, and because the people are sick of a public education system that says it averages 25 children per classroom but actually averages 50 or more.  Now, a common protest against non-profits such as Education Plus is: “why are you educating that children?  That should be the government’s job.  If you provide the education, then the government has no incentive to do their job.  Therefore, you are actually contributing to the problem.”

Well, in Nicaragua, the endemic corruption is so bad that even if there were more funding for the school system, little would find its way to the children.  More fundamentally, the current government does not want its people educated.  University students are a main faction of the protesters.   The government knows that with education comes greater awareness and a decrease in the sense of powerlessness.  Uneducated people are poorer – so the government can buy their votes cheaply in election years by going around giving out sacks of food and cheap building materials to repair homes.  Additionally, it is the poor and illiterate who are the easiest to manipulate.  We have firsthand accounts of the police going into our community of Pantanal and paying men 200 cord (about 6 USD) to attack peaceful protesters.

This is not the e-mail I wanted to be writing.  But big things are going on right now in Nicaragua, and I want to let you all know that with Education Plus, things will be business as usual as much as possible.  While public schools are closed for now, our doors will be open.  Our employees do not want to stay at home, in fact, they say they feel safer at Casa de los Sueños.  We have arranged transportation so they can get to and from work safely.  If the power is cut across the country as is rumored (in order to prevent communications of what is going on to the outside world), we will keep our doors open.  We will cook with wood and teach in dark but still enthusiastic classrooms.  We will remain a safe place for the children to come and be children throughout the crisis. 

If we start to argue about “government responsibility”, it is the children who will lose.  It falls to us who actually have the economic power to make a difference, to educate the children who will be the future leaders of their country.   As Cardinal Obispo Silvio Baez recently told a gathering of university students at the Metropolitan Cathedral, “The students of Nicaragua are its moral reserve.”

To make a donation to help us continue feeding the children during the crisis, please click on the button below:

Click Here to Help us Feed the Children During the Crisis

Thank you for standing with us during these heartbreaking times.

With hope and gratitude,

Monica, Jim, the staff, volunteers and children of Education Plus

Monica Loveley
Executive Director
Education Plus Nicaragua
www.eduplusnicaragua.org
 www.facebook.com/eduplusnicaragua”

Sidewalks

Textured tiles are cues for the visually impaired

Sidewalks in Latin America generally fall into one of a few categories:

  • New or excellent condition with/without tactile cues for the visually impaired like above
  • Very good condition with decorative tiles/design
  • Very poor, uneven, drop offs, steps, obstacles, deteriorating

I don’t have pictures of the poor ones although I could get them in a heartbeat but I have seen many that had decorative designs. It is a pleasure to see that someone took the time/expense/creativity to install a decorative (usually tile or brick) sidewalk. Here are just a few examples:

Medications and Pharmacies

Typical pharmacy in Latin America. A few are twice this size and rarely much larger.

In all of the countries that we have been in so far (Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador), the pharmacies are similar. They are usually much smaller than a 7-11 store in the USA; often you just walk a step or two from the sidewalk to a counter. They tend to have medicines in a series of deep drawers behind the counter. The staff doesn’t wear any type of name tag or badge so I don’t know if they are “pharmacists” or not. They do tend to be pretty knowledgeable and able to recommend products for colds, coughs, bug bites, etc.

In Panama, Ecuador, and I think Costa Rica and Nicaragua as well, they are called farmacias but in Colombia they are usually called drogerias.

I know in Nicaragua, I could buy generic Xanax and Ambien with no problem, and no prescription. In fact, the generic Xanax was on the top shelf of the glass counter. No limits on how much I could buy either. And very cheap, under $0.30 each if  I remember correctly.

When I talked to the doctor who came to see Dan when he was under the weather in Popayan, he said that the only things that require a prescription in Colombia are antibiotics. I am glad that they require a prescription but it is amazing that you can buy anything else any time you want.

The farmacias tend to have a small selection of supplements, dental items, personal care items, etc. It will be interesting to see the differences in the future countries.

Blister pack of acetomenophen

You don’t generally see items in bulk. They are usually sold by a blister pack sheet, even something as common as acetaminophen is sold by a sheet of about 10 or 12 tablets. Selection is much smaller and options different from the US. For example, if you want a cream to stop itching from mosquito bites, you can’t get a benadryl type cream. And what you can get in one country you may not be able to get in another.

I take a large dose of Vitamin D3 every day so I like to get 5,000 unit gel caps but you are lucky if you can find 2,000 units caps and if you do, they are expensive where as in the US they are pretty cheap.

Earning a Living in Central and South America

Jewelry and food are very common items sold on the streets.

Earning a living in Latin  America can be very tough. Work is hard and long hours and pay very low. Retirement payments are extremely low, as low as $50 per month in Ecuador.

Many people earn their living by selling things. On streets, in the plazas, boarding buses briefly, and walking between lanes of traffic. You can buy almost anything from shoe laces and plain shoe inserts (I am not talking the Dr. Scholl gel inserts, I’m talking plain inserts like you take out of your shoes if you put in the Dr. Scholl inserts), sun glasses, all kinds of fresh or cooked foods, toys, corn kernels for pigeons, bubble blowers, shoe shines, candy or cigarettes, and the list is endless.

Compliments of AlpacaMall

In Ecuador I saw a man with no shoes because his feet were clubbed or deformed, walking on his knees, selling the Andean ponchos. I didn’t take a picture of him but here is the type of poncho I mean.

I saw another man who sat on a skateboard and went up and down between lanes of traffic selling something. Brave soul.

We generally don’t buy from the vendors because we don’t know how the food is handled but lots of people do buy there. I guess prices are good and they are convenient. Below are pictures from Colombia and Ecuador but you could find similar pictures in any of the countries we have been in so far and I suspect most of the ones we plan to visit in the future.

Courtyards in Nicaragua

The Garden Cafe. Good food at reasonable prices. The tables are under the roof to the right and left of the photo. This courtyard seemed unusual as it had more plants and dirt than any others we saw.

Courtyards are a necessity in Nicaragua (and should be elsewhere as well). The air in the courtyard flows into the rooms which surround it and help to keep the temperatures tolerable.

All of the courtyards that we saw were full of lots of plants and sometimes a fountain or pool. They were very pleasant to see and to sit in.

My only question about this practice is that it means that the majority of all land is covered by impervious cover (concrete, asphalt, buildings, etc.) so I’m not sure how much of an issue rainwater runoff is.

Here are just a few of the many ones we saw. In the pictures we took from the bell tower, you can see that almost the only plants you see come from the courtyards.

Nicaraguan Art-Humor?

During one of our outings while we were in Nicaragua we went to a nice market in Catarina which is near Granada. The place was clean, neat, and not crowded while we were there. You could purchase all kinds of things there, including art work. I got a kick out of the ones below. These folks know how to multi-task!

Other artwork we saw in a restaurant at Charco Verde Reserve and other places can be seen here.

You can see that the style is somewhat similar. A few of the images are just to show you who the artist is.

Nicaragua-A Surprising Country

We spent about 10 days in Nicaragua, mostly in historic Granada (more on that in another blog) but also a few days on the island in Lake Nicaragua as well.

Thoughts about the country, people, culture:

  • The drive from the border to Granada was mixed. The road was excellent and there wasn’t much traffic. Lots of green spaces on either side of the road and you can see Lake Nicaragua and Ometepe Island shortly after entering the country.
  • Poverty is also obvious very quickly. Small houses, yards are mostly trees like banana and coconut, no grass yards. Animals are loose and when I say loose, they often graze their horses, donkeys, cows, and pigs on the side of the roads. Usually tethered in some way on the busier roads but not always.
  • The people are generally happy despite their poverty. One thing we did was tour an after school program that is one of the poorest neighborhoods in Granada. The administrator giving the tour (school and neighborhood) said that the kids always come eager to be there (they get a meal, play, and instruction appropriate to their skill level) and they are clean, well groomed, and in clean, pressed clothes. This is despite the fact that they usually don’t have indoor plumbing at their houses! They seemed happy to be at the program and most of them were outgoing and engaging.
  • Poverty is very evident once you get a few blocks from the central tourist areas, especially in the neighborhood of the program where the streets and floors in most of the houses are dirt, houses are often made of pieces of tin, and I even saw one house made of boxsprings from old mattresses as the exterior walls and tar paper on the interior. I didn’t get a picture of that but I do have a picture of a gate using a boxspring.
  • The country is very poor, the second poorest in the western hemisphere after Haiti. We saw homes made of odd pieces of tin or wood, one even made of the box springs of mattresses with tar paper on the inside. Dirt floors are not uncommon in the poorer areas.
  • Despite the poverty, people are very clean, neat, well groomed, and in clean/neat clothes. They are generally happy.
  • Horses, cows, donkeys, and pigs are often loose to feed on the roadsides. They are sometimes tethered, sometimes totally loose and may even be in the roadway itself. Their owners bring them in nightly and there doesn’t appear to be a problem with theft.
  • Murder rates are very low in Nicaragua (unlike Honduras) however theft is high. We didn’t have any problems but we were told that the poorer locals feel like that if they steal from someone who has things, they need the things and the owner will just go out and replace it…so what is the problem?!
  • It is extremely hot and humid; just now coming into the rainy season which will cool down the afternoons.
  • During the war there were no schools for the children. Now they go half days, I believe it is small children in the morning and older kids in the afternoons. Teachers are not well trained either. Both things are going to work against improving the lives of the citizens for sometime to come.
  • Below is a picture of steps in Granada. It is our new motto!

Monkeys-Los Monos

We only saw one lone monkey scurry down a branch in the shadows of a tree in Costa Rica but in Nicaragua, we saw a number of them…2 kinds (Howler and Spider).

The first group was on the Islet Tour in Lake Nicaragua near Granada. There are 365 islets (big enough for at least a house if not more) formed from the eruption of a volcano long ago. One of those islets has 4 spider monkeys.

The monkeys are quite used to tourists in the boats coming and feeding them so they are easy to see. We did an afternoon tour so they weren’t hungry (and we didn’t know to bring fruit for them anyway) but I understand that during morning tours they are even more visible.

The second group was at Charo Verde Reserve on Ometepe Island. Those were Howler monkeys and I’m not sure how many we saw, at least a half dozen. They were above us in the mango trees, taking a bite out of the fruit and throwing it down to the ground (reminded me of the squirrels and our peach trees at the house in San Antonio).

The monkey we have seen the most is Mona the Common Marmoset at Finca Soley. She gets her own posting.