Keith Kolakowski Archives

For the second time.

I didn't think too much about how this was going to hit me until we finally got on the little yellow bus and drove through the capital city, Managua. It was then that all the smells of this country burst into the windows and all the memories came rushing back. The dust. The trees. The exhaust from the school buses that compose the entire public transportation system. The smell of the food cooking on the street, on the medians, and sidewalks.

Hard work! Have you ever tried to mix concrete by hand? And by "by hand" I mean with a shovel. It's really grueling. Blisters, sore muscles, dust in the eyes. It's a beautiful thing. My favorite part was working side by side with the Nicaraguans making concrete cinder blocks.

So, apparently co-ops are the business model of choice here in Nicaragua. About 50 or so local Nicaraguans are starting a new spinning co-op to supply the cotton thread necessary to make the fabric for the already-established women's sewing co-op here, which everyone knows about. That is who we have been working with - making the cement blocks and bending steel reinforcement to build the walls!

Before I start my last blog entry, I'd like to give a big thank you on behalf of the Brigade to a friend of the Bucknell community and father of first-year student George Hingson. George's father works with Brother's Brother, a non-profit that focuses on gathering medical donations to be sent to places in need around the world. The Brigade received more than $200,000 worth of medical donations this year from Brother's Brother. This is a HUGE help to the people of Nueva Vida and it will, quite honestly, save lives and better their community! Thanks so much to Brother's Brother on behalf of all the Brigadistas!

On to the blog...