Today was our first day working in Nicaragua. I spent the morning helping the majority of the group prepare the new health clinic walls to be painted. We had to sweep them because there is so much dust and we had to tape the windows and doors. This took most of the morning and we headed home for lunch around noon.
Lunch, as always, was delicious!
We then returned to the new health clinic in Nueva Vida and painted the primer on the wall. It is amazing how much different the building looks even with just the primer! It was very interesting also to discuss the reasons behind our painting the inside walls of the clinic when many felt like our time might be better spent doing something else. Apparently, having the walls painted is very important for presentation and professionalism in Nicaragua and as a part of their culture it was important for us to make the building fit in.
This also led into another discussion that I remember having last time I was here that I feel is very important to remember in any situation like the Bucknell Brigade here in Nicaragua. It is very important to be connected with the community in which you work and take your cues from the community members. They can tell you better than you can guess what the community needs and, most often, the best way to provide what they need. Painting the walls of the health clinic is one small example of this.
Other members of the brigade worked inside the older health clinic in Nueva Vida while we were painting. (They're on the same plot of land.) Afterward, they shared with us something that I feel is worth commenting on. Water here in Nicaragua is so much more precious than we can even begin to imagine in the U.S. The community of Nueva Vida has been going for a couple of weeks now without running water and they are being forced to walk into the next town over to fill buckets and jugs with water to bring back for cooking, cleaning, and, most importantly, drinking.
One of the patients that the doctors saw today was a women who lives with her three children and makes a living by doing laundry. Without water she has no job and, hence, no money to buy food for herself or her children. In addition to being without food, the children were treated today at the clinic for severe dehydration because they have no water to drink. If I have taken nothing else from today it is the re-appreciation for water and how precious it is for humans. Water is something we take for granted in the U.S., but is something that is so incredibly valuable here.
We also heard today from the women who worked in the Women's Sewing Cooperative in Nueva Vida. The cooperative started back in 1998 when Hurricane Mitch came through this area and destroyed the community where the current residents of Nueva Vida lived. After being relocated to their current location, an old cow pasture, they began to rebuild with what little they had left.
Many different groups got together with the idea of worker-owned cooperatives and it is, in my opinion, the women's sewing cooperative that is the most impressive and successful one that emerged. They now are the only worker-owned free-trade zone in Nicaragua (and maybe Central America for that matter) and their workers are paid way above any salary a typical worker in Nicaragua could expect from other free-trade zone maquilas. The workers in the cooperative are also required to become members of the co-op after three months of working. This helps to keep the co-op worker-owned and run and has proven to be quite efficient and effective since they began. They are truly an inspirational story and amazing women!
On an ending note, I wanted to also give a shout out to Bella, the most entertaining monkey I have ever met. She lives here with JHC and is constantly trying to work her way into the dorm to "hang out" with us. We have only successfully been able to lure her out with bananas. Today, however, when we were chatting on the bus with Dr. Don, Bella decided to join us and proceeded to work her way around most of our laps to cuddle and let us pet her. She is definitely the nicest monkey I have ever met. :)
