Hello,
all! Once again, apologies for my
silence here on the blog these last several days. As mentioned, I have been super busy writing
a grant proposal. (And then, due to an unforeseen
bus breakdown, I got stranded in Las Salinas on Thursday night, so although I
wrote this blog post a few days ago, I am just now getting the chance to revise
and publish it.) But as of Monday, the
proposal is turned in, and I can resume business as usual. It was a lot of work getting all the pieces
of the proposal together, and I am perfectly aware that we might not win
it. But in any case, writing it was
definitely a great learning experience for me.
Moreover, I think that all the analyzing and planning we had to do in order
to write the proposal made the project better than it would have been if we had
just jumped straight to the funding campaign.
Speaking
of the funding campaign, I want to thank you all so very much for your generous
donations to the project! The campaign ended on Thursday, and thanks to all of
you, we have raised $644—more than double what we need to cover all the
expenses of the workshops! This means
that even if we don’t win the grant, we will have more than enough funds to
cover all the necessary expenses, plus extras to expand the program, purchase
starting materials for the participants to get their new businesses off the
ground, and plan follow-up events to keep the momentum going after I head back
to the U.S. I am so extremely grateful
to all of you who have donated and who have spread the word about the project.
Anyway,
enough about fundraising. I wasn’t
writing grants 100% of the time these two weeks, and I have some stories I’d
like to share.
On
Monday, July 8, we held a gathering, or an encuentro,
of the promotoras (the women of the
network of Women’s Rights Defenders, which was established in 2012 by the
intern who came before me) in Las Salinas.
The purpose of the encuentro
was to allow the promotoras to share
their experiences with their activist and education endeavors in their
respective communities, allow them to express any ongoing needs, and get their
input on the workshop series we are planning.
Attending
the encuentro was boy a lovely and a
heartbreaking experience for me. Some of
the women there have experienced really terrible abuse or exploitation at the
hands of their husbands, their employers, or others in their community. They spoke about the prevalence of violence
against women, and how when children grow up in a household where women are
abused, they often come to accept that abuse as the normal way of things,
rather than something that can and should be changed. They spoke about how women who are abused
verbally and psychologically often tend to internalize the degrading messages
they hear and come to believe that they are of little or no value. Some then shared personal stories of abuse
they had suffered (which for confidentiality I will not repeat here).
My
heart broke to hear these stories. But
there was also a great deal of hope shared too. The women spoke about how much
they had benefited from the trainings on women’s rights, and the difference
that information had made in their own lives and the lives of their families. They spoke about how they had taken ownership
of their rights and had come to believe that not only did they deserve better,
they were also protected under the law and had the right to expect the
fulfillment of that protection. They
spoke about their obligation to be examples to their communities: if they
wanted other women to come to understand their rights, they, the promotoras, must live their own lives,
and teach their children to live their lives, in a way that affirms, rather
than degrades, the dignity, value, and rights of women. I saw in these women such a hunger to learn,
to grow, and to work for the good their families and their communities.
The promotoras discussing their work during the encuentro.
Here
is a picture of the group of promotoras
(and me; I am, obviously, the fair-skinned one on the left). These women amaze me, and they shatter any
stereotypical expectations anyone might have about the poor, helpless
Nicaraguans who need saving. They might
not have access to the resources or the education that many U.S. Americans
have, but they have so much passion, initiative, and resourcefulness.
There
was another notable event this past week I wanted to tell you all about. Last Sunday, July 14, Sarah, another FSD
intern who started before I came, helped host a community fair in the
neighboring community of Nancimí. She
worked with the clinic there, so the fair started as a health fare—representatives
from the clinic where there to do free HIV testing and give consultations. But the event expanded to include people from
all over the community. There were a few
teen girls selling their handmade crafts, lots of vendors selling delicious
food, a local natural medicine group, and a man selling beautiful handmade
jewelry boxes. A group from Casa de la
Mujer also came and put on a skit about AIDS and machismo, a group of young girls did a few dances, and a local boys’
soccer team played a game against the team from Rivas. I walked over with my hosts sisters in the
morning (about an hour-long walk though really lovely countryside) and spend
most of the day there, eating, watching the presentations, and just sitting and
enjoying the community atmosphere.
The park in Nancimí all decked out for the fair.
Anyeri, who is my host mom's sister, Sarah's host mom, and the head of the community fair committee, introducing the fair and welcoming all the guests.
Don Clemente, the man I mentioned who makes the beautiful intricate jewelry boxes. This photo doesn't do justice to the detail.
A drumline--ah, memories of marching band.
Vendors preparing and selling tacos and enchiladas (though Nicaraguan tacos and enchiladas are rather different from Mexican tacos and enchiladas).
Vendors selling handmade flowers, jewelry, and paintings.
The boys' soccer game.
This
entry has been rather lengthy, so hopefully you all enjoyed all the
stories. As of yesterday, I have exactly
one month left in Nicaragua, meaning I am past the half-way point. It simultaneously feels like I’ve been here
for ages, and like the time has flown.
In these remaining weeks, I’m really looking forward to going forward
with the project and continuing to build relationships with my host family and
my larger host community. Also, today I
am off to Granada for a mid-internship retreat, so I’m also looking forward to
relaxing a little and getting to do a little sightseeing.
Thanks
again to those who donated to the project, and thanks for reading. ¡Que se cuiden!
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