So, when most people think of Nicaragua (assuming they know anything about it), they automatically think of Managua, the capital. Typically, if you ask someone from Nicaragua where they are from, they will tell you that they were from Managua. Managua is the most industrialized and most populated city in Nicaragua (which happens to be the third poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with Haiti being the first). Like any big city, Managua has crime and a lot of poverty. Nevertheless, it is where most people like to stay because it has the better accommodations (i.e. hotels, homes, businesses with people who speak English). I, however, do not go to Nicaragua to visit Managua. My husband's family lives in a small city in the northern region of Nicaragua called Ocotal (13 miles south of the Honduran border).
I like it in Ocotal. It's small, it's quiet, the people are wonderfully pleasant, and it's safe.
My family's husband owns a small farm about 20 minutes outside of Ocotal in an area called Savana Grande which is a farming community. For the last two years, my husband and I have been working on a reforestation project 
on the farm (the first time I visited Nicaragua I was astonished at the depletion of the forests, the chopping of trees used for fire and building, and the burning of trash and I couldn't understand how nothing was being done to stop this problem from continuing as the repercussions were quiet obvious; the rivers have turned into creeks, animals are becoming extinct, and the natural e
cology is being destroyed). In the course of the last two years we have had several volunteers arrive who have helped with the pursuance of this project and little by little we have been expanding our efforts.
on the farm (the first time I visited Nicaragua I was astonished at the depletion of the forests, the chopping of trees used for fire and building, and the burning of trash and I couldn't understand how nothing was being done to stop this problem from continuing as the repercussions were quiet obvious; the rivers have turned into creeks, animals are becoming extinct, and the natural e
cology is being destroyed). In the course of the last two years we have had several volunteers arrive who have helped with the pursuance of this project and little by little we have been expanding our efforts. Most recently my husband and I decided it wasn't enough to simply reforestate the farm. We decided that we would build an educational reserve center where tourists and locals alike could be educated on how to help protect and preserve the ecology. This of course works well when you target young children, as they are the future of the country. Therefore, we intend to eventually have schools take field trips to the project and learn.
This last time though, another issue became obvious to me.
Sitting comfortably in the patio of the farm, working on my book with the luxury of a laptop, I noticed a young girl attempting to start a fire on the grill (used with wood). She was helping the cook prepare lunch for us (the Gringos). I asked her if she worked for my brother-my-law and she told me no, that she was simply helping the cook because the cook had asked her to give her a hand. She continued to tell me that she used to work at the farm sweeping and cleaning up but now that she had a baby she needed to spend time with her, but that occasionally she would come over and help Margarita (the cook).
Baby? How old are you? I asked. I just turned 16. And how old is your baby? 9 months.
I contemplated. That's quite young, but nothing that's foreign in the United States.
Are you going to school? I asked her. No. She answered. What grade did you go to? 6th grade.
6th grade? Now this is definitely not something you would see in the United States.
Why didn't you keep going? I asked. Because the school is 10 miles away and my parents couldn't afford the bus to take me there, plus uniforms and books. It's just too much money.
Later on I would find out, through my husband, that children are only required by the government to attend school up until the 6th grade. Most of the kids that don't continue with their schooling past the 6th grade are the children of "campesinos," farmers. As a result, the boys of these families work the land with their father (as is the case with the caretaker of my husband's family's farm who has four children - 3 boys and one girl - the boys all help their father labor on the farm and the girl, who only studied up till 6th grade, helps the mother at the house cooking and cleaning) and the girls prepare for procreation. There is nothing more to do. Women in "el campo" will never do much more but give birth to offspring and cook and clean.
On the right is a photo of her with her baby.
This trip has left with many more questions and concerns about the children, the future generation of this country, and their native land and what they (the people and the government) are or are not doing to preserve, conserve, and protect both the children and the land. I am not Nicaraguan, I was born in the states, and yet I feel "Nicaraguan" (whatever that means), and I love the country and its people as though I had been born there and could claim some sort of national pride. What can be done? Is it worth it or is it a useless cause? Who cares? No one seemed to care about Haiti and its people until it was hit for the third time in three years by a natural disaster and everyone finally woke up and decided it was time to help; so why would anyone care about the deforestation in Nicaragua, or children who don't go to school past 6th grade, or girls having babies because that is all their future entails? Who cares?
2 comments:
I agree with the statement that when Haiti was finally hit, that's when people started helping. This concept can also apply to when Michael Jackson died, and that's when the world finally imbraced his existence until after he was gone. I believe that this world is so corrupted that the issue of wheter we can help or not is overlooked. This world has become a world of money. It's either be rich or be poor and left alone. For example, when Haiti got hit by the earthquake, all of these sponsors and organizations came out of no where. Commercials all over the place, famous celebrities on shows sponsoring for Haiti. Why did it take so long for people to finally realize how poor Haiti was. Why is it now we are finally sending troops and food and money into Haiti. Why did it have to take an earthquake and so many people dying for the public to finally take a note of what has been happening in Haiti?
Going back to the issue with the school level in Nicaragua only reaching up to the 6th grade, I think is ridiculous. But then again the country is poor and the government does not really care about education for the children.
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