May 31, 2008
While the US celebrated Mother´s day a few weeks past, Nicaragua had their celebration for mother´s on May 30. In Sabana Grande, the fiesta was hosted at the Solar Center. After spending the morning decorating with the other volunteers, we joined the kids from the village by acting out various skits (including, the Prodigal Son), passing out small gifts for the mother´s, followed by snacks, and lots of dancing. Everyone in Sabana Grande loves the dancing. I´m so glad that we were able to be here for this celebration. It was a wonderful introduction to the community and a great way to spend time with all of the families!
While electricty within houses is hit or miss, running water is incredibly scarce. Therefore, everyday multiple trips to the water pump are required to fill up buckets for cooking, cleaning dishes, and showering. Yesterday, Gladyis and Masiel taught me how to use the water pump so that I can help with that chore. While using the pump is not terribly strenuous, the real task for me is carrying the bucket back to the house on top of my head. Oh dear. The first attempt resulted in me completely soaking my right side as I walked very slowly down the dirt path, over the massive tree roots, and through the tiny gateways. I´m fascinated by how swiftly everyone here is able to carry these buckets. This is another task that I hope to improve upon this summer. Read more
May 27, 2008
Thanks for checking up on me! This blog will detail my work with Salud del Sol, both here at home and in Nicaragua. I will be in the United States, working on getting Salud del Sol off the ground, until June 18. I will then be in Nicaragua until August 8. There is so much happening both here and abroad–including conference presentations and papers, grant writing and other fundraising and publicity efforts, and research and development–that I hope you check back often. Thanks!
- Lori
May 27, 2008
It has been about a week since my last post, but about a month´s worth of events have been played over. There is so much to share that I fear I won´t be able to share it all.But I promised to talk about a few things, and then some.
Soccer. Every day at 5 the community kids (and older) get together to play soccer. I´ve played w
ith them a few times now, and it has been a blast. The rules are very basic, and there are way too many men on the field. But it´s all great fun, and I have really enjoyed it… I can hold my own in soccer. I love yelling in Spanish, because it´s just more fun that way.
As I´ve mentioned, there is a large town about 20 minutes bus ride north of Sabana Grande, called Ocotal. It has hardware stores, grocery stores, restaurants, and internet cafes, among other things. This is where we will go to do most of our shopping for food and materials, as well as to use the internet. Today, however, I am in a town called Esteli, which is a 2 hour bus ride south of Sabana Grande. Esteli is much larger, and offers a much greater variety. Here I am purchasing a few materials for the solar autoclave that I can´t get in Ocotal, as well as drawing out money, because no ATMs in Ocotal take Mastercard.
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May 27, 2008
The first week in Nicaragua has included a lot of introductions, orientations to new places, meals of rice and beans, and quick references to the Spanish dictionary for translations. I have loved getting to know my host family through meals, back yard soccer games, and walks around Sabana Grande. Gladyis (age 24) is Maria Antonio’s daughter, Marvin (age 7) and Cherling (age 3) are both Gladyis’ children, and Masiel (age 9) is María Antonio’s niece, all living comfortably in a two bedroom house. My host family lives in an area called, “The Projects” which is 3 streets of 24 similar looking houses built of adobe with a red roof. Each house is surrounded by a flimsy barbed wire fence and a flourishing garden. Between the houses is a dirt road where the children in the neighbor are always playing. The softball I brought for my host family has been such a hit with all of the kids! I´m waiting until later in the summer to bring out the soccer ball for even more fun. 
The average income for the families in this area is less than $2 per day, which is considered extreme poverty for world standards. However, the living conditions of this community are much different than I was expecting. The focus is not on what they do not have, by means of material possessions, but rather on the strong relationships that they have with everyone within the community. Every night there is a crowd of friends and family from the neighborhood that come to María´s house after dinner to watch their favorite show, Madre Luna. While the language barrier is still frustrating at times, I am slowly beginning to pick up more and more of the conversations being had among everyone. I wish I could just turn the Spanish language switch “ON,” but that will take time.
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May 24, 2008
I arrived in Sabana Grande, Nicaragua on May 22 and will be living here for the next three months within a wonderful community. The experience has been incredible so far. My host María Ant
onia Centeno Velazque and her family have been so welcoming, and the kids are incredibly enthusiastic to learn from us and to teach us the real way to play backyard futbol (soccer). While lanugage has been a cause for confusion, everyone in the community exercises extreme patience and is willing to correct mistakes.
Within the community is the quickly growing el Centro Solar, which is the focal point of the renewable energy research projects. There is much momentum in the areas of solar cookers, solar panel installation and other research projects. Next week, I will be able to spend all day at el Centro Solar with language classes every morning from 8a to 10a and learning from the staff in the afternoon.
Please keep in touch this summer. I look forward to hearing from you!
Hasta luego!
- Anna
May 23, 2008
I like using these Spanish keyboards, because they have so many more options than our boring US keyboards. ñ,ç,¿,€,¡,º,ª… esta bien. Most keys have three symbols on them, rather than two, so they require two shifts, the second being AltGr.
Anyway, I have arrived in Sabana Grande! It is as awesome and beautiful as I thought it´d be, if not more so. I erred when I said that Sabana Grande meant ¨Great Plains¨, because apparently it means ¨Big Sheet¨. It is also in a bit different location than I thought: 20 minutes south of Ocotal, not Esteli.. though it is near Esteli. My apologies.
Here I am surrounded by mountains and farmland, and there are cities nearby. We are staying in a community, with some clusters of houses here and there. The Centro de Solar, or Solar Center, is the center of activity. It is very impressive, as it was only very recently built and runs entirely on solar power. In it they have a tool room, a storeroom, a meeting room, an office, and a library. It sits on 3-and-a-half acres of land, on which they also have an automatic pump for a well, a composting latrine, and many organic gardens. Read more
May 19, 2008
So I have arrived in Nicaragua! The flights and all went smoothly, and so we arrived in Managua around 11:30, local time, which is just two hours behind New York.
The view from the plane was amazing, of course. We saw many mountains and trees, craters filled with water. Lake Managua is very large, one of the largest in Central America, I believe. You can imagine, we were all very excited to be arriving. I had just a little trouble going through customs, because I was carrying multiple laptops, which added up to a value greater than the allowed cost of goods, so I had to pay a fee. It was to be expected.
We met with Amanda, who is the liason between ETHOS and Grupo Fenix. She is from Buffalo, NY, and traveled with ETHOS before graduating in ´03, and has done Peace Corps in Nicaragua since then. She now works for Grupo Fenix, who is the company that ETHOS works closely with in Nicaragua. Amanda has been amazingly helpful; she is answering our many questions and translating for us. She took us all in a van, with our luggage, to the house of the family that Vince will be staying with this summer. We are staying with them in Managua for two nights.
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May 19, 2008
I am writing this from above the Gulf of Mexico, during a flight from Houston to Managua, Nicaragua after an very fulfilling airplane breakfast, an egg pita sandwich, yogurt, banana, and orange juice. As a distraction from the movie that is playing, I thought I wanted to take this chance to begin the travel journal for the summer experience of living and working in Sabana Grande, Nicaragua. Located in the north west region of the country, beyond the city of Ocotal, outside of Totogalpa, near the border of Honduras.
With a 3:30am wake up call for a 6:00am flight from Columbus, I met the other heavily caffeinated UD students in Houston, Texas. From here, Daniel Hensel, Pete Kolis, Vince Romanin, and Matt Wills, and myself are traveling to Managua, the capital of Nicaragua (Lori Hanna will be joining us four weeks later in Sabana Grande). Susan Kinne, the director of Grupo Fenix, the program that we will be working through, will be meeting us at the airport. We will spend a few days in the city for orientation and from my understanding, this bustling city presents a stark difference to the rural village of Sabana Grande.
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May 18, 2008
My goal for this blog is to give a picture of Sabana Grande, the place that I will be calling home for twelve weeks, to illustrate the beauty of the relationships with the people within the community, and the challenges that come with implementing the solar autoclave venture of Salud del Sol. With the support of the University of Dayton School of Business, the ETHOS program, and countless friends and family, we have the opportunity to turn the plan into a reality. I will be recording weekly updates, given access to the internet, which will be accessed through internet cafes within the near by city of Ocotal. I would appreciate any thoughts or questions that you incur while reading this, while my access to email will be limited, I will do my best to respond as quickly as possible!
- Anna
May 17, 2008
So it’s Saturday and I’m outta here on Monday, bright and early. Actually, the sun won’t even be up when I leave. I blame Vince for the itinerary and early start.
I’ve been home in Hudson, Ohio, for a few days now, and have been preparing for Nicaragua ever since! 10 weeks is a long time to be gone, and I have a lot to do, so I have tried to make preparations accordingly. I picked up plenty of testing equipment (Thermocouples and Data Acquisition Systems, or DAQs) from UD last week, and have been shopping for other various materials throughout. Now, I have everything pretty much laid out and ready to be put into the suitcase.
As a result, however, the house is a mess. Mother won’t show the house while I am home because my room is a blackhole of clothes and various travel items. She says she’s nervous about me leaving for Nicaragua, and that she is going to miss me, but I’m sure a part of her will be glad that I am gone as well. Read more