Nica enjoying her new life in Marin. 

Introduction

Bienvenido. Karibu. Welcome.

Sumaq (the name of my blog) is actually Quechua for "wonderful". I was looking for a url for my blog and this one seemed appropriate, since I plan to use the blog to tell stories about the wonderful experiences I have around the world.

This letter below was an email to my friends and family from my trip to Nicaragua last month (June 2004). I hope to post during my travels and just send everyone here in the future, rather than sending out group emails. I'm actually returning to Nicaragua tomorrow for a week. Long story. That will be my next blog....
as for Nica the kitten, she made it back to the US safe and sound and is enjoying her new life here in the states.

Saludos a todos!

It has been an interesting trip to Nicaragua this
year...for those of you who don´t know, I´m teaching a
graduate field class in Nicaragua for three weeks (to
Masters students from the U.S). We just entered into
our third week. I came a bit early so I´ve been here
nearly three weeks now.

The first weekend here I went jogging in Managua and
crossed paths with a small kitten with an injured leg.
Here in Nicaragua animals like this are tossed out
like garbage...so her future looked pretty bleak.
Knowing that her fate was almost certainly an
agonizing death, I really had no choice but to pick
her up and bring her back to my hostel...four vet
visits later, she is almost ready for her trip back to
the united states...from the second poorest country in
the western hemisphere to the richest country in the
world...she doesn´t have a clue what is in store for
her (neither do her seven brothers and sisters back in
the U.S.). Her name? Nica, of course.


Even after 10 years, the poverty here never ceases to
shock me and it´s a reminder of why I started FSD and
why our work is so important. While we aren´t changing
the world on a grand scale, it´s nice to know we have
made a small difference here in Nicaragua. FSD has a
few things going on right now in Nicaragua---our
regular internship programs (two groups are already
here with the third group arriving in a couple weeks),
this study tour, and our summer grant program. It
looks like we will also be sending a group of
volunteers for a 10 day service trip at the end of
next month.

For those of you who donated to our summer grant
competition, it has just gotten underway. We made our
first grant today, a pilot program at a woman´s health
center here in Ciudad Sandino. For less than $500, we
are distributing coupons for free pap smears and exams
for 150 poor women who can´t afford them. The
educational component is raising awareness of the
health risks and the necessity of getting an annual
exam. The rate of cancer here is very high and many
times it is discovered too late to do anything about
it. It´s always amazing to see how such small amounts
of money can affect such a huge number of people. So,
thank you again for your support! We are excited that
the grant application deadlines are approaching soon
and the applications are about to start flowing in
from the six countries where we work.


Nicaragua is a country of stark contrasts. Extreme
wealth amidst extreme poverty. The class
has definitely experienced both this trip. We spent
the first week in Managua visiting various NGOs
working in different areas of development, such as
health, education, microfinance, and trade. We had
various practioners come in give talks on similar
topics. The first week was very hard because it was
extremely hot, a lot of us got sick, the poverty is
always in your face, and we were constantly on the
go...it was pretty exhausting.

We left the heat, fumes, and poverty of Managua and
headed north for the weekend to a ecolodge in a cloud
forest. It was truly paradise on earth and I am
working on buying a coffee farm right down the road
from there..I think I have mark convinced! Our group
spent the weekend drinking organic coffee, lying in
hammocks, hiking on nature trails and enjoying the
most amazing scenery Nicaragua has to offer.

The next week we spent in the north doing service
projects with two NGOs in Chaguitillo and Dario.
Chaguitillo is a small town of about 3,500 people. We
lived with local families and our service project
entailed painting the community center. We hiked to
some historic sites with very old rock paintings,
watched various dance groups, danced some ourselves,
and met with community groups and schools to learn
about life in rural Nicaragua. From there we headed
to Dario, a city of about 45,000 people and the birth
place of Ruben Dario, a Nicaraguan poet who won the
nobel prize in literature. There we stayed in dorms
and our service project was reforesting a schoolyard
and repairing desks for a very poor rural school about
a half an hour outside of Dario.

After a week of work we moved on to our second
ecolodge, this time a fancy resort on a
beautiful lagoon...the students were so moved by the
beauty they convinced me to stay one extra night there
to gather their energy for their service projects and
homestays in Ciudad Sandino, a very poor town just
outside of Managua. We spent our days eating by the
lagoon, swimming in the lagoon, staring at the lagoon,
and shopping in the local market. The rooms were even
air conditioned. Yet another paradise on earth.

Today we arrived in Ciudad Sandino and began our
service projects. We are working with five schools
and youth programs doing various things. Everyone
is living with a host family this week. It´s been a
bit hard for some of them; it is the first time a few
have been outside of the United States. The poverty
and the disparity between the rich and poor is often
really hard to take. But the Nicaraguan people have
been incredibly warm and welcoming and I think
everyone is getting a lot of out their stay here. I
know I am. It´s been awhile since I´ve had my own
family homestay and I had forgotten what
a truly heartwarming experience it is.

As my time here in Nicaragua comes to an end, I can´t
help but wonder what my students will do when they go
back...will they be moved by their experience and
return in the future? Will they go back to life as
they knew it before the trip and not really change
because of the experience? Will it make a difference
in their lives? Last night one of my students said
this trip was the most moving experience of his life.
At that moment I forgot all about the heat, the
discomfort, the pain at seeing such poverty day in and
day out, the feelings of helplessness that always
overwhelm me as I live and work in Ciudad Sandino with
NGOs that try to do so much with so little, the guilt
and frustration I feel when I yield to my yuppie
coffee cravings and head to the fancy air conditioned
cafe at the mall in Managua, the feelings of being
homesick and wanting to be home in my comfortable
house with Mark and our cats and away from the dirt
and fumes of this place and the guilt of knowing that
I have the luxury of going home to such a wonderful
place and a wonderful life...

But at that moment I remembered why I am here now and
why I do the work that I do. Thanks for being a part
of it.

Un abrazo desde Nicaragua,
Alicia