On the ground, making it work

We arrived in Managua in the wee hours of Monday. We had a TON of luggage for the 11 members of the team because we brought so much with us. Sherri is a one-woman team to help local women learn how to sew and bake but she also had baking pans of various types plus material for sewing plus I don't even know other than she had three huge suitcases.

As we waited in the airport, she explained how she was going to have the men help her build reflector ovens using tin so she could show the women how to bake using the ovens. Not for camping or "roughing it," but because of the conditions in which they live. Survive.

Yesterday was a planning day for the teaching team. Turns out it was some sort of holiday so no school. That meant the sports team had about 150 kids--half in the morning and half in the afternoon. The morning was rainy but it cleared up in the afternoon with an nice breeze much of the day. We hardly knew it was in the upper 80s.

We're at the Villa Esperanza for planning and meals. We'll be teaching here next week, but this week we're off to Nueva Vida, and that's all I know about that so pictures to come.

I was grateful we had the planning day yesterday. We would have been a mess without it, but we were able to lay out the rest of the week with some great brainstorming.  We worked in our glassed-in space, listening to the bird shriek and call around us.

I walked the property a few times. It's behind high walls with barbed wire rolled across the top of the walls. That's for protection of people and property. It's patrolled at night by men and dogs, though I've met the dogs: Lucy, Blacky, and Rosie. The dogs don't speak English, but a nice rump or belly scratch is the same in any language.

We're eating well. Fresh (!!) fruit for nearly every meal. Pineapple, mango, watermelon. Yummy. Lots of rice and beans, but they're doing a great job and cooking for the Norte Americanos.


At this point the hardest part is sleeping and not just because it's hot, humid, and we have only fans though we have windows on two walls. We have dorm arrangements so there are 5 women in a room with 6 bunk beds. I didn't move fast enough and have an upper bunk. The bunk beds are homemade and the ladders are not quite built for adults with a long first (or last) step and the hand rails that aren't quite high enough. I should pretty adept at the end of the two weeks. I hope.

Today we go to work. We'll be traveling by bus to wherever we're going. We first heard there would be about 30 teachers, then before we left last night the number was up to 52. So we'll see, and we'll go with whatever. The teachers are hungry for any kind of professional development so this is going to be exhausting and exciting, especially working with a translator. Ah yes, the adventure continues.

The adventure begins

The exact date of the adventure is really when I got the Facebook message from my friend and colleague asking me if I'd be interested in going to Nicaragua for two weeks to work with some teachers. My first thought? "Wow, it's hot in Nicaragua." Yes, I'm a terrible native Floridian but there are reasons I don't live in Florida and they are "heat" and "humidity." And so, to most people, Nicaragua. . .in July. . .doesn't seem like a reasonable option.

But then I talked with Nancy who told me more about the school that started in the dump outside of Managua. The dump was bought by a Spanish company. Many of the people were moved from their dwellings in the dump to cinder block homes and a school was built. But many of those same folks still trekked to the dump for food and to scavenge because that was one of the ways they survived.

She told me that one of the weeks we would stay at the Villa Esperanza, with its own story of another way families survived.

There are a lot of very positive things going on at the Villa Esperanza (check out their Facebook page) and it's no surprise that many mission organizations are part of that success.

And why go to Nicaragua (in July, in the heat and humidity) when there is so much need in the U.S.? Because Nancy asked. And maybe, when I'm really honest with myself, because those teachers are asking for help and looking forward to whatever we can offer them.

So we'll be working with K-6 teachers, mostly, and some church and Sunday school teachers in the local community the first week. It's all very fluid so I'll be prepared for pretty much anything. I'm excited to get to show them some possibilities for reading and writing because I've learned this is not a reading culture. But how cool it will be to encourage them to write their own stories to share with each other, and maybe put those stories to music or make them into poetry or create a play!

The second week we'll be working mostly with K-6 teachers in different schools and in a different area. I'm not entirely clear on specific locations but it doesn't matter just now. I'll go where the van takes me and take pictures while I'm there. I imagine I'll learn a smidge more before we go.

Nancy and I met on Thursday, June 9, so I consider that the Official Kick-Off date as we were discussing and planning for possibilities. I spent some time yesterday and today doing some research to buy bulk quantities of craft sticks, crayons, and markers. I bought a few thousand pony beads today to use to create different kinds of math counters. More on those later when I create the samples.

And I'm thinking about ways to create words akin to magnetic poetry but not magnetic. I've got lamination sheets so I may just print words and then laminate the paper before cutting out the word sets. I need to make sure whatever I do can be replicated by the teachers in Nicaragua. But I'm playing with some other ideas that won't be expensive but will give them resources that will last for a while.

I'm going to play with some foldable templates so kids can create their own books but use also help teachers see how different foldables might help students learn and practice their learning. I want kids to be able to illustrate their stories whether we do fancier foldables or just fold the paper in half. There's a Wal-Mart in Managua, so I can buy a carton of paper for us to use.

Finally (so far), I'm looking into inexpensive digital cameras so the teachers can record what their students are doing to upload to share. Most of the teachers don't have smartphones. While there are some laptops and computers at the school, they don't have tablets so we'll be pretty no- and low-tech, which is fine. While I love my technology, what I love more is helping teachers refine and develop the craft of teaching so their students can learn and make a difference in all of their lives.



I'm traveling to Nicaragua under the auspices of Messiah's Outreach. You are welcome to donate to the mission if you are so inclined. If you'd like to help in some way with this mission trip, in helping to pay for materials I'll be taking to teachers and for students, please let me know.