Granada, Nicaragua

Tiny arms

It’s getting harder to write in English. It’s been only two days, and my native tongue is taking over my brain.

I arrived last night in Granada, Nicaragua, at around 7:30pm, with my two legs, two arms, fuzzy head, and unusual package. At some point, while we were crossing the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, I started to think the castle wouldn’t make it through ADUANA.

The customs officer gave me a very harsh and suspicious look when I told him that inside the big box was a bouncy castle. “I know it's a weird thing to carry around,” I said, my facial expression trying to make clear that this wasn’t the first time I had been asked about this. I think he didn’t want to hear my bizarre story (which by now I had polished to perfection), and he sent me to show my passport and explain my situation to someone else.

After convincing the agents at the border that this wasn’t a very expensive article, and that it didn’t need to be double taxed, they let me go and let me take the boxes with me. I guess they see worse things than a Chilean girl with an American address traveling by bus with a 40 lb. piece of rubber and a blowing motor (not to mention the pink suitcase and pig neck pillow).

So, I made it, and tomorrow we will deliver the inflatable castle to the women project, so they can start renting it for birthday parties and making money out of it! For now, and after a very long day, I am enjoying the warm weather and calm beauty of Granada.

I am so happy to be here and be able to meet the people we work with and try to understand the reality of the organizations we help. Nicaragua is the poorest country in Central America, and there are many reasons for this. Culture, religion, war, politics, greed, and social injustice are just some of them.

I have visited three projects today; most of them are children’s homes or after-school programs. I am shocked by the number of children that each family has. Most of these families are really poor, and the kids end up being neglected, malnourished, and lacking support.

Most women have never heard about birth control, and if they have, they do not consider it an option because it's against their moral and religious beliefs. The result: young parents with more children than they can support, praying that they can provide for all of them. However, in a country with as much poverty as Nicaragua, praying is not enough.

These are the children that come to our projects so they can get a nourishing meal every day, academic and moral support to finish school, and find a place where they get the attention that their parents can’t always give them.

Today I have been moved by the hugs of little arms, wide smiles and cute shiny eyes that are filled with curiosity and joy. I know that for a lot of people, the help they can provide doesn’t seem enough to overcome the hard reality they see. However, it is a wonderful thing what these organizations with the assistance of the volunteers can do. The children I met today are eager to learn; they have their eyes wide open waiting for an opportunity to be better. They just need someone to pay attention to them, and sometimes that is all it takes to make a difference.