Second to last day of the program...

I’m beginning to slip a bit in my commitment to writing this blog, which is all in good time I guess since I’m (sadly, unbelievably) nearing the end of my eight, wonderful weeks here in Nicaragua. Edgard just came up to me and asked to confirm whether I had much time left in Nicaragua, to which I regretfully answered in the negative, that I was leaving in two days. We’ve begun to wrap up our experience, and tomorrow will be the last day of the program.  After that, it’s a half Friday and a full Saturday to ourselves to say goodbye to the country in which we’ve stayed for the last two months and prepare, by way of packing, for the journey back home. We’ve been working our butts off to finish all our work. Among the pile we had were our final recommendations for SolCom. I have mentioned that we’ve been tirelessly gathering surveys on our products, especially the ones we’re investigating, wherever we go. All those surveys (which in total, between the two teams, number more than 200) were analyzed and put into reports for SolCom’s leadership on demographic information, marketing tips and selling strategies for each of the product. For filters, seeds and stoves, new products which we are investigating and are likely to begin selling in the future, we sense great promise which we, however, need to supplement with hard data. I have to hand it to both the teams for doing an excellent job compiling thoughtful, well-supported recommendations and answers to questions we’ve been asking since the beginning of the summer. We also made the hard choice of allocating our 500+ dollars in funds to up to three of the groups that we had consultations with. In the end, after some debate, we chose SolCom itself (funds will go towards the marketing of seeds and the improvement of our publicity material), ALBOR (the rasta guys in Chichigalpa with the camelbacks) and Pueblo Hotel, the group of women we stayed with on Ometepe (for the improvement of their marketing material and strategy). 

One of my favorite activities we did happened at the very beginning of the day. To begin with, I got off on a rough start today, because my phone died unexpectedly in the middle of night, despite the fact that I had just fully charged it hours before. Because I use my phone for an alarm, the lack of said phone caused me to sleep until 9:30, an hour and a half beyond my normal waking time. Thankfully, we were still in the middle of our “words” activity when I arrived, breathless and full of penitence) on scene. The “word” activity refers to an assignment we were given almost at the very beginning of our eight weeks here. Each of us was given a word like “leadership,” “community,” or in my case, “service.” We were then asked to describe what this word meant to us and to prepare some kind of written or visual way of expressing our thoughts. I chose the cliche path of writing a poem. Here’s the poem below (forgive how kitschy it is). 

What service means to me: 

There wasn’t much time think of such things

In the rushed weeks before this internship.

However, the eight weeks would soon bring

The awareness that I knew zip. 

As our work load grew,

And the number we “served” increased quickly,

I began to wonder anew,

What exactly does service mean to me? 

When I first heard service, several things came to mind:

I thought of customer service or the domestic assistance;

Of ingratiating flattery or snobby contempt;

Of complete subservience or proud aloofness;

And other, misguided notions that, of my naivete, would tempt. 

Of the self-righteous helping the hopeless,

Of short term aid, a handout if you will;
Of the pitiful receiving merciful assistance, 

Without paying the bill.

But nothing substantial nor kind. 

Rather, service means not looking down but upwards;

Not serving something greater, and not someone smaller, than you.

Service meant thinking long-term, forwards;

Not just teaching but also learning, in lieu. 

Service means offering not just help, but understanding.

It does not mean topdown instruction, but inclusive conversation;

Not just fixing but also facilitating;

So that together we can effect a meaningful transformation.

Thus, “service” may not be as straightforward as we would prefer.

However when done correctly with all factors taken into account,

And along with the right attitude, to which I refer,

Service can better the world in more ways than I can count. 

Anyways, I was blown away by how much thought everyone else put into their pieces, and reminded once again at how talented and intelligent each one of the people on this trip are. Throughout my eight weeks here, I’ve been impressed by how creative and well-rounded everyone is, and appreciated the chance to work with every one of them on demanding and novel projects. The word assignment was a great way to reminisce and survey all we had accomplished and the distance we had traveled in our roads towards personal growth. 

I’ve discovered a new place that I wish I had known about before because I greatly prefer it to Euro Cafe. Garden Cafe it is called and it serves great sandwiches and smoothies, at exorbitant prices, but the atmosphere is enough to make up for it. Inside is a wonderfully decorated space with colorfully decorated chairs, extremely friendly staff, and the requisite courtyard full of sunshine and flowers. Yesterday we literally took over half of the place yesterday until almost seven at night putting together our lengthy report, which got goofier and goofier as I got more and more tired. Still, I think we handed over a great product. 

I won’t bore you with the details, but I have great hope in the development of seeds, filters and stoves by next summer for the next batch of fresh-faced, idealistic young SEC interns. The products have been enthusiastically received by the people we’ve met and lived with in the past eight weeks, and I know, but empirically and deep down in my heart, that they solve a pressing need that has real consequences on people’s lives here. I hope that next year’s people were as talented as us (but really) (kidding). I’ll be sad to just leave all this work behind, with so much completed and so much more to do. I can only imagine what it’s like for Tess, who has been here for almost two years and will be leaving only a few days after us. How do you just pick up and go without feeling guilty or unfinished? I suppose two years is different from eight weeks. 

Speaking of struggling internally, I’m divided on whether I should have given my second chocobanano to a woman who I see constantly walking the streets, haggard and usually beset by a few small children. 1) I already had had a chocobanano 2) I wasn’t hungry 3) I knew that she need the food more than I did and 4) she wasn’t a child who was skipping school or being exploited by their parents by becoming a beggar on the street. Plus I’ve seen her around before, so was I justified in wordlessly handing her a chocobanano and walking off? 

Tomorrow is a big day! Our national conference for our twenty something asesoras...meaning I now have to go and prepare a bit more by reviewing what I have to say tomorrow. Goodnight!