Notes from November

So what else have I been doing?

This past Friday, November 20, school officially ended. The official end of school was supposed to be November 27 but in typical Nicaraguan beauracracy, it was decided on November 10 to cut the last week of school. In reality I am in favor of this decision as I was going to miss the last week of school due to a Peace Corps conference and Thanksgiving, and lets be honest, no one does anything during the last week of school anyway. I don’t care what country you are in…the last week of school is a waste!

During the last few months, apart from working with the student business groups, grading papers, and organizing and attending the competitions, work has been fairly smooth and constant. Before the robbery, I was working with a couple small business owners, running the basketball league, working on the website for La Empresa Creativa, and just doing things here and there. After the robbery, my life has been very different. It put a hold on my life. I have been to the police too many times and not had as much time for other projects. I have stopped doing my business consulting for a variety of reasons and put aside other projects. I have been trying to put my life back in order piece by piece.

By the way, they have arrested a man based on the cell phone evidence but I still have not recovered anything and time will tell if they actually prosecute the SOB.

Since the robbery, my last pair of tennis shoes fell apart and I now no longer have tennis shoes. I went to Managua to various shoe stores but could not find a single pair in size 14. For the moment, I cannot play basketball and am very sad. I still do not have a new backpack, any sort of music, a computer, or a tv. I was able to borrow a bike while I look for a good, used one to buy. So my life is in a holding pattern right now.

In other news from my house, I broke the refrigerator while de-icing it with a knife. I had to pay a repairman a lot of money to fix it and now know never to use a knife while cleaning the fridge. Lesson learned!

I go back to the States on Dec. 9 for one of my best friend’s wedding. This will be my 4 trip back since this past May! A lot of my PC friends ask me why I go back so much and I think are a bit jealous but I just am lucky to live in Florida and have supportive parents who have helped me to pay for some of the flights. During this trip I hope to have a great time at my friend’s wedding, see the Jags (playoff bound?) beat the Fins, and get a new laptop, backpack, and shoes! I am hoping that my life can leave its holding pattern upon my return on Dec. 16.

So what I am going to do now?

Believe it or not, there are only 8 months left of my 27 month commitment to the Peace Corps and the Nicaraguan people. Less than one third! Even though I should be thinking about what I am going to do come this July, I have not put too much thought into it and am instead focusing more of my efforts in making sure that my last 8 months in Peace Corps are awesome.

I am planning the next season of the basketball league, organizing, recruiting new kids, trying to get more girls involved, and looking for more funds to buy new balls, uniforms, and trophies. If you know anyone who would be willing to support the league then let me know!!! I am also working on an idea of having a career fair for the high school and university students in Granada. Currently I, along with other Peace Corps Volunteers in Granada, have been doing surveys and seeing if the community really will support a career fair and whether this really is a community need or want.

I am also planning some other potential projects that I believe could have a huge impact on Granada. I want to make sure that I work hard during these last 8 months and not leave here with any regrets.

Of course, I also want to enjoy my last 8 months in Peace Corps and am planning to visit a few spots in Nicaragua that I have yet to see. I hoping to either go Rio San Juan or the Corn Islands at the end of January. I also really want to learn how to scuba dive sometime very soon but there is this political situation in Honduras that is making it hard to visit the Bay Islands.

I will also be blessed to have some visitors for the New Year 2010. Two of my best friends, Michael and Jacob, will be making their first appearance on Nicaraguan soil and will be spending 7-10 days here enjoying the best of Nicaragua.

And for all the parents out there these are my post Peace Corps options:

1. Get a Bilingual Job. I am thinking something working with the Latin community, immigration, or advocacy work. Or I could get a job with the UN or something diplomatic like that. I do need to make some money but in this economy it could be difficult so….

2. Go to Grad School. I really want to go but still don’t know what for! I am thinking a MBA specializing in non-profit businesses or an International Affairs or Higher Education program. Still the deadlines are coming and going and Fall 2010 doesn’t look like it’s going to happen so…

3. Travel. Take 4-6 months to get know America Latina and maybe Asia. I do get 6000 dollars from Peace Corps that could easily fund this type of trip and have met lots of couchsurfers with whom I could stay during my travels. At the minimum I will take a month post Peace Corps to go to Costa Rica, Panama, and maybe Mexico. However, I don’t really like the idea of backpacking and prefer living in places for a few months at a time….I have heard Buenos Aires is nice.

4. Start a Business. I figure since I have been teaching all these students how to start their own business and working with entrepreneurs, I might as well take my own risk. Of all the 4 options, this one most intrigues me short term but I still don’t have a solid business idea. Do you have one? Send me it!

5. Live at home with my parents. As much as my parents have begged me to do this and as amazing a fridge full of food sounds, I just don’t think this is going to work. Sorry Mom and Dad. Youll get me for a few weeks whether you want to or not but that’s about all I can promise.

Telantro: Coming Soon to Stores Near You

Blanca Melissa Saenz is an intelligent, hard working, humble 15-year-old student from a rural community in between the Nicaraguan cities of Granada and Masaya. She, along with many of her classmates, sometimes walks over an hour in the midday heat just to get to and from Bertha Pacheco high school where I teach. Most of the kids from these rural communities never even make it to high school due to extreme poverty faced in the area. Of the lucky ones that do start high school, only around 20 percent make it to graduation. Thus, the majority of students and kids are forced to make a living either selling in the markets or working in the agricultural field (or in the case of many young girls, making babies and finding a husband to support them).

In spite of various educational obstacles such as the complete lack of textbooks and computer access, minimal family support, and unreliable water and electricity, Blanca, along with five of her classmates, just had the opportunity to compete in the national business competition of La Empresa Creativa (LEC), the Creative Enterprise Project. This joint entrepreneurial project of Peace Corps and the Ministry of Education pairs local teachers and Peace Corps Volunteers like me to teach fourth year high school students how to create, open, and administer an innovative, viable business. Blanca and her five classmates are the co-founders and owners of Telantro, a successful business that makes, packages and sells a variety of teas, with cilantro (cilantro en español) tea being the principle product.

After winning both their local and regional competitions, Telantro traveled to the Holiday Inn in Managua, Nicaragua’s capital, to present their business in front of a panel of judges, and an audience that included their peers and student entrepreneurs, all vying to win first prize. They had already bested some very creative businesses in the regional competition such as Sillas Mochilas, backpacks that doubled as chairs, CYMA, a home based recycling center for plastic products, and a group that wove and transformed littered plastic bags into artisan bags. Now they were up against even stiffer competition with products such as natural honey shampoo, portable desks, and backpacks with an attached waterproof gear.

It was incredible to see how these young students utilized their natural, local resources in order to start creative, productive businesses with on average of only 20 dollars in startup capital. During their business plan presentations, all of the students proved that they knew how to do basic accounting, design a marketing strategy, conduct a market study, and calculate their costs and profits. They showed that they were, in fact, micro business owners capable of making their own money instead of relying on the severely limited Nicaraguan job market. And even though this was primarily an educational exercise, the hope is that these young entrepreneurs will continue their education and then go on to create truly successful businesses that will allow them to support their families and generate jobs throughout the country.

On the day of the national competition (Nov. 12), my students, Telantro, were very nervous before the PowerPoint presentation and in awe of the size of the hotel. This was the first time that any of them had ever been in such a large, luxurious hotel. Able to calm their nerves (I recommended that they drink some of their very own tea), they presented extremely well, stayed perfectly within the seven-minute time limit, and responded to the judges’ questions beautifully. Unfortunately after the judges’ deliberation, they did not win first place or any prize at all.

Amidst their disappointment, I reminded them how far they had already come, how they had already sold well over 200 packets of tea, and how they had created from scratch a REAL business with profit potential. And even though they were still disappointed, I knew they were proud of themselves. They knew they now had the knowledge and skills to create and manage their very own business. And to really cheer them up, all it took was a quick elevator ride up to the sixth floor, the first time five of the six students had ever been on an elevator! The terrified, hopeful look on Blanca’s face when the elevator started to move was truly priceless.

More on the Competition Season

An integral part of the La Empresa Creativa course is the fact that the kids must participate in the business plan competitions that take place on a local, regional, and national levels in the months of September, October, and November. Throughout the year the students learn about how to start a business while applying this knowledge in the creation of their own business. Before the local competition in which every student participates, all business groups must submit a basic business plan and do a presentation on their idea. The winners of the local move onto the regional, and the winners of the regional move onto the national. The competitions serve as motivation for the students and also allows them to better the public speaking and presentation skills.

When I first came to Granada last August, we were just a month away from having the local/school competitions and I was thrown right into the fire. Without knowing what I was doing, I jumped right in and with the advice from the Nicaraguan teachers and principals who had already participated in previous competitions, we did pretty well organizing the events. This year, with that experience under my belt, the competitions went extremely well. The quality of the products and businesses were much improved from last year and the events ran much smoother.

I was responsible for organizing the regional competition in Granada and spent the good part of a month fundraising, organizing, getting the students ready, etc, etc. We held the event in La Casa de 3 Mundos (The House of 3 Worlds) and more than 250 students, parents, teachers, and tourists were in attendance. Telantro, from the rural school of Bertha Pacheco, won first prize. Second prize went to a group from Nandaime, a city in the department of Granada, called Canastas y Mas (Baskets and More) that produced from recycled materials beautiful artisan fruit baskets. And third place went to a disappointed group of students from Carmela Noguera, a school here in Granada, who ran a business Sillas Mochilas (Chair Backpacks) that produced backpacks that converted into chairs. If it were up to me, Sillas Mochilas would have one but my three distinguished judges believed otherwise.

This will sadly be the last time that I participate and organize competitions here in Granada but I am honored to have participated in this project and truly believe that it will benefit Nicaragua’s entrepreneurial community in the future.

Robbing Happiness

Long delay….I know. I am going to update you first on my sad current situation and then go backwards. Stay tuned this week as there should be a lot of posts.

October 28, 2009, 3pm. I felt at peace, I felt proud, I just plain felt good. Earlier that morning, the ten best student businesses from the Granada and Rivas departments (states) competed for the right to prizes and a ticket to the national business plan competition in Managua. I had spent the previous month planning for this day, meeting with the students to review their business plans, walking the streets trying to raise money, calling judges, etc, etc. The regional competition along with the school competitions had occupied the majority of my time and mental efforts. But now I was back at my house, eating some hummus, and reflecting on the day, what went right, what could have been better. School would be ending in less than a month and freedom was just around the corner. Life was good. Actually, now that I think about it, life was great. I would even say that it the high point, the pinnacle of my Peace Corps service.

I had just planned a big time, successful event; classes were ending soon; the little kids’ basketball season ended smoothly; my relationship with Regina was great; I had spent a wonderful week in the United States with my friends and family; I had found a great work, social, personal balance and was very much looking forward to a strong, exciting finish to my Peace Corps service.

October 30, 2009, 7am. The high point of my Peace Corps service crashed as if it was the New York Stock Exchange of 2008. I arose from my bed noticing that there seemed to more light in my house that to what I was accostumed. I noticed the front door, slightly ajar, then as my eyes dashed around the room, I noticed that my bike was no longer there. My heart sunk, it couldn’t be. My fingers were crossed as I swung around to see if anything else was missing. The television, gone. My laptop, gone. I moved closer to my bed. Cell phones, ipod, no longer there. Fuck. This cannot be happening. I walked outside to notice the lock on my outside door was no longer there, taken with everything else, and as calmly as possible knocked on my neighbors’ door. Me robaron todo. I was robbed. My neighbor, the matriarch of the family, Wilma, could not believe it. That made two of us.

How did I sleep through this?!? I always thought if someone entered my house, I would wake up. They broke the lock, jimmied open the door, took almost all of my valuables, were literally one foot away from my bed, and I just slept peacefully through it all. Apparently neither did either of my neighbors who share walls with me. Obviously, these guys were good and had planned this robbery for some time. Still I felt terrible, sad, and upset.

As I took a look around my house one last time before heading to the police station, I noticed a little black sliver sticking out from under some of my books. My wallet! They did not find my wallet! I then remembered I needed to check for my passport, and luckily, it was also there along with my camara and a few other valuables safely hidden from eyesight. It felt like a lucky break amidst a sea of unluckiness.

 

So instead of heading to Masatepe to visit my host family, share stories and hugs with them, give them presents and Halloween candy, I found myself making the shameful walk to the police station around 730am. I met with an officer and began to make an inventory of all that was lost, realizing that they were just interested in the material items.

At this point, I was surprisingly calm (or not that surprisingly for those that know me) as I walked some investigators back to my house, only 2 and a half blocks away. They looked around, again took inventory of what was taken, and tried to look for fingerprints. We sat down around my table and they asked me some more questions and then called me a yanqui (an ignorant and/or derogatory term used for United Statesmen) after learning I was from the US.  I explained to them that I was not in any way or form a yanqui and that in fact I was from the South. This led to a further explanation of the civil war, yankee doodle dandy, and why you shouldn’t call United Statesmen yanquis. Did the cops appreciate this lesson in history? Not too sure but they did appreciate the donuts I got for them. Then after the cops made some sexist comments and lowered their level of professionalism, I realized that this was going to be a very frustrating process.

After they left, I realized that even more was stolen from my house. A pair of pants was stolen that was bedside (obviously with the intent of finding my wallet), two pairs of athletic shoes (both on the point of being thrown out anyway), and an orange towel (that they must have used to cover up fingerprints, footprints, etc). I do congratulate the thieves on taking the remote control for the tv. They can at least watch in peace. I mean not even they deserve to have to get up to change the channels, no one does.

So at this point, I decided to act. I went to the company that manages the house I rent and told them what happened and that I needed more secure doors and the locks changed asap. Then I went to Claro and Movistar (the two cell phone operators here) in order to block my numbers. But first, smartly, I asked them to see if any calls were made from my stolen phones that morning. Sure enough, in the first big break of the case, the thieves used my Movistar cell phone to make around ten calls to three distinct numbers, one being the most frequently called. How stupid can you be to use a stolen cell phone?!? Thank you ladrones, thieves.

I took this list to the police trusting that they would be able to locate and identify the people behind these cell phone numbers in order to solve the case. Of course I also made a copy for myself should the police not do their job (as is the norm here).

November 4, 2009, 11am. As I write to you, the police still have not taken a single step in solving what should be an open and shut case. They literally have the best clue of all write in front of them and they have not acted on it. I spent this past weekend visiting the police station, buying new cell phones, getting new doors and locks, and going through the headaches that will be my life for the next few weeks. On Monday, I went to the Peace Corps office in Managua to see if with the help of our director of security, we could help speed up the process with the police. Julio, the director of security, has been very helpful up to this point and we made a lot of calls finally ending with the police chief in Granada agreeing to meet with me. I went to meet with him yesterday and now that he knows about the case, I am expecting results in the next day or two. If not, it will be time to take the law into my own hands.

So what does it feel like to have your house robbed while you are sleeping? Well, it does not feel good. I have not slept well the past few nights, waking up in the middle of the night and listening for every single creak, footstep, and sound. I have replayed in my mind the thieves standing right there beside me while I slept. I have realized that I am lucky not to have woken up during the robbery. The biggest thing lost in all of this is not measured in dollars lost; it is my peace of mind, belonging, and security.

 

So what’s the silver lining? Well, I had always wanted to live a minimalist lifestyle and I am now way closer to this. Also, I know that if needed, I could take out my credit card and replace all that was physically stolen it less than a day. Things are just things. I realized how sad it is for a poor person to have something stolen from them, knowing that it cannot be replaced. I have also realized that my neighbors do actually care about what happened to me, and understand that this means their houses and properties are less secure.

I also now know that if I want to continue living in poorer parts of the world, that my status of a foreigner will always and forever make me a target, and that I need to take proper precautions in order to protect my house, my things, and my peace of mind.

I went from a Peace Corps high to a Peace Corps low, all in the span of less than 48 hours. But no worries, I will be even stronger now from this experience and will continue to roll with the punches life throws my way BUT always remembering to know when to hit back.

Just saying hi

Just wanted to wish all the Jews out there a lshana tovah, happy new year. I had a good Rosh Hashana weekend that started and finished with lots of food and had a UF-UT football game sandwiched in between. I also took the plunge and decided to get cable for my house! So now I can watch lots of football and sports all at my convenience instead of going to bars, other people’s houses, etc. I also was a witness to a pig slaughter last week. Hope all is well and I will be in touch again very soon.

Is that bull heading for my sister?

If you add together a siblings reunion in Nicaragua, a cleanup of Lake Cocibolca (or Lake Nicaragua), lots of basketball, bulls running wild through Granada’s streets, lots of homework, and the start of two new business consults, you would equal what was my last few weeks here. And I believe it is a very worthy excuse for the delay between posts.

The last few weeks all started with the arrival of my little brother and sister for a Nicaraguan siblings reunion. My brother and sister, Louis and Sara, had already been to Nicaragua in December along with my parents, but wanted to make a special trip so “we can do all the things that we couldn’t do with my parents”. Fortunately, my brother and sister chose a very appropriate time so that this desire of doing adventurous things could be fulfilled.

Sara and Louis arrived around midnight on Saturday night and we headed straight to Granada and to the fiestas patronales, patron saint festival, of Granada. The fiestas patronales take place annually around the 15^th of August and include the following: carnival rides, street parades with floats, bands, and dancing, a bull run, bull fighting, a giant horse parade, and lots of drinking. So we started the siblings reunion off on the right foot with a big brunch at an American style breakfast place and then headed to the bull run. Unfortunately we arrived a bit late and were only able to catch the tail end of the bulls running wild along the streets of Granada but I think it was enough of an experience for anyone. This annual tradition involves releasing various bulls along the streets of Granada and letting them run wild while thousands of locals (and me) run with them. The event culminates in a bull ring near the lake where some professionals but mainly really drunk young men try to ride the bulls without killing themselves. My siblings and I were able to bear witness to the bull fighting and all I can say is that I know they will never forget it. I think the official tally at the end of the day was two dead and many more injured.

The rest of the week was a bit more relaxed with Sara and Louis accompanying me to my classes and other work responsibilities. Of course we also fit in the time to take a night tour of the Masaya Volcano, go to Laguna de Apoyo (the prettiest lake I have ever seen), buy herbs and plants for my new garden, and take a two day trip to the island of Ometepe. Their trip culminated with the big street parade in Granada with floats, marching bands of high school students (some of them were my students) with very little clothing and lots of glitter, and other dancing groups. It is also safe to assume that a lot of alcohol consumption took place in Granada that evening. The night ended with us dancing at a local club and passing out from exhaustion.

My siblings departed Granada and Nicaragua but the parties carried on. Sunday August 16 was the hipica of Granada, or in normal language a giant horse parade. Just like every other festival or parade in Granada this one involves lots of drinking, lots of really loud music, and way too many people. The big difference with the hipica is that it includes thousands of horses strutting their stuffs down the parade route of Granada. Almost every major city in Nicaragua has their own fiestas patronales and also their own hipicas. If you are ever down here, be sure to check one out.

After enjoying myself tremendously during the fiestas and the sibling reunion, it was back to work. The competitions for my entrepreneurship course (La Empresa Creativa, the course that the Peace Corps business volunteers teach in Nicaraguan high schools) will be starting in around a month and my kids are way behind, as usual. My students are mainly behind due to a combination of cancelled classes, not doing their homework, and pure laziness. I don’t remember being this lazy in high school! Anyway, of course, it is the teacher’s job to make sure that everything gets done and so for the past two weeks along with my Nicaraguan counterpart teachers, we have been busting our butts trying to motivate the students to actually do their assignments. It seems to be working with some students but with others, well I guess we just need to try harder. Anyway, I will be sure to update you more about the student businesses and the competitions in the next post.

Next topic: If you have ever been to Nicaragua one of the first things you will notice is the complete filth that covers the streets and beautiful environment. Chip wrappers, soda bottles, old appliances, and millions of plastic bags, completely consume the ground. It is a fairly sad sight to see. And even more sad is the fact that the majority of Nicaraguans are contributing to this problem and do not understand why it is unacceptable to dispose of trash in the streets, to burn plastic, or dump their garbage in the lake. For a long time, I have wanted to formally start or help with an environmental program here. Finally I got a chance.

Overnight, I became an environmental expert. I was invited by an NGO to help organize a lake cleanup in a neighborhood in Granada and accepted fully knowing that I had little idea what I was doing. I had never educated anyone about the need to protect the environment but I knew I had the passion to do it. Still, I knew enough to know that just doing a cleanup is pointless if there is not an educational campaign attached to it so I studied up my Spanish environmental vocabulary and was able to give a few successful charlas, lectures, to the young kids about the importance of having a clean lake, clean water, and clean streets. In the end, we had a very successful cleanup while many volunteers, students, and parents helped to collect hundreds of bags of trash from the lakeside beach. I hope to continue this work more as the year goes on.

I also had the wonderful opportunity to begin a consultation process with two new small businesses. One small business is running fairly well while the other has yet to even open. Oscar Shoes, a small shoe factory of 15 employees, with the ability to produce around 70 pairs of shoes daily, was looking for some help and through various channels got a hold of me. Just yesterday, I met the owners, father and son, and began to learn all I can about the shoe making business. Based on our first conversation, it seems that they are looking to expand their market reach, improve their business organization on many different levels, and would like more capital to invest. As a Peace Corps Volunteer, we cannot do a lot with the financing help but the idea is that if I can help them organize themselves then the financing will be much easier to secure. Updates to come.

The second small business (well micro is more like it) does not yet have a name or even its first sale but excites me greatly. This is because I worked with the two would be owners when I was working at Opportunity International. Isabel and Mariela, two typical lower class mothers, have worked for various textile, fashion, and sewing business their entire lives and now would like to start their own business. They already have the knowledge, already have the ideas, already have some great contacts, and now just need to put together a business plan and look for a little bit of money. This is where I come in and where hopefully I can help. If anyone is out there that would be willing to invest in this business once we are fully organized, send me a note. Also, surely I will be promoting their products within the next few months so stay tuned and keep your checkbooks open (really credit cards nearby because who uses checks anymore).

In the midst of all this work I still have had plenty of time for basketball, both coaching, reffing, and playing. The Falcons, the team that I coach, now has a record of 1-3 and has an average offensive output of about 8 points a game. Did I ever tell you that I was an offensive genius?!? As distracted as the kids can be sometimes (one of my kids ran off the court in the middle of the game because his father came to watch), it is an absolute joy seeing them enjoy themselves and learn the game of basketball, a game that I love. The kids definitely love playing but sometimes I think they love the fact that they have uniforms and juice and cookies after every game even more. Basketball Team Photo

As a final note, I will be back in the United States on September 3 for my cousin’s wedding and am very excited for a REAL VACATION! Peace and love.