Often we hear alarming statistics and wonder, what can I do? Or, perhaps more honestly, what can I do to alleviate my guilt? Nicaragua, the country where I live, is a poster child for alarming statistics. It is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, about 60% of children reach grade 5, (unicef) 56% of women are or have been in abusive relationships (Inter-American Development Bank), and the list goes on. I’m not just writing about this to make you (my two readers) feel guilty. I’m writing it because where I work, perhaps the most positive place I have ever been to, is working towards change. You could even say I am part of that. I believe that violence is a fact of life for many people and has become normalized. But, it should not be normal. I have had the privilege of working with an experienced workshop facilitator in a workshop about intra-familiar violence. Because children are, as we often say, the future, it is easiest to start with them. She led the children through a series of workshops that made them aware of their situation and how to deal with it. One activity that really touched them was a violence tree. In the branches and leaves they put who is violent. Then in the trunk they put what they say or do, and in the roots they put why. It was a bit of an eye-opening experience. Now that the children are armed with knowledge, they have begun doing presentations to others. They gave a short workshop to a group of children and got them to draw the trees. Even with about 5 minutes of knowledge about violence and with their mothers waiting around nearby they drew their experiences on a tree. Now, a group of mothers are participating in a workshop at the Center and are learning about how to better raise their children. Unfortunately, I would say that any mother who participates voluntarily in this kind of workshop is probably already a good mom or else would like to become one. But I guess you have to start somewhere. The same kids I’m working with gave a little workshop to them. They got the mothers to draw the trees, including their experiences and then what they do to their children. Then the children talked about how the wanted their families to be. I was really proud of them for doing it, and a little alarmed at the same time. So, neither of these workshops was particularly costly, and the kids will continue to reproduce their presentation in different places, and hopefully reach people who haven’t made the first step in change. So, that’s a little snapshot of what I do at the Center.

As they say, every day you learn something new. So, here is a list of things I have learned so far:
-How to gesture with my lips (actually, I’m still working on that)
-How to tell someone to come here (even though it looks like I’m shooing them away)
-How to survive a three hour church service without electricity (and inwardly cursing the electrical company)
-Mini-earthquakes in church (and feeling near death, my host mom laughing at me in a kind way when she says, you’ve never experienced this, have you.)
-Fumigation, up close and personal (the Ministry of Health fumigates some? all? Houses with some harsh chemical, free of charge.)

Well, for my two fans out there who haven’t give up on me, I am still alive but as can be seen, not posting. Have/will I lose my featured blog ranking? Oh no! What will become of me! As you can see, I’m extremely worried about that prospect. I guess if you’re reading this you want to know about my life. This morning I walked to work and decided to count how many slightly lewd comments I received. Since it was before 8 and many people are at work or in their houses, it was a low number of four. But, three of them were in the same block. That is not a way I like to wake up in the morning. Good thing I haven’t had my coffee yet, so I didn’t really notice. At the Center, I have become a journalist of sorts. It is only related to my ability to speak the English language, but I won’t let that stop me. I have done interviews that were filmed and I write articles for their English newsletter. Apparently Janzen, my last name, isn’t very Spanish sounding (for when I voice over the interviews) so if any of you have ideas on how to change it, or how to pronounce it in a Spanish I’d appreciate it. On Saturday I had been teaching an English class but that has come to an end, given the lack of interest from the students as shown by their not showing up, and my corresponding decrease in enthusiasm. But, I did get to see something very very funny. It was the last day of cuentos de niños, a time where kids from the neighbourhood listen to stories, and they had a piñata. Here, piñatas are special. They are tied, obviously, but the string goes through a pulley and someone on the ground pulls it up or releases it to make it more of a challenge. When one kid finally broke it, there was too much pandemonium, so one of the students who was helping run it, grabbed the remainder of the piñata, where the candies were anyway, and then about 20 kids circled around him. It was a sight I may never forget.

Two dentists came to the Center and provided free dental care (aka teeth pulling) for the community. This is the good intention, and is not what is in fact bad. Except, perhaps, the screaming children and the pandemonium. The bad part was the people coming and coming and not understanding that sometimes, it doesn’t matter who you are, you really are just going to wait. Or, that when they said they could take you to a clinic at 8 am, and you don’t show up until noon because you had another commitment, you probably missed the boat (or in this case, the bus). Really. And apparently when I say, unfortunately, ma’am, you missed your opportunity, the logical response is to repeat it after you, twice. I'm not really sure what the reason was, but really, it was not going to get me to drive you there.