It’s 8 PM here in my cute and quiet mint green bedroom, which I have settled into quite nicely. I can hear the long awaited rain pattering quietly on the roof and the the hearty laughter of great-grandmother, Doña Amparo who is exchanging a joke with a neighbor on her rocking chair in the living room. I can still taste the flavorful homemade cerda con verduras y tortilla and fresco that I just finished off for dinner.

Though I’ve only been here for three days, I have already fallen in love with the city of Masaya and my lovely host family.

Since arriving on Sunday afternoon, I have been participating in an orientation week held by the Foundation for Sustainable Development, the third-party organization that is facilitating my internship with the community health center in Monimbo, Nicaragua (a nearby city in the Dept. of Masaya). Through this orientations I have been able to get a taste of life in Masaya and some of the surrounding cities. I absolutely love my family’s location in Masaya, which is right next to the Parque Central, the heart of the bustling, colorful city. People are always out and about… walking or in cars, bicycles, horses, or buggy-like taxi’s. Flamboyant processions for weddings and funerals constantly fill the streets and huge busses blasting music pr community announcements pass by house frequently. There are several schools in the area, and there are children of all ages livening up the park at almost every time of the day… at the same time there are working people, tourists, and all sorts of people visiting the park to get smoothies, enjoy some popcorn, relax, or even go to the large church.

Along with getting an introduction to the local scene and a little orientation of how to navigate myself around to main areas like cafes with wifi, supermarkets, the health center, etc. I have also been able to go on excursions to other beautiful places around the outskirts of the city/ in neighboring cities. I have been able to visit Coyotepe, Las Flores, Malacón, and Catalina… all of which marvelously showed off the natural beauty of Nicaragua. See pictures below of volcanoes, farms, lagoons, and marketplaces…

Along with all of the excursions, we have been having discussion-intensive days, preparing the other two interns and me for our development work here this summer. I got a chance to see the bigger picture of Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD)’s work and where my work will fit in. I learned much about Nicaragua’s history, economy, and the lifestyle of citizens of Masaya and some of the surrounding cities and I received invaluable advice. I hope to make the most out of my time here by truly taking the time to connect with the community members and learn more about their strengths and challenges.

Because I need to get ready for an early day tomorrow, I will have to cut this blog post short.. but already I am extremely excited for all that is to come. I have several ideas running through my mind for my project and other sorts of activities I hope to pursue while here. I have been able to talk with Doña Ritana (the abuela en mi casa) about many of the challenges that the Centro de Salud Monimbo faces, and I am excited to meet their doctors, who do so much with so little time every day, and learn and be inspired from them. I hope that I will learn as much as I can this summer and help contribute the sustainable progression of the community.. in what ever small way I can.

Coyotepe

Catalina

Farm in Las Flores (part of a previous intern’s project with an organization called Alternativa that empowers women start their own businesses)

More pictures are to come… my internet is just too slow right now.

Thanks for reading!

“Keep your feet on the ground, your heart in the wind, and your head in the sky”

– Dr. Romero, May 2016

There is much I am looking forward to during this summer abroad in Masaya, Nicaragua. After a trying year of classwork and constant worrying about pre-professional preparation, I know I will treasure this time away from the student life to which I have come accustomed. I am excited for the opportunity to truly push myself beyond my comfort zone and challenge myself in ways I have never done before. The only other past experience I can think of that can only slightly measure up to this international project work is leaving for college. However, I recognize that this opportunity will be different in numerous challenging and rewarding ways.

I have never missed a summer away from my comfortable, sunny home in Southern California before. I have never lived with a family of strangers by myself, let alone for nine weeks. I have never independently navigated a country that spoke a different language without a translator or a large group of English-speaking classmates. I have never worked in a place where absolutely no one spoke English. I have honestly never encountered many challenges that I will be facing this summer.

However, with every “have never” comes an invaluable learning opportunity. I have never been this excited yet nervous.

Though nine weeks seems like a long time, I recognize that international development work is a long, long process, and my goals for this summer are not to implement a revolutionary, game-changing project because I know that the chances of this happening in a meaningful, sustainable way is close to mute. Rather, my goals are to learn as much as I can from the people I hope to surround myself around… my host family, other community members, staff at the Centro de Salud Monimbo (the health center I am working at), the program coordinators and my fellow interns, and the other FSD organization partners in Masaya and surrounding cities. I hope to gain a better sense of the true challenges of international sustainable development work. This nine-week experience will be different than the one or two-week service trips I have previously participated in and will allow me to get a better view of the bigger picture and taste of the whole process of project implementation. These nine weeks will involve conducting needs assessments, forging lasting connections and community relationships to gain the social capital and knowledge necessary to truly create something impactful and sustainable, writing a grant/securing funds for my project, getting frustrated and feeling powerless and ineffective a million times over, failing at my original goals, but ultimately accomplishing invaluable things for myself and the community that I might not have been able to predict or even appreciate before the entire experience itself.

I decided to begin this journal entry with a short quote from one of the Honduran doctors, Dr. Romero, who served with our Rice Global Medical Brigades Chapter on our free medical brigade last week. I shadowed her in our gynecology station one afternoon and saw how she relentlessly saw and advised woman after woman, administrating Pap smear after Pap smear, never sitting down to take even a lunch break. If you didn’t talk to her, you might have thought that she hated the station, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. In fact, she volunteers her time to work with Global Brigades for a low cost in order to serve people in her country that need it the most because she loves her job. To her, administering a million Pap smears after Pap smears is worth it if she can spot cervical cancer early in one out of the millions of women.

To her, keeping her feet in the ground, her heart in the wind, and her head in the clouds involve maintaining humility, striving to be compassionate and serve others, and constantly maintaining an open mind to a lifetime of learning about the world and how she can contribute to making it a better place. Her level of self-realization and dedication to giving back to her community are admirable. Over this summer, I hope to apply this mentality to my service and aspire to reflect long and deeply on my personal and professional goals to re-evaluate my directions in life from a valuable new perspective.