Nicaragua in Peril

Tires aflame in the streets. Thick black smoke rising up all over the city. A country’s transportation system completely shut down. Protestors blocking off main highways, police responding with tear gas. This is El Paro de Transporte.

At least that’s what a Nicaraguan news station would say. Certainly true, but a little hyped up. Sadly but surely though, this country appears to be falling apart. Inflation and gas prices are out of control while wages remain stagnant here. Truckers that bring food into the cities from the country side, city to city bus companies, and bus cooperatives that operate Managua’s public transportation can no longer afford to do business because of Nicaragua’s crumbling economy. Almost all of them have gone on strike, demanding government subsidies for gasoline. Many bus drivers and their supporters are blocking off main highways throughout the country. Almost no busses are running in Nicaragua right now, not even in Managua. Nicaragua’s entire transportation system is essentially shutting down until the government gives it more money. This makes getting to work difficult (but not impossible), but unfortunately makes leaving the city impossible. The only way that bus companies can stay in business is to either charge more from passengers or get more money from the government, and most Nicaraguans can’t afford to pay anymore than they pay now for transportation. Apparently this is an ongoing problem…a few years ago bus cooperatives in Managua tried to raise their fares to cover the rising cost of gasoline, and citizens responded with massive protests, blocking traffic, and burning a number of city busses. I try to reserve blame as I know very little of the situation beyond rumors and news reports, but in my humble opinion it seems as though the citizens and bus cooperatives are both justifiably infuriated, while the government seems totally inept.

The transportation strike only added to a slew of other problems that are plaguing this country. I’m no macroeconomist, but it would appear as though the economy here is bordering free fall. Wages and employment are desperately low while food and utility prices are going through the roof. Speaking of utilities, our water at the house gets cut almost every evening now for about 3 hours, which is quite little compared to a lot of other neighborhoods in the city who only get water a couple hours a day. Electricity cuts are starting to be implemented as well. At work the power is going out at 2pm until at least 5pm every day. According to rumors, at best things will stay the same, but will most likely continue to get worse. The fact that purchasing food and having access to transportation, electricity, and water is getting consistently more difficult for Nicaraguans is a blatant sign to me that this country is in real trouble.

Work in El Recreo continues to have its ups and downs, with the downs going as low as to cause me to talk with my bosses about changing my work situation. It is just so draining and painful to be a teacher to these kids…I never imagined that such young human beings could do such awful things to one another and to their teacher. I feel like every class is a battle – I have to fight to keep them involved and listening and I have to fight even harder to keep the class only on the brink of total chaos without going over the edge. The emotional energy required to keep up the fight for an entire 2 hour class is far greater than that which I posses. Sometimes while my kids raise hell (literally, they bring on the reign of Satan) in the classroom I just sit at my desk, ignore them, and write haikus about my job. That’s when I just don’t care anymore. Other times, when I do care, I try to get things under control, which usually results in me yelling a lot. Anyway, I have a helper in the afternoon class now with whom I can send off my 3 or 4 worst kids to go work in a location other than my classroom. Hopefully that helps. There’s some really cute kids in El Recreo that just come to eat lunch at the Comedor, which tends to put a smile on my face before or after classes when I see them. It’s nice because I don’t have to see their misbehaving and cruel side that would come out in a classroom, and they’ll know me as the gringo who loves on them, not the gringo who yells at them. All in all, work is next to impossible and intentional community life is challenging, but I’m happy I’m here. Life in Managua, life in community, and life in El Recreo is quite fulfilling and invigorating and I am very thankful to feel like my everyday existence here is profound. Hope all who read this are well.

Thanks,
Michael