It's rainy season!

Community at the beach during an El Recreo outing. Jenna is taking the picture.


It’s now been nearly 7 months since I arrived in Managua last December, which means I’m one quarter of the way done with my time here, and over half way done with my current house community. Emotions are mixed. On the one hand, this (working in Barrio El Recreo and living in intentional community in Managua) is the most challenging thing I’ve ever done, and part of me will breathe a sigh of relief when I get through it. I also eagerly look forward to the arrival of 4 new Jesuit Volunteers with whom I will spend 1 year of my life come this December. So from that perspective, I’m happy that time is flying by. On the other hand, I have an inexplicable love for everything about life here, including work in El Recreo. My everyday life feels very meaningful, and I am thankful for that. I also love my current community and will be very sad when 4 of them are replaced in December. So that makes me anxious that time is flying by so quickly. Anyway, there are three topics that I would love to touch on in this entry; an update on the current political and economic situation in Nicaragua, work at Projecto Generando Vida, and a recent retreat to the beach! Feel free to skip around, as the sections have headings. Also, there are some random pictures at the end.

Nicaragua’s current political and economic situation: Jodido. That’s Nicaraguan for ‘in big, big trouble’. On the political front, the former revolutionary leader and current president is quite frankly running this country into the ground (not that any of his competitors would have done differently). Roads are still being paved in the poorest neighborhoods, but that’s about the extent of presidential action in the past 1.5 years. Graffiti is going up all over the city equating President Ortega with past, despised dictators of Nicaragua.
Recently there was a nonviolent protest against what many people see as a growing dictatorship. Some crucial background info to the protest: In Nicaragua there are two main competing parties; the FSLN (“revolutionary” party lead by current President Daniel Ortega), and the PLC (more conservative party lead by corrupt and gluttonous former President Arnoldo Aleman). Aleman and Ortega got formed an alliance a few years back to help one another consolidate power, a move much despised by the Nicaragua public. As a result of that pact and of general party corruption, dissenters from the FSLN and the PLC tried to rise in the party ranks to change their party’s course, and were subsequently expelled by the party leaders. So, expelled dissenters from the FSLN formed a new party called the MRS (basically the “renovated” FSLN), and dissenters from the PLC formed a new party called the ALN. Many Nicaraguans were quite hopeful for the MRS and ALN, which represented an end to corruption and power hoarding by Ortega and Aleman.
Now to the protest. Elections for Mayor of Managua (an extremely powerful position) are coming up soon. The PLC and the ALN got back together after realizing they have no chance if they continue to split the conservative vote in the country. The MRS tried to run it’s own candidate against the powerhouse FSLN and PLC parties, but the Electoral Commission (under pressure from the Supreme Court, which in turn is controlled by the FSLN) refused to put the female MRS candidate on the ballot for some ridiculous reason regarding her filing process. So, about a month ago, she went on hunger strike, demanding to have her name on the ballot in November. MRS supporters staked out a major intersection for weeks across the street from the Electoral Commission, while their mayoral candidate lay in a hammock without eating. People held banners saying “No a la Dictadura” (no to the dictatorship- what many believe Nicaragua is heading toward with power consolidation and pushing opposition candidates off the ballot). A famous quote by the MRS founder and former presidential candidate (before dying suddenly of a heart attack) was displayed on a giant banner at the front of the crowd, reading “Yo naci en una dictadura, no quiero morir en otra” (I was born in a dictatorship, I don’t want to die in another). The protest grew in popularity over the weeks, it was all over the news, etc. Apparently things got a little violent with the protestors blocking the entire intersection and police beating them back with clubs. After a little under 3 weeks the MRS candidate had to be hospitalized and the hunger strike came to an end unsuccessfully. So, 4 years ago two dissident parties formed out of the mainstream FSLN and PLC parties, giving Nicaraguans hope for a future of a legitimate multiparty system. Yet due to random deaths, political pacts, and corruption, to date the FSLN and PLC parties remain the only ones on the ballot.

Projecto Generando Vida, Barrio El Recreo – the shovel incident, job changes: I recently decided that my afternoon class was too out of control and was causing me too much stress and exhaustion. I met with the director of the Project and we arranged to hire a Nicaraguan teacher to take over my 4th grade class in the afternoon. I will now serve as a tutor for 2 or 3 of the most troublesome or struggling students. This move was essential, I believe, to my health, to the quality of education for my students, and to allow me to put more energy into trying to salvage my morning class. I don’t really view it as an admission of failure, although I did initially. I think that it is being realistic and putting resources and talents where they can best flourish (a Nicaraguan is better at managing a class than I am, I am better working with small groups of students than with entire classes). It should be a good change for everyone, assuming that my replacement is not a flake. The change will start in three weeks; one more week of classes, two weeks of vacation, and the change will start with the commencing of the second semester in late July. Wholeheartedly accepting ones limits is not something that American culture really teaches, but it is something I’m learning here. Human beings can not, in fact, do anything if they just put their mind to it. But we can discover our talents and be content with those. I am not exceptionally talented at teaching a group of 15 violent, disturbed, vulgar, and cruel 4th graders (they have positive qualities too) to be peaceful and treat one another with respect while simultaneously teaching math and Spanish and English and sudoku. Maybe a Nicaraguan teacher is better at that, and I’m ok with that. I look forward to the opportunity to focus on 2 or 3 students in a setting that is not a class room.
In my morning class, I had to expel a student for the first time. Jonathan, a 14 year old who is about my size, but a lot bulkier, recently registered for my class. He has developmental issues and a serious problem with anger management and violent outbursts. He was quite calm for the first two weeks in my class, but the other day someone slapped him in the back of the head while I was out of the room, and I came back in after he had falsely accused a female student of mine and thrown juice all over her nice clothes. She, while screaming and crying, tried frantically to attack him, so I told him to sit down outside on a bench while I tried to restrain the girl. By the time the girl was sufficiently restrained, I looked over toward the library, where, about 30 feet away, Jonathan and another student of mine, a much smaller 10 year old were yelling at each other, the 10 year old likely harassing Jonathan for throwing juice on the girl. I decided to walk over and break that one up too. I got about half way to Jonathan, when he picked up a shovel. Trembling with anger and screaming at the 10 year old who was making fun of him, Jonathan raised the shovel over his head to swing, and the 10 year old kind of cowered and went silent. I probably paused for about 3 seconds, feeling as though my heart had stopped, and thinking out loud to myself “no way….”. Then I screamed at Jonathan like I’ve never screamed before and ran at him. He paused with the shovel still raised to swing and looked at me, I told him to give me the shovel, he responded with “he started it…”, so I grabbed the shovel away from him, and the ten year old ran away. I had my hand on Jonathan’s shoulder, half restraining him, while he trembled probably with anger and with fear of getting in trouble. All 14 of my students had formed a semi-circle around us to get a glimpse of the action. I was quite shaken and just stood there for a good 30 seconds before doing or saying anything. My supervisor was gone that day, so I just sent Jonathan home, telling him that, for the safety of the other students I would probably have to expel him. My supervisor and I talked with Jonathan the next day and expelled him from the Project…apparently not the first time he had been expelled for violent behavior. I think the rest of my students breathed a sigh of relief the next day when I told them he wouldn’t be returning…jeez.

Retreat!: On a happier note, about 4 times a year Jesuit Volunteer communities all over the world go on a 3 or 4 day retreat, and we just had our second of the year. We went about 4 hours to a secluded beach community in northwest Nicaragua and stayed at kind of a hippie ecolodge run by a gringo. The lodge was about a 60 second walk from the beach, and it was made up of little huts in a big grassy field. The place was great- composting toilets, very energy conscious, and provided a lot of cool projects for the local community. We kicked off retreat with 24 hours of silence, which was spent meditating, walking for hours on the beautiful beach, sitting in the surf, napping in hammocks, etc. The rest of the retreat was spent mostly in discussion (and playing on the beach) about the state of our community, how we feel like we are each living out the four JVI values (spirituality, community, simple living, social justice), and affirming one another’s gifts and strengths. It was very refreshing to escape from the city and just sit for hours being in awe of nature, and in the discussions I feel as though we made some serious headway on a lot of communication issues that have been plaguing community life. I think it’s safe to say now that I live for retreats!

So that’s the last month y pico in a nutshell. Thanks for reading. And just so you all know, Barack Obama has the official endorsement of the President of Nicaragua. Take it or leave it.

Peace,
Michael (aka Miguel/ Mycole/ Mateo/ Manuel/ Profesor Miguel/ Profe/ Pro/ Chele/ Gringo)


Jenna with some kids on our street (from left; Jassen, Jenna, Yahoska, Belkis)


El Recreo staff meeting, Mary's family present during their visit in May


Father Joe, a Jesuit priest and our in-country coordinator, speaking out against Guantanamo during a protest/vigil/stations of the cross during holy week


The protest/vigil/stations of the cross ended at the U.S. embassy in Managua


Gringo friends of ours in Managua hanging out at our house

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

Reflections

“The gentlest thing in the world overcomes the hardest thing in the world. That which has no substance enters where there is no space. This shows the value of non-action. Teaching without words, performing without actions: That is the Master’s way.” –Tao Te Ching

I give up trying to be the amazing, inspirational teacher and mentor that comes into the ghetto and makes kids believe in themselves and gives them the tools they need to pull themselves out of their current situation. Because I consider myself a hopeful person, I will not say authoritatively that big change with my kids is impossible. Yet, for the sake of my sanity, I decided to no longer emotionally attach myself to the idea that I am going to make a clear and tangible difference in the lives of my students. I am not giving up hope, I am simply being realistic. One who comes into a Barrio like El Recreo expecting to take control and make things better will be overcome by the forces of poverty and violence and resolutely defeated. Expecting to change things will only lead to disappointment. So I welcome positive achievements in my classroom, but I don’t depend on them or demand them.
Instead of meeting the violence and hate and chaos of my kids with authoritarian style dominance, I am trying to take a kind of stance of nonviolence and nonaggression; my kids are the way they are, Barrio El Recreo is the way it is, and one gringo will not change the way it’s always been. I notice that when I am not aggressive and forceful with my students, they are less combative and violent. When I yell back at them they keep yelling, yet when I meet their yells with tranquility they calm down. Perhaps by not directly confronting the hate and violence which is so powerful and thrives on confrontation, I can slowly overcome it using alternative methods. Jesus talks about turning the other cheek, Martin Luther King talks about driving out hate with love, and Lao Tzu talks about using that which is soft, supple, and life giving to overcome that which is rigid and unmovable. Ideally I will be able to maintain an inner sense of tranquility while at work, and that tranquility and pacifistic approach to my students will slowly overcome the dark and powerful forces that they are accustomed to. The goal might not be to make highly motivated servants of peace out of my students, but at least to show them that the hate and violence that they think are so powerful can actually be overcome by more attractive and life giving forces. The more I adopt this attitude the better teacher I become.
In other news, my house community and I traveled to El Salvador at the end of March to participate in a procession commemorating the death of former Archbishop Oscar A. Romero in 1981. It was an adventure taking about 7 regular busses from Managua to San Salvador (11 hours) in an effort to make the most economically responsible trip possible. We were only in San Salvador for about 30 hours before coming home to work on Monday, but the experience was amazing. We spent some time at the UCA (University of Central America) where 6 Jesuit priests were assassinated in 1989 and where there is now a memorial to them and to Oscar Romero. On Saturday night we joined thousands of Salvadorans in a procession through the streets of San Salvador to the main Cathedral where Romero is buried to honor the sacrifice he made in the name of truth and social justice. Romero is a personal hero of all of ours and an inspiration to speak out against institutional violence and structural poverty, so it was quite special to participate with the people of his country in remembering his message.
The President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega (also the former President during the 1980s) made a special guest appearance in Barrio El Recreo a few weeks ago. The government here has been paving a few roads and giving some titles to houses in Barrio El Recreo recently, so Daniel came to the Barrio to give a speech about those things. It was kind of ridiculous…throughout the day there were Civil Defense people walking around Barrio El Recreo with huge guns and bullet proof vests arresting the drunks and homeless people who clearly posed a threat to the President’s security. The main road was blocked off and an elaborate stage and thousands of plastic chairs were set up…it felt more like a rock concert than a political speech. We didn’t stay for Ortega himself, since he always shows up about 4 hours late to scheduled political rallies, mainly to be fashionably late. We were tired, and no Nicaraguans were really that excited (apparently he is an excruciatingly boring speaker). As we were waiting at the bus stop though Ortega’s convoy passed right in front of us...a bunch of flashing lights, cops and Civil Defense, armored Range Rovers, etc. I think the hype was more exciting than anything he ended up saying that night (“God bless you all…, I promise to do…”, etc.).
Well those are most of my thoughts and summaries of exciting things that have happened in the last month. We went to the beach with a bunch of people from El Recreo recently, which was a blast, especially for Recreo residents who rarely get out. Anyway, I appreciate you reading this, and thanks for all the support in its various manifestations.

Peace,
Michael

Volcano

During Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Nicaragua most people go to the beach to refresh themselves in the overwhelming heat. To the confusion of many Nicaraguans who generally do not hike or climb mountains for fun, Josh (my housemate) and I decided to climb Volcan Momotombo during our spring vacation. Momotombo rises up about 5,000 feet, making it the third (?) highest volcano in the country (there are quite a few). It can be seen in the distance from many parts of Managua and has a very dominating and menacing aura surrounding it. But now this volcano has been dominated by the Jesuit Volunteers of Nicaragua. Below are pictures taken by Josh and I during our two-day trip to the top. Enjoy.



A view of Volcan Momotombo from Puerto Momotombo, three or four miles from the base. From here we hitch-hiked on a truck of farmers passing by, and then with an Italian man who happened to be a big shot in the Nicaraguan electricity business. He sweet talked the guards at the geothermic plant at the base of Momotombo (which we think he was in charge of) to let us in to climb the volcano. We then had to pay the guards for a 'guide' up the mountain (there was no actual guide).


We hiked from the geothermic plant at the base for about two hours until sunset where we set up camp, near the treeline. The wind picked up after sunset, and by midnight the poles of our tent had snapped in the wind. So we slept in a collapsed tent.


We packed up and left most of our stuff at 'base camp' and started hiking first thing in the morning before it got too hot. The sun came up right on the other side of the peak.


Making my way through the black sand, about an hour after we started hiking in the morning. Frequent stops were made to enjoy the view.


The views of northwestern Nicaragua were stunning...also note the ridiculous incline of the side of the volcano.


Josh contemplating strategy as we slowly approach the top. About 1 hour from the top.


This is what Josh was looking at in the previous picture.


Josh resting. The ground on which we were climbing was very steep and made up of loose rock and sand, making the hike very difficult and slippery. The wind was also out of control.


We took a long rest at what appeared to be the last solid rock for a while that we could stop at. I was mildly concerned for our safety past this point with the wind and steep drop off to the right. From this point on we were scrambling on all fours.



Josh and I at the 'last' resting point. About a half hour from the top.


The crater of the volcano at the top.


Me, exhausted at the crater, and fearful of slipping and sliding down the volcano.


Back home, dirty and tired. We had hitch-hiked from the Volcano all the way to a town about an hour out of Managua and then took a bus back in. Given the amazing success we had with hitch-hiking, timing the busses just right, and not getting lost or injured or too tired to climb, Josh and I firmly believe that the entire universe conspired to help us achieve our goal of dominating Volcan Momotombo.

Feliz Día Internacional de la Mujer

Happy international women’s day! In a society that is incredibly chauvinistic and degrades females like you wouldn’t believe, it was wonderful to see such a beautiful celebration of women’s day at my work yesterday. The whole Project worked together all day to set up and facilitate the women’s day celebration in the Cancha (outdoor basketball court/ park type of thing) right next to the Project. Roughly 300-400 people from the neighborhood showed up to watch folkloric dance and receive information on women’s health and women’s rights. I saw at least a dozen of my students at the event with their families, and I would say that males made up about 10% of the audience, which is a phenomenal success given that men in El Recreo rarely make an appearance at anything. The presence of SO MANY PEOPLE at a celebration for women was very powerful, as women in El Recreo generally do not have jobs but raise a flock of children, do laundry all day by hand, cook every meal, and are generally abused physically and/or emotionally by their husbands/ fathers of their children. This was a wonderful way for the Barrio to say in unison that it considers women to be valuable and deserving of basic rights. I was also very hopeful that my students and many other kids from the Barrio were present, and I think that exposure to such a celebration can counteract the negative perception of women that children in El Recreo learn from their fathers, brothers, and friends. To me this celebration was the epitome of successful grassroots organization, as a community center of the people and for the people rallied the community around a very important cause. It made me happy to be a part of such a wonderful project.

The celebration was somewhat bittersweet for two reasons. First, almost all of the women present had one or two kids in their arms and two or three more running around…no fathers, neighbors, or babysitters to help them care for their children. So while we celebrated women, it was very evident that the women of El Recreo are still carrying an unreasonable burden. Second, towards the end of the celebration and at the peak of attendance, the police raided a house on the corner maybe 30 yards away from the main stage. I had heard a lot about this house which is known for drug dealing and violence…two of my former students (they dropped out) live in this house, and were playing at the celebration when their house was raided. A white van pulled in front of the house, slid open the side door, and 5 or 6 police jumped out and ran in the front door. The white van pulled away and two more pickups full of police pulled up and they entered the house as well. I felt nothing but sadness…not fear or confusion or anger, just sad at the fact that violence was being met with violence, that my former students had to watch 15 cops forcefully raid their home, and that insult to injury was being added to a neighborhood that already suffers from poverty and violence. At least half of the audience ran over to watch the scene, which was also depressing. Yet despite the visible signs of poverty throughout the event, the celebration was very successful and quite inspiring.

Work at the Project has been tough, as I continue to struggle with classroom control and discipline. I met with the director of the Project yesterday and vented my frustrations about my ineffectiveness as a teacher, my excessive yelling and anger at my worst students, my inability to be an effective member of a team of teachers, and my difficulties with language barriers and culture shock. She reaffirmed my pedagogical abilities, offered advice and assistance regarding discipline and classroom control, and was overwhelmingly understanding at my lack of energy and participation in staff meetings due to my frustrations trying to understand Spanish. We’ll see how it goes on Monday, but I feel more confident now more than ever in my ability to achieve my own threefold goal of 1) being a source of love, encouragement, and stability in the lives of my students, 2) realizing effective and creative ways to teach and expand the minds of my students, and 3) developing friendships with and learning from my coworkers.

On a tangent, Projecto Generando Vida and I as a teacher are always in need of great Spanish children’s books (for the neighborhood kids as well), any teaching resources pertaining to Math or Spanish that are either in Spanish or not bound by language (ex: basic word searches, a Math game called 24, fun Math flash cards, etc.), and any ideas or resources for children’s activities and games that are wholesome and encourage cooperation and working together. I encourage anyone to send stuff that feels especially moved to do so (Michael Marchesini,c-o Jesuit Volunteers International, Apdo LM 161, Managua, Nicaragua, Central America…mail takes around 2 weeks to get here and is safe as long as there is no poorly hidden cash or technology items still in their packaging). My afternoon class is more formal and I teach a lot of Math (addition, lots of subtraction and multiplication, and some division) and Spanish (simple reading, writing, and spelling). My morning class is quite informal and we do a lot of story reading, cooperative games and activities (day camp type stuff), drawing, Sudoku, mazes, etc. So any formal teaching resources or creative ideas/resources for activities or anything creative and mildly education is welcome! And if you happen to be putting together a package, I love pictures of you, of mountains, and of Seattle! My housemates and I also enjoy peanut butter and American junk food.

Regarding vacation, retreats, and relaxation, last weekend the six of us took a four day weekend and went to Miraflor in Northern Nicaragua to do a rejuvenating retreat. We were up in the mountains, felt the sensation of being cold for the first time in a long time (it’s getting increasingly and ridiculously hot in Managua every day), spent a lot of time enjoying the peacefulness and beauty of nature, and did some great personal reflections and sharing with one another. In one week Semana Santa (holy week) begins, which equals nine days off from work! I’m thrilled to rest, travel, and maybe climb a volcano.

Hope you are all doing great, congratulations to all the women who are reading this (it’s your international day!), and thanks as always for reading.

Peace and Love,

Michael Marchesini

Teaching, El Recreo, and Father Roy

To my friends and family,

I’d like to tell you all a little about my recent experiences as a teacher, more info about the Barrio in which I work and where my kids live, and a certain international political issue that made it’s way to our dinner table the other night. I will break it down by theme to ease your navigation of this blog entry.

Teaching at Proyecto Generando Vida
I have now completed four weeks of teaching in the morning Comedor and the afternoon Nivelación program at the Project. Thankfully I’ve had a few pleasant and affirming interactions with my kids that tell me that perhaps they really do appreciate my presence in their life, even though they sure as hell don’t show it while I’m teaching. Every Friday morning in the Comedor is outside game day, so I spend most of my 1hr. 45min with the kids playing soccer and different variations of baseball right outside the Project. I’ve gotten a lot more signs of affection from my kids on these days, mainly because they’re having a good time so they’re not brats, because they’re not being brats I don’t get pissed and yell at them, and because I don’t yell at them they tend to like me a lot more. A lot of kids have given me drawings (which is especially comical when they hand it to me while I’m teaching; a dead giveaway that they aren’t paying attention), mainly of my house, and in Nivelación I made out like a bandit on Valentine’s day with all sorts of sweet cards from kids I yell at all the time and teacher’s pets alike. That all has been a good reminder that perhaps they have some respect or affection for me deep down.
I’ve had a bit of a cold this last week, which has made yelling next to impossible because my throat hurts so bad. Discipline has thus been difficult, as the kids who are stealing, punching, cussing, throwing, and leaving simply can’t hear me amidst the noisy chaos that is my classroom. Yet at the same time it’s been a good way for me to search for alternative, non verbally-violent methods of getting my kids to a reasonable level of tranquility. I talk softly now while my kids erupt with energy and screams, and quietly remind them that there will be no recess for those who continue to “hacer buya” and plentiful points (which will later translate into prizes) for those who chill out. It works so-so, and like peacemaking in general it is way more difficult than violence and aggression and takes an excruciatingly long time to be effective. But the end result is relatively calm kids who haven’t just been yelled at or felt threatened by an authority figure. I’ve also started kicking kids out of class after a few warnings, and have on occasion threatened to talk to their parents. This approach works without fail, but it relies on the terrible nature of the home life of my students. My kids know that if they get sent home with a note (which I have yet to do) or if I tell their parents that I had to kick them out for indiscipline, they will likely get beaten. Even the students who cuss directly at me and laugh at my threats to take away their recess or something have calmed down when I mention their parents. I’ve only had to threaten this twice, and it’s a weird feeling…I always hope that the students don’t ask “would you really do that?”
Aside from the constant challenge of maintaining some semblance of order, security, and decibel level at which I can be heard by my students, I’ve also been dealing with the challenge of actually teaching. I’m supposed to be helping kids with their homework for the first third of class and then teaching reinforcement lessons for the rest of class. I’ve been very frustrated with the Nicaraguan education system for the homework that my students bring to me. Neither my students nor myself understand many of their assignments, and the ones that are clear pertain exclusively to copying things out of books; their Spanish homework is to copy a few pages from a story book, their Social Studies homework is to copy certain sections of the textbook or trace a map, etc. The story problems that the math teachers give my students are incredibly vague and make little to no sense. Even if they did, not one of my 4th grade students knows how to do a story problem. I have some really smart students, but no one has ever taught them how to think for themselves or analyze anything. Frustrating. I have trouble deciding whether I should do creative lessons that might expand their capacity to think critically and make connections, or if I just teach what they learn in school so that they can get their homework done and pass 4th grade.
My relationship with my coworkers has drastically improved over the last few weeks as well, as we all think it’s kind of funny now that I can’t understand most of what we talk about in staff meetings, and I’ve been learning to joke around a lot more with them. All the other Nivelación teachers are public school teachers by morning, and most of them are middle-aged, sarcastic women who love to play jokes on me and make fun of the fact that I’m the only heterosexual male working at the project. Lately I’ve been sarcastic back at them, which they think is a riot. All in all, my feelings toward teaching are well balanced…there are fewer extreme days (euphoric or hellish), and most of my classes are quite mediocre, which I think is good for now.

A Bit About Barrio El Recreo
The Project at which I work is kind of at the center of the El Recreo neighborhood, and most of my kids come from within a 10 minute walk of the Project. It is definitely one of the poorer neighborhoods in Managua, although surprisingly not too dangerous; no Jesuit Volunteers in recent years have had so much as a pick-pocketing while in El Recreo. Apparently there is a local gang, but I have heard little about it. Everyone that comes to the Project is someone else’s aunt, cousin, half brother, etc. I think that families are just so big in the neighborhood that chances of any two random people being related are quite high. The few houses of my students that I have visited have been quite insightful into their home lives- many of my kids have older brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents all living in the same house with them. Some of the parents are very friendly and genuine, while others are disturbingly uninterested in the Project to which they send their children. My coordinator usually clues me in to whose parents do what or the reputation they have built around the Project. It is rumored that the mother of my most difficult student in the morning Comedor program is a prostitute and runs her business out of her home. Most of the parents, however, are genuinely concerned about their child’s ability to read or do long division.
El Recreo has a lot of trash lying around…either sitting or floating in giant ditches or being burned in the middle of the road. Because of the obvious health and environmental issues this causes, the Project plans to do a ‘don’t burn your trash campaign’ in the neighborhood this year, and it is expected that one of the principle obstacles to the campaign will be that people can’t afford trash bags (garbage pickup does exist and is cheap). Water in all of Nicaragua is an issue; even in our house the water has been going out for 2 or 3 years most nights. Yet in El Recreo there is no water throughout most of the day, and most residents have to wake up at 4am when the water comes on briefly to fill their buckets with water for the day’s consumption. At the Project there are a couple huge metal buckets of water that are used for cleaning but not for drinking. Thus I usually get the majority of my students in the afternoon asking for water from my nalgene. It’s not that there is a scarcity of water here, it’s just about the distribution; in a neighborhood ten minutes away on foot, one of the wealthiest and the neighborhood where the President lives, there are never any water shortages. Hmm.
My last word about El Recreo. I was shocked to realize how little people get out of the neighborhood. Aside from the major market I don’t think anyone leaves except for the men that go to work outside the Barrio. The public schools are a few blocks away, most women are stay-at-home moms, and frankly most people can’t just toss around 25 cents for a round-trip bus ride anywhere in the city. Many of my kids ask me where I live. I say “Barrio La Luz” and they give me a blank stare. La Luz is a 20 minute bus ride away. I ask them if they know where the UCA is, a major university a 10 minute bus ride away. Still no idea. So I just tell them what direction I live in.

School of the Americas (SOA)
A lot of you have heard about the School of the Americas (or WHINSEC) at Ft. Benning, Georgia and the growing protest movement to shut it down. The SOA is a military training school run by the U.S. military that trains Latin American police and soldiers in “counterinsurgency” and “pro-democracy” tactics. Some of Latin America’s most notorious human rights abusers have graduated from this school, including the soldiers who murdered the 6 Jesuit priests in El Salvador in 1989 and those who assassinated Archbishop Oscar Romero in 1981. Anyway, Father Roy Bourgeois, a maryknoll priest, has been leading the movement to close this school for about 17 years, and recently has opened up a “Latin America front” to close the school in which he and others try to convince Latin American leaders to stop sending their soldiers to the school. So far Argentina, Bolivia, Venezuela, Uruguay, and Costa Rica have pulled out their soldiers and police from the school for its history of human rights abuses and oppression. So Father Roy was in Nicaragua this week trying to convince Daniel Ortega to cut ties with the school, and he left today for Ecuador to do the same. The best part of the story, in my opinion, is that Fr. Roy and his associate Lisa Sullivan came over to the JV house for dinner on Tuesday! Roy was an incredibly friendly and funny man with a hilarious southern accent, and we all sat around the table for hours talking about politics, social justice, and his experiences leading the movement to close the SOA. Him and Father Joe, our in-country coordinator, shared prison stories (each have spent a few years for civil disobedience) and Vietnam-era war and protest stories (Joe a protester, Roy a navy officer). Father Roy also entertained us with some comical stories of meeting with Presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Evo Morales of Bolivia. The next few days Roy, Lisa, and Father Joe met with President Ortega, Nicaragua’s defense minister and a few others, and eventually got Ortega to say he was on their side in the struggle to close the school and that he would strongly consider pulling Nicaraguans out of the school soon. It was very inspiration first of all to share a meal with the leader of the annual protest that I attended last November, but also to realize that such a charismatic and visionary leader was at the same time such a regular, approachable person.
Thus ends this most recent overview of life here in Managua, including both my everyday experiences and a few unique tales. Thank you all for reading.

Peace,
Michael

Generating Life

Dear friends and family,

Thank God, it’s the weekend. I just finished my first week of “real work,” teaching two classes of about 20 or 25 kids from Barrio El Recreo. Some days have been wonderful, others simply hellish. Right now I feel that the week was a success, and I feel great about my general abilities as a teacher/ youth counselor. My typical day now tends to look like this: I leave the house at 7, and Mary, Margaret and I jump on a bus literally overflowing with people. We spend most of the 15 minute bus ride pressing up against strangers trying to squeeze our way towards the back door. We then walk into Barrio El Recreo on a dirt road, walk over a sketchy metal bridge that crosses over a giant ditch filled with trash, sometimes on fire. I get to Proyecto Generando Vida at 7:30, spend about an hour sweeping and cleaning, and then frantically prepare for my first class at 9. There are 27 kids registered for my “comedor” morning class, about 20 of whom show up. The age range is 9-12. We start class with a “dynamica”, like a name game or something, or I’ll read them a story about cutting down trees and ask them some questions about it. Starting next week, assuming the kids can stay still, I’ll be reading the Chronicles of Narnia to them in Spanish for 30 minutes every morning. A couple days a week are ‘game day’, where we either play board games or I take them outside to play soccer. My goal is to have three days a week of class, where I give them reinforcement in Spanish and Math, and give them help with their homework once school starts in two weeks. My kids grew weary of my Math lesson yesterday and eventually convinced me to translate The Beauty and the Beast and read it to them in English, which they thought was hilarious. Comedor is extremely difficult, as the kids are disgustingly poor, very unruly, and some are completely illiterate while others are at a 6th grade reading level. It’s hard to teach any subject to a group of 20 kids when some get insulted by the simplicity of the lesson while others have never gone to school and have no idea what I’m talking about. I spend most of my time in comedor chasing down kids who just walk out of the classroom and raise hell around the Project, confiscating soccer balls from those who play in the corner while I teach Spanish, and telling the same kids over and over to be quiet, sit down, turn their desk towards me, stop hitting, etc. A lot of the kids are only there because their parents see us as cheap babysitters for the morning, or so I believe.

Comedor class ends at 10:45, I then sit with my kids and eat lunch, they go home, I help serve another 70 kids that come to get fed, clean up, and I’m done for the morning at noon. In total there are 45 kids ages 5-12 that come to class in the morning and get a very nutritious, heavily discounted lunch (2 cents per meal), and another 70 under the age of 5 that just come for the lunch. At noon I go to the nun’s house (the Project is founded by a group of nuns…they are sweet, trust me), eat lunch again, maybe take a cat nap on the couch, and go back to work at 1 or 1:30 depending on my level of preparedness for the afternoon. I go back to my classroom, sweep, and plan my 2:00 nivelación class. There are also about 20 kids that come to my afternoon class out of about 24 that are registered. These kids are all going into 4th grade (some for the second time). I usually spend most of this 2-2.5 hour class reviewing Math and Spanish concepts that they learned in 3rd grade, mixing it up with some fun games that occasionally are successful. Again, once school starts, the point of this class will be half helping them with homework and half teaching reinforcement classes. Right now it’s just all reinforcement. Out of the 20 students in this class, I would classify at least 6 or 7 as hellraisers, an unusually high proportion I feel. Many of my students fight, throw trash on the ground, steal each others’ stuff, try to steal my stuff, cheat, gossip, swear at me, and disappear for 20 minutes after ‘going to get a drink of water’. I’ve had a couple wonderful classes though where I played a game with Spanish grammar that they were totally into and where I taught a euphoric lesson on subtraction.

The 3rd grade textbooks say they know long division, and that they can read a short story excerpt and respond to basic questions. Yet the preliminary Spanish and Math quizzes I gave them suggests that most have never seen a long division problem, let alone mastered basic subtraction or multiplication. I’m also not sure that critical thinking is at all taught in the public schools. Literally none of my kids got the one question on the Spanish quiz that asked them to explain why something happened in a story excerpt correct. Every kid simply used direct quotes from the story to answer every question. Frustrating.

I’ve already made a number of cultural faux-pas (sp?) in my nivelación afternoon class. For the first couple days I had kids do homework and in-class assignments in their notebook and rip out the pages to hand in to me. On the third day of classes only 3 people handed in homework, the rest shying away from taking it out of their notebooks. So I said they could just bring their notebook up to the front and show me, and one girl came up and asked me to stop having her rip out pages because her grandma hits her when she does so. Lesson learned. On the second day we were playing a name game…everyone here has two first names. It was Guiselle Margarita’s turn to say her name…she said “Guiselle” and someone else said another word that started with an M that I didn’t recognize. Thinking it was her second name, I asked the confirming question to Guiselle, “Guiselle M….?” Apparently whatever word I said was Spanish for whore. Everyone laughed, except for me and Guiselle.

At the end of nivelación class I clean up the room, wipe off the chalkboard, grade quizzes, and maybe start planning for the next day. Starting next week I’ll be doing house visits in the evenings to get to know my kid’s parents and where they are from. I find Mary in the library and Margaret in the women’s bank, and usually we make our way out of the Barrio together, stopping frequently along the way to talk to friends and students. We get home around 6, eat dinner, enjoy each other’s company, have a community meeting or a spirituality night if it’s Monday or Wednesday, I start to plan for the next day, and go to bed as early as possible (never early enough). I think for my own personal health I’m going to try to make a habit of not bringing the Project home with me…preparing for classes only during designated times at home and doing the rest during the day at work. Planning what to do with so many kids for a total of over 4 hours every day is exhausting, and the anticipation of spending 2 hours at a time trying as hard as is humanly possible to speak loudly and consistently, discipline, teach, and keep my cool when angry all at the same time is nerve-wracking. The exhausting nature of my job and the knowledge that my classes are on the brink of chaos at any given moment have prevented me thus far from actually looking forward to work, but it is rewarding thus far.

Finally, to wrap up this rather long entry, I got to meet our in-country coordinator the other night for the first time. Father Joe, a Jesuit priest who has lived here for over 20 years, just got back from a peacemaking trip to Palestine and Israel. He seemed like a wonderful and friendly man with a lot of admirable passions and convictions (he spent a few months in prison for nonviolent civil disobedience at the SOA protest, something I have a lot of respect for). I’m having dinner with him tonight, and I’m looking forward to getting to know this guy who is supposed to be kind of our point-man for everything logistical, personal, and spiritual while we are here in Nicaragua. I think that’s about it…work and meeting a Jesuit has been my life for the last week. Thanks for reading.

Michael