Comunidad Naranjal

Here is a view from underneath a house where I took shelter during a rain storm with a very friendly school boy. Houses are built on stilts to avoid flooding, and in this case, this space also doubled as the 'barn' as it's where the animals sleep. Next one is a boy looking out the school window. I think we were quite the distraction from their normal school day. Although I'm not entirely sure that they didn't all just run into the school house once they heard that the people from UNICEF were coming up from the river! Last is a view of one of the communities from the river. Quite a lawn!

Miskitu village

Here's a few pictures from a Miskitu village about an hour or two down river from any road. They have a church, which is the only solid structure, other than the large row on latrines that the government built. Each family has one latrine, although from the looks of them, no one ever uses them. In the picture of the two kids - the oldest is 12, and pregnant. Her sister has a cleft lip and they daily drink polluted river water despite the wells the government installed in the village.

you heard it here first...& Coast commentary

The cable that brings internet to Central America was broken for 2 days last week at the fault of fishermen. Or at least that's what they're telling us. Doesn't sound like a likely story to me, but it is true that most countries in this part of the world were without internet for almost 2 days. I tried to find an article about it, but the only one I found was just about columbia. (although this same article has the little nugget about the culpable fisherman, which was news to me)

But I wasn't too affected as I spent most of last week in the eastern side of Nicaragua. It was quite an experience. A little background: the two regions in the Caribbean side are called RAAN and RAAS, and they are autonmous regions consisting mostly of indigeous villages. In the early 90's these regiones gained autonomy, which in principle it gives them control over their own resources, including land.

The UN publishes a Human Development Index, which ranks the level of "development" within 177 countries. If RAAN and RAAS were officially their own country, they would rank at number 171 out of 177. (While all of Nicaragua ranks at 113.)

It was like nothing I'd ever seen. It's sort of like everyone is permanently camping. They have houses, which they've made from wood cut from the abundent forest. They eat fruit, grain, vegatables grown from their land and the meat from the animals, which are also quite plentiful. But they have no roads so trade between villages is very low, and most people don't particpate in anything close to a formal economy, nor have access to any social services. The education system is virtually non-existent other than donor sponsored schools, most people have no access to medical services or access to clean water.

So, they have the potential to have great lives because the land they live on is so furtile, and thanks to the laws of autonomy in this region, most people actual own the rights to their land. Unfortunately, thanks to a few select companies who extract wood and minerals, the river is polluted and clean water is hard to come by. Lack of education about keeping animal carcasses and both human and animal waste out of river is also a large 'natural' source of pollution, so we can't blame everything on big business here. The main kicker is that lack of roads means that all transporation between communities is by river or horse or foot...combine this remoteness with unsanitory conditions and the potential paradise quickly fades away to a standard of living far below anything a human should have to bare. But at least they're not starving.

I was there with a team of consultants who were deciding which villages to sponsor over a 5 year period. The project would involve education on sanitation, as well as training on, and the provision of, appropriate clean water technology. I accompanied them on their first day...which included 6 hours in a wooden oversized canoe with a motor. And we didnt' even reach the furthest communities which would take a good 12 hours round trip. Keep in mind that this is the distance with a motor - which makes the 'main' town and the health clinic virtually imposible to reach for most.

The purpose of the community visits were to interview households on their current water and sanitation habits and view the existing technology they had. In most cases 'technology' was nothing more than a bucket to catch rain water, or perhaps a filter or a well at the very highest level. However, the only community I saw that had a well, didn't even use it because it had a broken cable, and they didnt' know where in the world to get a cable to fix it. We were also there to gauge the level of interest the village had in recieving outside help. Despite the even need, some communities are eager to 'develop' while others are not, which has a lot to do with the indigenous culture of living directly off the land. As opposed to some government sponsored projects which have left many wellbuilt wells and latrines unused, UNICEF trys to make sure that the technology will actually be used and that the people are eager to try something new.

I read a statistic saying that 9% of the people had access to water, and as the house we stayed in didn't even have running water, i though that at least those 9% must be fairly well off. After a little investigation I learned that it was 9% that had access to clean water.

After a 3 hour return trip consisting of 3 downpours and 3 periods of powerful sun in the very open air canoeish boat, I was a bit beat. But loved every second of it. The next day wasn't as eventful, but it was interesting all the same. Visitng an area further north, I interviewed health administrators about their policies regarding HIV/AIDS and began gathering data for my report. I have a lot of work to do, but it's going to be a great experience.

I'm back in Managua now where the weather has cooled thanks to the rains that continue to wash away entire houses. The women who works in my house is making fresh orange juice and doing my laundry as we speak, while the young man who works in my friends house is taking a few days off because his 18 year old brother just drowned trying to help two children who fell into an open drainage system in the most recent downpour.

Rain rain rain

The rainy season is here in full affect. That said, the temperature is more to my liking. Or maybe it's because i'm in an air conditioned office all day, so it just doesn't seem so bad. Office work does have its perks. I was awakened last night by a forceful storm with so much lighteining I felt I was in a night club with strobe lights...and the rain on the tin roofs so loud I had no choice but to lie awake listening to it. Once I accepted that I wasn't getting any sleep I just enjoyed it. Until I realized that houses in the shanty towns where likely being destroyed as hillsides are usually wiped out in these types of rains. Then I feel asleep, woke up, swam in my pool, ate breakfast and left my dirty dishes in the sink for the maid who comes to clean today. Guilt is a strange thing.

I leave Monday for the RAAN, (Caribbean Coast northern region) where electricty, never mind internet, will be scare. I'll be interviewing people about the prevelance of (and measures taken to prevent) HIV in their communities. The main problem I'm having gathering information is that the government is full of conflicting reports. So I'm trying to get the information directly from the health clinics and determine what is really happening. One of the first reasons I became interested in developing countries is that I felt you could actually do something that hasn't been done before, and contribute to improving the situation somehow...everything is the US is so developed and set in place, it seems harder to actually influence things. Here, no one's ever done any study to determine what the impact of HIV is on the communities. The information just doesn't exist. So this will be a first shot at comparing gov't reports to what's actually happening.

Will report back when I return in a week or so.

Love,
Amanda

Office life

I´ve moved up to Managua to start the real working part of my internship. The past few weeks in Granada have been a lot of fun, but (and this will really show what a nerd I am), I am really liking being in the office and working full time on this project. It´s been almost 11 months since I´ve been in an office, but I´m getting right back into the skirts, heels and pencil sharpeners like I never left. (Barb, if you´re reading this you´d love it...meetings ALWAYS start a good half hour late, and everyone expects it. haha!) Working in spanish is, of course, a new challenge. Not only do I have to listen hard to understand what is actually being said, but then I have to process it fast enough to think about the significance of it all...and then respond in some manner that doesn´t make me sound like a complete idiot. But I´m getting the hang of it.

So, what I´m actually doing...I´m putting together an economic and social impact study of HIV/AIDS, in particular, on the Caribbean Coast. There´s a few teams of experts in statistics, epidemology and demography, from a variety of organizations, who are working on separate reports. I´m meeting with them (including government officials) to gather the most important data from their reports, and combine it with what I come up with on the social and economic impacts. It´s a perfect mix of nerdy math spreadsheets and qualitative research. It´s a hell of a lot to do in a summer, but I´m looking forward to it.

Next week I take off in a UNICEF car for a long rough trip to the Caribbean Coast. If you get a chance, check out a map. They don´t have roads per se. Well, they have a road that goes to the capital, but most of the time I´ll be visiting communities along the river, gathering personal accounts and generally getting the lay of the land. That and trying to not get bit by rats. Apparently the rat infestation is a bit overwhelming. delicous.

I´ll leave with this last nugget...I took my security clearance test yesterday (I passed). The whole ordeal was quite serious and I actually did learn some useful things, such as how to tell north by using only your watch and the sun. And how to find north in the southern hemisphere during the night (no north star to guide your way, so it´s a bit trickier). But the best advice was regarding road travel in developing countries (although I feel this could be extrapolated and applied to road travel in all countries)... and I quote, ¨Do not try to copy driving techniques seen in James Bond films.¨

Sage advice.

outside granada

Today I went to go check out one of the school outside of Granada. These pictures are on my long walk back. The houses were built with whatever material they could find lying around, but the composition of different textures and colors was beautiful.

Center of Town

Here's two pictures close to the center of town. The steeples of the cathedral and one of the four kiosks that occupy each corner of the park.

Pictures

This is a main street that they recently reconstructed to allow for outdoor seating and fewer cars. It's one of my favorite places to have an evening beer, once the sun has cooled off! The other picture is me with my salsa instructor. He has a very difficult job, since salsa does not come naturally to me...