Living and working in Nicaragua (or any developing country, really) isn’t always an exhilarating and heartwarming experience. For as high as the highs can be, the lows are equally as low. I’m not trying to be a downer, but I also want to be honest. Apart from the typical nuisances of day to day life (e.g. local offices being closed whenever it seems most inconvenient, finding a nest of ants inside my suitcase, electricity going out nearly every day) working with such needy populations can be absolutely heart wrenching.
Part of what I do here is travel to surrounding villages and/or individual homes with the Program Director and Social Worker to attend to the folks who are most in need of services. This can include the handicapped and/or the impoverished that live off of almost nothing. I recently went to a home of a small three year old girl living with her handicapped mother and grandparents. The only one in her household who works is her 85 year old grandfather who probably weighs less than 100 pounds. His job is to walk up and down the road to ask neighbors if they are looking for any extra help around the house. Occasionally people need help, but usually people offer him and his family their extra, uneaten food, which is literally how they are surviving. However, the current problem is that he has recently gotten sick and can no longer work, which means his family can no longer eat. Our concern is the three year old child, whose mother is, of course, reluctant to give her up to a local orphanage. After all, she’s her only daughter. Whatever is to be done in this kind of situation? They are trying to care for her and they love her. They want a good life for her. But this is what life can be like in Nicaragua: brutal.
This type of volunteer life is not for everyone. It is certainly not for the faint of heart. But for those who are willing to take on the challenge, it is well worth it because the highs always outweigh the lows. From a separate trip to a local village, we returned with a small girl who was born with a hair lip. Her mother, who carried her for nine hours on foot, just to visit with the doctor, is without resources to get her any kind of treatment. Here in Camoapa, we used the local TV station to solicit donations from the community in order to pay for her daughter’s operation. And the community responded with more than enough funds, as well as a truck to bring her to Managua for the visit. It was a day well worth celebrating.
This is why I am here. Despite the many times that I lie awake at night thinking about how unjust our world can be, it is in these moments that I can smile back at the incredible generosity and the fortitude of the human race.
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Just to underscore what you are saying…having volunteered in Guatemala for 3 years.
As terrible as things can be for some, even the little victories are big.
Keep on keepin’ on!