Our group is great about getting up early, which is a good thing since our first speaker arrived by 8 am. Breakfast is at 7:15 am during the week. Jeff asked me, what did Jessica do when she was here (our now 19 year old doesn't like beans which is the staple for every meal). Today we had peppers in our eggs. Jeff and I can't get enough.
Mark Lester, director of global education, treated us to his expertise and knowledge of Nicaragua. Since we felt Janice in particular gave us a good pre-orientation of the history, we asked about the indigenous people. He explored how the cultures today are traced back to the roots of the indigenous people. By the end of the conquest and human contact with the Spaniards killed most of the indigenous people. He covered several additional topics with emphasis on America's influence (aka - mucking up) in Nicaragua to politics today. During the question and answer period he addressed topics such as women's rights, Nicaraguan's interaction with Hugo Chavez and Venezuela and who control's the media in the country).
Afterwards, we loaded up the "ambulances" with the medical supplies we brought and headed to the clinic. Dr. Don was greatly by beaming medical staff and shown his No. 1 patient room with a plaque above the door hung in his honor. It was a touching moment. The clinic had a new registration area since I was here last in '07. The hope is for a future building for more storage and an OBGyn clinic. Staff showed their appreciation for Bucknell's continued support.
Our tour continued as we walked through Nueva Vida to the Chureca N-Nueva Vida dump. Becca provided the tour. She explained that 1200 to 1400 people live in Neuva Vida. Approximately 150 people make there living picking plastic from the dump. We walked a quarter of a mile in picked over trash that had spilled from the trucks to the actual dump. There were no people in site until we reached a site I will never forget. Buzzards were flying high above the trash and several more sat along side the trash pickers. With the haze and the distance the people and buzzards were hard to distinguish. It was a difficult moment. One of the trash pickers called out to Becca in Spanish. They engaged for several minutes. We learned more about the history of the dump and what we were experiencing. Because of the trust the Jubilee House had established with the community Becca was able to connect with the man for several more minutes. By then three garbage trucks of trash had rolled causing adults and children to scramble from the hills for more plastic, shoes, rubber, and metal.
Now that we have witnessed both the violence in the past from yesterday's experience and he poverty at the dump, we're eager to serve. Each of us volunteered in various ways, three of us are doctors and saw patients throughout the afternoon. Two of us including myself and Kimberly unpacked medical supplies, four of us built razor wire for the fences to help protect the clinic, the rest of us painted colorful images on park benches in front of the clinic. Colors included red, green, purple, blue, and black.
Dinner was amazing. Kathleen is our master chef and prepared traditional foods. The Refresco drink (toronjo) tonight was made with grapefruit juice.
We miss you all. PLEASE send us posts. We know you love and miss us, too. We want to hear from you.
Adios,
Jeff and Susan
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