End of Year Activities and Home Leave Vacation

Happy New Year everyone!  I've had a wonderful start to the new year, and I hope all of you have as well.  But let's back up a bit, since I haven't written a blog post since August, apparently.  

Grabbing a screaming little pig for the iron injection lesson

As I previously mentioned, one of my project goals for my work in site this last part of my Peace Corps service is to do a swine husbandry improvement project with certain interested families.  To get that ball rolling, I organized a general swine health charla in my community and invited all the families close by that currently raised pigs in their homes.  Of about 30 families invited, 16 people showed up, which is pretty good actually.  I organized the charla with a local animal health inspector that works for MAGFOR, the Nicaraguan Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.  He specializes in pigs and is the inspector posted to my area of Pantasma, so I got in contact with him and found him to be very helpful, which is very refreshing after having negative experiences with other governmental workers in my area.  He did most of the talking during the charla, using a power point presentation I made with his help, and overall I think it went really well.  The people who attended were interested the whole time and I think appreciated hearing his expertise on the matter, even though almost all of them no doubt have received similar animal health charlas sometime in the past.  But they did ask lots of questions and told me after that they were happy I arranged to have him come and talk.  So that got my hopes up that this project would be beneficial to the community and that I’d get some motivated families involved. 

Community members injecting a pig with iron during the practicum

The next activity I planned, as an accompaniment to the health charla, was a pig practical, where the community members were invited to come and learn hands on how to castrate young male pigs at 2 weeks of age and also inject them with iron, which is a deficiency all pigs are born with.  Only 8 people from the first charla came to the practical, and not one of them had ever castrated a pig that young before, since that’s something they usually do when the pigs are already 3 or 4 months old.  It’s usually done by the family that buys the pig from the family that raised it, so the family that raised it never bothers with castrating them in fear the pig will die from it or just because it’s not their normal pig-raising routine.  I’m trying to teach them it’s recommended to castrate them at 2 weeks because it’s safer for the pigs, the wounds are smaller and heal faster, and some hog farmers claim a castrated young pig will grow faster and sell sooner.  I organized the practical with another community member who is a MAGFOR community promoter who has participated in many swine health workshops and raises and sells pigs in various communities.  I actually didn’t even know this guy was a swine promoter, and neither did many of my neighbors who participated in the first charla, so I was a little disappointed that he hasn’t made more of an effort to support his fellow neighbors and their swine husbandry methods.  Part of me inviting him to help me with the pig practical was to try to get him more involved in the community and actually put his wide experience to good use.  I’ve also learned from some neighbors that he and his family don’t really get along with some of the neighbors, and that made me realize why he doesn’t really get out much to share his knowledge. So through this project I’m working on I’m going to try to get him more involved as much as he’s willing to.

Then in October I planned a second charla, this time on swine nutrition.  The same MAGFOR inspector who helped me put on the health charla came to help me with the nutrition charla, which was helpful, but less people showed up to this one, only 7, including the community promoter, but he only came because he convinced me to have it at his house, which in hindsight wasn’t the best idea since I later realized how many families didn’t get along with him and refused to come to his house when I invited them to the charla.  That upset me, but now I’ve learned my lesson and will continue to have all future meetings in a neutral place.  After the nutrition charla we went right into the practical and made a home-made swine diet with dried and toasted corn and beans, chicken bones, salt, and some ash, which we prepared in a big pot in the kitchen over the firewood stove.  At that point many of the participants were obviously tired and uninterested and wanted to leave, but stayed just to please me.  I could tell that no one was actually interested in making this type of diet for their pigs in their own houses.  They have their routine and they don’t want to stray from it if it means making any kind of change.  I can’t tell you how frustrated this makes me!  They come to the charlas and say they’re interested in improving the lives of their animals and making more money in the end, but won’t change any of their household habits that directly relate to the care of their animals. 

Painting the Nicaragua map at the primary school

In October, to kill some time, I decided to paint a Nicaragua map at the primary school, near the world map mural we painted in June.  I took a week and basically drew it out (following a grid system) and painted it myself, just to make sure it was done just the way I wanted it, and because it was small enough that having some kids help me would be difficult.  So now the school’s one side facing the road has two bright and colorful maps to enjoy.  I hope to someday actually put them to use and do a geography charla with the school kids and put them to good use.  So far I haven’t seen any of the teachers jump on that idea. 

Both maps completed at the primary school!

4th graders checking out the new Nica map

My delicious chicken soup lunch with the teachers and staff

In November the school teachers had a surprise lunch for me at the school to thank me for my work organizing the donation project and painting the two murals.  They also said it was a small “despedida”, or goodbye party, for me before I left for my 6 week vacation.  I almost felt like they thought I was leaving for good!  But I had told them many times it was just a long vacation, and that I’d be back to finish my service next August.   They made my favorite campo meal, chicken soup with vegetables and dumplings, and they made me play pin the tail on the donkey to win the gift they bought me, which was a silver turtle hair clip.  The whole thing was really nice and made me feel special and appreciated. 

 

My "despedida" from the teachers before leaving for vacation

After leaving site, but before flying home, I spent Thanksgiving with 16 other volunteers at the US Ambassador’s house.  Each year volunteers get invited to have dinner with US Embassy families, and I was one of the lucky ones, again, third year in a row!  The dinner was so delicious and I was one of three volunteers to actually stay the night at her house as well.  She’s a very nice lady, Ambassador Phyllis Powers, and I appreciated her hospitality. 

 

Thanksgiving dinner at the ambassador's house

Hanging out with friends, human and animal alike

That was the last big activity I did before I left for my month of home leave. At that point I was unmotivated in site and could only really focus on my vacation.  The whole month of December I spent in California, doing various things.  It was actually a really busy time.  I spent much of it with my best friend Tina, who I hadn’t seen face-to-face since May 2011 when I first left country for Peace Corps.  We had only been able to communicate via e-mail and some brief and very badly signaled Skype sessions, so it was great to finally get to see her again and talk and talk to our hearts content.  The first trip we did was up to Fresno to visit the Chaffee Zoo and see some friends we hadn’t seen in years.  We stayed with our friend Jodi in Reedley and Nannette in Fresno.  Our old roommate and fellow co-worker Chris came down from the Bay area and toured the zoo with us.  There’s a new sea lion exhibit that had been built since we’d left, and I got to see some of the animals I used to take care of, like the elephants.  Tina and I also got to see some of our bellydance friends we used to dance with, which was really nice. 

Meeting the one-horned rhino at the SD Zoo with a pregnant Elisa

After Fresno we spent a few days in Santa Barbara and saw a movie (Gravity in 3D) which is nice since I rarely see movies in theaters these days.  Then it was off to Escondido on the train.  I stayed at Tina’s parents’ house for about a week, and we went to the San Diego Zoo to visit our friend Elisa who works there with the koalas.  It was great day at the zoo, like always.  I also got to meet Tina’s new nieces and nephews that had been born since I’d left.  There’s 4 new kids in her house!  We also attended a San Diego Peace Corps Association holiday potluck and get-together.  I met an RPVC who had just left service in Nicaragua, but I had never met him in country. How weird to meet someone from your own PC country back in San Diego! 

After spending practically half the month with Tina (which was so great!), I took the train back to Santa Barbara on my own, then spent 4 days with my aunt in Solvang.  She’s been taking care of my cats for me, so I got to see them again and get some well-needed snuggles in.  I also visited the elementary school where she teaches 4^th grade, and gave various classes a photo presentation of a project in my local Nicaraguan primary school that they had funded.  So they got to see pictures of all the materials their donation paid for.  I took a side trip up to Paso Robles to visit my friend Liz and spend some days with her.  We did some wine tasting and went to a live show at SLO Brew, an old haunt of ours back in our college days.  It was super fun!

I also got to visit my dad for a day.  He drove down to Santa Barbara from San Jose and we had lunch.  He’s grown his hair long like back in his hippy days, but I guess that’s not surprising.  It was nice to see him and catch up on the past year. 

 

Me, Mom and Sam on Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve and Day were both spent at my parent’s house, with my mom doing most of the cooking.  She and my aunt bought Mexican tamales for Christmas Eve, which were so delicious.  I love Nicaraguan nacatamales, but they’re just so different than the tamales I grew up with.  Christmas Eve was a little crazy because the house was so crowded full of family and friends that we couldn’t barely have a solid conversation with anyone.  But Christmas Day was mostly just our close family members so it was much more relaxed.  My mom made BBQ pork loin, the yearly tradition for a while now.  All the food overall was so delicious and I’m sure I gained weight from all the goodness all month long. 

After Christmas I only had a few more days to spend with my family since I was off to Peru with my friend Tina for 2 weeks!  I’ll leave that blog for next time, and try to get it posted in the next few weeks. There's so much to catch up on!  This one was long enough, don’t you think?

Thanks for reading, and if you are, please don’t forget to send me a shout out and let me know how you’re doing.  When you live in a different country for years it’s nice to hear from home every once and a while, regardless how short or seemingly unimportant the info may be.  I love hearing from you!  

~Sarah~

Swine project and 30th birthday

Hello all.  Well, my 3^rd year with Peace Corps Nicaragua has officially commenced!  Up until next August, 2014, I’ll still be here in Central America working the year away on further community projects and trying to make more of a dent with some of the families I've lived and worked with the past two years.  Luckily I do get a long, whole month break (required by Peace Corps for those that extend a 3^rd year) that I plan on taking in December, to take advantage of Christmas time of course.  Then I plan on taking a trip to Peru with my friend Tina, who will be going back there after having already finishing her Peace Corps service to start a job there in the Amazon!  Yeah, totally cool.  So I’m going to get to have a month off at home, then take an “official” vacation to the Amazon region of South America.  So excited, to say the least! My trip home in December will be the first time I've seen my family in a year.  I haven’t left Nicaragua since I went home for Christmas last year. 

The next big project I've gotten started/planned for my community is an improved swine husbandry project.  Almost every family here has at least one pig they’re raising on their patios, whether it be to fatten up and sell or butcher themselves, or to breed and raise a litter of pigs to then sell or eat later on.  But the management of these animals is sometimes minimal at best, and since animal husbandry is my background, I thought it might be useful to help these families improve how they take care of their pigs.  The end goal is that the families are able to make more money off fatter and healthier pigs, and have better pork meat for sale/consumption.  So I’ve contacted a local animal health inspector that works for an agricultural government agency, and with him we planned and gave a training session last week, which is the first of 3 that I have planned for the rest of this year.  It focused on animal health care and some basic changes the community can make with their pigs to improve their overall health and management.  Luckily, 16 people came and at the end seemed to have enjoyed the session, which gave me a boost of energy to keep the project going.  The next activity I’m planning is a practical one where we all attend to some 2 week old pigs and give them some needed injections and also castrate the males.  Most people don’t castrate the males until they’re several months old, which is physically more demanding and is more painful and potentially dangerous for the animal.  So I’m trying to teach them that it’s better to castrate the young ones when they’re only around 2 weeks old, since they’re so much smaller it’s easier for the handler to do, it’s less painful for the animal, and they heal faster.  This is my one big personal project I have planned for myself this year, so I really hope the community is receptive to my guidance and that we can find useful ways to improve their swine production. 

The women’s baking groups have been getting more difficult to organize because so many people forget to come, or they don’t buy their ingredients in time, or various other reasons.  So I’ve decided to lay off a bit and let the women come to me if they want to continue learning new recipes.  I’m tired of working my ass off organizing the classes between 6 different groups, then having to remind each one of them individually a day or so before the class, then have no one show up the day of, or if they do show up they don’t have the right ingredients so they send someone to get them, which just takes up time during the class that we could be baking.  It drives me crazy how forgetful and irresponsible some of these women can be!  So, for my own sanity, I’ve told them I’m available to keep teaching, but they should contact me from now on with the dates and recipes they want to learn in the classes, which, based on their previous signs of motivation, probably means I won’t be teaching very many baking classes in the future.  But that’s okay; if they’re not motivated enough to get it done, then it’s not worth my time and effort.  I do have one last large activity planned regarding the improved ovens, however.  I’m working with a small business volunteer on a baking charla that discusses using the ovens to start a small business selling baked goods.  I’m planning on inviting every woman in my community, as well as 4 others in a nearby community where I’ve built ovens, to attend the charla and learn how to do a feasibility study on a particular baking product they think may sell in the community.  And then I’ll go from there and work personally with the women who actually take it seriously and show a real interest in using the ovens for income generation. 

The girl’s youth group has also kind of petered out a bit in the last month or so.  That’s partly due to a funeral that occurred a few weeks ago, where the activities of the 9 days of mourning after the funeral took up some of the days I had activities planned for the club.  Hopefully September will bring more time to get the club up and going again.  The school garden is an activity that’s just barely hanging on.  I don’t make much time to keep an eye on the 5^th and 6^th graders to make sure they’re tending to the garden (which they won’t when left to it on their own, of course), so the garden will probably die soon or just pittle down to nothing like all the other garden attempts.  We actually have various plants growing right now, including tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, lettuce, and a small tree nursery, but if I don’t show up every single time they’re supposed to work (which I can’t), then they don’t any work.  So needless to say I don’t have high hopes for those poor plants.

The girl's club's last charla: HIV

 July included my 30^th birthday.  Early in the month I had a small get together with some local volunteers in Jinotega, but it was also partly a going-away party for 3 of them, including my friend Alicia.  The day of by birthday I was in site and Gloria, my host mom (or maybe she’s more like my hosts sister, since she’s only 8 years older than me), made my favorite chicken soup with dumplings, and we baked a cake and just ate yummy food.  Overall it was a mellow 30^th.  Maybe next year it will be bigger because it will also be close to my official close of service.

Me with Gloria and my birthday chicken (she was made into a delicious soup)

This weekend I’m attending the annual Small Business sector fundraiser gala they have at a fancy hotel in Managua (Holiday InnJ).  It’s one of the few times of the year we get to indulge in big fluffy-pillowed beds in carpeted rooms with upholstered furniture and hot showers in nice bathrooms (where you can actually flush the toilet paper! although I still rarely allow myself to do it).  The ticket includes a really nice dinner with beer and wine, and there’s a raffle table with fancy gifts and a DJ providing dancing into the night.  I’m mostly excited about the yummy steak and dancing.  Not to mention it’s a reason to get all dressed up and actually wear make-up and heels (though those inevitably come off during the dancing part) and look like a pretty girl for once, instead of a dusty (or muddy, depending on the season) campo inhabitant.  Then, after the small biz gala, I’m heading back to the same hotel my group had our going away party at on the beach in Carazo to celebrate the AG 59 group’s year in service.  They’ve invited me and Paul (the only two aggies from my group who’ve stayed for another year) to celebrate with them.    Plus, during my time in Managua I’m planning on a much needed night out complete with a delicious sushi dinner, 2 for 1 margaritas, and a movie in an actual movie theater, and not on my mini computer screen by candlelight (don’t get me wrong, that’s quite enjoyable as well, just, ya know, different). 

I’ll sign off here.  Thanks to those who read my blog and send me occasional updates about your lives back in the States.  Don’t forget I’m here!  I know it’s been a long time, but that makes every e-mail and letter and package that much more exciting to receive!  I miss all you guys and am looking forward to coming back next year to start whatever the next chapter of my life will be.  But as usual, stay posted here. . .