Dear Friends,

I haven’t forgotten you!! By no means!! However, for the past two weeks I’ve had a gift in the visit of my dear friend, Marie Benzing, c.s.j . Needless to say, I didn’t do things like post blog info! The parent’s of one of Marie’s 1st graders gifted her (us) with frequent flyer miles so she could come to Nicaragua during the summer school break! Are we both grateful?? Response: a definite SI!!

Marie has arrived in Managua

While Marie was here we visited areas where I spend my time with the people – the rural hill country. We also had time in a retreat house which is the home of the St. Agnes Sisters of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. We did a bit of sightseeing and riding of buses (an event!!), attended a birthday party - Nicaraguan style, and experienced the Nica culture in many ways and met lots of my new friends and colleagues. Marie confirmed the fact that I am indeed at home here and am happy in the midst of much newness and challenge.

This is me with Evangelina, a wise woman of the pueblo

While here, Marie, with her gifts of artistic creativity and photography, put together a power point presentation, “Discovering Nicaragua”, which you can enjoy if you encounter Marie or when I’m home in December-January. All in all it was a blessed time and we are most grateful to the Fishers who made the trip possible!!

Meet my wonderful friend, Marie

Now life is back to a more ‘normal’ pace and I’m catching up on work in the campo and office matters. Sunday I plan to attend the fiesta of the folks in Los Planes as they celebrate their local patron, Our Lady of Nancite! More about this after the event! I’ll take my camera so you can visualize some of the experience.

This is me, Jeanne, a.k.a. Juanita, with friends of all ages - Los Planes de Cuajachillo

What has touched me over and over and was confirmed by Marie’s experience here, is the warmth, beauty and generous sharing nature of our people. They are simply open, responsive and loving. In the midst of very little of this world’s goods, they find beauty and joy and celebrate that. They work hard, trying to eke out a living and they continue to grow in the awareness of their individual goodness. They are aware of the effect that their collective planning, energy and determination can have in bringing about change, albeit in small matters, in an oppressive system that keeps them in poverty and inequality.

Thanks to the generosity of a number of you we are able to provide four women with the cow they so desire so that they can earn additional money from the milk, cheese and future calves. The people pay back, over a period of time, 30% of the cost and that money goes to their local community for needs and improvements that they collectively decide are priorities.

Well, enough for now. You are in my thoughts and prayers and I ask the same of each of you. Thanks for ‘tuning in’ and keeping up on life here in Nicaragua as experienced by your sister, Jeanne!

¡Hola amigas y amigos!

Greetings from the sunny (as opposed to rainy!) cool breeze environment of Managua. I’m sitting in my office with all three windows wide open and enjoying the beautiful greenery in front of me! The last time I wrote it was our Fourth of July and yesterday we celebrated the big liberation day of Nicaragua. The 19th of July in 1979 was the triumph of the people over the dictatorship of Somoza. There were LONG speeches and lots of horn blowing and music. Everybody took a break and enjoyed the day so important to them.

Since I last ‘blogged’ I have had a variety of experiences which included a couple of days of vacation during which I actually saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time since I’ve arrived. I also came to know two representatives of our Spanish benefactors. The folks who generously support us with grants for projects usually come to visit to appreciate what’s being accomplished. This group has a Jesuit base and is called ALBOAN. This word is Basque (northern Spain) and means ‘walking at the side of’. Now that certainly fits! They indeed do walk at the side of sisters and brothers who are growing and developing their own future. I was particularly pleased by the way Fernando explained how spirituality fits into our entire program. That’s what I’ve been working with!!

Javier and Nora were delightful to be with, and last Sunday we made our way to a rural community, Las Parcelas, where we met in the one room school and the folks shared the projects they were pursuing. We had a very good “snack” which was more like a meal and then went to visit the seventeen beehives that several of our young people manage. We stayed at quite a distance!! These bees are African bees and get ‘irritated’ pretty readily!! Next month, we have fifteen folks from France coming to visit us. We’re very international!

One of the more ludicrous things that happened occurred when we picked up some of our folks as we were going to our monthly meeting of our community leaders. You’ll remember that I mentioned the pregnant cow, chicken and seed projects last time I wrote. Well,there’s another aspect to this program and it has to do with pigs.

They’ve worked at improving the breed of pigs and when mama pig has her litter, they are weaned, shared and/or sold to others in the community. The new owners in turn keep the project going when they have a litter. Well, it seems that the last of the eleven pigs, one named Muneco (Doll), of Mama Pig was being taken to our rural community to be shared with a young, single mom. Of course, Muneco traveled with the folks in the bed of the pick-up truck. He had been scrubbed to within an inch of his pink existence and the owner was not about to have him soiled upon arrival so she diapered him, put him squealing and screeching into a sturdy bag and then hoisted him into the truck. I felt bad for the little critter! Here he was being taken from his mother, tied up, embarrassingly diapered and then ‘sacked’! Well he arrived clean and quiet, and then proceeded to lay down refusing to move for most of our meeting. One never is quite sure what each day will bring!

It’s not at all boring and I’m enjoying the novelty of each day. There is no “usual” day! Well, enough for now. Will check in later. Feel free to comment or ask questions when you read the blog. I’ll be sure to answer!

Thanks for your support and interest.

Your sister,

Jeanne

Feliz Dia

Well, today is the Fourth of July and I can just imagine the celebrations of my ‘blog followers’ who are citizens of the United States of America. Hopefully, wherever you are, the weather is being gracious and you’re enjoying a relaxing long weekend.

Here in Nicaragua my colleagues are aware of the day and have been wishing me a “feliz dia”. The weather has been cooperative today so far. That means that so far it hasn’t rained. I managed to get my clothes washed and dried this morning which is a good thing and not always easy to accomplish during this season here.

This evening we will be celebrating at our conference center which is a short distance outside of Managua. It is a “despedida” (farewell) for a group of art therapists from the States who have been here for three weeks and have been working with our children, youth and teachers in the city and rural areas. They’ve been staying with families in the area where they are contributing their services. These folks – 14 artists and 2 leaders - are from all over the U.S. Everyone is so pleased with what they’ve been able to accomplish during their short time here. The children have produced wonderful paintings and most recently they have painted murals on the outside walls of the schools. I’ll try to send some photos of their work in the near future.

The coordinator of this endeavor, Lynn Kapitan, has been doing this for several years. She teaches art therapy at a college in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She’s a great woman and it has been a joy to have her with us. She did a four day workshop on Spirituality and Leadership. It was super! Another woman has joined her, a former member of this endeavor, and will accompany the four artists who are remaining for one more week, as Lynn is also leaving tomorrow. Creusa is Brazilian who has lived in Montreal, Canada, for ten years. She speaks incredible Spanish, English, Portuguese and French!! She too, is a lovely woman and so easy to be with.

As we celebrate our Independence, Day I’m so aware of how ‘unfree’ some of us still are. In some ways my Nica friends, though they lack a great deal of what we consider important, have a freedom about themselves that I don’t always witness in myself and others who are of ‘the land of the free’. They dream of a better life and go about trying to accomplish this, albeit with the amount of poverty that exists, it’s very difficult. However, their hope won’t quit and their joy in the midst of the struggle is admirable. They encourage us and together we keep on walking toward a better future.

Most recently I received news of the death of an elderly friend who had struggled with many physical limitations all of her life. Lois’ spirit was incredible and she joyfully made her way through life with the help of crutches, leg braces and a white cane to indicate her very limited eyesight.

When she died she had $1,000.00 in her bank account which she wanted to go to ‘the hungry’. This money will be used for purchasing: a pregnant cow - a set of 5 chickens, 1 rooster, fencing and screen – 100 pounds of bean seeds and 100 pounds of corn seeds! Yes, the hungry will be fed and poor farmers and their families will share what they have and also move into the future with a bit more hope, because seeds multiply, pregnant cows give birth to calves, calves grow up and produce more calves and chickens produce eggs, meat and more chickens etc. etc. etc. And so life gets a little bit better!

Adios for now!

Your sister,

Jeanne

Who'll Stop The Rain?

It’s Sunday morning and it hasn’t rained YET!! It’s cloudy but every once in a while a bit of sun struggles forth! I managed to get my laundry dried yesterday and that’s an accomplishment during the rainy season!

We’ve recouped some from the passing of “Alma”, which was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm! It was ‘demoted’ because the winds didn’t quite make it to the criteria designed for a hurricane. However, that had nothing to do with the amount of water that descended!

I’m getting used to the ‘winter’ here and keep my umbrella, rain poncho and rain hats at the ready. They travel with me wherever I go! Alma left thousands of folks without homes, or at least roofs. The amount of mud (clay) that is generated with these rains is incredible. A whole crew of people starts digging up the mud after each heavy downpour, trying to keep ahead of the dark brown sticky stuff.

Last Friday we went to one of the farm communities in the hills. When we left, the day was fair and lovely. By the time we’d had dinner and were half way through our meeting, it began to POUR. The small house was very soon surrounded by water which was moving at a rapid rate. Well, it came time to see if we could manage to return with our empty food containers and MANY people in the pickup truck. There were six of us inside the truck and at least nine in the bed of the truck getting soaked to the skin. The water was running at such a fast rate that one wasn’t sure what would happen. I will try to include photos of the raging “new rivers”.

Claudio, my fellow team member, is used to this but it’s always a challenge. He safely guided us through ditches, fast flowing water with uncertain depths and over rocks. I prayed; he drove!! I wasn’t scared, but I know the danger of vehicles moving parallel to fast flowing water. We arrived drenched and muddy but safe and sound!

Everything is GREEN and seeds have been planted with hope for a prosperous harvest – rice, beans, corn, vegetables – everything is coming up quickly.

Abject Poverty

Map of the world showing poverty as a % of the population

This time as I communicate with you from Nicaragua, I am listening to rain on our tin roof. It’s been raining now for hours, but at least the tremendous thunder claps are not rocking the world around me. This afternoon I went to the Physical Rehab hospital which is very close to our home, to visit and take Communion to patients. While there it started to rain and I had not thought to bring rain gear! It slowed for a few minutes and I just got inside the house when it all broke loose once again! We are now in winter a.k.a. the rainy season. Our winter has nothing to do with cold!! Here it is totally dry for six months and totally wet for six months. Could someone put in an order for balance?? Everything has turned a rich green and the daily watering of the patio plants is no longer necessary.

Life has been filled with a variety of activities, meetings, new experiences and new Spanish words. Our Nica sisters and brothers have a language peculiarly their own. They even have their own dictionary for those of us who learned ‘regular’ Spanish. My farmland vocabulary has increased as well as my experience of the mystery of how such wonderful fruits and vegetables come from tiny, dry seeds!!

Hopefully, I will finally get my residence card tomorrow! I’ve been ‘illegal’ for over a month now, since my 90 day visa expired on April 22nd. I was supposed to get it last Friday but it seems the camera in the Migration Office was broken!! Tomorrow we’ll check to see if it’s fixed yet! There is no problem with being here without a valid visa. The Nicas are much more tolerant with migrants than we’ve ever been in the States.

Speaking of migrants and migration, which was one of the determining factors for my decision to come to Nicaragua, I recently attended the Conference for Women and Men Religious of Mexico and Central America held here in Managua. It was wonderful meeting folks from the different countries. Our theme and topic for prayer and discussion was: Migration – Those Who Stay. Here in Nicaragua we have many, many families in which the father, mother, sons or daughters have gone to Costa Rica in search of work that will bring them a higher wages. This creates many problems for the rest of the family left to carry on at home. Usually, the folks return home every two months for a weekend since their visas are for 60 days. It’s a different way of looking at and understanding migration. The great majority of migrants don’t want to leave their roots and families and go to another country, but they are forced to do so because of the circumstances of poverty.

Recently, I had a practicum in what it might feel like, at least a little bit, to be a migrant. One evening during the conference we went to a very moving theater presentation, a monologue, concerning the suffering of a Nicaraguan migrant in Costa Rica– it lasted 2 ½ hours without a break! Because it was one person speaking rapidly and using many of the local expressions, nuances, references and satire, I understood only about 5% of the spoken word. It’s hard to sit for that length of time, listen but not understand and hear the folks laugh and not have any idea what has been clever! It was a very good experience for me. I felt caught in, but outside of, the reality. It made me more sensitive in regard to migrants and their struggles. I was reminded of our Arabic and Aramaic speakers we encountered so often at St. John Oakland Hospital. How frightening it must be to be sick and have things done to you and not understand, not be able to express your questions, your fears, your needs!!

We do not have many migrants here because Nicaragua has nothing to offer in regard to better wages. We are fast becoming equal to Haiti. Daily the food prices are soaring. Last Saturday in one of our major popular markets the price of rice, which is a staple food, jumped 40 cents within 20 minutes! There is talk of devaluing the cordoba, our monetary unit. Currently, it takes 19.50 cordobas to equal $1.00. There is talk that it will soon take 29 cordobas to do the same! Our majority of extremely poor will be totally at a loss since wages do not increase. We just experienced a strike of many days which was called by the bus drivers who drive between cities. They were protesting the cost of gasoline which is now up to 25 cordobas a liter. The people have to depend on public transport (our old school buses) to get them to work and connect with family.

Well, I think this will be more than enough for Ruth to post, so I shall bring this to a close. Thanks for following me in my current journey and being supportive of us here, as well as being understanding of our sisters and brothers who are in the U.S.A. as migrants whomever they might be, wherever you might encounter them.

Until the next time, Adios!

Your sister,

Jeanne

Road Trip!

View Larger Map

My most recent learning here in Nicaragua was traveling to the department of Esteli. You can check the map - it's to the north of the country near Honduras and into the mountain area. I went with our rural team and twenty of our women who each have at least one cow. The place we visited for two days is called La Garnacha and is a cooperative of about 125 people of all ages.

They have developed a quality cheese industry and our women are hoping to also produce quality cheese with their cows' milk. These folks also produces wonderful organically grown vegetables and coffee of high quality. They basically use goat milk in the making of the Tilsiter (Swiss) cheese.

It took us about three hours to arrive there, stopping once for a break. Oh yes, we also waited for a protest group to let us pass. They were demanding land and since they have no other way to fight for this, they stop traffic on the Panamerican Highway. On the way back we sat for an hour for the same reason. Noone was upset because we know that it's for a good cause. It's a peaceful demonstration and hopefully they will have achieved some justice.

We had a gathering with the people of La Garnacha and Feliciano, one of the original inhabitants, said, "...we are poor but we are healthy." And I would add, they are contented. They live together with their families and work hard but have what they need for sustenance and housing. They have a small school for the pre-schoolers and those through sixth grade. After that they must go several kilometers to the secondary school.

It gets quite cold during the night and actually, it felt good to be in flannel sheets and under a flannet blanket. So we awoke from the chill to watch them milk the goats at 6:00a.m. I didn't sleep very well, not because of the cold, but because the two women I shared the cabana with both SNORED!! One would start and the other would respond!! And....I listened!!

After breakfast of eggs, rice and beans (rice and red beans are a three times a day item!) we left to hike up a VERY HIGH area to view some scultptures that are rather famous and to enjoy wonderful scenery - somewhat like we have in the northern areas of Michigan with pine trees. It was quite a workout hiking the distance but I MADE IT in good shape!! You have to make it because there's NO WAY IN OR OUT except by foot.

What impressed me was the simplicity of the people as they live and work and share life. They are proud of what they produce and contented with life. They are a good model for simple, peaceful living. The Little Brothers of Jesus, a Catholic congregation founded by Charles de Foucauld, have been in this area for many years working right along with the people. One of these fellows, Chepe, who is from New York now works us in Cantera but was at La Garnacha for over twenty years.

This brings you up to date with my ventures and adventures. Greetings to all and many thanks to the folks who continue to help support our efforts.

Peace, Love and Gratitude, your sister, Jeanne

Water and Thanks

When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Here are some photos of my most recent experience in the rural area. It was the inauguaration of the well that has been so long desired and badly needed by the people of the comarcas (communities) of Las Yucas, Las Latas-Lajas. Several groups, of which we are a primary one, have helped this to come to fruition.

Several 'dignitaries' were present, among whom were the Mayor of Mateare - the larger city to which the small rural communities are related - and representatives of the sponsoring groups. The "water commission" folks were congratulated for their work in getting this accomplished and for getting the area men to dig the trenches for the tubing that will extend the water to greater distances and thus serve more areas. (There is a previous photo which shows young men loading white tubing for the aquaduct.)

Now the people can come with their barrels on oxen drawn carts and fill them. Before they had to travel much, much further to have any water. The problem is that the water table is very deep and only with electricity can it be pulled to the surface. There was great rejoicing and celebrating and MANY, MANY words during this very important moment. Afterwards, of course, there was a meal.

Before the celebration began, one of the young fellows mentioned to me that they were slaughtering a calf across the road. I DID NOT want to witness that! Then after a while I realized that the young men were bringing ribs and legs and the rest of the calf to the barbecue pit they had dug previously!!!! Oh my, I like grilled meat but I don't care to know the animal prior to eating it!!

The first photo is of me and an elderly man, Senor Jose. He is 84 years old - his wife is 95 and couldn't walk the 2.5 kilometers in order to attend. Jose is one of the founders of this little community. He is delightful, alert, proud of his people and very eager to share his experiences. We had a great time together.

Oh yes, I had the opportunity to attend the Symphony on Saturday night. What a joy!! When they played the theme from the movie, "The Mission" I was so touched. This "Song of Gabriel" played on the oboe is one of my very favorites. It's beautiful, haunting and makes me cry!! Today's You-Tube music selection is Gabriel's Oboe by Yo-Yo Ma. I hope you enjoy it as much as me.

Your sister,

Jeanne