Here I am on my first morning in Nicaragua, awake at an ungodly hour, locked out of my housing complex and attempting to communicate with the chefs with my broken Spanish. I didn’t have the courage to wake up my new colleagues, so I just sat in a broken rocking chair, petting our community dog, and watching the morning of a typical Nicaraguan unfold. Although I felt uncomfortable staring at people as they started their days, I was too utterly intrigued by this new lifestyle to look away. Men were in the streets carrying materials up hills, already sweating and working hard at this time of day. Women were bathing their children, cooking, and doing laundry for hours on end. The children were chasing chickens and laughing hysterically, perfectly content with being awake at 6 am. This was a much different way of life than I had been used to but it enveloped me like nothing before. This was the first time that I felt like I was in the right place, doing the right thing. Little did I know that the next month of my life would teach me more about myself and my future than I could have ever imagined.
Photograph of the family I was observing, whom I later interviewed, the first day I was locked out.
Before leaving for this trip, my mind was convoluted with worldly issues, the failing AID system, the 3 billion people living in poverty, and at the same time, I found myself dreaming of solutions. I started to become more passionate about making some sort of fundamental change in the AID system that we have today. After sleeping on my slightly unreasonable ideas for some time, I woke up one morning realizing I needed to experience more of the world. I started researching and fundraising, and within two months I raised enough money to fund a month’s trip to Blue Fields Nicaragua, working for BlueEnergy, a nonprofit organization that delivers energy, water, and sanitation to marginalized communities.
Because I flew into Blue Fields with passion but not much knowledge, the whole month was a learning adventure. Initially, the language barrier was the hardest challenge I faced. Although I can speak Spanish very well now (I just came back from Spain), I felt my Spanish in Nicaragua held me back. I am the type of person who loves to connect with people of all backgrounds and understand why people are the way they are; not being able to speak the language was an inner battle I struggled with the whole time I was there. I tried to ease this by having a supervisor come with me while I interviewed women in the community, but it was obvious I was not as trusted since I didn’t know the language fluently. One way I tried to combat this issue was by playing soccer in the community every week. As a woman, I had to prove that I could keep up with the men; it took me 5 minutes on the field and a few goals to quickly earn their respect. After playing a few games, I started to make friends and feel more comfortable in the community. I achieved this with little communication, which is not ideal, but the best I could do given the circumstances.
Another personal challenge I had to face was figuring out what I am good at, what my purpose is, and what I can bring to the table as a Public Health major amongst engineers. I remember my supervisor was shocked about how interested I was in learning about the community on our city tour; we ended up getting carried away in our discussion and had to continue the tour another day. If I had known the language better, I would have wanted to do more interviews in the community and learn more about them in a personal way. I took pictures in the community, although not as much as I would have liked due to the concern of safety, and helped out on the projects whenever I was needed. While working on one of our beneficiaries’ grey water system, I was being used as manual labor and simply following what the engineers told me to do for a certain extent; I joined this project at a time when they had it all figured out. This was a big challenge for me because I am not one to sit back and follow orders for the majority of the time. I like to be a part of the creative process and decision-making and feel efficiently utilized. In every situation I was given, though, I made strong relationships with the people in the community and still managed to have an enriching experience. While some of the engineers were obsessing about the actual system that we were building (rightfully so), I was obsessing about the big picture and how this was going to help a community be more efficient and self-sufficient in the drought season. I was emotionally invested in the people and the process while others were emotionally involved with the actual project; this was their baby they had been working on for weeks so it makes sense why it had to be just the way they wanted it.
My friends from Nicaragua and I after a long day working on the grey water system.
All of the challenges I faced have brought me 10 steps closer to knowing what I want to do in my life. There were countless ah-hah moments that I experienced while in Nicaragua and I feel blessed to have had them so young. First, kids are kids wherever you go. I experienced this when I went on my community trip to Rocky Point. I immediately became close to all of the kids there and they reminded me of all of the kids I have met in California. Kids don’t seem to notice different skin colors as much; they simply focus more on the tall person they can climb on for a piggy-back ride. I felt so blissful in Rocky Point, and I dearly miss that whole family (especially dancing to Don Omar with all of the kids). In my future endeavors I will continue to learn from all who I meet no matter how different our backgrounds. Of course I learned things in Nicaragua like how much mosquitos love my blood, or how much gallo pinto I can eat in one sitting, but it was my connections with the people that fuels my passion today. As I was trudging through the jungle with a machete in my hand and jumping into water holes to collect litter from the stream, I realized I could stay in Nicaragua for so much longer than just a month. I want to keep learning and working with communities around the world and continue having experiences as purely fulfilling as the ones I had in Blue Fields. Arguably one of the most important things I realized when I was in Nicaragua was that although I didn’t go over there and make a huge impact, a huge impact was made on me. Traveling with the mindset that you are going to make a big difference is not only off-putting to the communities you come in contact with, but also disappointing when you realize your one-month visit didn’t change the world. To me this doesn’t mean that one person can’t be a part of global change, it just means that the intent should be led with empathy, compassion, and a realistic idea of where you best fit in this world. With this, change follows.
Giselle and I piggy-backing around in Rocky Point, Nicaragua.
When I heard about this fellowship, I didn’t even think twice before starting the application process. Once again, like sitting in that old, broken rocking chair, I find myself where I should be, doing what I should be doing. Through this fellowship, I feel like I will be one step closer to becoming who I want to be in this world and finding out what I have to offer. I see no better fit for me this summer working for Good World Solutions. My partner Matt Stockamp and I will be evaluating the social impact of their innovative technology, Labor Link, by conducting interviews of the factory workers, and documenting the impact through film and photography. There is no telling what I will learn from this experience, but regardless I know it will be profound and transformational. I couldn’t thank Keith and Thane enough for providing me with such a unique and enriching opportunity.