Day one: Poverty 101

Today was a long, busy first day in Nicaragua. Myself, Alvaro (ANF's Executive Director), Keith Strandberg (International Editor and writer for New York Times), Ronald Jackson (President and CEO of Sowind Group of Girard-Perregaux Jeanrichard watch company) and Mariacelia (Development Director of ANF) and Kai of course visited a variety of projects that ANF supports. Keith and Ron are here for 4 days because they are assisting ANF by producing a limited edition watch- 17 to be exact, that they will sell for $52,000 each. All funds will go to ANF and their projects. Kai and I are fortunate to be here at the same time, as we are getting a very thorough introduction to the projects here. This morning, after visiting the ANF office and warehouse, we headed to La Chureca City Dump, where over 900 people scramble to survive. We drove through mounds of trash, and watched as people sifted through for anything they could resell. There is a local woman that buys any recyclable material from folks here- plastic, glass, metal. I have never visited an area quite like this, where the poverty is so extreme. I was deeply moved by the determination of these people to survive in such conditions. We visited one of the homes in the dump that looked very much like this one of a woman in her 70's who's raised 4 children here, as well as several grandchildren. Many of the women with young children living here take their kids with them to the dump, which, believe me, is a terrible place for anyone. Alvaro later took us to see a complex that benefits more than 320 children from the dump. This place acts as a daycare, school, and feeding center to keep the kids away from the trash, and in a better place. Next we went to Granada for a beautiful lunch. Granada is a very colonial city, which has burned to the ground several times, and has been rebuilt. Here we visited and Elderly home and had lots of fun with the folks. Elderly don't get much governmental support in Nicaragua, so ANF is one of the principal NGO's that support these types of centers.
While all of this has been an amazing experience, it is not something I'm not entirely unfamiliar with. Many of the living situations now are much better than in 1998, when I was here doing relief work after Hurricane Mitch. It has been facinating helping Kai process what he's seeing and experiencing though. I have learned to step aside from experiences and process things with him, asking leading questions..."what do you think it's like to live here? how do you think this house is different than our house..." etc. He has great answers, and a great attitude about being here. It was pretty hot this afternoon, so Kai took his great new T Shirt off while we were visiting the family at the dump. As we were driving out, we realized that we had left it there, and he decided that they should keep it. I don't think they've ever had a new shirt before. I'm sure it was much appreciated. Keith and Ron were so impressed that they later bought Kai a shirt in the market (an LA Lakers one that he proudly wore). I don't exactly know what lesson that taught him (something about privledge I'm sure), but he felt really good about giving his shirt away.Here he his in his old shirt in the dump housing. Tomorrow is another full day with a similar itinerary. Friday I will be at the ANF office, and we might go out to El Menco on Friday or Saturday. From there we'll settle into our home- which actually has 3 rooms and is bigger than I thought. I think Kai may have his own room, and plenty of room for the hammock. Until next time...