Community living in Nicaragua

Raleigh Expedition - Nicaragua

I have adapted this post from an e-mail I wrote to friends and family whilst on my community phase in Nicaragua in July 2011. I hope you enjoy reading about my experience!

I spent the first phase of my Raleigh expedition living and working in the remote community of Quebrada Honda, Nicaragua. We were 2.5 hours away by foot from the nearest town, Achuapa. I lived in a small house made of mud, wood and corrugated iron. It was very basic but I loved it. We had no electricity so we ate with a bit of candlelight or our trusty headtorches. It was hard to adjust at first but I soon got used to it. I lived with another venturer and our lovely family. Our new Mum, Jesenia, her husband and their two small boys, Ever and Harvin. They gave up their beds for us (they wouldn't have it any other way), looked after us and fed us lovely meals three times a day......granted it was rice, beans and tortilla three times a day which got ever so slightly dull after 19 days! The family would walk the very hilly 30min walk everyday to our project site, where we worked, to bring us our lunch. We left for work at 6.30am and worked until the afternoon when our work was normally halted by a terrential downpour complete with the loudest thunder I´ve ever heard and fork lightening! Twice we got caught in it and I had to ring out my socks and put my boots by the stove to dry them out! Our group, Alpha 7, got on really well and worked hard to build a water filtration system, dig trenches, lay water pipes and build a water tank. The aim of the project was to provide clean water to all 12 houses in the community. The families had to walk to a well which for some was quite a trek. One woman was 6 months pregnant having to do the walk so this project helped people like her so much. It was bloody hard work and I now have guns and buns of steel!

On a rare day off we walked to Achuapa to visit a cooperative to find out about a trade partnership it has with the Body Shop. Local farmers in the Juan Francisco Paz Silva Co-operative produce sesame seeds which

the Co-operative sells to a company called Etica. Etica then sells the oil from the seeds to the Body Shop (L'oreal) who use it in their face creams etc. So next time you buy something like that in the Body Shop, know that it is directly benefiting the families of Achuapa, Nicaragua!

In the afternoons we would go to the local school and teach English classes. I really enjoyed this and it reminded me how much I loved teaching in Argentina. Nica kids are very cute and the people are so very humble. Whilst it was hard to see how little they had - the children in my house had no toys at all, I didn´t feel too sad as it is all that they know and they are such happy people. I didn't miss TV, electricity, hairdryer, washing machine, microwave or cooker at all! It is a very different way of life and I hope I can remind myself of that when I'm home and overly worrying about material things! At the end of the project we had a party with the local community and I had to do a speech with a microphone to my family. They did one in response and our Mum told us she sees us just like her daughters. It was very moving to be welcomed into not only their family but also the community with open arms.

Visit Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign to find out more about the sesame oil agreement between the Juan Francisco Paz Silva Co-operative in Achuapa and the Body Shop: