Quiero Regresar

The last couple days of the trip were very exciting yet sad. The final Thursday we were there we had our last reflection at Corey and Lara's house and got to talk with Leticia about Atraves and her involvement and ask her any questions we had. The following day was our last day at the school and that evening we went back for their Mother's Day party and got to see lots of dances and songs performed by the kids. We got to take pictures with them and dance with them and say our goodbyes. It was a very very hot and sunny afternoon that got cloudy and right as we got on the bus to leave it started to pour and was thundering and lightning, somewhat to fit our moods of sadness that this was the last time we would see these kids. They were all by our bus windows waving and saying bye and it was very hard to think that these kids still have to live here. Every day, this is the reality they face, while we get to go back to the comfort of our own clean big homes with running water and electricity. As Leticia says, the kids are the hope of this community, and that is why the school is such an important place. I hope it is true and that these kids will help to improve the community, and when day when I go back, it will be a whole different place.

Saturday we left for our last weekend trip to la laguna. Our whole group got to stay by ourselves in a hostel and go swimming in the lake and make dinner and have our final reflection and just spend some time together before going home. Sunday we headed back to Managua for one last night with our families before leaving on Monday morning.


It was very sad to say goodbye to my host family. They allowed me to live in their house for a month and treated me like part of their family. I hope to one day go back and be able to visit Nicaragua again and see them or have them come here so I can welcome them into my home and show them around Michigan, because they were so kind and loving to me. Monday morning we all got on the bus and headed to the airport, a few people with tears in their eyes as we pulled away from La Morazon, our neighborhood. We had a long day and finally arrived safely in Michigan and couldn't believe how fast the month had gone by.


Since being home, I think about Nicaragua a lot. I miss all the wonderful people that I met, including my group members from the University of Michigan. I hope to incorporate all the things I learned while I was there into my daily life. I hope to show kindness to others the way I was shown kindness there. I hope to work hard and do my best to help others and for the benefit of the whole group. I hope to appreciate everything I have, after seeing what simple lives many other people live and I hope to be happy and have a positive and enthusiastic spirit that will make someone else's day a little better.

Un día, quiero regresar a Nicaragua! Adios!

Abrazos,

Alison

... continued

During our final work week, I once again worked in the clinic, but this time in the morning. I worked with Talia at the front desk, and we helped Katia the secretary check patients in and find their files in the overflowing filing cabinets that are not necessarily in alphabetical order. Each morning when we would arrive at the clinic there would be a line of people outside the door, waiting to get a number. Each morning and each afternoon, the clinic would only give out twenty numbers for people to see the doctor. If there were more than twenty people, the remaining people would have to try again later or try and come back the next day. This was really different than any doctors appointment I've ever experienced and it made me realize how fortunate I am to be able to make a doctors appointment when I need one and go in and get to see a doctor.

Another thing that I got to observe was the way medicine was given. When people were prescribed medicines, they would come to the pharmacy and many times we wouldn't have the medicine they needed. We would make a list of the medicines that we needed but didn't have and one of the Atraves staff would go out later that day and try to get the medicine that we needed. The patients would come back the next day and check to see if we were able to get any. The availability of medicine there is different as well.  When we walked into a pharmacy right by the grocery store one day to get allergy medicine for one of the girls in the group, there were many different medicines that you could buy without having a prescription. Many antibiotics are over the counter and the patient is very involved in treating themselves. The clinic that we helped to run was very different from one I have ever seen in the United States. A group of nurses from Pennsylvania came this week to volunteer and give the kids at the school check ups. They commented how this would not be how checkups and doctors visits would be done in the States, but in my opinion, it is better that they have this clinic than nothing, even though the procedures are not as standardized as the US.

In the afternoon, I got to participate and help lead Kid's Club. Since the kids only go to school until noon, it is something fun and educational for them to do in the afternoon. It is only run when volunteers are there, so it is an exciting thing for the students. This week was international themed, so each day we focused on different countries, including the United States, Zambia, Japan, India, and Spain. We usually did an arts and crafts activity and an activity that involved running around to get out some of their energy and tire them out and then some other activity that fit the theme of the day. The hit on India day was playing cricket, which was all thanks to Vinay, who constructed a cricket bat with one of the guys that worked at the school. They also loved playing soccer on Spain day because they can never get enough soccer and won't stop talking about Barcelona. It was a lot of fun but very tiring to lead the activities and make sure the kids were paying attention and participating. It's hard to keep them focused on one thing for very long, but you never know, they always surprised us with what activities they liked the most. They were always chattering and running around when they weren't supposed to, but on e day, they were coloring Indian designs, and were silent and had to be torn away for the next activity. Overall, it was a really fun week that took a lot of planning and enthusiasm to make a success!

Better Late Than Never

Hola, from Michigan!

It has been a whole month since I've been back from my trip, so I figured it was about time I wrote my final post to my blog. I'm disappointed that I did not post more on my trip, but it was always a hassle to get on the internet and the few times that I did it was very slow.

I just wanted to write a little more about what I did my last two weeks and then my overall thoughts upon returning home.

The second week I taught English once again in the morning with Lukose. This week, however, we were teaching the scholarship students, or the becados, which were older students in grades 7, 8 and 9. We taught one class for an hour and a half and it was definitely different that the previous week. We had less students in a more open space and had more resources, like a projector as well as worksheets to use with the students. I found this week challenging as well, because some of the students knew the information fairly well and were eager to learn more, as they thought what we were teaching them was pretty easy. There were other students, however, who disrupted the class and did not participate, and when we would try to work one on one with them, it was clear they didn't understand what was going on. We worked on a lot of present tense verbs as well as some other grammar points, and at the end of the week introduced the past tense as well. At the end of the week, Lukose gave them a quiz and was happy to see the progress some of them had made, and disappointed in the ones that still did not understand. It was a learning experience, for the the students and the teachers as well!

In the afternoon, I did biometrics with Alex in the clinic. We would take people's temperature, measure their height and weight, and take their blood pressure. It seems like an easy task, which it was, even in the stifling hot clinic, but at the same time, it was a very important job. As Lukose said during reflection, even though you're just doing biometrics, it's really more than that, because these people coming in are trusting you to do this and letting you be a part of your community. It was really interesting to talk to people as they came back, and one of my favorite parts was getting to see the little babies that came into the clinic. We always were done early, so we would get to help Jessy in the pharmacy or talk to Katia, who is the secretary of the clinic.

One of the highlights of the week was after school everyday we had salsa lessons at Mariana's house, where Nyelah, Rachel, and Joanna lived. Engels, Mariana's neighbor, takes salsa lessons and said he would love to teach us some of the stuff he knew. It was very fun even though we were no where near as good as Engels, and we did it on the front porch area, so it looked a little funny when people walked by and there was a group of gringos trying to salsa.

That weekend we left for a town called Granada, where we got to take a boat tour on Saturday, go out to dinner and then on Sunday went for a hike around a volcano, and got to see amazing views as well as climb a lot of stairs back up to the top. It was a fun weekend and good to relax and spend time together as a group!

Teacher, Teacher!

This week I got to teach English with Rachel and Christiana in the morning. The school goes from 1st to 6th grade but we only taught fourth to sixth. It was definately a challenging job. We didn't have a lot of material to work with as we taught simple conversational things like "My name is", "How old are you?", "Where are you from?" and the answers. We also practiced the alphabet and numbers. Each class was taught the same lesson because that's the way the teachers normally do it. We would make each a little more challenging for the higher grades. It was difficult creating lesson plans that would cover the material we needed to use while keeping them engaged. We did teach them some fun games though like Bingo and Telephone. One of the things that surprised me the most was the condition of the classrooms. They have a very small space crammed with a ton of desks sometimes making it impossible to reach the kids in the back. It is sometimes very loud because of the class next door and they have very limited supplies. They each basically have a notebook and some pencils and pens. The teachers use the whiteboard and markers a lot and the kids understand this because if you don't put the cap back on the marker right away they will come up to you and tell you because they don't want it to dry out. They were all pretty eager to learn and it was the most rewarding seeing them practice with each other and say teacher,teacher! When they wanted us to come listen to them say something we just taught them. The teachers of these classes are amazing and I'm glad they let us come in and take their place for a week.

 In the afternoon I worked in the pharmacy with Talia and the nurse Jessy. Everyday we had to count the medicine to make sure it lined up with the information in the computer. We would also get the medicine the patients brought to the window and do the paperwork associated with it. I learned about a lot of different medicines but my favorite part was working with Jessy. Whenever there weren't a lot of people we would sit and talk to her. We could practice our Spanish and she would correct us and also is an amazing hair braider. One of the things she told us was that here in Nicaragua, people believer having friends is better than having money. I thought this was very important and speaks to what we are doing here and how my thoughts have changed since being here. At first I wanted to come here to help a community and leave an impact, but now I realize how important the relationships I make with the people here are. I know I will always remember them but I want them to remember me.

 After a long work week we left school on Friday for Estelí, a place about three hours north of Managua and more in the mountains. We stayed at a hostel and got to go a few places Friday night. Saturday morning we were up at five thirty and got a public bus to Somoto. It was a crowded 2 hour bus ride and some of us stood most of the way. Once we got to Somoto, we met up with our guide for the canyon tour. We took a five hour hike through a beautiful canyon. We walked part of the way and swam part of it. I can't even describe how beautiful it was. We had some falls on the rocks and slips in the water but it was an amazing day. We got to jump off some of the rocks into the water and just float along the river. We were done at about 3 and wandered around a little before getting the bus back to Estelí. We had dinner but everyone was exhausted from our long day. Today we will be going back to Managua and tomorrow starts another work week. Happy Mothers Day!

Bienvenidos a Nicaragua!

This is the first chance I've had to use the internet and the past few days have gone by so quickly! I was really nervous and anxious about getting to Nicaragua and if I would like it and how staying with a host family would be. As soon as I got here and got together with my group I was less anxious. This past week we went to the school that we are going to be working at and had a small orientation and got to know some of the people we will be working with. We also go to go on some trips to different cities around Managua. One of the most interesting things was meeting our host families. It is a lot harder than I thought it would be to communicate and at first I was overwhelmed. But, my host mom knows that I'm not very good at Spanish and will talk slower for me and try to explain things. One of the things I think is most different from home is how my host family always has cousins and aunts and other family members just coming over and eating dinner or just coming over to talk. At home, people will usually call or somehow let someone know if they are going to come over for dinner. My family is very nice and have made me feel really welcome. This Monday is when we officially start working at the school and the clinic. I will be teaching English in the morning and doing some sort of work at the clinic in the afternoon. So far it has been a learning experience and I'm sure there will be lots more to come!

Introduction

Hi! My name is Alison Climes and this is my blog for my summer travels to Nicaragua! I am just finishing up my freshman year at the University of Michigan and am still undecided in my major. On May 1st, I will be traveling to Managua, Nicaragua for a volunteer trip with the program ATRAVES and a group of about 15 other students.  We will be gone until the 28th of May working with children teaching English, creating an after school program, and setting up a medical clinic. We will be staying in home stays, which will give us an opportunity to get to know a local family and improve our Spanish as well. 

I wanted to go abroad this summer  to be immersed in a new environment where I would have an opportunity to do community service and explore my interest in Spanish and international travel. Since I do speak Spanish, I hope to travel to a country in Latin America and ATRAVES sounded like a perfect opportunity to do so. 

I'm excited to work with children as well as interact with the rest of the community. I hope to develop my Spanish speaking skills and learn about my strengths and weaknesses as a person as I will be placed far outside of my comfort zone. More importantly, I hope to leave a positive impact on this community and form strong relationships with people who lead very different lives than I do. I'm excited to be going on this adventure in just a couple of weeks!