John and Deb in Nicaragua: My Nicaraguan Journey Begins

My Nicaraguan Journey Begins

We have been in country about 7 ½ weeks and it feels like time to get some first impressions documented before it all becomes second nature and we forget that it was a novelty when we first experienced it. Unfortunately, I started this entry about 5 weeks ago when things were still quite fresh but now the newness is already starting to fade and things that seemed unique are starting to feel natural.

We are more than half way through with our Peace Corps training and it has been a great experience thus far. In Honduras we had center based training, which is being phased out in Peace Corps. Basically we spent all our days together in a training center. In Nicaragua, we use the community based training model. All twenty-one health volunteers are distributed to 5 different communities where we work daily with a language and cultural facilitator, as well as our host families. Married couples are separated and community integration is the buzzword. It is definitely a boost to our Spanish – we both slipped back a few levels since leaving Honduras and we are slowly climbing back up to where we were 8 years ago.

Some of the things that were remarkable initially but have become more common place: a couple of cattle in the back of a pick up truck, pigs in the street, pick up trucks full of bananas, 3-4 people on a bicycle, no hot running water, families on motorcycles, mototaxis jam packed with people, saying hello to strangers, two year old playing with matches while sitting in his grandmother’s lap, 270 eggs stacked neatly in someone’s living room (I just happened to notice when I walked by), Catholic processions in the streets (especially during Holy Week), evangelical amplified singing and preaching, and nursing babies in public.

We just finished our practicum week where 7 of us were sent to a town called Nueva Guinea to work with some health volunteers and sharpen our skills and abilities to do presentations about health issues in a variety of settings. We prepared presentations (called charlas) about family planning methods, nutrition, and HIV/AIDS for people in hospital waiting rooms, maternity homes, urban and rural schools, health centers, a youth group, and in a pool hall. I was teamed up with Rosalyn (from Georgia) and Ethan (from Connecticut) to give our charlas. Rosalyn and Ethan are both recent college graduates and the three of us had not spent much time together until this week. We had a lot of fun and did good work. I am attaching some pictures of our practicum week so you can see us in action. We had a relaxing river day, which was lovely.

On May 13^th we will find out where we will be living for the next 2 years. It is fun not knowing but we are really looking forward to having this news and looking at the map of Nicaragua with renewed interest. We will keep you all posted.

If anyone wants to send us a letter or a package, this is the address:

Debby Drew and/or John Kotula

Cuerpo de paz
Apartado postal 3256
Managua Nicaragua
Central América

Sending love to all of you, Debby