Generosity

This portrait of Ruben Dario is painted on the wall of a basketball court near the central park. There are others around town, but this is my favorite. It says a lot about a country that your national hero is a poet.

 

I spent a morning last week coat tailing a psychologist at the health center. His name is Osmin Jiron and I feel like I am learning a lot from him. I sat in on an intake for a new patient and it turned out the man was from Honduras. Afterwards I said to Osmin, “So you can provide services to people from Honduras?” He said, “Certainly. We serve anyone who comes in. This doesn’t happen in other countries, but here in Nicaragua we do.” I said, “That is very generous.” He said, “Como no?” Which in this case I think would best be translated as “Why wouldn’t we? Generosity is part of the Nicaraguan character.” I had heard this assertion before and have certainly experienced a lot of generosity in my time here, but this peaked my interest because it was on the level of a national policy and in such contrast to much of the discussion in the US about the government providing for the common welfare.

I’ve started discussing this idea with friends and acquaintances, I haven’t asked taxi drivers yet, but I probably will. I tell the story about the guy from Honduras getting taken care of at the health center and ask them if they agree that generosity is part of the Nicaraguan character and if so why that is.

Here are some of the answers I’ve gotten, but let me throw in the caveat that the conversations took place in Spanish and I don’t always get it all. Sometimes I think I understand stuff, but I figure out later that I misunderstood.

Pablo - community health worker – After the triumph of the revolution many people came to Nicaragua to help us. Especially the Cubans but also many people from Germany and France and other countries. They stayed in our homes. They helped us, but we took care of them, too. Maybe it started then. Everything had been destroyed and we had to help each other to rebuild. I don’t think it was true in the time of Somoza, but it is true now that generosity is part of the Nicaraguan character.

Carolina - our next-door neighbor, the niece of our landlord – It is the way we are raised. It is the example of our grandparents. If you see someone in the street that needs help, you help them. If someone comes to your door and says, give me food or give me a little water, you do it. Maybe it is only gallo pinto (rice and beans) but if you can, you help. We open our home to people and they are our family. There was a Philippine who lived here. If he was sick it was the same as someone in the family being sick. This is what we’ve been taught by our grandparents and it is our culture to teach it to our children.

Viales Family – our landlords – Juan Carlos – It’s the government. Health care is free to everyone. Basic education is free. Yes, people can cross the border to get treatment when they can’t afford to pay in Honduras or Costa Rica. There are some people in the government who are bad, out for themselves, but really the government tries to help everyone. It wasn’t like that under Somoza.

Socorro (mother-in-law) – Its what the church teaches us.

Hamilton (son-in-law) – Look, in Nicaragua we are all the same class. We are poor. Poor people always help each other. If you have a poor person and a rich person, the rich person won’t help because they don’t care. But poor people will always share what they have.

Isreal – shopkeeper who many years ago emigrated from Jordan – Don’t think about things like that. You’ll give yourself a headache. You’ll disturb your sleep. Everyone is the same all over the world; equally generous, equally greedy. Just relax. Be tranquil. Enjoy food. Enjoy your wife. Enjoy the passing of the day.

Yolanda – librarian – In general it is an important part of our character. It is the way we are, especially with foreigners/strangers. There is a song that says we treat foreigners better than we treat our brothers. I’ll look for that song for you. It started as part of our character, but now it is our law, too. I can’t explain it. It is inexplicable.