A Few Final Thoughts

I came on SPIN for three reasons 1) I wanted to learn Spanish and a Spanish minor didn’t fit in my schedule 2) I wanted to learn to trust God out of my comfort zone and 3) I wanted to learn what role I play in international missions and development. As I look back over the last three months, I can say that this is one of the most challenging experiences of my life, but at the same time it was one of the most rewarding opportunities that I have ever had. I really feel that I was able to experience the frustrations and the joys of living with the Nicaraguans. Although there were parts of this trip that I really didn’t enjoy, without them I don’t think the experience would have been as genuine. I’ve been keeping a list all semester and these are the top ten things that I will take away from this experience.

1.      I learned basic Spanish conversation skills and gained the confidence to approach a Spanish speaker and strike up a conversation.

2.      I loved my agriculture class. I was given so many great first-hand experiences including milking cows by hand, making chocolate, rolling a cigar, and watching rum and molasses production.

3.      I learned that joy isn’t an emotion—it’s a daily choice that reflects and understanding of who we are as Christians and what Christ has done for us.

4.      I learned that many of the things I value are cultural values not Christian values—I was challenged to get back in my Bible and make my values more like Christ’s.

5.      I learned that every aspect of development requires humility.

6.      I never realized how much I loved going to church and what a privilege it is go to church until I didn’t have one I could understand for over a month.

7.      I learned that one should not take on first-world responsibilities in a third-world environment if possible—it will make life a challenge.

8.      I really enjoyed my host family and I had a lot of fun cooking and interacting with them. They are great people and I was blessed to be able to stay with them for three months.

9.      I will never be able to enjoy pineapples, mangos, and bananas in the same way after tasting how incredibly fresh and sweet they are here.

This semester was a challenge for me, but I was incredibly blessed with good health and a wonderful host family this semester. I went into this semester thinking that the hardest part would be missing my family back home, but in reality the hardest part was really taking the control that I had and enjoyed in my life and giving it away. Although I’m beyond excited to see my family and regain some of my control in my life, I learned so many great life-lessons on this trip and believe that I will always have a special place in my heart for Nicaragua.Thank you so much to everyone who has prayed for me on this adventure and reached out to me on this adventure. I really appreciate it!

I'm having a goodbye party with my host family today and then we head to Managua on Thursday for some final sight-seeing and the plan is to be back to MN by Friday evening. I can't wait to see you all!

Worldview and Societal Transformation Final Paper

After studying development for a semester, visiting the Nicaraguan barrio of La Carpio, Costa Rica, studying Agricultural Development in El Manatial and visiting numerous communities with different developmental strategies, I have learned a lot this semester about community development. This is my final paper for my Worldview and Societal Transformation class. These are just a few of the ideas that I have put together, but I realize that it is just one perspective and I still have a lot to learn, but I'd love to know what you think about short-term missions and how the church can make them better :)

One-Weak Perspective of Community Development

During the summer before my junior year of high school I went to El Salvador on a mission trip with other youth from my church. On the flight back to the United States our youth pastor encouraged us to consider the things that we learned so that we could present to the church. My friends easily came up with great stories of working in the orphanage and playing with kids in the neighborhood. It was an incredible cultural experience: I was able to play soccer with the locals, we were able to put on a VBS and work in an orphanage. I was able to tell the congregation that I had seen God work in and through our group and I had seen him protect our group in a few dangerous circumstances. However, I could never bring myself to say that I thought the trip was worth the $28,000 it cost our group to go or that our presence had made a difference in the community. I brought my Bible, ready to share the gospel with anyone who would listen—the only problem was that I didn’t speak Spanish and couldn’t communicate beyond the 15 essential phrases I had learned in preparation for the trip. I left El Salvador with questions about the purpose of short-term missions and a desire to learn Spanish.

The trip was a great cultural experience: we ate Pupusas with the Salvadorians, climbed a volcano, went shopping in a market, and were able to experience a culture much different than the one we were used to. I didn’t understand the language or the culture, and for me the trip was little more than “religious tourism” (Lupton). For the past five years I have struggled with this experience, and I feel like I finally have answers to the questions that I have been asking all this time.

            During my time living in Nicaragua and interacting with Nicaraguans and learning about the culture, visiting community development projects, reading books and attending lectures I have gained a better understanding of the positive and negative aspects of community development. This paper examines the developmental problems of short-term missions, followed by the strengths and concluding with my suggestions for changing the way we look at international short-term missions.

There are four main problems with international short-term missions as they relate to community development. Short-Term mission trips are expensive, they take jobs from local community members, they create dependence on outside people and resources, and they take away the pride that comes from doing your own work.

The first problem with international mission trips is the expense. Anyone that has traveled internationally can tell you that mission trips are a lot of money: the passport, the plane ticket, transportation, and food and lodging quickly add up. Our mission trip to El Salvador was very expensive, and I found myself repeatedly asking, “could this money have been better spent somewhere else?” We could have paid a hundred Salvadorians to paint the church and clean the orphanage for the amount of money that it cost for my youth group to fly to El Salvador. This leads into the second reason that international short-term missions should be reevaluated. During our time cleaning the orphanage and painting the church, we took away jobs from locals that could have painted the church, or cleaned the orphanage. In Central America, where many people are underemployed, it doesn’t make sense to come into the country and take jobs away from people that struggle to find jobs to provide for their families.

            The third problem I see with my trip to El Salvador was the dependence that our work created. If people can rely on Americans to come in and paint and repair their church or clean their orphanage, there is no reason that the people should raise the money and paint or repair it themselves, they are better off to wait for someone to do it for them. After putting on the VBS, we didn’t train them on how to present or the tools to put on another VBS later in the summer—we left them to be completely dependent on us and our work. This could also be seen in the communities, developed after Hurricane Mitch. The communities that were given the houses and moved directly into them were much more dependent on foreign aid than the communities that had built the homes themselves and were making pottery to support themselves and their families (visit 11/26/13).  The same is true of many other development projects—especially in agriculture. People chip in money to buy tractors, or equipment for wells. When the equipment breaks, no one is skilled to fix it and it remains untouched, a constant reminder of how much easier life would be if only they had the tools, technology, and education to fix it. In addition, organizations trying to do good often have adverse effects that are never considered. For example, one manufacturing company sent in thousands of nets to Africa to protect the woman and babies from diseases caused by mosquitoes. Although this was a very thoughtful gesture, the number of mosquito nets quickly put the African manufacturers out of business. It would be much better if that money was used to strengthen existing businesses within the country(Lupton).

            I have been convicted over and over again during my time in Nicaragua of my pride. I’m not going to lie—I’m proud to be an American. I am proud of the house that I live in, the car that I drive, and many other material possessions, and that even our currency and language is used in Central America. In addition, I have a tendency to think that I can do things better. It seems that Nicaraguans should want what we have, and it is our job as Christians to help them attain that material wealth. This attitude of pride gets in the way of building relationships as well as distorting the things that people really need. A great example of this is houses built in India, with the bathrooms next to the kitchen. No matter how nice the house was, the Muslims refused to use the bathrooms because they were too close to the kitchen and considered unclean. Thoughtful? Yes. Though-through? No. Regardless of intentions, Christians are responsible to God and to others for their actions (Story, Peggy Tans). We need to quit looking at poverty as a material problem. True poverty is the absence of Christ in one’s life. Short and Long-Term missions should be designed in such a way that material needs are addressed as they relate to spiritual poverty. Both needs go hand in hand (Myers).

Although I have started my argument by pointing out numerous reasons that short-term missions are detrimental to community development, I would like to counter a few of those reasons with positive aspects that I have formed through the readings and through class discussions. In addition, I will include the reasons that my church gives for sending so many church members on mission trips around the world.

The first of four positive aspects is that short-term mission trips provide an opportunity to see how God is at work in the lives of people and organizations around the world. Often, Christians only see Christianity from a narrow perspective. Many students return from mission trips with a greater understanding and appreciation of the material blessings that they have. Going on mission trips allows people to understand hardships that other Christians endure and opens up their perspective to what God is doing. An opportunity to visit a new culture and expand our worldview is an opportunity to rely on God in an environment out of our comfort zone. Change can be difficult, and getting out of one’s comfort zone provides more opportunities to turn to God in search of strength to make it through the day. Sometimes, mission trips are as much for the people giving than for the people receiving. Participation in community developmental organizations such as Fundacion San Lucas gives the farmers affirmation that they are doing a good job and that we support the work that they are doing. Although I really didn’t enjoy planting and hoeing corn at the Land Bank on our rural trip, I believe that our work there gave farmers encouragement and affirmation to keep up their good work. Stepping out of our communities and getting involved in ministry at an international level opens us up to the work that Christ is doing across the globe. In many cases the people that are ministered to on mission trips are not the people being served, but the people who are able to serve.

 Secondly, I believe that God does call some people to serve Him internationally, and regardless of the time frame, Christians need to go. Short-Term missions are the perfect length of time for working adults to use vacation time to serve others. It may not be plausible to go to for a longer period of time, but it is still a good way to follow God’s call to go. If a person feels that God is challenging them to step out in faith and trust him to visit a new environment, it is wrong for that person to do otherwise. When Jonah went to Nineveh, he only spent one week preaching repentance to the people. I believe that if God is calling you to go, no matter the amount of time—Christians are responsible to go (Jonah).

The third reason is that international, short-term missions prepare people for international service later on. Although the book Toxic Charity refuted this point, I still strongly believe that short term missions does introduce and prepare people for long-term ministry later. My friend Angie is a great example. Angie has been on numerous short-term trips and found a heart to teach international students English, and follow God’s call in this way. Although she may have discovered this calling a different way, I believe a short-term mission was the way that God chose to call her into international ministry. The reason that I am studying in Nicaragua is because I too, felt called to return and spend the semester living with the people. I don’t think that I will be a missionary, but my introduction and heart for the people got me excited to learn Spanish and reach out to Spanish speaking people in my church and community. My mission trip to El Salvador gave me a vision of how God could use me to bring glory to him.

The final reason is that short-term missions can provide timely disaster relief and should be done to provide people with services that they do not have. Short-term missions are an excellent way to provide disaster relief and help people in times of need, such as after a hurricane or earthquake. Short-term missions are also justified when the people bring a good or service that the people cannot get or provide for themselves. A good example of this is a medical mission trip, where the group can provide for the needs of people that cannot be met on their own with their own supplies or technology.

I attend a church that places an emphasis on missions. The members of the congregation are more than generous and of the $1,600 that my mission trip to El Salvador cost, I only ended up paying $250. To me, this speaks volumes to the desire that the members of my church have to follow Christ’s call to “GO” (Matthew 28:19) by giving financially.

To suggest that churches should end mission trips is out of the question, so my desire is to combine the things that I have learned about development with the current model of short term missions. After reading numerous books and listening to many discussions, I believe that aspects of development should be taken into consideration when planning and organizing short-term mission trips.

According to Geography of Grace, Christians need to be on the constant lookout for needs all around us. We need to be aware of the needs in our community and ask God to show us the needs and how we can meet them. The next step is to listen. Listen to God and listen to the community. Listening requires hearing more than we want to hear, it requires taking the time and being willing to accept answers that we may not like. In some cultures, listening is more than what is said by the people because it takes time to build relationships before people will even share what they are really thinking. Listening requires asking tough questions, and not assuming we know the answers. Before undertaking a short term mission trip, I think it is important to understand what the end goal of the trip is. Is the trip to help a community, share the gospel, or better the people going on the trip? It is important to know the end goal before one can decide how to get there (Rocke and Van Dyke).

            The ultimate purpose of short-term missions is not just to go, but to preach the gospel to every creature (Matthew 28:18-19). Much time and thought should be put into short-term mission trips. Time should be taken to consider who the mission trip is created to serve, and the positive and negative effects of the trip that may take place. Churches should begin to ask hard questions, and start listening for the answers being given. I believe that the goal of short and long-term missions should be bring people to Christ by helping them to help themselves. Short-term mission trips should be designed in such a way that they fit into long-term developmental goals. I believe that different trips should be designed to best reach the end goal of that particular trip.

The great news is that three of the four main problems with international short-term missions can be changed. No matter how much time you spend looking for transportation, food and lodging, any international trip is expensive, which is one reason that we have to make the most of the trips that we do take. The second problem can be solved by really taking a look at what we are doing. Are the jobs that we are doing able to be done by people in the community looking for work? In some cases it may be better to invest time and energy looking for a community man that is out of work. This would not only be cheaper, but would be a much less expensive way to better the community.  Secondly, care should be given to work with the people—and although this is hard to figure out in the short time frame, it can be done by doing your homework and working with organizations that are already rooted in the community. Plan activities and events that can be replicated at a later time by the community, and train them to do the activity. Rather than coming in with your own ideas, real service is taking the time to listen to the needs and goals of the community and working to help them attain them. Finally, much thought should be given to the items given away or done for the people so that they are not removing pride from the people or community. Finally, mission trips need to be approached first of all with an attitude of humility and a desire to walk alongside the people and grow together. Overall, if Christians take the time to ask these difficult questions and really listen to the needs and desires of the community, I believe that they can make a bigger difference. Each step needs to be done with humility with the end goal of bringing people to Jesus Christ.

Think of what resources that you have at your disposal, time, money, and communication. You have the ability to communicate with the people in your community, but have you taken the time to really listen? (Rocke and Van Dyke) I believe that Christians need to be stewards of the resources that we have been given. As I think about the resources that my church has: students with a desire to serve, a congregation willing to give to missions and a community with unsaved people. I believe that churches should limit the number of students that they send on short-term missions and rather spend time and money on missionaries who are willing to stay and develop long-term relationships with the people. Our service to Christ and our community shouldn’t be limited to the week or two mission trip. It should be evident in our daily activities. Are you willing to take the time for the people in your community that you can communicate with? Service to Christ could be as simple as buying a house in a run-down area of town to reach out to poor neighbors. One of the best gifts that we have with the communities we live with is the ability to communicate with those around us.

Whenever possible, short-term missions should be part of a long-term goal to build relationships and establish a presence in a community. By taking the time to listen, to work with and not for, and approach service with an attitude of humility, I believe that we can transform our one-weak perspectives of development and become better stewards of the resources that God has given us.

Works Cited

Lupton, Robert D. Toxic Charity, 2011. Harper Collins, New York, New York.

Myers, Bryant L. Geography of Grace, 1999. Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York.

Rocke, Kris, Van Dyke, Joel. Geography of Grace, 2012. Street Psalms Press.

Walsh, Brian J, Middleton, J. Richard. The Transforming Vision, Inner Varsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois.

Willis, Katie. Theories and Practices of Development, 2005. Routledge, New York, New York.

BioCharcoal Service Learning Project

(This is my final paper/evaluation of my service learning project so you can have an idea of one of the projects I've been working on this summer. I have more pictures, but I'll be getting them later this week.)

         This semester Danielle and I worked with Carlos Aker, a graduate student working on a BioCharcoal experiment to complete his master’s degree. Carlos is the son of an American father and a Nicaraguan mother. He spent some time working in the United States, and speaks fluent English. Carlos attends Agrocología de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de la UNAN-León , where his mother is a professor. Carlos is an outgoing person and plans to become a college professor in the future and he already teaches classes and works on projects with the students. Our service-learning project was designed to help Carlos to complete his project.

Carlos set up the BioChar project with nine families in the department of Leon. Three of the families are near the city of Leon, three are near Telica, and three are near La Paz Centro. These three locations have different soil types and add another dimension to his project. Each of the famers purchased a BioChar stove and added the BioChar to the soil in their cornfield. The goal was to determine if there was an improvement in the crops based on which plot had the biggest yield. Each of the nine farms had their test plots set up similarly. The graph below shows the three plots, each repeated three times throughout the field.

BioChar Fertilizer

BioChar

Control

BioChar Fertilizer

BioChar

Control

BioChar Fertilizer

Biochar

Control

Our service learning project had four main learning objectives. The first was to estimate the demand and acceptance of the product for small and medium farmers in the department of Leon. The second objective was to estimate the sales of the product for small farmers in the department of Leon. The third objective was to estimate the cost of production, fixed and variable with different sources of premium materials. The final objective was to define a marketing strategy for the product in the department of Leon.

Our project was divided into six phases. Before we started this project, Danielle and I had never heard of BioCharcoal and this project introduced us to BioChar as a whole and what it has the potential to do for farmers—not only in Nicaragua but around the world. During our first meeting, Carlos explained much of the project and Danielle and I started reading books on BioChar to gain a better idea of what BioChar is and what it does for the soil.     

            The second objective was to establish a work strategy. This was the biggest challenge for me. I tried to plan out how we would fulfill the goals of our practicum, and I was repeatedly frustrated when it seemed that we were no closer to reaching our goals at the end of the day than we were when we left in the morning. It was difficult to plan anything relating to the practicum because we had almost no say in what we did and what day we chose to do it. Many of the questions I asked originally and the spreadsheets I worked on were designed to calculate the cost of the BioChar.

            The third objective was to undertake the strategy and begin collecting data. Danielle, Carlos and I spent the majority of our time determining the heat of the stove and the moisture and number of logs that we would burn in the fire. However, the data that we collected over hours on the farm site was not related to determining cost or anything having to do with establishing markets.

            The fourth objective was to analyze the data we collected and draw conclusions. We went over the data that we collected and put it together in a spreadsheet and book. Danielle and I also met at her house one afternoon and at Café La Rosita to put together a PowerPoint and divide up each part of our presentation that we were going to present at the field day.

            The fifth objective was to create a report and brochure. We accomplished this task with a few hours of work in the morning and a few hours of work in the afternoon. Danielle and I put together a marketing page in the pamphlet. Our work consisted of me contributing ideas and Danielle adding ideas and translating and typing them into Spanish. Carlos printed the books and handed them out to farmers on the field day.

            The final objective was our presentation on Friday, November 22^nd.  The field day was scheduled to start at 7:00 at Finca Sylvia, the farm of Don Reynaldo outside of Leon. Each of Carlos’s nine families with stoves received four invitations to the field day, and in total about 25 people showed up for the presentation.  Carlos picked us up a little after 6:00 and then we picked up other farmers from around Leon and headed out to the farm. The presentation started a little after 8:00 after each farmer introduced themselves with their name, hometown, and cell phone number. The owner of Mi Fogón introduced himself and told a little of the history of his business and about the stoves that he has created. Danielle and I handed out BioChar manuals that we helped create to the farmers. The guide was in color with pictures, and I think I was as excited to get a copy as the farmers were! During the first session, Carlos explained the stove, the chemical process and the new lid that we had tested at numerous farms to help with cooking rice, beans, and tortillas. Carlos went over the yield results that he had gathered and the difference that BioChar had made on the soil. The presentation as a whole was informative, but relaxed with farmers adding comments and questions throughout. Carlos had juice boxes and pound cake served at 10:00 and we took a 15 minute break between sessions. Danielle and I started the second session with an explanation of possible markets for BioChar and what we believed BioChar was worth and how we calculated the cost. We also gave suggestions for how the farmers should get the word out, advertise in town, and create signs advertising the product. The farmers actively participated, asking questions and giving suggestions. Looking back, I think our presentation went really well and Carlos was happy with how it turned out. Following our presentation was a presentation by a student at the University explaining his experiments with BioChar. He talked incredibly fast, and I had trouble following his experiment so I snuck out and helped Carlos set up the tables for lunch. Danielle and I were also able to help serve lunch to the farmers and I overheard the woman cooking the food say that Carlos asked her to prepare something really delicious because he wanted the farmers to stay into the afternoon to hear the end of the presentation.

 The afternoon session started with a tour of his farm and Don Reynaldo showed the farmers at the field day the difference BioChar had made for his crops. The tour lasted a little less than an hour and the final session of the presentation was a discussion time where farmers could share their thoughts about the project and their suggestions for the future. The farmers discussed cooperatives for a while, and a collection center where all the farmers could work together to promote the product. By the end of the discussion my brain was completely fried from an overload of Spanish, but it sounded like the farmers had a good time of discussion. The presentation concluded around 2:30 in the afternoon, and Carlos dropped off the farmers at the bus station and Danielle and me off afterward.

A BioChar oven looks like a giant cube. The oven is three feet long, three feet wide, and three feet high. The oven is made of steel and has four inches of cement on each side. The original cover was made of one piece of sheet metal. The second cover we experimented with had edges and the third cover we experimented with was the lid designed for cooking purposes. Inside the oven was a steel box about 15 inches x 15 inches and about 20 inches deep. The material that is going to be turned into BioChar was placed in the box in the center. Biochar is a soil amendment made from charred organic matter. We completed all of our tests using logs from eucalyptus trees, but other people have experimented with leaves, coconut shells, and other materials. In order to burn something to ashes, a fire needs heat, oxygen, and material to be burned. When BioChar is made, it is made in the absence of oxygen which is why the wood is only charred and not burned to ashes. This charred wood (or other material) has properties that work well as a soil amendment—it holds moisture in the soil and helps the plants to absorb nutrients.

The material to be burned to create the heat was placed in the stove below the box so that when the material was burned in the presence of oxygen, the wood below the box would burn into ashes, but the wood in the box without oxygen would only change composition and turn into BioChar rather than ashes as I explained earlier. The whole process from start to finish takes around two hours, however with travel time, purchasing supplies, the two hour process often turned into full days of work.

The poor farmers we worked with have little capital for their use. Although the stoves should pay for themselves based on increased crop yields, our goal was to help the farmers begin to create a market for the BioChar so that the farmers can sell the product to make a profit. The ultimate goal is for farmers to purchase stoves, the stoves to pay for themselves and eventually enough farmers will have stoves that Carlos can create a brand and hopefully begin to market it at a wider level. I really believe that if Carlos keeps up his work and markets the BioChar well, he could potentially set up a business that would not only benefit him and his graduate studies but also better the farmers that we have been working with.

Many of the farm families living in Nicaragua are very poor. They are self-sustainable, but have relatively little extra money to buy other necessities let alone other things that would make their lives easier or more comfortable.

Danielle and I spent the majority of our times at the farm sites trying out a new lid on the stove and measuring heat and ideal temperatures for making tortillas, rice, and beans.

I feel that the person that we served through our project was Carlos. I think that we kept Carlos company during his long farm visits, and I think he really enjoyed taking us along and sharing his project with us. I think that we were able to give the people on the farms an idea of how they could sell the BioChar, and I hope to hear in the future how the marketing of BioChar goes. One of the weaknesses of our presentation is our lack of numbers. This was my biggest frustration. Carlos told Danielle and me that he wanted us to come up with the selling price of BioChar. I had to come up with costs of materials in a few of my classes, so I assumed that setting a price of BioChar would be similar. This turned into the most difficult part of the project—and we never really resolved the problem.

When Carlos, Danielle and I met at Cafe La Rosita to discuss our marketing strategy at the “field day” it became clear to me that we had three big problems. The first was that Carlos didn’t want to use the price of BioChar that we had spent the last four weeks calculating because he thought the price was too high. The second problem was that we never had the yield results, so we really had no proof that the yields were greater. The final problem was that Carlos didn’t know who he was going to invite to the field day, he seemed to go back and forth debating to invite people to inform them about Biochar or focusing on the people with stoves and the price to charge—which made a difference as to how we would go about creating a PowerPoint to present the information to the people attending the field day.

Instead of using the market price of BioChar that we determined, Carlos decided on a price for BioChar that he thought was reasonable and we went with it. Based on agricultural marketing classes I have taken, the price should reflect the market value of the items used even if the materials can be obtained cheaper; however, Carlos wanted the price to reflect how much the Biochar actually cost the farmers considering that they used wood on their farm and didn’t pay for it. I didn’t mind that Carlos didn’t use the number we came up with in the end, and the number he decided on was more affordable for the farmers. We were able to provide a price to the farmers at the field day and give them an idea of how much they should charge for the BioChar.

The second problem we ran into was our lack of yield results, so we never had any data of how much yield increased with the use of BioChar. Based on looks alone, the best formula was fertilizer and BioChar. I am very interesting to read through his thesis when he finishes putting everything together.

I was so excited to start this project at the beginning of the semester because I am very interested in ag-businesses and marketing and I enjoy working with balance sheets and the technical information. Carlos didn’t receive yield information until the day before the presentation, but I think it would have been really interesting to go over all of the yield results and soil samples to see how effective BioChar really is.

As I think back on this project, I think the biggest benefit to my future was interacting with Carlos and learning about the requirements for his master’s degree. I plan to get my master’s degree in the future and it was very interesting to see all of the time, planning, and steps that went into the carrying the project from the start to the completion. I enjoyed learning about BioChar and working through all of the steps to examine a potential market.

In the past, I had thought about working in agricultural development. Through working on this project, I have realized that agricultural development is not something that I would enjoy. However, I would welcome an opportunity to help start a BioChar market in the United States.

Altogether, the project was definitely a character building experience. Before this trip, I placed a high value on showing up on time, and I found it frustrating when people didn’t show up on time. On every occasion (except one) Carlos was late. On occasions he was over an hour late which was very challenging for me to get used to. I went into this project knowing that I would be flexible, but I was stretched beyond what I ever expected.

I thought it was very interesting that a lot of the factors that I have learned about in agricultural development and in working with people and not for them were evident in this project. I thought that it was a great opportunity to see what agricultural development looks like. In addition, I think that we were able to serve the farmers in the department of Leon.

 In sum, I learned more about BioChar and creating an experiment, was able to work hand-in-hand with Nicaraguan farmers and I really enjoyed the field day and presenting our ideas about a market in Spanish. I believe I will look back on this project as a great service-learning experience.

Costa Rica

Although each week has been better than the last, certain days are rough. Managing the heat continues to be my biggest struggle. Our Spanish class is interesting, but the temperature climbs to 100 nearly every class period. Some days I just can’t seem to cool down. Our trip to Costa Rica came at the perfect time. The trip served two main purposes 1) Renew our tourist visas..so we had to leave the country and 2) to learn about Nicaraguan immigration to Costa Rica and the differences between the cultures. We started the adventure going Zip Lining outside of Managua. I’ve never been officially zip lining before (I’m not sure if jumping off the side of the bin counts…) and it was on the side of a mountain with incredible scenery. The next day we left early in the morning to head to Costa Rica.We stayed in an old French hotel that is now the extension campus for Whitworth College in Washington. The weather was a beautiful 65-75 degrees and the down comforters and hot showers were a real treat.

I'm hiding in the background :)

We started our trip in Costa Rica with a visit to La Paz, a zoo and tour of the Peace Waterfall. It was beautiful and great exercise although we started at the top of the hill/mountain and were picked up at the bottom a few hours later. Throughout the week we visited La Carpio, an area of the capital city, San Jose that is home to many of the Nicaraguans living in Costa Rica. It is known for its violence and is built next to the garbage dump. We spent the morning cleaning up at the organization Christ for the City, and the afternoon visiting Nicaraguans asking them about their transition, their work, and if they had succeeded in getting a better life for themselves. It was a great experience. After being warned to “dress down” and not take anything of value and warned of the 12 gangs in the area we proceeded to two boys hiding pistols behind their backs…we quickly found out that they were airsoft pistols…but it sure got our heart rates up! We visited a museum downtown San Jose and went shopping in the artesan market. The temperature was much more mild and it was great to walk down sidewalks without catcalls, kissing faces, and staring people. Two of our days were spent in class at our Professors home in Costa Rica. He got his doctorate degree from Harvard in Community Development (or something like that) and is working on community organization projects in his neighborhood. I have never been so challenged, convicted, or encouraged in a single class. We have been reading so many books about development, short-term missions, and poverty. I could probably write a blog on just the things I have learned in class. We ended our class making pupusas ( a Salvadorian specialty) and then headed back to our campus.

For my final presentation in my culture class I interviewed street vendors. It was really nervous, but it was really good experience and I was able to learn more about food and culture.

On Spanish: Some days I’m really impressed with how far my Spanish has come, and the next day I’m frustrated with how little I understand. It is truly a humbling experience to have to admit over and over again that you do not understand something and my brain is usually completely fried by the time I fall asleep at night.

On Christmas: They had Christmas decorations out almost a month ago. It is crazy! I have never been in a warm climate in the winter, and somehow every time I hear Christmas music in the 90 degree weather it makes me smile. I'm ready for a break from the heat, but I'm not sure my body is ready for the 80 degree temperature swing. The countdown begins--only 22 days!

Making chocolate chip cookies with my host family. I think my host brother liked them...

Milking it for all it's Worth

I can easily say that this weekend was the highlight of my time here in Nicaragua. I loved driving through the mountains in a car with the fresh air, and being able to just completely relax and listen to my music. We started out the trip by taking a bus from Leon to Managua. Jake and Marg picked us up in their car near the bus station and we headed to Northern Nicaragua. We drove for a little under an hour and arrived at a cattle processing facility. I have never been in a cattle processing facility and I was sort of dreading going. However, it was so interesting, and it was impressively clean and humane. I still like hamburger just as much as I did…and I feel like I appreciate it more. My favorite part was the meat room where the workers carved up each cut of meat. They were crazy fast, and I really enjoyed watching them work. I thought it was very interesting that almost all of the workers are the same people that started on the job when the plant opened five years ago—the people are hard workers and the turnover is low. After we visited the plant, we stopped for lunch at a comedor along the road.

After lunch, we stopped at a cattle yard and learned about how the small farmers in Nicaragua are working together to get a better price for their cattle. I thought it was very interesting that they marketed each animal individually and none of them were marketed in groups—labor is cheap in Nicaragua, and even the processing plants can afford to buy cattle individually. The auction yard was less than a year old and the number of farmers involved was rapidly growing.

After the cattle yard, we drove for a few hours in some of the prettiest country I’ve ever been in. The mountains were green and full of trees, and the lakes and volcanos covered the horizon. In the evening, we drove into town and met a rancher for supper in his home. He was a friend of our Ag professor and spoke fluent English. He was studying agriculture in America during Nicaragua’s war, and he stayed there for a number of years. His grandfather was very wealthy and turned over all of the land to his grandson’s name because he had become an American citizen. Because of this, when he returned and his grandfather passed away he inherited thousands of acres and was able to use the capital he earned in the states to start a cattle herd. We spent the evening asking questions and learning about his life, and then took a walk in the fresh air around the town. It was so wonderful to go for a walk in the cool air, in the evening, and not be whistled at or nervous for our safety. I think I’m learning to appreciate the little things.

The next morning, we woke up early, hopped in the back of his truck (I missed this too) and drove out to the farm site. The land was beautiful and the air was so clean and fresh. We were able to milk cows Nicaraguan style. The cows are primarily beef cattle, but are milked as an additional source of income. Danielle and I were able to show off our cow-milking skills to the Nicaraguan dairymen. I think they were more impressed with the color of our hair than our cow milking skills, but they were very willing to let us help. I seriously thought my hand was going to fall off before I had a half gallon of milk. They milk the cows by tying the back legs together, and then tying the calf to the front leg of the cow and they can milk the cows easily. It was really interesting.

After this, they brought us back to the hotel to clean up—which basically consisted of washing my hands because I only brought one pair of clothes…and then we headed back to the farm to see the milk processing plant. It was a really neat opportunity to see the plant because I could compare it to my experiences working at AMPI for a week in cheese and whey production this summer. Many Nica families own a few cows that they milk daily. They keep the milk that they want for their family and put the milk pail near the road for the men in trucks to drive by and pick them up. With the amount of labor involved, I would assume that the price of milk would be much higher—but because they have such low input costs for feed and labor, milk in Nicaragua is the cheapest that it is in Central America. After the trip he let me drive his ATV and ride his horse. After our adventure, we stopped for lunch and headed back. It was such a fun and relaxing break and I learned a lot about dairy in Nicaragua. Altogether, it was a good week.

Day 53

On Thursday, I decided that it would be fun to bake Scotcheroo bars. The grocery store didn’t have Rice Krispies, corn syrup, or butterscotch chips, so I decided that it probably wouldn’t work well. I decided chocolate chip cookies might be easier, but I found out that brown sugar doesn’t exist here. So we decided candy bars were our best option and left the store. When I noticed all the bananas in the fridge yesterday, I decided that banana bread would be a great treat. My host mom really likes to bake and so I thought that it would be a great way to show interest in what she likes to do. I got a few ingredients from the missionaries that live here in Leon and borrowed a measuring cup and spoon. My host mom borrowed a bread pan from a friend, and I caught on that she was pretty proud to tell them that she was learning how to bake American food. The banana bread (cake) turned out so well! The house smelled so good, and I can’t count the number of times that they told me how much they liked it. I’m pretty sure that we will be making it again! They really want to learn how to make pizza, so I’m working on getting the ingredients for that.

Yesterday I spent a lot of the day catching up on work and starting homework. In the evening we went to a Catholic Mass in the Cathedral. The cathedral was beautiful, and it was relaxing to sit and listen although it was really hard to understand because it was hard to hear. It was a beautiful night, and was so calm and beautiful in the central park. For the most part, each week that I have been here, I am beginning to like it more and more. Today, I’m finishing up homework and then going with my host mom for a manicure in the afternoon.

On Clothes: My host mom is a gifty, and decided to buy me a tank top since I wear them almost every day. It was wide and really short. I really wasn’t too excited to wear it, but decided that I should wear it at least once. It must have looked really bad, because the next day she bought me a different one, and held it up, and said that she thought this one would be long enough. I put it on, and it was worse than the first one! It missed my shorts by about 3 inches, and she laughed and told me that I should just wear it around the house. It was really thoughtful, but I think that shirt is going to stay in the closet…

I have a few letters that I have been meaning to mail, but I really don’t think that the people I’ve interacted with ever send letters. I’ve been told about four different words for stamp, and none of the five people I asked knew where the post office is, which I thought was interesting and none of the houses have mailboxes. We found the post office this morning, and the woman handed me a giant bottle of glue, huge pieces of paper and stamps. It took my host brother and me almost ten minutes to glue all of the cards and stamps on the envelopes, and I’m not even sure the stamps were going to stay on the envelope!

Thought for the week from a friend: “we get too comfortable with what we declare to be "ours" but none of it is ours, its Gods… the moment you decide to let go of the thought of being "comfortable" then maybe God can use you to discover more things not only about yourself but about the people all around you.”

Halfway There

This past Saturday, we left Leon for fall break. We took a bus to Managua where a missionary family picked us up at the bus station, and took us to a grocery store to get groceries to make meals for the next few days. We had a lot of fun planning to make all of our favorites. We made egg burritos for breakfast, homemade pizza, chicken alfredo, and brownies and cookie dough and cookies—it was so great. We stayed at their house Saturday, and then went to an English speaking church on Sunday which is such a treat! It was about 75 degrees with warm sun and a cool breeze. We swam in their pool and were actually able to work out, which was great too. On Monday we went to Ometepe—a volcano island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. It was so beautiful and we were able to stay in a hotel about 300 ft from the lake. The water was as warm as bathwater and the volcanoes were a beautiful backdrop. The restaurant at the hotel was great and we ended up eating there for three meals, so that was really convenient. We went kayaking and swimming and just hung out for a few days and then headed back to the missionaries’ home and then off to Leon again. It was short, but a much needed break from school.

(On Public Transportation) This morning, I plopped into a bus seat-- which was pretty comfy, only to realize that my legs didn’t fit in between the seats. Normally I can squish my legs in between bus seats, but not this bus. So I had to sit sideways and give everyone on the bus a sympathetic look as they tried to climb over me. Another time we took a minibus (15 passenger van)…we had 26 people (strangers) in the van. At the bus station in Managua today, I also had a 50 year old man that decided to follow me around and sing love songs in my ear. Personal space does not exist in Central America. I’m slowly adapting. haha