Day 2: Concrete, Learning, and More Concrete


            Our first full day in Nicaragua was amazing. We had a variety of different experiences in Nueva Vida mainly centering around the Jubilee House Community (JHC), and the Clinic where we worked. We started off our morning with a presentation from Becca, who is one of the community members at JHC. She talked to us about the history of the JHC, as well as the services they provide and some of the projects that they have worked on. One of the ones that everyone found very interesting was a project in which they got a large group of farmers to form a co-op to sell sesame seeds in bulk to a company in the US, which guaranteed them a set income at the end of the year once each farmer provided their share of the crops. Another big project that the JHC is working on is the clinic that we went to next. The clinic provides affordable medical and dental services to people in the area, as well as prescriptions, ultrasounds, glasses, and more. It is the place that we worked today, and will continue to work at for the next few days.
When we first arrived, Kathleen, who is the director of the clinic, told us about all the work they do and gave us a tour of their three buildings, one of which we are working on. Next, we went outside and got to work. We worked today with Pedro and Lucas to mix, pour, and smooth concrete on the ground in several of the rooms. It was hard work, but it was a new experience for most of us, and was very interesting. We worked more on this in the afternoon, but first we went to lunch. At lunch, we got to meet with several staff and volunteers at the JHC. It was very interesting to hear about their individual stories about how they found out about JHC, and what work they do in Nicaragua. One of the people we met was Lydia, a volunteer doctor who has offered to let a few of us shadow her work today and tomorrow.
After lunch, before going back to work, we had a discussion with some middle schoolers from Nicaragua. It was difficult, but everyone worked on speaking Spanish and trying to get through the awkwardness to learn about the cultural differences between our school life and theirs. Next, we went back to working with concrete. Everyone worked very hard, and we actually finished our work early! Then we came back to the place we are staying to clean up, eat, and discuss our day. We all agreed that it was a fun, productive, and interesting first day in Nicaragua.

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