The Environmental Group started our first hands-on project at the school today. When we arrived, some of the school children were already congregating and getting their hands stuck in around the patch of soil we were going to start our work on. Our initial plan was to raise awareness about littering, recycling around the school grounds, and the advantages of creating one’s own compost.
Our women’s choir got off to a rocky start. To advertise it we made posters, sent out flyers, and visited families in El Pochote. We organised a venue, bought tasty refreshments, and prepared the music. So this Wednesday, we showed up raring to go. But there was one eventuality we didn’t prepare for: torrential rain. It seemed that this had stopped people from turning up.
As the sun was setting, lighting up the streets of Monimbo in the most wonderful shades of yellow and orange, the volunteers made their way to celebrate La Gritería. La Gritería is a Nicaraguan festival celebrated in the honour of the Purísima Concepción de María. This religious festival is celebrated in the majority of towns and cities of Nicaragua, having special relevance in León where it originated.
As we all approach the half-way point of our volunteer work at four weeks, all the volunteers prepare for the mid-term evaluation. The mid-term evaluation is when everyone reflects on the work they have achieved thus far, how we have fulfilled our roles, challenges we have encountered, and the solutions to them. Progressio had arranged for all of us to go to Managua where the presentations would be hosted in a hotel.
Since we started working in Masaya the one thing we've been talking about all the time is communication. We are constantly learning to communicate better with the other volunteers, our Nicaraguan families, and the wider community in El Pochote. Now, rather than just nodding and smiling when my Nicaraguan abuela is telling a joke, I can actually understand and laugh along with everyone.
We've been teaching English classes to the kids in El Pochote and Monimbo for over a month now and it's really amazing to see how much they are improving. There are seven classes over the two schools. Each class has either one or two lessons a week and are taught by two or three UK volunteers and two or three Nicaraguan volunteers in each class.
On Monday 11 August, Max Donnell-Ford, 19, met with Martin Horwood MP to tell him about his experience as a Progressio International Citizen Service volunteer in Nicaragua.
We were all pretty excited about the arrival of the British ambassador to Nicaragua. We'd been told about it when we arrived but suddenly he was actually going to be here in real life - I think some of us were hoping he'd be wearing tails and carrying a British flag! We were all a bit nervous in anticipation but when he arrived smiling and looking thoroughly friendly and normal, he put us all at ease immediately.
All the volunteers were gathered outside waiting for the arrival of the bus to go to El Pochote. At the first sight of the bus a few of the volunteers scrambled towards it to ensure themselves of a seat - the pain of standing up or crouching on the bus is to die for! When the bus pulled up I could see Ninoska (Progressio’s Country Rep) waiting for our arrival. She told us that the materials would be arriving by midday, at this point everyone got excited to finally get stuck in with the work of building eco latrines.
It's hard to put into words just how welcoming our Nicaraguan host families have been. All of the UK volunteers are living in full home stays, which means we get adopted into new families for the ten week placement. Whilst it was daunting to be taken from the hostel where we had our induction training and unceremoniously dropped in the streets of Masaya, it's definitely the best way to have the full community experience.
