WF Nicaragua Travel

I’ve now been back from Nicaragua for 12 days. On Sunday I fell pretty ill and am now (Weds) getting my energy back. Although my doctor thinks it might be Nicaragua related, I think it providential that I was healthy during the 3 weeks I was in Nicaragua. If I wasn’t, who else was going to pay for all of the meals!!!

I wanted to take a moment to pay my tributes to an amazing 3 week experience.

First, a BIG thank you to associate provosts Kline Harrison and Michele Gillispie for creating, sustaining, and funding the Nicaragua program. Also a big thank you to Tom Dingledine for his generous support of all things Nicaragua. This trip would not have been possible without these three individuals, and countless others. I also want to thank my colleague, Gary Miller, who did the bulk of organizing and managing of the budget. Even though he could not stay the entire time, he stayed connected and actively helped with every facet of the trip. Additional thanks goes out to Jason Archer, my graduate assistant, who helped me with the day-to-day aspects of the trip. Without Jason, I don’t think I would have known half of the students complaints or troubles.

Second, I know I speak on behalf of the group when I send a thank you to the Jose’s–Jose Daniel Leiva and Jose at Los Pinos. Both took care of us like family while we were in Nicaragua. Jose Daniel is employed by WF and was the i-beam of the entire operation (I think i-beams are important in architecture–if not, I’m sorry Jose–you are like that beam that holds everything together!).

Third, I want to give a shout out to my family, including my mother, who endured 12 days of the trip as if she was a WF student! Mom, I hope I have half of your drive and energy at your age. Heck, I wish I had half your energy right now! You were amazing. My wife, Annamae, had to bear much of the burden of caring for our kids while I did “official” business stuff, which usually amounted to me having fun while she watched Lillian, Aiden, and Matthew. She handled it with grace and made my life much less stressful. Thanks, babe. And to my kids, you were awesome! Just try not to believe everything the students told you. Therapy is only going to get more expensive so I’m hoping that some of that stuff you heard doesn’t stick. :0

Fourth, this trip was and always will be about the students. So for the 13 students who decided to forego a summer in Spain or Austria or air conditioning to trek around Nicaragua I give you my special thanks. I have never been around a group of students who more fully embraced and loved my children as all of you did. This past weekend I took my 6 year old, Aiden, backpacking. He was telling a friend of mine a story about Nicaragua. He said, “You know what?” (He starts every story with the rhetorical question, “You know what?”), “my FRIEND, Stephen, . . . “ I don’t even remember what he said about Stephen, who was one of the students on the trip, because I was just so floored that a 6 year old would so casually see a 21 year old as his “friend.” But it is true. All of you can count yourselves as true “friends” of the Giles team. I know you will live on in their memories, and despite the costs of therapy you were great role models.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t thank all of the wonderful people of Nicaragua that we met along the way, from Louise, our bus driver, to the many people in La Villa, Chinandega, and elsewhere. Perhaps my most vivid memory was our first trip into La Villa, a community created in Chinandega for people who moved out of the local dump. It seems that within moments of arriving in La Villa the students were all playing with children, talking to residents, sitting in people’s homes, and otherwise making themselves “at home.” My kids were swinging on swings, speaking Spanish (well, saying ‘Como te llamas’ and ‘Cuantos anos tienes’ ad nauseum), and acting like they were reconnecting with long lost friends. The Nicaraguan girls were pulling my blond haired boy in opposite directions as they fought over his affection, to which he obliged with little resistance. Here we were with a group of people who could not have been more different than us at so many levels (cultural, socioeconomic, education, language), and yet on that day, in that moment, a common fabric that unites all of us as human beings materialized. We all have different dreams, but we dream. We all have different lives, but we live. We have different aspirations for our children, but aspire for them nonetheless. In the end, we all want to know and be known. To my own children this was obvious; their world view has not been tainted by racism, materialism, or other cultural influences that disfigure humanity. But it was great to see the WF students look beyond their own fears and doubts by fully embracing the people in La Villa. I think this was my proudest moment.

Either that, or managing to tell the bus driver in Spanish that he has a nice bus (at least, that’s what I hope I told him).

Until next time . . . Professor Giles

We arrived at beautiful San Juan del Sur on Friday, June 26th. We had lunch at the Pelican Eyes Resort, where we received a tour of the grounds and an informational session about the Jean Brugger Foundation. We saw monkeys, puppies, and other things that make you say, “Awww.” Today we are all hanging at the local beach just staying “tranquilo.” For my birthday (yes, today I’m the big 39) my wife bought me some espresso brownies from El Negro Gato, my favorite SJDS cafe. These brownies are to die for, and I’m afraid once my kids get a hold of them we might be medicating them with Benadryl to insure any sleep tonight. Tomorrow we are taking a bus to La Playa Maderas where some of the students will take surfing lessons.

Tonight many of the students have offered to babysit my kids so Annamae and I can go out for my birthday. We have been blessed on this trip to have so many wonderful students really love our children well. And even those who have taught them questionable ethics about dating (thanks to Stephen for that lesson!) have nonetheless served as great role models. On the topic of birthdays, we celebrated Jessie’s birthday last weekend by ziplining through the mountains in Grenada.

The biggest downer so far is that a number of students have fallen ill. The illnesses seem to be in 3 areas: GI, nausea, and fever/sore throat. We currently have 3 who are sick and 2 who are mending. But all have been in good spirits and are resting well. One nice thing about Nica is there are pharmacies everywhere and you can get many prescription drugs as OTC.

We will post pics from SJDS very soon, so keep checking in! Tengo que un buen dia!

My family and Stephen C. arrived into Houston at 8:05 this morning. We are patiently waiting for Baba (my mom) to arrive at 2pm. Our departure for Managua isn’t until after 5pm. So far the kids have been great; they even took their deplorable liquid malaria medicine without too much of a fight.

One word of caution for those students arriving tomorrow: an embargo went into effect June 4th that does not allow you to bring bags that are over 50lbs. We had 4 bags that exceeded 50 pounds, some by as many as 15 lbs. So Annamae and the kids were forced to throw away shoes at the Greensboro airport while Stephen and I finished the checking in process.

Another word of caution: leave plenty of time. This is my 3rd trip to Nicaragua but the first time that I almost missed the flight. We arrived about 80 minutes early (5:10am) and boarded during the final boarding call because of problems with Continental’s kiosks.

Our itinerary is shaping up. I will arrive in with my family and a couple of students tomorrow. We are bracing for the 4am wake up call! Then we get to enjoy an 8-hour layover in Houston. Thursday will see us participate in a Spanish class before the rest of the class arrives. My kids, Lillian (8), Aiden (6), and Matthew (4) are excited to take a Spanish class. We will drop some shoes off at the dump in the morning. People have been very generous. In all, our class is bringing 7 suitcases full of shoes, t-shirts, toothpaste/brushes, and other medical supplies to donate at the dump in Managua and Amigos for Christ in Chinandega.

On Friday (June 12th) we will travel to Ometepe Island for a weekend of hiking and exploring the rural agriculture. On Sunday the 14th we will travel up to Chinandega, about 2.5 hours northwest of Managua. There we will do a service project that involves health education (hand washing, making soap, dental care) and playing with kids. We hope to do some home visits to really get to know the people of Chinandega.

We return to Managua on June 19th. We will travel to Grenada for a weekend excursion to the adventure park. The week of June 22nd we will work at La Chureca (the dump) through Nica Hope. We depart on the 26th for San Juan del Sur. We will enjoy a weekend at the beach and then 2 days of service at a preventive health clinic. We come back to the U.S. on July 2nd.

The students will be posting blogs along the way. Please check back often to follow our progress!

Welcome to the blog for the 2009 summer service-learning course in Nicaragua. The class is comprised of 13 undergraduate students, 2 faculty, and one graduate student. Students are currently taking two courses, one focused on global health issues and the other on communicating for health behavior change in developing countries. As exciting as the courses are (!) the students are excited to leave for Nicaragua on Thursday, June 11th. During our 3 weeks in Nicaragua we will do service projects in Chinandega, Managua, and San Juan del Sur. This blog will serve as a means for updating people throughout the trip. Students will frequently post blogs with pictures, updates, and reassurances to parents that all is going well. So please bookmark this site and check back often! Con mucho gusto.