Friday, June 18 2010
Today was our day of compassion. We were split into "families" of four and given the story of a family from Nicaragua as well as their daily pay, what they have in savings, and a shopping list of items they need. My family was from Nueva Vida and made about $2 per day. We had to buy breakfast and lunch for all four of us. Breakfast was rice and beans, cheese (not a good cheese either, their cheese was really weird) and a tortilla. I think we got one serving of rice and beans and split it between the four of us, but I can't remember. Then we headed off to Huembes Marketplace where we had to find some supplies for our family. This was probably the most frustrating part of the trip thus far. We joined up with another "family" and I think some other stragglers (it seemed like our group was really big) and we wandered around the market lookingfor supplies. We didn't know where to look, we didn't really speak the language and we couldn't all agree on which direction we should go in anytime we came to an intersection. Then the whole group would randomly stop in the middle of the walkway and just look around which was really frustrating for me because I HATE when people do that at the mall and at stores! We eventually got our supplies and got back to the bus to drop them off and then went back to do our own shopping. Our group kind of split up and went seperate directions. I bought some Nicaraguan coffee (why did I only buy one bag!?!), a shot glass (I collect them everywhere I go), a baseball jersey that says Nicaragua for my unborn niece, a purse, and then I saw a purse I liked better so I bought that too, and a t shirt. I think that's all. I don't remember. I got some nice treasures to bring back in any case. I was SO hungry by the time we got back to the bus. I had some trail mix with me that I ate, but it didn't really help that much. We got back to the Team Center for lunch which we had to buy, and was the same as breakfast, and then it was time for our work groups. I was so tired and weak from not being used to being hungry and I started getting a bad headache so I went and took a nap. I felt really lame doing that since everyone else was probably feeling the same way, but oh well.
I felt much better after my nap, so I went and helped out in the Bodega (the storage room). We painted the storage room and also hung out with the kids and made desks. That evening we had a worship service led by the teenagers from the orphanage. Then we put on a dramatic interpretation of The Good Samaritan (I was a sunny sunshine) Then Don gave a little sermon. After that we had Nicaragua Dance Party 2010! It was super fun with Casa Bernabe's longest Conga Line led by 5 year old Paola... I'm having issues with putting pics on here, so sorry no pics of that! They're on my facebook though...
I didn't really write in my journal the last few days. We spent a lot of time with the kids, but I was really frustrated because by then all the kids had their person or people that they had become attached to and since my work project had kept me away from the kids for the most part I ended up tagging along with other team members and their little friend(s). On the way home we got stuck in Miami overnight so Igot home a day late which was really frustrating and made me crabby, but it turned out okay. And that concludes my Nicaragua trip, now on to my next adventure...
No comments:
Post a Comment