day 3: trash, farito, soccer, and fiestas
one for the record books, as conor would say.
we woke up and drove to la chureca, the municipal dump that haunts managua. taken over in the early 70’s from a family (i can’t find their name…), the government just started taking the city’s trash to a plot of land sandwhiched between a neighborhood and the lake. fast forward thirty years, where the dump has created hundreds of “jobs” for the men, women, and children that live in and around la chureca- by collecting recyclables (papers, plastics, metals, and glass). all of this, however, is at the dire cost of pollution, toxins, horrible living conditions, and a complete lack of self-worth. only a few pairs of eyes met mine outside of the safe zone manna has helped build. one clinic, two schools, and one comedor (think soup kitchen) are in a healthy living environment that encourage the children and their families to get healthy and get out of the slum, for lack of better terms. they empower children with english, logic, math, literacy, and geography skills (just to name a few) while ensuring the health and wellbeing of everyone that wants it. a true diamond in the rough, it’s incredible to see how much manna has done, with the help of a few other organizations.
after chureca, we went to homework help and creative arts at farito. i helped arjell (spelling unknown) read and do basic basic basic excersizes in a notebook. arjell is a unique kid who is great at loving, but he has an undiagnosed (or at least, unknown to the manna folk) mix of autism and retardation. barely able to sound out a few syllables and unable to percieve in depth material, we read a few books and then i drew a few shapes for him to color in. he’s a really sweet kid, and i don’t know how much he’ll remember me in the future- but all i can do for now is make sure that he is happy and healthy, and being taught well (and under the supervision of the manna pd’s, i know he is). creative arts was organized chaos. simon says (“simon dice”) and improv games (“gato”) filled most of the time. i got to spend a few moments with armando, which was awesome.
after, the guys went to the land to play soccer. i’m horrible so i ended up benching myself after a few rounds. but i got some great hang time with josh, one of the coolest pd’s ever (along with michael and kyle and the other josh), and i learned a few things- nicas are really really good at soccer (“futbol”) and that manna needs a lot of financial funding to supply the guys with uniforms and cleats. manna’s influence on these guys have kept them drug free and out of gangs, and in return, the guys show up and play sweet sick nasty soccer. some guys are smaller, others are jacked, and yet others still are thugs. but they come together and play well. it’s cool to see.
finally, we went back to the house for the INCREDIBLE tortilla soup with homemade chips before the party. manna rewards students that come to class and behave well by inviting them over to the house for dinner and a pool party. three hours of hot dogs, cannon balls, reggaetone, and spanglish mingling (along with a fun game of spoons) later, the 30+ nicas left the house, happy and full (and wet). the volunteers and pd’s stuck around for 3 minute “hot seat” questions so we can get to know each other. maddie and i did dishes real quick, and i got the low down on just how amazing my group is: we’re not loud or rowdy, but active and involved. we clean up after ourselves, we love the dogs, and we bring fun energy to the house. basically, this group is ideal for me because i’m such an introvert but i love chill time with people. i’m getting closer to the voltunteers everyday and i’m stoked to see what this weekend brings.
a word about funding and la chureca’s clinic:
they need money. there’s no way around it. more details to come tomorrow but one of chureca’s main sources for sustainable healthy living (aka disease free) is on the brink of shutting down. email me at chaseblood at gmail dot com if you can help out or have any ideas. unfortunately, hunger lunch at vandy would be a ballin solution, but school just can’t start soon enough.
all in all, a great day. hard, at times, and it really opened my eyes to a lot. can’t wait to see what else is up the sleeves of this week.
paz,
