Aicha
Change
The are so many things I had learned living here in Nicaragua. For 6 weeks now. I feel so good about everything I have done including GP and the youth of El Hatillo. I am so full of joy that I came here and experienced so many things. It has changed me in so many ways, like before I came here I thought, “oh you need that and this in order to be happy in life” and I guess I got that from watching too much tv, my friends and also people I used to see around. Being here in this village I won’t say was perfect but it was really unbelievable. Because it has taught me that little things can make you happy, not caring about what other people think about you will make you a totally different person and for me that is called a big change in life and I know I won’t be able to experience this again. But still I am going to try my best to make something like this happen in my life or in somebody else’s life who may think that something like this does not exist. There is a world where you can be somebody else. Without worrying about what one thinks of you. I really love GP and will love for them to continue on doing this. And I also wish for me not to forget about what I have learned here.
Natalia
I cannot believe I have less than a week left in Nicaragua. This past weekend we went to La Isla de Ometepe and it was beautiful. It was awesome to see the two volcanoes and swim once again in the huge lake of Nicaragua. The island was definitely one of the most beautiful pieces of nature I have ever seen. I also went on a kayak on the lake and it was fun to get away and enjoy the silence that was brought by the water and the nature surrounding it. Late Monday night my host grandfather’s mother died. It was terribly sad to go to the funeral and see basically everyone from the community crying with so much grief. I did not like to see a community that on any other day would be full of life be so full of pain. I was glad I was there to support my family and cry with them. I don’t want this experience to end it has definitely been life changing. Nicaragua will always be in my heart for it is full of precious life and unforgettable moments.
Nayum
I think this is it now I have short amount of time in Nicaragua, in El Hatillo. This week I and other GP members had fun in La Isla de Ometepe where we stayed over night in a beach hotel, and the next morning we all had breakfast and I am the one who ate most of the food. Well at least we all had fun, however when we all got home in El Hatillo we found that our host family is sad because we have only less than a week in Nicaragua. This is the sad part because I had also become sad, but life is continue on and I am satisfy with all the support that I got from my family members here and the experiential trip I had so far over here.
Samy Enecia
He tenido una tremenda experiencia con GP en el hatillo de Nicaragua e aprendido una nueva cultura un nuevo país nuevas personas interesantes con un sentimiento puro que a ayudado a abrir mis ojos para entender cosas que pasan en el mundo y como debemos superarlas.
Aprendí cosa que creo que me ayudaran a seguir asía adelante sin miedo a lo que venga.
Mi experiencia con mi nueva familia aquí fue tremenda nunca pese que viviría con unas paras de familia tan jóvenes que pudiera platicar con ellos y ganar confianza aquí con ellos son unas tremenda personas una pareja joven que piensa en el futuro.
Salir de mi país republica dominicana sin conocer a ningunos de los jóvenes del programa pensé que seria difícil involucrarme con ellos, pero fue lo contrario nos tratamos como si nos conociéramos desde hace anos es muy bonito y dinámico.
Agradezco a Dios luego GP por darme esa tremenda experiencia de conocer y aprender a vivir como viven aquí y adaptarme a este sistema nuevo.
Como ya saben ya hemos triunfado.
La victoria logramos. Dios les bendiga abrazos.
Daniel Alejandro Martínez
It is unbelievable to realize that this is my last blog from Nicaragua, and that this experience has almost come to its end. The time runs fast, and it is time to say good bye to those that I have learned to appreciate. Only six days remain until our departure.
This week I started working with Samy on a documentary about secondary education for the people of El Hatillo. Many of them desist going to school because they don’t have a secondary school in the community. They have to walk more than 4 kilometers to get to the nearest school. Also many don’t count with the enough resources, money and support from their parents to continue. So they decide to work and marry at young age instead of following a professional path.
I have been interviewing people and recorded many shots in the primary school. Today I went to the community of El Molino, accompanied along the way with some secondary school students. We walked through the rain on the muddy and rough road to the school. I recorded them making their effort to get quick to El Molino and hide from the heavy rain. I have put so much effort and work on this documentary. I hope to be successful with it and show the world the difficulties that these people have to face to finish their education.
All the moments that I have lived in Nicaragua, with all the people that I have met, all the work that I have done to improve these people’s lives, it has been a blessing for me. I have learned so much out of it. My thoughts about an ideal society have been clarified, and this has helped me to build up my way of thinking. It has been great to experience the happiness in this society, with few resources and technologies. This has taught me not to be so dependent on technology and to live along with simple things of the nature, valuating everything that I have—especially my family.
I want to thank all my comrades from GP and the staff and the program itself for this life changing experience. I know that this will change my life, and that I will use the values of solidarity, respect, commitment and love for the others, to be a valuable leader in the future.
Although that I don’t want to leave the Hatillo and its people. I am aware of the responsibilities waiting for me back home, and the commitment with my future studies and preparation. I am satisfied, that I gave the most of me here to the people, and that I learned from them and to helped them. I have reached the victory by accomplishing my mission here, from the personal perspective to the one in the program. I will miss so much those left behind, but I will comfort myself by knowing that I have been an inspiration for them, and that they will remember me and miss me as much as I will.
La Victoria se hace ala constancia.
The joy of the man should be based on caring of the others, and living in peace with the nature surrounding him. Learning from his experiences, and finding comfort, living in with simple things, knowing how to take advantage and care of the resources in his society.
Ilsa Bruer
Final Blog Post
“In the end? Nothing ends…Nothing ever ends.” Junot Diaz
These are the closing words of the novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and as my days in Hatillo are waning they ring ever true, and I find comfort in them. I could sit and espouse the magnitude of this experience with superlatives and stories interminably, however that is not my aim as I sit to write. I write because my heart is filled with gratitude and sadness simultaneously; gratitude for all I have been given and sadness because the days I have remaining here are few and I know I must return to a life that awaits me in Boston.
The sense of gratitude I feel is for the opportunity to temporarily eschew the stress and worries of a frenetic urban life for the calm, bucolic life of El Hatillo. A place that for the last five weeks has been my home, and the people of the community have done everything they could to insure I, and the GP youth, feel and understand that we are truly a part of their families. Living here has inspired the evaluation of my priorities, reminded me about what I can live without, and given me a greater appreciation for simpler things in life. I have been humbled and reminded to be grateful for that which I have, not resentful for that which I desire.
I am sad because I know that I will not only miss the community, but all of the nuances that bring it to life. Contrary to popular belief, I anticipate missing the early morning crow of the roosters, the mud that always seems to be stuck to my shoes, washing my clothes in the river, cold showers, and barking dogs. I know I will miss jugo de pitayah, freshly made tortillas, “Buenas”, rain storms, front doors that are always open, the bus ride to Sebaco, and yes probably even gallo pinto. However, I know with certainty that what I will miss the most will be the eight youth whom I have come to know and love as if they were my own little brothers and sisters. On the fourth of July our journey commenced, most of us as total strangers, and shortly it will conclude, all of us bonded, not unlike a family. I am enormously proud of the growth each of the youth has shown, and of all of the hard work and effort each of them has poured into this community. I have come to enjoy our morning meetings (even if all the youth dread them), to appreciate our time working together, but mostly I love the fact that we all now share an unmatchable bond. This is why this journey will never end.
We may not be in Nicaragua forever as our group will dissolve and we will all return to our respective lives, however, this trip never ends because I know it will forever live in our pictures, our stories, our inside jokes, every moment we shared and in our hearts. And so I find comfort in reminding myself that “nothing ever ends”.