I am a little thankful I have graduated preschool today so 1) I could sleep a little and stay home to watch the baby while Jenifer took the older two to Gotitas (I have gotten a little more acostumbrada, accustomed, to playing with babies on this trip!), and 2) I, along with the other St. Lukers, get to play with the kids today instead of getting schooled. Our task for today is to entertain the kids of Gotitas with engaging and constructive activities and simultaneously learn about the work this school is doing in its at-risk neighborhood.
Jennifer always comes with a new gorgeous braid that her host mama did for her - Luci is admiring today's version!
We drove to Gotitas de Esperanza, "Drops of Hope," the preschool and daycare in the Carlos Nuñez community, and as Meredith went in to make sure things were ready for us, a group of kids stood at the door staring at our group of gringos while we waited in the bus for a few minutes. We began our day with some background on Gotitas, the center of care and protection for kids one to five years old that was itself born four years ago.
Here, left to right, are Don Martín, a community leader; Deysi, one of the PML board members; Meredith, our coordinator; Francisco, Meredith's delegation assistant; Jessica, Paul's host mom and my host tía, aunt; and Jessica's son Derek, as Don Martín spoke to us about the center.
We learned Gotitas focuses especially on high-risk kids, high-risk on the streets and in their homes. There are 37 kids and 28 families at this time, and they want to have the center full of kids and work with a lot of families, but there are strict requirements to be part of the program. Gotitas is supported by an NGO, non-governmental organization, which helps hold trainings on family skills as well, and the center is very community-run and community-driven. For example, Joy's host mom is a nutritionist here, and many of the teachers are moms from the community with their children here.
This was actually built because women in the community were recognizing the need for communal childcare support, especially for at-risk kids, and many started running programs and caring for community kids in their own homes. They realized it is important to have strong community education, giving kids opportunities to learn and keeping them out of trouble. Now the moms who work here are given a small symbolic payment. They usually have their kids here, and they are not profesoras, but they are trained by the NGO that also has a network of supervisors and teachers that go around and teach at the different schools in that network.
This community center strives to provide structure for the kids as well as educate their parents on the importance of that kind of structure. Gotitas provides breakfast, lunch, and two snacks throughout the day and they also get the kids accustomed to napping in the afternoon. It is not traditional for kids to nap, but the latest trends are encouraging it, and it is important to get that knowledge to less well-off communities as well. My host mama herself testifies to how important of a resource Gotitas is for her family, especially as for just 30 Cordobas a month (which comes out to about $1.40) the kids get all of those meals, families receive that daycare and education, and the center pays for a person to guard the center at night.
Gotitas' next goal is to have a safe place for kids to recrearse, play, outside, so they want to build a wall so kids from Gotitas can run outside to play but still be within the safe limits of the center. They also hope to keep working with the NGO to fund more educational programs here.
Now for the fun part! This teacher, one of the moms, gets the kids ready with some handwashing. Diddier, my oldest host brother, is the one in the white shirt.
Jennifer, Laurie, and Cody leading a circle game.
Leif, Chris, and Paul got the other group of big kids playing a game we learned in the neighborhood where you walk or around in the circle until a moderator gives a signal to freeze, and then the first kid to move is out and the circle gets smaller until there is a winner! As the circle kept shrinking though, they had to think of ways to keep the other kids excited about it too.
Kira hanging out with Don and the other girls with the littlest kids.
Joy and Don hanging out.
Luci and the new girl on her first day at Gotitas!
Meredith joins the group in the middle room, and with a stern voice she was able to regain control of a classroom that was getting a bit out of hand with kids running crazily everywhere if they did not feel like participating.
After a couple games, St. Lukers kept improvising and found London Bridge to be a good one to keep everyone moving and having fun.
I moved around from room to room with my camera, and we eventually got all the kids into the main room for some curriculum-based exercises for things like balance, focus, counting, etc. Kids saw me snapping pictures and posed for me, and a few grabbed at my camera to see, and a couple I even let take some photos with it. I am fortunate my camera is pretty hardy, and small children fingerprints can always be washed off the screen. I made that call to show a couple of the older kids who I had observed as more responsible, and we were all pretty entertained!
We were all amazed by the blond ringlets on the boy to the left, and further amazed to learn that he was one of the hair pulling masterminds in the bunch.
I think Joy bonded pretty well with this girl, she's pretty adorable too!
Seriously, the women who do this every day are amazing. They have to deal with hair pulling contests, physical force, kids wetting themselves, and toddlers crying every two seconds. Ay! We had some serious group reflection time following this experience, and I think the main thing we were amazed about was the cultural difference in terms of the concept of discipline. If you use a calmer, softer tone here, kids will not take you seriously. When trying to get a group of rambunctious four to five year-olds to stop running around the room to listen to directions and play whatever game you think they will enjoy, apparently a firmer tone is needed. Another thing we found hard was because we were a temporary presence, we did not know any of the kids' names, which made it all the more difficult if you wanted to call one out on something.
Physicality, listening, and taking others' things plays out differently than what we are used to, simply because there are differences in cultural practices and boundaries in terms of space and respect. The teachers on our program, Paul and Jennifer, definitely had some gears turning in their heads as they took in this classroom experience, and Laurie as a medical professional noted current research on the psychological effects of corporal punishment that is enacted often here. Studies have shown corporal punishment can lead to more anxiety and depression when kids get older, and the results are cross-cultural (Writer's note: I have seen how this plays out in person and make my judgement based on my experiences. This is a controversial parenting topic and I suggest you do your own research and draw your own conclusions). What was hard for her was wondering about how well that information is disseminated at this socio-economic status, especially what kids learn at home. Here it is evident that you cannot force a different type of discipline than what kids have at home, and you cannot just put a kid in "timeout" because that concept simply does not exist here. Here is where we see how Gotitas is trying to provide structure for kids to learn to follow directions, have better manners, share, respect each other, etc., and how important it is for schools and families to work together to provide the best opportunities for these children.
For me, it made me come back to issues our own country is facing with our education system and fighting for social inclusion of lower socio-economic classes. This is why after-school programs and community involvement are so crucial, why kids in our own communities need constructive time while poorer parents are working, and social programs really are for the benefit of all. The political questions of course are who is going to provide those resources and who is going to run those programs, but I am all the more grateful to those who do this for a living, in Nicaragua, and at home. A few of my friends who have also just graduated are taking a year or two before grad school, or perhaps dedicating their lives, to serving and teaching at-risk youth, and I hope they will keep finding the drive within themselves to understand their students' circumstances and be positive, encouraging forces when they need it.
Paul and I had to slip out of the group reflection time because Jessica had said she would pick us up at Gotitas at 11:40 instead of noon so we would have enough time to eat at home, but we actually ended up waiting for a while outside, talking to Deysi about the importance of socialization for children. She gets it. Anyways, my host mama instead came for us at 12:20 and brought us home for tortillas, chicken nuggets, chicken-flavored rice, gallo pinto, te de limón (lemon tea), and a tomato-cabbage salad. We had a few minutes to chill and talk as the community moved around us. We would see a few vehicles here and there, but mostly bicycles or people on foot. Jenifer commented that transportation is very difficult here because the bus is cheap and convenient, until it's not convenient. Rutas, routes, come less often on weekends and they are less dependable, and on weekdays they stop at 7 pm. If you want or need to go out at night, you'd best have money for a cab, but they are even more expensive at night. This is another prime factor in why the neighborhood is so tight-knit, as many families get to know the folks who are close, socialize with them, and feel safe.
We then wandered back out of our dynamic house on the corner to Don Martin's house so we could go to the central market! Before we would be set loose to do our own shopping though, we split into teams and were given a scavenger hunt. We were charged to find items such as "a fruit we have never seen before" and ask the stall owner what it is and how to eat it. My teammates were Don and Laurie, and together we were "Gotitas de Awesome," Little Drops of Awesome. My favorite part was talking to a little old woman in probably her eighties who was selling wooden spoons and ceramics. She told us she is here at her stall seven days a week. But she is sick, something with her heart, but she looks forward to her sister, who lives in Germany, visiting her in February. She still told us not to worry about her and bid us "Que les vaya bien" - well wishes.
As I have mentioned in prior posts, I usually refrain from taking photos in markets because it is people's livelihoods, even though they are one of my favorite things in foreign places because they are so dynamic and show the spirit of the people. So I unfortunately do not have pictures of the market or workers, but I rather did like the brilliance of these lovely tiny chilis!
Once we completed our scavenger hunt, we were set free to roam and shop until a designated time. I had my eyes on a caramelo, a small fudge square, that I wanted to try, and when I looked up from my purchase, only Meredith was there! Whoops. Marketplaces are generally not good places to get lost in general or lost from your people. But Meredith called Francisco who was with Paul and Chris to find good hammocks, and as I was hoping to find and fall in love with a hammock too, we found them and I tagged along with the hamaca crew. Paul had already found one he liked, but he wanted to check out another place to see about their selection and prices. We went back and forth a couple times, but we both ended up feeling successful! One place we went I promised I would be back after I had seen what the other had to offer, and when we went back to the first place, they promptly lowered the price for me. Good bargaining tactic if anyone is interested. It is woven, sturdy, and beautiful blue, and I got a decent price so I am pleased. Chris also wanted shoes, and after a few styles of not exactly what he wanted, he ended up with a sweet pair of real, yes real, Nikes for a steal!
Purchases in hand, we all boarded the microbus after all the sheep made it to our designated meeting point. We were to head back to Gotitas for a special "Noche Cultural," Cultural Night, which was supposed to start at 5 but didn't until about 5:40, and the crowd swelled as the night went on. The main act was a dance troupe from Nagarote, the birthplace of the quesillo and our stopping point between Managua and León on our second day. PML paid for their transport, and they came to perform a number of traditional folk dance routines for us, sandwiching a few by the local artist collective Xuchialt in the middle.
I sat next to Leif's host sister, Katya, who is nine, awesome, smart, and down-to-earth, and she took an interest in my camera. She said her family does not own one, but when I gave her my camera to try out a few shots, I discovered she had a pretty good eye! We put it on sports mode and took turns taking pictures of the dances throughout the night, which got trickier as the natural light faded, but it was fun to bring a new photographer on board and I encouraged her to keep taking pictures if she can.
The dances themselves all invoked cultural themes from white representing pureza, purity, to a dance about the quesillo, to a dance to one of Nicaragua's most well-known folk songs, "Hijos del Maiz," "Children of Corn." What is more fundamental to Nica society than corn? "Hijos del Maiz" rattles off a whole list of traditional foods and beverages made with corn in Nicaragua, in addition to its place in everyday life. We even got to hear that song twice that night with two different versions of dance! If you have a hankering to learn some Nicaraguan folk dance, I found a YouTube video of the song here: Hijos_del_Maiz, and lyrics here: Lyrics.
Here are a few pictures from the night:
Following the dancers, Xuchialt had two of their musicians sing and play guitar for us..
...and then Marlon, leader of Xuchialt played and sang for us, and after his first song he called up our own Francisco (who had been an inspiring MC the whole night) to do an impromptu duet!
The final act of the night came from Lenon, our lead painting instructor, one of the calmest and most chill guys there is, and he just walked out there and started swinging fire around! We were all pretty amazed.
Lights out, and Lenon came alive!
Xuchialt concluded the night with some Pitbull music as we helped move chairs and take down the set, and Diddier took my hand on the way home. He still felt like walking silly and goofing off, to which I responded with a reminder that if he wanted to play monitos and be a crazy monkey on my back later, he may want to walk like a human en la calle, on the street, for now until we got home.
Since Noche Cultural had gotten off to a late start, the boys were starving when we got home, so Jeni dropped me off and took the older two to get muñuelos for a snack. She got one for me to try too - it is kind of a ball of fried masa, corn flour, with air bubbles and covered in honey - that is the best I can explain it! Basically because it was covered in honey, I was going to like it. While Jenifer cooked, I played monitos with the boys and also managed to get them to focus on their pastelina, silly putty, and she came up with frijoles y crema, beans and sour cream that is not sour, and fried plantains. Satisfying as always.
Jenifer loved seeing the photos of her boys from our morning at Gotitas, and we got to talking about how that center has impacted her life. When her firstborn Diddier was two months to a year, she brought him to her university classes every single day. Imagine trying to learn in class with a baby by your side. After that, Jenifer was able to bring him to daycare at one of the moms' houses before Gotitas became a center with a physical space. She trusted that woman because that woman had also taken care of Jenifer when she was young! Not long after, Gotitas was built and it is awesome for her and her family. There is apparently another place closer that purports to have a similar mission, but she has heard that they "descuidar niños," neglect children. Jenifer said she loves Gotitas and the only thing it is missing is that wall for it to have a safe courtyard outside.
Having a resource like Gotitas has made a difference for her education as well, especially since as soon as her youngest turns one year old, she can also enroll him there and she will be able to finish her final year of university to become a lawyer. She said she really wants to learn English as well, and she did start taking a course a while back, but it was on Sundays and sometimes she could not find anyone to watch the boys... And the maestra moved so fast that it was nearly impossible to catch up after she missed a week. What is hard for her is the pronunciation, which I can definitely understand because unlike in Spanish where there are set rules and patterns of pronunciation for vowels and consonants, in English you can not necessarily look at a word and know how to pronounce it. Improving her English is another of her aspirations that Gotitas will make easier, and she even hopes to enroll her kids in some English classes because they are bien inteligentes, very smart, and they just need more ways to learn and fill their brains. My brains were wracked today to think quickly on my feet at Gotitas, but my spirit has been filled with reflections and rewarding quality time, and our bodies were ready for rest.
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