Today was our last day in Chacraseca in preparation for leaving to go to Managua, then back to the U.S. We awoke with the usual routine of making instant coffee and heading over to breakfast with the lovely ladies who have fed us all week. Today, we had to eat quickly because we had a test skype call with Holland Hall to be sure that the connection was up and running for our skype with Lucy Claire's second grade class. After a few attempts, we had a clear connection with Mr. Christian, the librarian. We had a community meeting that was supposed to begin at 9:00, and we had a little time to wait before it began, so we decided to spend some time walking through the "Bosque de Meditacion" (meditation forest) next to the Peace House. When they first built the Peace House, it was intended as a spiritual retreat center, and the meditation forest has beautifully painted stations of the cross built into stone shelters around the forest. After walking through the stations, we were called over to the gazebo in the center of the area where three little girls, Diana, Naomi, and Samantha, were calling us over to play. We obliged and pretended that the girls were preparing a fiesta and getting lots of food ready to eat. Boxes from the school supplies we packed a few days earlier were the cooking pots. Leaves and fragments of a napkin we had used to share bread with the girls earlier were the food. The girls had found some empty fanta and pepsi bottles that were our drinks. We laughed and shared the pretend meal together! That was a fun interlude before heading over to our meeting.
Leslie had arranged the community meeting with the "Pastoral Committee," the group of community leaders selected in an at-large election from among the leaders of each of the 12 sectors of Chacraseca. The committee usually meets every Tuesday, but this week had not planned to meet due to the new year. We were thankful that almost all of the members (6 of the 7) were able to come and talk with us, including Marta, who came by horse (it took her an hour). While the meeting was set to start at 9:00 at Leslie's apartment, most of those attending were not there at that time. We gathered to sit down around 9:25 with the people who had arrived, and we began by apologizing that one of us would need to step out in a minute since we were expecting the skype call from Lucy Claire's class. We decided to begin the meeting with introductions, but like most meetings, no one wanted to go first. We spent several minutes with one person nominating another to go first and then then a "you go" - "no, you go" debate. We deliberated for a minute before agreeing that Tommy should be the first to speak since he would need to step out for the phone call. We had decided that Tommy would be in charge of the skype and Mindy would stay with the meeting.
The moment Tommy began telling everyone his name, the phone rang. On th e spot, everyone said we should just stay in the meeting and do the conversation with all of our Nicaraguan friends rather than Tommy stepping outside. So, everyone spontaneously agreed to help us with our conversation. We began the call by giving a very brief overview of what we had been doing in Chacraseca in second grade language, then we turned it over to the students for questions. Lucy Claire started by asking, "Is there a war going on there?" You can count on our kid to ask the heavy/serious questions. We explained that it is very peaceful now, but there have been lots of wars in the past that are important to understand because they have shaped the way things are now. Other kids asked less intense questions, like "What kind of houses do they have there?" "Do they have snakes?" and "What is the food like?" We were happy to have a room full of local experts to help us with the conversation. One funny moment was when we discussed the weather. Someone asked: "What's the weather like there in Nicaragua today?" Everyone including us said "Caliente!" (Hot!) and laughed. Then we asked the class, "What's the weather like in Tulsa today?" All at once, the second grade said "Frio!" (Cold!) and we all laughed together. The conversation was a meaningful way to connect our experiences here to our life back home.
The meeting with the committee began right after we hung up from the skype conversation. We began with nice, long introductions of each person. Nimia started. She is the boisterous woman who taught us how to cook and who has provided most of the meals we have eaten here along with the other wonderful ladies who have been cooking. She is also on the church committee and led the singing in the church service the other day. After her was Juan Enrique, one of the sector leaders who has worked on the pastoral committee for 15 years. He said that despite all the time and effort people voluntarily give for their work on the committee, some people in the community say, "They do nothing." He said that most of the work of the committee is work that people don't see, like meeting together to decide on priorities and completing all the paperwork needed to stay organized. We paused here to talk about all of the important invisible labor that we share - the crazy idea that ministers only work on Sundays or teachers only work when in front of a class, that JustHope only works while building a house or hosting a summit, not to mention the hard work of family and community life or the deliberative process of building sustainable intercultural relationships. We all connected around the recognition that the very visible work we all do across our various contexts is the fruit of much invisible labor.
Next was Jasmine, a woman who works at home raising her kids but also is a part of the "Stitching Hope" sewing group. After her was Horacio, a kind and gentle man whose comments toward us and toward the gringo groups who come to help the community were very gracious. Next was Franklin, another community leader whom Mindy met when he came to Tulsa for a JustHope fundraiser. Elba and Julio were next in the circle, and while they are both deeply involved in the work of the committee, they are doing so as JustHope staff members rather than voting members of the committee. It was neat to see Julio describe the birth of JustHope from his perspective and particularly powerful when he said: "We (he and Leslie, but also Nicaraguans and US-Americans) did it together!" Lesile followed up by talking about how great it has been over the 15 years she has been coming to Chacraseca. She said that that she fell in love with the place after seeking for a model base community and started working to build partnerships. She said that although they have not always been in love with each other, they have always stayed at the table together to move forward in partnership. Nimia responded by saying, "That's a good love." Then, Marta, the woman who arrived by horse from one of the farthest sectors from the Peace House spoke about her experience. We ended the introductions by giving a brief history of our interest in partnerships from Peace Corps to teaching to learning about JustHope in Tulsa.
The first few items on the agenda were the regular business of the committee. It was very interesting to listen in to the committee discuss current projects and plans for the upcoming summit in which representatives from North American NGOs and churches working in Chacraseca will meet with the committee and local governmental officials. This part of the meeting lasted probably about one hour or more, and it was great to hear the committee discuss and come to consensus about ideas. For example, one item of business dealt with a leadership trainer who has been coming to the community to help the committee on their regular Tuesday meetings. There seemed to be some discontent that this trainer has not been there as consistently as they would like, and that he seems to want to teach his lesson, then leave as soon as possible. They all agreed that it would be better if he were there more frequently and could show more investment by staying for longer when he does come, since it would help the people learn and process his lessons better by having longer and better discussions afterwards. So, to address these concerns, they came to an agreement that they would renegotiate his contract to allow him only to be paid his stipend for the meetings he actually attends, rather than getting a lump monthly sum regardless of his presence.
After their business was finished, we were the next item on the agenda. This was our chance to ask questions and to get input from them about the ways we can work together to help groups who come to Nicaragua through JustHope better prepare to be in mutual partnership with the community through the curriculum we are writing. We began by thanking them for letting us listen in to their discussion of the business items they had been discussing, since it would help us think about the ideas we are developing for the curriculum. For example, when they said they wanted the trainer to be more fully present with them, we said we want groups who come to the community, whether it is just one time or over and over again, to be able to be more fully present to the people here. So, we asked them, what do you want people to know or be thinking about as they prepare to come here whether once or many times? Horacio spoke first and said, to him, it is very sad when a group comes but only comes once. That communicates to him that although he is thankful for the work they did, they didn't fall in love with the community. We suppose he has so many examples of people who have stayed in relationship with Chacraseca over the long term that people who don't come more than once may feel like an exception rather than the rule. Marta followed up by saying she thought it may be that groups just don't have the money to come back more than once, since it is a very long and expensive trip. Elba said that when groups come to Chacraseca, she wants them to learn a different experience of life. She has been to the United States and did not like the way people stayed in their homes, did not know their neighbors, and were not organized into communities based on where they live. Rather, people in the U.S. find community by going places outside their home like their place of work or their church. Living in a community like Chacraseca that is organized and where people know each other and depend on each other is in Elba's view an improvement over what she saw as a busy and lonely lifestyle in the U.S., and she hoped that people coming here could really experience that.
Then we came to a time where we asked a tough question. Are there times when we just don't get it? When have they found themselves frustrated or confounded by gringos not understanding what is going on in their community or their culture? (This is Mindy's area of special interest in her research, as it is the topic of her book Misunderstanding Stories). Juan Enrique began by saying that some gringos just don't understand agriculture, and this causes some real gaps of understanding. Tommy responded that most gringos think food comes from the supermarket and don't put a lot of thought into the work of farming because they don't have to. (A whole area of common concern that we didn't discuss, but that we observed both in the U.S. and Nicaragua is the influence of agri-business and transnational free trade zones.) Horacio said that a group who came to visit one time was surprised by the experience of seeing a hen lay an egg, but that he was even more surprised when the people did not want to eat the egg. We said we think maybe some gringo groups are scared to eat food because they think they might get sick, but we think groups need to commit to eating together with the community when they come because eating together is such an intimate experience. Leslie said that one experience she has had is that Nicaraguans often wait to be invited to speak, while North Americans tend to compete for speaking time and to talk a lot. She has had some groups come to Nicaragua and leave asking, Why didn't the Nicaraguans say anything? This led to one of the more entertaining discoveries we all had in the meeting, where Julio explained that it is poor etiquette in Nicaraguan culture to talk when eating. This was something Leslie, who has been visiting Nicaragua for the better part of the past 15 years, did not know. Of course, eating is one of the MAIN times that North Americans talk with one another, so for all this time, Leslie has been carrying on conversations with her Nicaraguan partners over meals and not realizing that they found the experience awkward, since it was bad manners in their culture to talk while eating.
Franklin continued with a new thread of this discussion saying that he enjoyed praying in a different way than is typical for Nicaraguans. For groups from the U.S., it is typical to pray together as a group, but in Nicaragua, it is more common to pray individually at their beds after saying goodnight.
Leslie then asked about gringos taking pictures. Are people okay with taking so many pictures? There was a unanimous response that it is not a problem at all - that, in fact, people feel important or included if they are taken into account and literally taken to another country by being part of a photograph. Sometimes they may not want to be in it if they are not dressed well, and often they would like a hard copy of the picture, but in general, they are very used to having gringos take lots of pictures and do not mind it at all.
Then came one of the most important parts of our discussion. Sometimes, Leslie said, gringos say something in such a way that it comes across as a promise to do something when they were only brainstorming or imagining that something might be possible. This has caused a lot of misunderstanding, broken trust, and hurt feelings as gringos do not follow through with something that was perceived as a promise. Mindy remembered a time in college when someone said "see you later" to an international student who then waited the rest of the day for the group to reconvene. Language is such an important site of connection and misunderstanding! The committee members suggested using the phrase, "If it is possible..." to refer to ideas and before anything not intended to be a secure promise to do something. This was very helpful for medical teams or people doing many kinds of projects so they can avoid making unintended promises.
Another very important side of this discussion dealt with when individuals in the local community ask gringos for help with individual needs. Instead of telling them that you will help, the committee advised that gringos should advise people to talk to their local sector leaders who will bring their concern to the pastoral committee. This allows the whole community of Chacraseca to work in a transparent way to prioritize needs and to come to some agreement about how to use the limited resources of funding, time, and human capital of gringo volunteers in a way that best serves the needs of the whole community. Frequently, well-intentioned individuals may desire to do something individually to help a single family in the community. The committee stressed that this erodes trust, creates jealousy, and undermines the authority the committee has to discuss and address the community's needs in an appropriate way. The committee reminded us again that this partnership is a way to utilize and learn about one of the greatest assets the community has, which is its high-functioning level of organization.
When it was time for one more question, Mindy mentioned the very broad idea that we'd want to dream together as partners, even on the curriculum. Tommy helped make this more concrete by asking if people would read and critique an early draft of the curriculum.
All in all, the meeting was very enlightening and special, as we benefitted from being included into a strong and vibrant network of local and international relationships that would take us years to create alone. In reflection, starting the meeting with a collaborative skype better mirrored our desire for partnership than if we had divided responsibilities and done a meeting and skype simultaneously.
We all proceeded to a shared lunch, where we kept laughing because we were trying not to speak. It was then clarified that to be respectful one can speak, but just not carry on big conversations while eating. As we were saying goodbye, we also tried to enact what we had just learned by Mindy saying "Hasta Pronto!" (See you soon!) as a promise when she returns with Doctor of Ministry students this summer and Tommy qualifying this by adding "Si es posible" (If it is possible, I'll see you again.). On our way to the Peace House to collect our belongings, we saw the medical student who had just arrived for a three week rotation, and were able to share a brief version of what we had learned. The taxi arrived, we loaded up, and off we went.
It was interesting to return to Managua in the day light, since we had initially arrived after dark (daylight was generally from 6am-5:45pm this time of year). We took note of the kinds of housing along the way, the kids of vehicles on the road, beautiful views of volcanos and Lake Managua, miles of factories in the free trade zone, and the bustling of city life the closer we got into the city center. Leslie and the taxi driver Dennis pointed out historic landmarks along the way.
We arrived at the Best Western, a very nice hotel (similar to the Torarica in Suriname) at the airport, literally directly across the street from the airport. Leslie likes to bring groups here their last night both to be at the airport in advance of early morning flights and also to transition back to home. Rooms fanned out in sun ray-like hallways all lit by long skylights. Rooms were very nice with dark wood paneling ceilings, hot water, and air conditioning. We shared a lovely dinner with Leslie at the hotel restaurant. After a good night's sleep, we enjoyed the hotel's amazing buffet catering to Nicaraguans and international visitors with "Gallo Pinto" (traditional rice and beans dish) right next to croissants and an omelette bar. We walked across the street, checked in, and found ourselves on our way home. For some reason, we were booked first class on the return flights today, continuing a luxurious ending to a week living with a community poor in material wealth yet rich in communal strength and spirit. We have had a good chance to begin to debrief all we have learned in this new year. This blog has helped us keep a real time record, especially since we well know the pace of life that awaits with our Tulsa life. Thank you for reading and receiving these reflections!
Mindy and Tommy
January 8, 2014
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