I know Denise and I were busy, busy, busy in Nicaragua! Now that I'm back and have sort of caught my breath, I have some time to write a bit about the trip.
My primary goal while in Nicaragua was to show the workers at the library how to use LibraryThing.com and begin inputting the books in their collection. I got a good start on the book collection while I was experimenting to see what issues might come up.
I also created a PowerPoint to introduce the basic features of LibraryThing. This was used for a brief presentation at the ANIBIPA gathering which I was unable to attend. The PowerPoint will probably also be helpful as a reminder for the library workers as they continue. Another guide on 'troubleshooting' in LibraryThing would also be useful.
That may not sound like too much work, but it was plenty! Quite labor-intensive. Otherwise, I went on the mobile library a couple times, made a lot of great contacts, and even got to enjoy a bit of the laid back Nicaraguan lifestyle!
A quick introduction: My name is Lydia Pittman (GSLIS '97) and I'm the Head of Tech Services at Lasell, a small college in Newton, MA. I'm here in San Juan Del Sur for the first time, getting acquainted and solidifying plans to bring a student volunteer group back here, hopefully in March '08. My friend and colleague Stephanie came along for the adventure, and so far we are delighted by the hospitality and friendliness of everyone we've encountered.
Today was my first Biblioteca Movil experience, and I'm amazed by what a well-oiled machine these folks are running! The young students at the schools also impressed me, as they were so well behaved and polite. Vicente, Heidi, and the other Bibloteca employees efficiently bring out the boxes of books and the portable circulation system, and children at each school line up to return books and select others, making their selections very carefully and then patiently waiting in line.
I loved watching the children peruse the book bins, taking quite a while to examine all of the choices before picking that one special book. Clifford the big red dog, by the way, is a huge hit.
The first day in San Juan del Sur! And in the library!! I can’t believe how much has changed. It doesn’t feel like so long ago that I was here, but in fact it has been a year and a half. Riccardo who drove us into San Juan Tuesday evening showed us some of the major changes. They now have a Bancentro right in the middle of town, and it sounds like a lot of people have been buying property in town. I’ll walk around the town in a little bit to check things out.
San Juan is only a 3 hour drive from Managua; so why didn’t we arrive until 24 hours after we landed? I will assure you we were not on the road the whole time! In fact Denise and I had a relaxing evening and morning before our lunch meeting with some members of ANIBIPA, the Nicaraguan equivalent of the American Library Association. Though Jane had business to take care of in Rivas, close to San Juan, early in the morning she planned return to Managua just for lunch. Since Denise knew one of the women, it didn’t make sense for Jane to come all the way back, so Denise and I met with the librarians to plan a mini-conference. Riccardo arrived to pick us up as we were closing down the restaurant and after stopping to pick up an order of shirts, we were on our way to (at last) to San Juan!
Later that day:
There are more guards around now than there were before. That is the main change I noticed in Managua since I hadn’t spent much time there. There was even a guard near one of the larger hostels downtown. I haven’t noticed if there is a connection between the places that have guards.
The past eight weeks in Nicaragua have been a whirlwind of incredible experiences and events. I have come to love the Nica culture and the town of San Juan del Sur. I’ve experienced a lot of firsts here in San Juan. First, time in a Spanish speaking country, first time surfing (not a successful venture), and first time seeing a volcano. There are many others, but I think I will hit a few highlights of the past eight weeks.
A day of Manualidades in Managua
Save the Children is an international organization dedicated to protecting and promoting the rights of children all over the world. Save the Children Noruega has a documentation center in Managua (http://www.cedocsavethechildren.org.ni) that houses information on human rights and rights of children and adolescents. It also provides information on atrocities and conflicts that have greatly affected children. On the 29th of June, I attended a conference of 33 librarians from 19 different libraries in Nicaragua. After some Nicaraguan dances and some comedy sketches, our very own Haidy and Ruth took over and taught this group some very elaborate crafts. They taught them everything from elaborate gift cards to flower shaped boxes made out of foam. It was fun to watch even the old men get excited about the crafts.
Libraries take many forms
I have been traveling with the mobile project Tuesdays through Thursdays on their regular visits to 27 schools. It’s still fun to watch the kids crowd around the bins of books. One of my favorite moments, however was when the library truck could not make it up the hill to the school. Instead, two of the librarians walked up the hill to the school, gathered the children with their books and brought them back to the stand we had set up on the side of the dirt road. This time we did crafts from the back of the truck and the kids looked at books while a herd of cattle passed by. To me, it was the genuine form of bringing library services to all and it brought me back to when I would sell lemonade on the side of the road.
Library in La Libertad
La Libertad is a village of approximately 100 people in the mountains only accessible by horseback or motorcycle. With some people from the water project, I mounted a horse for the first time in many years and set off for La Libertad. As we rode through the mountains I again realized that I am in one of the most beautiful places in the world. All around us we could see green mountains and valleys and in the distance was Conception, an active volcano on the island of Ometepe. When we reached the village the children followed us into the school and stared at us expectantly. When I asked if they liked football, suddenly the kids were grabbing goals and the ball. The assigned all the girls to one team which was a mistake because they were good. After I kicked a ball around with them for awhile, some of the kids took me to the library. Housed in the home of one of the woman in the town this small library reminded me of my first day of my public libraries class where we talked about a library in New Hampshire. One woman in the town would carry five books form house to house and exchange the books that were there. Just like this, La Libertad has no policies or formalities. Everybody knows everybody and which books everybody has at a give time. No need for an automated system or even library cards there. Just a love of books!
On Thursday, after a well-timed dose of antibiotics improved my health situation a bit, I took the opportunity to visit Rosa Aguilar, the current president of the Nicaraguan national library association, at her office in Managua. I was interested both in seeing her library and in interviewing her for the video project.
There is no classification system for books. Instead they are arranged on the shelves by broad category (Engineering, Environment, Urban Planning, etc.) and then within the categories by accession numbers. Rosa said this system was adopted from one being used in Cuba when the library was first started. The library has a searchable electronic catalog (baso de dato) which makes it easier to find books.
The archival material was clearly an area of concern for Rosa -- she repeatedly noted how the conditions weren't optimum for preservation or intellectual control. But she also showed me a "before" picture, with massive piles of boxes chucked in a remote corner of the ministry. Apparently for a decade there had been virtually no staff to manage the archives. So, in comparison, the current situation is much better -- if not perfect.
Despite its relatively innovative digitization program, there were also signs of resource constraints. For example, the library is currently having trouble with its server, and is waiting for funding to upgrade it. Rosa indicated that the only online copy of the archive was currently located on the one PC used for scanning. She said they had backups, and pointed to tapes and CDs in the credenza behind her desk. But there are currently no offsite backups -- she said they have not been able to buy sufficient tapes to do this as of yet. There was also no functioning Internet in her office when I was there -- she indicated that the ministry needed to work on upgrading its network, but had not done so yet.
The library is not immune to the sorts of disasters that can strike libraries anywhere in the world. She showed me video of the staff frantically sweeping water away from the flooded stacks after someone left a tap on overnight elsewhere in the building. Luckily, the water was not deep enough to reach the first shelves, but all the same, it was a reminder of the importance of disaster planning.
After the library tour, I sat down with Rosa for around 45 minutes and talked to her about libraries in Nicaragua and the importance of what Jane has been doing to promote public lending libraries. She has many good ideas, and her voice will be a valuable addition to the video project.
Jane left earlier today to meet some friends in Matagalpa. Since I’m on intestinally-imposed house arrest, I’m staying in the house of Susan Bursey. She is a Texan by birth who has lived and worked in Central America for decades, and she and her son John have just sold Nicaragua’s largest Internet provider (which they founded) to foreign investors.
During the campaign, Ortega claimed to have changed – he was a moderate: no longer hostile to foreign investment and no longer interested in sudden, drastic changes to the country’s economic system. But tonight’s inauguration raised doubts. Just the list of invited guests raises eyebrows – prominent on the rostrum were Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Evo Morales of Bolivia, and a representative of Castro’s regime in Cuba. The United States was notably absent. Clearly the new Nicaraguan government has cast its lot with the recently-formed, extreme leftist (and generally anti-US) bloc of Latin American countries led by Chavez.
The inauguration itself started hours late, and was somewhat disorganized. There was a moment of confusion when Ortega suddenly announced that he would not speak at the gathering of foreign dignitaries, and instead would proceed directly to the Plaza Juan Paul, where crowds of Nicaraguans had gathered. All of the TV stations promptly cut to file footage – presumably while they rushed to prepare their camera crews at the second venue.
Stylistically, the ceremonies seemed to borrow a bit from Germany in the 30’s and Argentina in the 40’s. They featured goose-stepping soldiers, copious waving Sandinista flags, and the militaristic-sounding Sandinista anthem. They also featured a glowing introductory speech from the first lady about how her husband would be the salvation of Nicaragua, and a great deal of nationalistic rhetoric about “¡Nicaragua Libre!,” a revolutionary term that has seen little use during recent administrations. Chavez took the platform to proclaim undying friendship between Venezuela and Nicaragua, and in his speech Ortega repeatedly praised his leftist counterparts elsewhere in Latin America.
With regard to policy, the most notable were his intent to align the country with Venezuela’s free trade zone (most likely rather than the US-propsed CAFTA) and his intention to develop “a plan” to deal with the privatized (and admittedly dysfunctional) electrical infrastructure. It seems that nationalization may be in the works.
The fact that Ortega had managed to win the presidency with barely 35% of the popular vote was not mentioned, and post-speech commentary centered mostly on the fact that corrupt former president Alberto Aleman (who is supposedly under house arrest) had attended the ceremony. There was little discussion of specific policy aspects of Ortega’s address – possibly because TV stations fear retaliation if they take too critical a stance.
As she watched the coverage, Susan shook her head. The timing of the sale of her business was a coincidence, but she seemed glad she had done it. She predicts a 25% drop in real estate prices tomorrow as investors get cold feet about land holdings in Nicaragua (after all, when they took power in the 80s, the Sandinistas initiated a massive program of land redistribution.) While foreign investment in Nicaragua sometimes highlights the inequities present in society, it also brings millions of desperately-needed dollars and thousands of jobs into the economy. If Ortega scares away these investors, it seems likely that the country’s poor will suffer the most.
On Tuesday, I went out with the Movil in the morning, filming some more video, including an interview with one of the parents. School was out, so the teacher wasn’t there. But after I mentioned to Julio wanting to interview her for the video, we stopped by her house.
The plan was to leave for Managua Tuesday afternoon to do a few more interviews in Managua (including one with Rosa Aguilar, the head of the Nicaraguan library association.) But just as we were leaving, I started to feel queasy, and by dinnertime in Managua I was feeling weak and feverish. We were staying at the house of one of Jane’s friends, since all hotel rooms were booked up for the presidential inauguration, and I took the opportunity to go to bed early. I felt a bit better in the morning. But I soon realized that my case of what I’ll politely call “Somoza’s Revenge” had not dissipated. So we postponed the interview and my planned sojourn to Leon and another library up north, and I instead spent the day resting, working on Jane’s website, and staring out at the distant lake through the hazy sky of Managua.
Hopefully tomorrow the cramps and associated other symptoms will dissipate and I’ll be able to move on with life. But in the meantime Jane’s friend Susan is proving an incredible host – I’m very grateful!
Sunday was a full day of work on the new web sites for the library and HJH program -- after a trip to church, that is. Shortly after I got up in the morning, I heard the warning bell for the mass at the Catholic church across the street from the library. I hadn’t actually graced the door of a church in San Juan del Sur, so I decided to give it a try.
The church in San Juan del Sur is a large building with a yellow exterior, a red domed steeple, and an interior constructed primarily of timber. It has church window-shaped openings with shutters that open to allow the breeze to flow through, and at the front there are ornate figures representing Jesus, Mary, etc.
I walked in just a few minutes late, and sat down amidst a fairly full house. The mass was somewhat familiar from my staunch Lutheran upbringing, but being slightly different and in Spanish, I had a lot of trouble picking up the responses being uttered by the congregation. So I mostly followed along mutely while as the service progressed. The homily given by the priest focused on the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist -- I was able to pick up the gist of it, if not all of the details. At the end of the service, the priest took time to let the congregation know about the VOSH (Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity) group which is here running a clinic. (He also said a personal thanks to them in Engish: “I love you, and I love the work you do.”)
The VOSH folks have taken the town by storm. Jane’s hotel is full to the brim with students from UC Berkeley who are volunteering with the group, and David Gullette’s Simmons group has also been working at the eye clinic. Even the Biblioteca has gotten involved.
To understand why, one must first consider the weak communications infrastructure in place in rural Nicaragua. In most of the communities served by the Movil, there is no newspaper delivery, no landline phone service, no Internet, and even no electricity. Postal service exists, but according to one of the hotel staffers, few people get letters. Communication tends to happen most frequently by word of mouth, or by various other makeshift means.
One very interesting example of makeshift communication are the sound trucks run by “Vado Publicidad.” The company has a fleet of loudspeaker-equipped vehicles that cruise the town and countryside blaring announcements in a unique singsong cadence. It is possible to pay them to make announcements – Jane has done this on occasion to publicize events. But clearly relying on a hired sound truck is not the most efficient way to provide reliable and effective publicity.
As an organization focused on offering personalized, appropriate information services with a presence at least once a month in 27 rural communities, the library is in a unique position to serve as an information conduit for the campesinos.
In the case of the eye clinic, librarians Heidy and Ruth have spent much of their time over the last few days working to ensure that groups of campesinos in remote villages are able to take advantage of the free clinic. They have formulated announcements, driven to the communities in the library’s truck, and used their existing relationships with the residents to spread the word about the clinic. (They also formulated a message to be announced by Vado Publicado – the invoice below shows that the announcement was made in 9 communities.
The librarians then coordinated transportation services to bring rural residents into the clinic and helped walk them through the process once they arrived in town. This is the type of "above and beyond" public service that make the library a crucial part of its community. And it’s not an anomaly – the Movil frequently helps with transportation to and from its communities in response to various needs. (When we were out with the project last week, we carried a child with severe asthma and her mother back to town with us to visit the public clinic.)
The unique relationship of the library with the rural communities points toward interesting opportunies for new information services. For example, the possibility of adding a solar-powered electronic communication network to the library's services. The addition of Por Fin to the library's portfolio is an exciting step in this direction. Jane and I just had a late-night brainstorming session about the information network idea, and I’m hoping to pursue it further.
In the beginning, Jane Mirandette’s Biblioteca Movil was decidedly low tech. Indeed, this has been part of the reason for its success. As previously discussed on this blog, relying on a computerized checkout system is difficult in this land of erratic (or no) electricity. The simplicity of the Library in a Box protocol has allowed it to expand rapidly without the headaches that would be generated by supporting a massive technology infrastructure.
But technology remains extremely important to the future of the library. Although it is able to provide basic information services without using computers, it has also begun developing programs that enhance access to computers and the Internet. Nicaraguans throughout the country need access to these powerful new information resources, or they risk being forever stuck on the wrong side of the “digital divide.”
The library staff is firmly on board with the new emphasis on technology in addition to traditional printed information resources. While discussing the future of the library during our video interviews earlier this week, the staff of the library repeatedly mentioned the importance of Internet access and training in fulfilling the library’s mission.
Mirandette is aware of this need and has actively been taking steps to advance the technology component of the library’s programming. In November, the Biblioteca Movil founded a library in the Escuela San Miguel, a trade school in Cardenes that provides English and computer classes. After an arrangement to receive six donated laptops for technology classes in the library fell through, Mirandette united with Por Fin (At Last), another organization in San Juan del Sur which had developed a small computer lab and training program. The Por Fin project is now working with the Biblioteca Movil to provide technology training and services to the 27 rural communities where library services are currently being offered. The library will begin bringing computers out to the countryside in February after schools return from summer vacation.
Together, the Por Fin and the Biblioteca Movil offer a blockbuster combination of technology and information expertise – and they are hoping to capitalize on this synergy. They recently applied for an “Access to Learning” award from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is designed to support the expansion of technology access outside of the United States.
I spent a couple of hours last night chatting with Susan Watson, the director of the Por Fin program. Susan is an American, but like Jane she is unpaid and has hired local Nicaraguans to staff the organization.
Frustrated by the frequent power problems at the 12-computer lab near the library, Por Fin has also built a solar powered battery system capable of driving most of the machines. The machines currently do not have Internet access, so the organization has cut a deal to allow students who complete the basic coursework at the center to access the Internet at a nearby Internet café. Students will soon be able to use newly-Internet-enabled computers in the Biblioteca itself, and the eventual plan is to provide Internet access in the computer lab.
Courses are offered in the lab six days per week on a variety of computer-related topics. Some are taught by paid instructors, and other instructors are technology students who have agreed to teach in return for access to the computer lab. I am hoping to sit in on a class on Monday, and can then report more on how this works.
Just as the Biblioteca Movil has led the way in providing free and access to printed information resources for all Nicaraguans, it is now moving forward to provide equal access to electronic information. The technology component of the library’s programming is an important new frontier for library services here in Central America.
After spending the morning wrestling with CMSimple, a basic open-source content management system I’m deploying for Jane’s website, I took the afternoon off and headed for the beach here in town. I spent a couple hours bobbing amidst the waves and relaxing on the beach. While swimming I struck up a short conversation with a fellow beachgoer. He was from Guatemala, but had lived with his family in San Juan del Sur for the last year. When he found out that I was a librarian, he noted that he was an avid reader, and proudly noted that he had brought a massive collection of novellas with him from Guatemala. I asked if he had used the library in town, and he said no, but that he would likely do so when he was done with his existing book collection – he has a special interest in books on art.
After absorbing enough sun to annoy my pasty colleagues back in Boston, I left the beach and decided to hike up to the cross before returning home. The cross is a large steel structure planted at the top of a massive hill overlooking the harbor. It offers an unbelievable panoramic view of the town and the surrounding coast. I climbed the hill, stopping occasionally to dig pebbles out of my Crocs. I reached the top just in time to watch the sun disappear over the horizon. I then headed back to town, stopping to buy a Fresca from one of the beer stands along the beachfront.
When I stopped into the hotel, Jane was busily checking in a massive group of Optometry students from UC Berkeley, who are here to do volunteer work. (Prior to SJDS they had been in Costa Rica and Granada) Jane agreed that we would try to get going on web stuff after dinner. So in the meantime, I headed up to her house to take a shower. On the way, however, I was sidetracked by the sound of a brass band playing on a front porch. Intrigued, I stopped to listen to the percussion-rich music. All of a sudden, someone handed me a candle in a wax paper luminaria, and next thing I knew I had been sucked into a procession in honor of the Dia de los Reyes Magos (The day of the three kings.)
For those who slept their way through Sunday School, January sixth commemorates the visit of the three kings (also known as wise men) to the baby Jesus, who by then had already popped up on the imperial Roman radar as a threat. In our particular processional, the role of the kings was played by 30 or 40 enthusiastic kids, all decked out in their finest approximation of what a well-appointed king would have worn in 3 BCE. (One child even had a plastic bottle labeled “Myrh.”) I recognized one of the children as a regular at the library.
The kings were accompanied by three baby goats, presumably representing the camels the kings allegedly rode to find the messiah. In our case, it was clear from the weaving and foot dragging that one of the goats had not entirely bought into the quest. Nevertheless, once each participant had a lit candle, the procession moved forward, led by two men with tiki torches and backed by the steady racket of the brass band. We marched a large circuit about a block out from the city’s main park as residents watched from their front porches.
Having just returned from my hike and afternoon at the beach, I didn’t stick around too long after we returned to the starting point. But the band kept playing, and when I left the kings (stripped of their finery) were being served dessert.
Later on I walked by the church and saw a huge crowd gathered outside watching a lifesize Spongebob Squarepants on stage. Another part of the celebration, this time involving children who had had their first communion in December.
Travel serendipity at its best.
There are currently two other groups from Simmons College here in San Juan del Sur. One, from the school of health studies, is here working with medical clinics in San Juan and the surrounding countryside.
The other is a service learning class led by Simmons English professor David Gullette. This class has been traveling around learning about a variety of health and human services-oriented activities in the area. I’ve tagged along with this group for a few of their activities. Yesterday morning they went out to a local school with the Movil project. The school itself had Massachusetts connections – it was built by the Newton/San Juan Sister Cities project, and was named after David Gullette himself. School is not currently in session, but the Movil project is making special runs for kids to check out books over the break. Because we had such a large number of volunteers, we also did a number of other activities with the kids – reading “The Little Engine that Could,” playing Frisbee and catch, blowing bubbles, etc.
The Simmons group has also spent some time with the “Appropriate Technologies Workshop” which is funded in part by the Newton/San Juan project and is run locally by Fidel Pavon. The workshop has two primary “products” – EcoStoves, which allow people to cook without filling their houses with wood smoke, and BioSan BioSand Filters, which allow the filtering of well water on a small scale. The workshop has also been involved in the installation of new wells and water pumps, and the creation of composting toilets.
The general philosophy of “appropriate technologies is that solutions deployed in a community must be adapted to the needs of that community. To take an example from our previous experiences in Nicaragua, there is little point in deploying a computerized library automation system in a location that lacks electricity half of the time. Jane’s card-based checkout system is an example of an appropriate technology, because it is adapted for the real-world needs of a community.
Yesterday, I went out with the group and spent the afternoon helping produce BioSand filters. The filters themselves are cast from concrete, and are then filled with gravel and sand. Once they are filled with water, a protective layer of bacteria and algae form on top of the sand, eating the parasites in the water (“animalitos,” or little animals, as Gullette calls them in Spanish).
We spent the afternoon painting the outside of the filters a brilliant blue, and sifting soil scraped from a local streambed into 55-gallon drums to produce the fine sand needed for the top layers of the filters.
There have been some interesting discussions within Gullette’s group about the use of these “appropriate” technologies. There is no question that, when used, they can offer health benefits to local residents. But in some cases the filters lie idle after being installed. This led one student to question whether the technologies were really that appropriate if they weren’t always being adopted.
The group asked Fidel about this during our trip yesterday afternoon. He gave several answers, with the simplest being a Nicaraguan saying “La costumbre es la ley” – the custom is the law. Many Nicaraguans, especially those of older generations in the campo, are inherently conservative, and are not quick to adopt new ideas and technologies. But he said that, in general, when individuals or communities purchase their own filters or stoves, they tend to use them intensively. When the units are donated or purchased by a school or institution, they tend to be used sporadically. Jane has found similar things with activities conducted with the library. Outsiders, no matter how well-intentioned, can’t force new ideas or technologies on a community that doesn’t see the need for them.
This is a key point for those involved in development projects anywhere. Local involvement and support in the decision making process is crucial. Outsiders can be helpful in providing new ideas and resources, but ultimately local decision-making and control are extremely important. Without this, the projects are unlikely to reflect the true needs of the community, and are likely wasted effort.
After we finished working with the filters, we accompanied Fidel on a trip to a small community deep in the countryside. Currently several households are sharing a single bucket well. We listened to Fidel pitch the idea of a communal pump and tank that would allow the households to share the pumping effort and then have running water to their houses. While Fidel's workshop, Simmons students, and the Newton/San Juan project would likely help out with implementation on this project, it was made clear that this was a communal effort, and that the households involved would need to make the decision, do much of the work, etc. This was not to be a workshop effort assisted by the community -- it was to be a community effort assisted by the workshop.
Fidel Pavon's involvement is crucial. He was raised in a campesino family in the countryside, and he understands the land and its people in ways an outsider never can. And he is a natural-born engineer, devising solutions to problems he sees in the real world.
The lessons of local involvement and support for development projects are as important for libraries as they are for wells and water filters. Without local involvement at all levels, a library becomes a useless apendage to the community, not an institution at its heart.
I left the hotel in Miami around 8 AM, and by 10 I was on board an Airbus 380 headed for Managua. I spent most of the flight immersed in David Gullette’s “Gaspar! A Spanish Poet/Priest in the Nicaraguan Revolution" It’s a fantastic read – more on that later.
After arriving in Managua, paying my $5 visa fee, retrieving my bags, and clearing customs, I still had an hour or so to kill before meeting up with the other Boston folks I was riding to SJDS with. So I took the opportunity to pick up some Cordobas from an ATM and purchase a very low-cost cell phone that works in Nicaragua. The phone cost roughly $17, with around $5 in prepaid calling included. I also grabbed lunch at the food court consisting of pescado frito (fried fish), gallo pinto (Nicaraguan red beans and rice), ensalata de lechuga (tossed salad), y plantanos (in this case, carmelized in sugar, although they can be prepared in many ways.)
Around 1 PM I met up with the rest of the Colleges of the Fenway folks with whom I was hitching a ride to San Juan del Sur. These included:
• Simmons English professor David Gullette, who is leading a class of around 8 students on a service learning trip.
• A group from the Simmons school of Health Sciences, which will be working with clinics here in Nicaragua
• Wentworth professor Jerry Hopcroft and his wife. In addition to a vacation, Jerry is back in country to pursue the Wentworth bridge project, which has been repeatedly delayed. (More on this later.)
Gullette proved an entertaining tour guide on the 2+ hour drive from Managua. He detoured down the main street of Tipitapa (site of one of the libraries we visited last time), stopped at an Esso for snacks, made another stop to buy honey from a woman who sells honey in recycled coke and liquor bottles. (I picked up a tequila bottle of honey for a few dollars.) He also pointed out various other sites – especially the multiple volcanoes and myriad nurseries around Catarina.
Despite the rumors we heard last summer that the road from Rivas to San Juan del Sur would be fixed “after the rainy season,” it is still a bone-jarring ride – drivers must swerve between potholes and piles of loose rocks, while looking out for others doing the same. David says that kids sometimes can be found by the side of the road with shovels, pointing to the potholes they just filled in and holding out their hands for “propinas.” Amazingly, we did come across an actual road crew with a steam roller on one section – but there was little visible improvement.
When we arrived in San Juan we piled out of the mini busses in the main park in front of the church. We were met by the man whose family I stayed with briefly on my last visit – fondly nicknamed “Crazy Bird (Pajero Loco)” and who I’ve since learned (from David’s book) was a confidant of Gaspar, the local priest killed in the revolt against the Soomoza dictatorship.
Once my luggage arrived – including the large suitcase full of craft supplies and other items for the library, I set off up the street toward Jane’s hotel. I stopped into the lobby, and said hi to Mike, Jane’s business partner, Patricio, and Juan, two of her other employees. I was just pulling out my laptop to find Jane’s cell phone number when she walked in with Edwin, our driver for much of the last trip. We greeted each other warmly, and I set to work unpacking the suitcase of supplies. (Unfortunately, the few candy canes I had ill-advisedly tossed in the suitcase had shattered in transit, and I had to spend some time wiping peppermint bits off of each item in the case.)
Jane informed me that the library staff Christmas party was being held at a restaurant on the waterfront, and invited me to attend. I gladly accepted the offer, and after a bit more unpacking I headed for Inez – which I later realized was the same restaurant we ate at on our last first night in SJDS last August.
Jane had also invited three other visitors to the party: Maxine Shaw and her Cuban-American husband -- long time veterans of the Brookline-Quezalguaque sister city project, and Jenina, one of two full-time librarian in the massive new library built by that project The trio had come to San Juan to observe Jane’s library (especially the movil project) in action and look for ideas that could be applied to the library in Quezalguaque. (More about this library later – in fact, I’m now hoping to pay it a visit before I leave Nicaragua.)
The staff party included everyone associated with the library and their families. Most participants were familiar faces (Ruth, Heidy, Nelly, Julio, Ricardo, Edwin, etc.) There has been a bit of turnover on the staff, though, so there were a few new faces as well.
After a fine meal (I had Brocheta Mixta – or mixed kabobs of pork, chicken, and fish), we moved on to the “regalos” or presents. Jane gave gifts to each of her staffers and their children, and then the staff gave secret santa gifts to each other – offering testimonials about the person they had picked.
I also gave some of the librarians framed photos that we had taken last visit, and Jane and her staff gave me a hammock and a card signed by the group.
After dinner, I returned to the hotel, where Jane, Ruth, Richard, and the Quezalguaque crew sat and talked for a while.
Tomorrow Jane is off to Managua for some medical tests, and I’m hoping to visit the library, talk more with Jenina from the Quezalguaque library, begin developing plans for the video I’m going to shoot, and perhaps work some on the web site tasks.
This was my first time in Miami, so after settling into my hotel room, I took a walk to explore. The hotel turned out to be located in the town of Coral Gables, a satellite in the South Florida sprawl around the city of Miami.
My hotel is located near the “Miracle Mile,” a strip of small shops in the heart of the Coral Gables central business district. It was originally developed by George and Rebyl Zain just after World War II – at least according to a historical marker I found. I walked up and down both sides of this strip, gazing into the shop windows and admiring the fountains and tropical plantings.
Miami straddles the border between Anglo America and Latin America. Newspaper boxes on each corner offer both The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald. Many of the conversations I were in Spanish rather than English, and one young child admiring shop window displays switched effortlessly back and forth depending on whether he was addressing his brother or his parents. The Barnes & Noble has row after row of Spanish titles – and even a small Spanish “bargain books” section. A pretty big change from the three linear feet of Spanish books at Porter Square Books.
I picked up a copy of Angela’s Ashes in Spanish for $4.98 to donate to Jane’s library. The guy in front of me in line spoke Spanish to the cashier. The cashier then addressed me in English. Apparently, even though I was buying a Spanish-language book, I don’t look the part of a native speaker. Or, more likely, it’s considered polite to address a customer in English until they reply in Spanish. The guy behind me was buying a book about Nicaragua, and the cashier asked him about it in English. When he replied that he had lived there, the cashier switched over to rapid fire Spanish.
Off to Managua tomorrow morning, American Airlines permitting…
After celebrating a friend’s 30th birthday with a weekend ski trip in Maine, I spent my New Year’s Eve packing for Nicaragua. (What better way to prep for a trip to the equator than by sliding down a snow-covered mountain?)
After a french toast breakfast with a few friends, I then headed for Logan, lugging my gear plus an extra suitcase filled to the brim with art supplies, books, photos, and various other materials destined for the SJDS Biblioteca Movil.
My flight from Boston to Miami arrived an hour late, and by the time I made it off the plane the connecting flight to Managua was already in the air. So, courtesy of American Airlines, I’m now spending a night (sans luggage) at the beautiful Coral Gables hotel here in Florida. American also chipped in a voucher for dinner – but unfortunately the hotel restauarant wasn’t open on New Years Day. So I used the voucher to pick up a cold ham sandwich and a nutrigrain bar from the hotel’s tiny convenience store. Yum.
While I was waiting in line to change my ticket at the airport, I met Eben Forbes, who was also making the trek from Boston to Managua. Forbes is the field director of the Norwalk (Ct.) – Nagarote Sister City Project. This project is similar to the Newton-San Juan project, but is unique in that it has the full-time director position in country. Eben was hired for the job earlier this year after answering an ad on idealist.org.
His wife works with the UN and is currently stationed in Laos, but will be moving to Nicaragua to join him in a few months.
Naragote is further north in Nicaragua than I’ve yet been. I’ve been considering a side trip to the Spanish colonial city of Leon, and if I’m in the area Eben invited me to stop by Naragote. He is very interested in library project, and I’m also going to provide him with some more information on that. (We’re at the same hotel tonight, and are booked on the same flight to Managua tomorrow – so we’ll probably see each other again.)
I’m planning to catch a ride down to San Juan del Sur tomorrow with another group from Simmons that is coincidentally going to the town at the same time with Professor David Gullette. After a few last minute e-mails and phone calls with David, it looks like this plan will still work even though I won’t be arriving in Managua until tomorrow.
When you last heard about Nicaragua on this blog, Denise, Victoria, and I had just returned from a trip to the country in August.
Around the same time, I decided to return to Nicaragua in January. Unlike last summer, I now have some ideas on specific things that need doing. For this trip, I hope to focus on two goals:
1) Shoot additional video to expand the piece we produced for the SIR event into a full documentary on the SJDS Biblioteca Movil and the Hester J. Hogsdon Libraries for All program. This will hopefully include shooting interviews with people involved with the program in Nicaragua, as well as additional “B-Roll” footage of the library in action.
2) Continue working with Jane on the web presence for the two organizations, with the goal of setting up a system that can be updated by staff and volunteers in Nicaragua without having to rely on outside assistance. This should allow the web site to be kept more current, improving communication within the country and with potential donors and volunteers internationally.
A fringe benefit for me will be another opportunity to improve my Spanish, which I’ve continued to work on since I returned this summer. And I’m hoping to see a few parts of the country that I missed on the last trip.
Unlike the band of GSLIS compatriots from this summer, I'll be traveling on my own this time -- a different (interesting) experience.
Over the next few weeks I will be posting additional updates about my experiences in Nicaragua. Stay tuned!
As a conclusion to our blog, we thought it made sense to share information about ways to support efforts to bring lending libraries to Nicaragua, as well as the other projects we learned about during our fantastic trip. It is important to note that a little goes a long way in Nicaragua. Also, you can know that your support will be felt pretty immediately by the people who are served by these programs.
1. SAN JUAN DEL SUR BIBLIOTECA y PROYECTO MOVIL (Library and Mobile Book Project)
The Biblioteca Movil began in 2001 and now has over 5,000 registered users. The Proyecto Movil began in 2003 and now serves over 20 communities around San Juan del Sur. The bulk of our time was spent in San Juan, learning about and working with the Biblioteca and the Proyecto Movil. The librarians and the staff of the library and mobile project are so fantastic--to me it was a real "loaves and fishes" experience--out of seemingly so little, there was endless art, pageantry, posters, plays, dancing, reading, and learning, learning, learning.
Gifts of cash to support the library at San Juan are fully tax-deductible and make a big difference. In addition, your gifts will help support the spread of other lending libraries in Nicaragua. Jane Mirandette's foundation--The HJH Libraries for All Program supports the San Juan Library, and also supports start-up needs of other fledgling libraries in Nicaragua (like Puedo Leer in Granada.)
To make your gift online, please visit:
http://www.sjdsbiblioteca.org/en/donations/
Donations of books by U.S. Postal Service M-bag are also enthusiastically welcomed.
Please see further instructions on their web site:
http://www.sjdsbiblioteca.com/HowYouCanHelp.htm
Mailing Address in U.S.:
HJH Libraries for All Program
1716 Del Norte Blvd.
Loveland, CO 80538
Mailing Address in Nicaragua:
Apartado Postal 17
San Juan del Dur, Nicaragua
2. NEWTON/SJDS SISTER CITY PROJECT http://www.newtonsanjuan.org/
The Newton, MA / San Juan, Nicaragua Sister City Project is staffed entirely by volunteers. The project has funded schools, water purification systems, medical and dental outreach, eco-stoves, and the new bridge at Ostional that you read about in our blog. David Gullette, our colleague from Simmons College, is also the contact person for the Newton/San Juan Project. There are many opportunities to volunteer in San Juan with the project. Doctors, nurses, dentists and other health care professionals in particular will find contact information on the web site. Much needed financial contributions may be sent/made payable to :
"Newton/San Juan Sister City Project"
Fiora Houghteling, Treasurer
15 Bullough Park
Newton, MA 02460
3. PUEDO LEER, Granada, Nicaragua
Gifts to support Puedo Leer (school book project and lending library in Granada) can be made through a Pittsburg-based non-profit and NGO under whose aegis the library may apply for grants, etc. Indicate that your gift should support "Puedo Leer", but please make your check payable to:
Building New Hope
5464 Upsal Place
Pittsburg, PA 15206
412. 241. 2542
If you would like to make a donation of books to the library, their greatest need right now is for books (all in Spanish) for kids about science, history and other educational topics. Textbooks are welcome. In addition, reference books for adults, such as the PDR, or dental, architectural, construction resources are needed.
You can mail your books by M-bag seamail (book rate) at the US Post Office to:
Helen Korengold
PO Box 47
Granada, Nicaragua (no zip code)
4. WISCONSIN/NICARAGUA PARTNERS
Wisconsin Nicaragua Partners falls under the aegis of the Partners of the Americas Project, which pairs states in the US with nations in Central America. More information can be found at http://wnp.uwsp.edu/.
Two of their projects that we visited were the new library at Chinandega and the learning center and library at Tipitapa.
Wisconsin/Nicaragua Partners of the Americas, Inc.
Nelson Hall, Room 129
1209 Fremont Street
Stevens Point, Wisconsin 54481
Telephone: 715.346.4702
Fax: 715.346.4703
Email: wnp@uwsp.edu
Nicaragua Main Office
Nicaragua/Wisconsin Compañeros de las Américas, Inc.
Gallo y Villa Sur 1c. al lago, 1c. abajo
Managua, Nicaragua
Telephone: 505.268.7586
Email: wpartner@ibw.com.ni
Email: coniwis@ibw.com.ni
We were told we should save some time on Friday afternoon for an event in the library – some sort of sendoff. We had no idea what to expect, but at 2:00 the three of us showed up and were directed to chairs in the main activity area. The power had been out all day in town, so the library was lit by the bright sun streaming through the windows. All of the tables had been cleared out of the way, and kids were swarming over the place while preparations were made in a back room.
After a bit, one of the librarians came out and handed us each a book from the library’s collection: an illustrated version of Rubén Dario’s A Margarita Debayle.
Dario is widely considered the poet laureate of Nicaragua and a key figure in modern Spanish-language literature. Margarita is a classic tale that is familiar to Nicaraguans throughout the country.
It soon became clear that the librarians and kids were planning an encore presentation of a dramatic rendition of the poem they had prepared for a library event several months back. We settled back, leafing through the books while we waited. Unfortunately, it’s hard to convey the lyricism of the original poem in English – in fact, John Holcombe has written an interesting article on the challenges of translating this poem.
Suddenly, the pageantry began, and the room was filled with children dressed as flowers, princesses, kings, elephants, and even Jesus himself. The costumes were phenomenal – more crafty creations by SJDS librarians Heidy and Ruth.
The poem itself is relatively short – it tells the story of a beautiful princess whose father had all sorts of wonderful things – a palace of diamonds, a herd of elephants, a “kiosk of malachite,” and much more. His daughter sees a star in the sky, and, being naughty, wants to go collect it to make a brooch. She journeys into the sky and takes the star. When her father finds out what she has done, he is angry and orders the star be returned. But Jesus appears and tells her that the stars are roses given to the children as a reminder of his presence.
The kids acted out this tale while we swiveled our heads between the books and their makeshift “stage.” When they finished, we requested an encore, and they repeated the presentation. The flowers then doffed their petals, and we all shared refrescos and sugar wafers, along with some goodbyes. 24 hours later the three of us would be on a plane bound for the U.S.
Somehow, it’s hard to imagine a better wrap-up for our last afternoon in Nicaragua.
One of the few historical images we were able to locate of San Juan del Sur. This was one of two framed images that Jane had in her hotel. Provenance and date are unknown.
History lies buried just beneath the surface in San Juan del Sur. While new houses and condos for wealthy expatriates spring up on its borders, the town itself bears the scars of Nicaragua's troubled history.
The nearly two decades of fighting – first to overthrow the Somoza dictatorship in the 1970s and then between Daniel Ortega's Sandinista government and the Contra rebels in the 1980s affected lives throughout the country.
We didn't meet anyone who fought in the 1979 revolution, in which the FSLN -- Frente Sandinista de Liberation Nacional -- succeeded in the brutal Somoza family dictatorship that had controlled the country for 40 years. (On Victoria’s flight home, she sat next to a Managuan man who told her that all of those people were dead or living in the mountains up North.) By most accounts, the revolution in 1979 brought about numerous reforms in Nicaraguan society, including democratic elections and a national constitution. Other reforms included literacy initiatives, education reform, rights for women, and improved conditions for the poor.
Many argue that in the years following the revolution, the Sandinista government under Daniel Ortega stagnated and lost touch with its initial socialist ideals. One gentleman that we met in San Juan who worked for the library told us that the FSLN doesn't care at all about the poor now. “Everything they do is bajo de la mesa” (under the table),” he told us. Despite having lost elections in the past, Daniel Ortega is considered a frontrunner in this November's presidential elections. A cash infusion from the Venezualan government of Hugo Chavez has allowed the Sandinistas to blanket the country with massive billboards promoting Ortega’s candidacy.
We did meet several people who vividly recalled the counterrevolution in the 1980's, in which the US-backed “Contra” rebels fought to overthrow the Sandinista government.
I talked to Juanita, a petite woman who now performs kitchen and housekeeping chores in Jane's hotel. Juan, who works the hotel desk at night also joined the conversation. They told of patrolling in the mountains with shovels and pistols during the 1980s to prevent soldiers from Ortega's Sandinista governement from marching into town and conscripting teenagers to fight in the war. When soldiers were spotted, the town's boys and young men would be sent into hiding in holes and cellars until the danger of conscription had passed.
Lest you think the Sandinistas were the only ones conscripting youngsters, we also talked to John, a native of Nicaragua's east coast, who recounted in his lilting Carribean-accented English how he had initially been drafted into the Sandinista army, had deserted, and then had been conscripted by the Contras and forced into basic training. In both cases, he said, it was unclear to him what he was being forced to fight for. He eventually escaped to Costa Rica until the war ended.
Returning from an afternoon out with the bookmobile one day, Alvaro, one of the drivers, explained that the dirt road we were traveling had originally been the railroad route connecting San Juan del Sur with Managua. It lasted until the rails were torn up, perhaps in the 1950s. Eager to feed our interest in local history, he took us to the river and showed us the few pilings that remained of the railroad bridge where it crossed into town, bringing cargo and visitors from Nicaragua's larger, more prosperous communities. “Where did it go?” we asked. He motioned with his arm and pointed to the sea. "Like what happened in Indonesia?" we asked him. Yes he said, a tidal wave 15 or 20 years ago had washed the bridge away, along with homes near the river.
“Are there any photos?” we wanted to know. With a gleam in his eye, Alvaro veered off the route and pulled up to a small home on a street corner. He yelled inside to one of the residents. "Do you have that old picture of San Juan?" The man nodded yes, but said that his mother was home and was expecting guests. Undaunted, Alvaro zipped down the street to an Internet café (perhaps "Cyber Leo's") and told us to go inside. On the wall above the desk, he pointed to a faded photo of San Juan del Sur as it looked in roughly 1990 – a sleepy fishing village with none of the pricey new condos in the hills. Alvaro left us with a promise to locate other old photos of town--maybe one that the barbershop has -- and mail us photocopies. I don't use email, he told us.
Knowing of our interest in local history, Jane Mirandette mentiond that we should talk to Rudolfo, a local history expert. One day, we ran into him by chance in the library, where he was poring over a book on fish. We introduced ourselves and in short order we had plans to meet in his home the following afternoon.
Rudolfo's small apartment sits atop a pizza parlor near San Juan del Sur's beachfront strip. He has been a fisherman and a teacher at a technical school for decades, and many days he can be seen hunched over a book on his open balcony. At night he frequents a pool hall a block away, and can occasionally be found sipping a drink on the patio opposite the Casa Blanca hotel. During the day, he fishes in the surf using the traditional tackle – a cord wrapped around a weathered board with two tiny bits of lead wieghting down the lure.
When we arrived at Rudolfo's apartment on Tuesday afternoon, he led us up the crooked spiral staircase into his sunny living room. Arrayed in front of him on a piece of corrugated cardboard were items that gave tantalizing hints of San Juan del Sur's past. There was a large rock filled with marine fossils, primitive tools and weapons made of stone, and heads from pottery figures: a bird, a devil-like creature, and several other pieces. Rudolfo said the ceramic items date back hundreds of years to the time before the Spanish conquest of the region. He believes that the stone tools and fossils are thousands of years old.
More recent – but still ancient history for a town on the move – was a medallion used during Cornelius Vanderbilt's short-lived coast-to-coast multimodal transit system during the California gold rush in the mid-1800s. He also had photocopies of a tiny engraving of the town as it looked in 1850, and a newspaper article published decades ago in Managua celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first telegraph line between Corinto and San Juan.
Rudolfo found many of the items in the ground near San Juan, others were gifts from academics and archaeologists he has known. "Why do you have them?" we wanted to know. He told us there was no where nearby to house them. With each successive municipal government, everything in the city hall had been gotten rid of. It seemed not to make sense to him to try and put them in anyone else's hands.
After we picked his brain (and made him repeat things a number of times – talking about pre-Columbian archaeological finds stretched our utilitarian Spanish vocabularies to the limit), Rudolfo turned the tables and asked us for help. He has been teaching himself English, and was interested in checking his pronunciation. He had grouped his lesson book into categories, with indexes written in pen on the cover of a spiral bound notebook. He turned first to animal words, and we went through a book he had with photographs. It is perhaps questionable whether starting out with animals like "Ocelot" is the most effective way to learn English, but if Rudolfo ever ends up visiting an American zoo he’ll be all set.
While we had found tantalizing hints of the city's hidden past, I still hoped to find something that would tie it all together. The day before we left town, I followed up on a tip I'd gotten from someone about a "House of Culture" located somewhere near the working port. I walked down toward the waterfront and passed the "Palacio de Communicacion," an elegant blue building constructed in the early 1940s. It now contains a tiny post office and the offices of Enitel, Nicaragua's national phone network. After walking back and forth, I finally found the "house of culture", a thatch-roofed building with several businesses inside. I walked in and spoke with two people who worked at a language school being operated out of the building. When I said I was interested in local history, they said they didn't know much, but if I came back in the afternoon someone might be there who could help.
Unfortunately, I ran out of time and was unable to follow up on this latest lead. But this encounter seems to follow the pattern of so much other local history: it is located in the heads and closets of the townspeople, not in any sort of formal museum or archive. Now that San Juan del Sur is changing so rapidly, it's worrisome that there appears to be so little documentary evidence of local history. Will the children of today only know the town that is now growing up around them – the one with the massive homes on the hillsides and tourist-oriented businesses near the waterfront? Or will they understand the deeper (and sometimes more troublesome) aspects of their local history?
On our last day in San Juan, we met a Canadian midwife, Cynthia, who had returned to Nicaragua for the third time to document midwifery practices in Nicaragua. She spent hour after hour in her room, transcribing and translating the oral histories that she was slowly gathering on her trips into the countryside. Her work was a bright spot, and points to the need for the myriad groups working in Nicaragua to document the work that they do. With that in mind, our little blog goes out into the world. Look for us on Google...
