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Work, Nicaragua, and Rural Socializing... (02-20-06)

Since Christmas, work has been an interesting time; progress in my projects has definitely been made, although to me, it has seemed to have been replete with little dramas and office soap operas.

Outside of work, I managed to sneak in a two-week trip to Nicaragua, where I helped to chaperone a small group of students from a Christian high school in Maine. Ostensibly, the purpose of our trip was to put on a two three-day and one one-day camp for a number of disadvantaged Nicaraguan youths. While the Nicaraguan kids definitely enjoyed their time at camp, the indirect, but primary goal was for the kids from Maine to have an opportunity to see what it is like to serve in a Christian context and to gain a broader understanding of the world. The time spent at Campo Alegria (camp of good cheer) [trip photos] was welcome break from the grind of my normal daily routine.

The Nicaraguan kids were great fun and full of enthusiasm. Given their tough lives I was pleasantly surprised. Many of these kids lived in the Managua dump picking trash. From a comfortable western background, saying that they have a tough life is an understatement. In the Managua dump, smoke from constantly burning trash fires along with plastic bags and other loose debris is almost endlessly driven across the exposed surface by prevailing winds. A number of the kids, most in their early adolescence were already carrying STDs; this was an unfortunate consequence of the kids' parents offering them to garbage truck drivers in order to obtain first pickings in the trash. Of course, malnourishment and underfeeding was prevalent in this segment of society and glue sniffing was also not uncommon.

The trip was also a great opportunity to see the work of local Christians - both Nicaraguan and expatriate. Near the end of the trip I realized that I was possibly adjusting to the unstructured driving style too much when I went to overtake a donkey cart just below the crest of a hill. My interal dialog went something like this...

Oh, there’s a donkey cart in the road, I bet I can pass them easily, no wait, I’m just below the crest of a hill, we (a minivan full of people) could all be annihilated by an oncoming vehicle, nah, we should be fine...

When to my self-amazement I stomped on the accelerator and shot around the donkey cart I realized that perhaps there were some aspects of Nicaraguan life that were best not copied. Oh well, perhaps the sentiment of anyone can drive safe; I make driving fun does have its place ;). Not withstanding the temporary detention of one of the students by US Immigration, I think the trip went quite well; both the stated and the unstated goals were meet.

Aside from the excitement of my third-world diversions, my rural social activities have frequently involved friends and acquaintances made through a local bible study. Given the thin snow cover we have had this year, skiing has almost been a non-starter. Not ones to let cold stand in the way of fun, I invited a number of rural (read hick) and wannabe rural friends over for a mid-winter trap shoot. Of course it was freezing cold and the brush piles that we tried to torch fizzled out soon after a match was put to them. Warming fires or not, we carried on, blasting clay pigeons on the back forty (actually the back 10.1+/- 0.1 acres, but that is probably way too much detail) until our shotgun barrels would burn bare fingers. People had so much fun that I think we might have a late winter trip shoot too.

From Vermont, that is all the news of my life that is fit to share on the Internet. I hope all is well with you.