#3: translating culture

So I've been here for one week. And so far, everything has been easier than I thought it would be.. granted, it's only been a week, and I know I'll face more challenges along the way, but right now everything is fantastic. I'm learning how to do everything.. how to ride the buses, how to relate to people in Spanish even if you don't know what to say (usually smiling and nodding is a good technique), how to drink orange juice out of a plastic bag. It's definitely true that I have more to learn, but right now, with school out of session still, I'm not doing much.

But there is one thing I see as a big challenge right now. A few weeks before I left, Cheryl (the director of the project) emailed me and asked me about doing a bible study for girls ages 10-14ish. The bible study would be in sort of a youth group setting, based on a book called Becoming a Young Woman of God. This seemed like (and is) a great idea.. as Cheryl pointed out to me in the email, a lot of girls that age are starting to think about where their lives will take them, and for many in Nicaragua, a ¨marriage¨to and children with a man who may not really love them is only a few years away. This is not always true, of course, but it is an overwhelming reality.

I got the book from Omar the first day I got here, and most of it looked great.. the first chapter talks about our culture and what it expects of women, how our culture sees women, and how we can be who God wants us to be. All good stuff. There was, of course, the fact that the entire book is in English, so I'll have to translate what I want to get across to them, which will be a challenge. But what struck me as an even greater challenge as I read the book was that this was written for middle-school girls in the United States, which wouldn't be a problem besides the language.. except that it's all about culture. So the culture it's talking about is American culture. My challenge is finding some way to translate this culture into something that applies to them.

And actually, maybe what I'm talking about is not pop culture.. the stuff the book is referencing when it talks about how ¨the media¨ portrays women. What bothered me was the part about choices.. choosing who we want to be, the kind of careers we will have, etc. that I don't think fully translates into this culture. Because as much as I want to believe that these girls will have more opportunities than their mothers had and that I can make a difference in that, deep down I know that these are choices that have already been made for them. I want them to have dreams, but I'm not sure that their world can support them. I fear that there is not much I can do to guarantee that they can be all they can be, because of their educational level, economic status, and the world they are inheriting. Chacocente is helping with the first two as much as they can, but I know that it will take much more than a bible study to change the world situation they are already growing up in.

If you're looking for answers to all of these huge questions I just posed, sorry to disappoint you. I'm just starting to write out lesson plans for this bible study and a lot of questions have and will continue to arise. But most of these questions are not things that any of us can answer with too much coherence. For now, it's enough to be thinking and talking about these issues.. and giving our children something to dream about.

#2: this keyboard is weird

hola a todos!
so i'm finally here in nicaragua.. and absolutely loving it! it is so good to be here.. i´m just taking everything in at this point.
so i flew in monday night to managua after a mostly uneventful day.. a few gate changes and even a flight change in memphis but mostly it was alright. but when i got to managua, i stood by the baggage claim for a while before i realized there were no bright purple suitcases revolving around... and that they wouldn't be there. so i talked to someone who worked there and he had me fill out some paperwork and describe my bags.. i gave him a couple phone numbers of people i knew in nicaragua and he gave me a phone number to call to see if they had gotten there. (but it's all good cause i got my bags last night! yay!) so anyway at that point i was a little bummed but then i saw omar (the translator, etc. at the project and a good friend) and it was such a relief. it was so good to see him. then we went back to pablo's house and saw isaac (another good friend and my host brother here) and met aaron, another norteamericano from texas. he's also volunteering at chacocente, but only until the first week in january since he has to go back to college. but he's a good guy.. it'll be nice to share christmas with another (north) american.
tuesday we went to chacocente for the first time. honestly i didn't realize how long it would take to get there until we went.. total, the three buses and 2 km of biking (or walking for now) take about two and a half hours. i really didn't realize how far away it was. but it works.. the bus can be a pain but it's actually really interesting too.. i feel like it's the best place to experience nicaraguan life. there are vendors everywhere on the buses selling water and juice in bags (they're like little sealed plastic pouches of liquid.. you just bite the corner and suck it out. it's fun! also it's a good way to stay hydrated.. they sell the water everywhere and it's safe and only 1 cordoba each- about 5 cents american!) and on most buses there are people with sweet breads and boñuelos (little fried balls of yuca... kind of like a donut). anyway it's been really interesting to just experience the culture and feel nicaraguan.. even if everyone on the bus stares at you when you speak english. and otherwise.
so anyway we finally got to chacocente, after three buses and walking through 2 km of peanut fields and plantain trees on little paths. the first kid we saw was nelson (one of my favorites) who instantly ran up to the three of us and gave all of us big hugs. he's such a sweetie.
so anyway the past two days we've just gone to the project and hung out with the kids and parents.. it's just so great to go and relax with these wonderful people after a long commute. it's totally worth it.
so i'm about to post a bunch of pictures to facebook but i'll put a few pictures on here as well.. i gave my camera to the kids both days, so there are tons of pictures.. they love taking pictures!

so that's all for now i guess.. thank you all for the thoughts and prayers and support! feel free to email me at m.horrell@gmail.com if you want, or comment on my blog.. or facebook.. or whatever!
love, maddie

#1: i made a blog!

I am officially part of the blogosphere.

This is a blog about my experiences living and working in Nicaragua for 171 days (December 8th - May 27th), with Project Chacocente (www.outofthedump.org). It's pretty exciting.

Please check out the website to get a better idea of what I'll be doing down there- It's a great website with lots of info. I'll be teaching in the Chacocente Christian School that's a part of the project.

Of course, I'm still in the US, so there's not much to report yet, but once I get to Nicaragua (December 8th) I will keep you all updated in the States- I think there's a way to subscribe to this blog so you get an email when I update or something so if you can figure that out, great. I'm not really sure how this works yet but if I figure it out I'll let you know!


update:
because of college stuff, I had to shift my plane ticket back a week.. so now I'm leaving December 15th instead of the 8th. But I shifted the return flight by a week as well, so don't worry it's still 171 days :) so the real dates are Dec 15th - June 3rd.