It has been a while since my last blog post, much has been
going on! My role at work is now more defined; I am researching and designing a
five year integrated watershed management program! Lots of work for an intern
but it is an invaluable lesson that will serve me for the rest of my
career. One of the most challenging
aspects of my job has been trying to envision and grasp the notion of a
watershed. About two weeks ago I headed out to the watershed territory we will
be working, El Zapote. The day was spent drawing maps in the sand and stopping
in the middle of dirt country roads to observe and analyze the watershed’s
ridgelines, basins and sub basins. Once developing a grasp on the definition of
a watershed and its function, the next step is to understand the activities
implemented in the territory. Depending on its inhabitant’s knowledge, beliefs
and actions, a watershed can be managed very well or very poorly. A watershed
program can focus on such activities as reforestation, environmental
conservation and preservation, sustainable and organic agriculture, hygiene and
sanitation workshops, and the construction of ecological latrines. At the end
of the day, water is the main resource and the main focus. Water as I knew
before and value ever more now, is precious.
In my daily life, I
am sinking into certain comfortable routines and learning to be creative in
many aspects of my living situation. As some of you know, I am a vegan as of
the beginning of this year. Coming from Toronto, the city in North America with
the most vegan options, both restaurants and stores, I was quite concerned as
to how I would manage this lifestyle here in Nicaragua. In the first month or
so, I faced challenges. I didn’t appear to have the numerous options of soy
products and nut milk, or even the wide variety of protein substitutes. I was also faced with criticisms from some
Nicaraguan friends and family, I had not seen in nine months. These criticisms
were on one side, hurtful and shocking, but also predictable and
understandable. I had changed, and change, as they say is never easy to accept.
Criticisms sometimes came in the form of questions: “Are you well, Clare? You
look awfully thin,” (a curvier body is definitely of higher value here) or in
the form of direct statements “It is not good for you to eat this way, no
dairy, no eggs, no meat!” I have received this kind of criticism before, even
in Canada. Not only am I used to them, but I understand
where comments such as these come from; fear. The vegan lifestyle is a new
concept for many who do not understand it or its benefits. Many people, for reasons of culture and upbringing,
do not know a life without consuming animal products. I however, find I am happier and am more
creative in cooking and preparing my food and I enjoy my meals more than ever
before!
Although Whole Foods is not a mere subway ride away, I do
have Matagalpa’s largest market around the corner from my apartment. Here I can
find three different varieties of beans, rice, delicious root vegetables to
make soups and steamed sides, 2-3 different varieties of plantains, and a wide
variety of tropical fruits, among many things. With some of this produce I have
been able to cook up some delicious but simple recipes. The other day, I
whipped up a deliciously warm red kidney bean soup with onions, garlic, herbs,
salt and pepper. As a side, I steamed a handful of local root vegetables,
namely chaya and pipian (could compare their tastes to artichoke and their
texture to squash.) I topped it with some rice that I sautéed in the leftover
herbs and garlic and as dessert I prepared a watermelon and cucumber smoothie.
The smoothie didn’t require any sugar or yogurt; it was sweet and refreshing
without. Next time, however, I will add a dash of mint to perfect it. It would
also make a mean cocktail…just toss in a shot of vodka and voilà!
A lovely Thursday afternoon lunch with the first expats I
have met in Matagalpa, Lynn and Richard proved to be very fruitful! They told
me about a smaller organic market where prices are fairer (some may say higher,
I say fairer) and has a few more produce items I might not be able to find in
the main market such as organic honey. They also directed me to an NGO that
helps children with disabilities but which is also a general store that recycles
plastic bottles (there is not yet much of a recycling collection system
instituted in Nicaragua, so this was very exciting news to me!) They also told
me about a little panaderia (bakery)
where a lovely lady with the help of her young daughter bake a mean loaf of whole
wheat bread that Lynn claims she cannot
get enough of! Beyond giving me shopping and food advice, the couple are going
to introduce me to their network of locals and expats they have met along the
way.
I love discoveries like these. We tend to take the purest
and seemingly smallest things in our lives for granted…recycling, whole wheat
bread, easily accessible organic produce and it is these things that I come to
appreciate so fully when abroad.
Beyond the challenges I have faced with my diet, the
isolation has been difficult as well; mainly the inability to go outside at
night in a neighbourhood that has a reputation for being slightly on the
rougher side. I have gotten to know a few co-workers, but there has not been
the opportunity to go out and see the town from a local’s perspective. I decided to be proactive and seek out
whatever network I could find, which is how I met Lynn and Richard.
I had joined an expat
bilingual listserve called Casa Ben Linder just before coming to Nicaragua.
This network of around 600 expats living, volunteering, interning and working
in Nicaragua is fantastic! Practically for whatever piece of information you
are seeking you will receive a handful of helpful replies. For instance, I have
been on the hunt for mushrooms in Nicaragua…I have only encountered the canned ones
which I don’t find most appetizing! I had about six replies all sending me to
different niche organic stores,
restaurants and supermarkets that might have what I was looking for. One of the
expats who messaged me directed me to an eco-lodge, cloud forest and coffee
farm on the edge of town that I had fallen in love with a few weeks back. It
turns out they grow their own oyster mushrooms out of plastic bags that hang
off of the wall!! All the more reason to go back!
Casa Ben Linder is also the name of a community center in
Managua named after Benjamin Linder, a mechanical engineer only in his
twenties, who was inspired by the Sandinista Revolution of 1979, and moved to
Nicaragua during the height of the Contra War. In 1986, Linder moved to La Cuá,
a village in a Nicaragua war zone. There he helped build a team to construct a
hydroelectric plant to bring electricity to the town. He was also quite well
known as an animated character that had many talents including unicycling and
juggling. Sadly, in April of 1987, Linder and two other Nicaraguans were
assassinated in a Contra ambush while working on a new dam site in a nearby
village. Linder was the only US citizen to be killed in the Contra War. Among many memorials all over the country, Linder’s
legacy lives on in the Nicaraguan and expat community through the community
center and its list serve.
Although I had a general understanding of gender roles in
Nicaragua from living here last year, I had the opportunity to discuss with my
co-workers and the community I am working in, some of the traditional roles
here in Matagalpa. In the countryside, girls normally stay home and help their
mothers to maintain the household (cooking, cleaning, carrying water and
firewood) and boys will go out and work on in the field with their fathers. If
the family owns a small piece of land, women also have to make time to manage a
small plot of vegetables or beans while their husbands migrate as far as Costa
Rica and Guatemala to work on a farm.
When Anides started working in Pueblo Viejo, almost as many
men as women would come to the workshops aimed at improving women’s ability to
manage their own resources, i.e. financial and agricultural. Men wouldn’t
participate, but sit on the edge of the group, listening and observing. Now
half the men come and women are the main participants. As Anides works to
slowly improve women’s self-esteem and ability to manage their own financial
situation, the organization has noticed an increased level of confidence and
assurance in women and their abilities. Slowly, women are discovering that they
want to expand their role from working in the home. Some men, however, are threatened by this
confidence and domestic violence ensues. The male leaders in the community
continue to show up at trainings and speak up more than women. Women tend to be
intimated by the men’s outspoken behaviour and in turn, are not as verbal. I asked
my co-workers why not provide the same isolated training to men as to women, and
was left with the answer: because it is simply not in the culture to do so. Laws are now being created that favour women
and leave men with nothing. For example, in the case of divorce, women are given
more benefits and men are left without any assets. Although many women might
say that advances have been made, it appears as though they are moving in one
sole direction. We must ask ourselves then, what is feminism’s ultimate goal?
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