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Journey to Nicaragua
JSC Students Get a Taste of
Life on the Caribbean Coast
It was Sunday, February 24, when a group of 10 graduate and undergraduate Johnson State College students boarded a plane and left Burlington for a week-long journey. Destination: Bilwi, located on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua.
The trip was related to a Special Topics Psychology course taught by Professor of Behavioral Sciences David Hutchinson – Mental Health Issues and Social Concerns of Nicaragua’s Caribbean Coast.
This trip was made possible by The Sister City Project, a connection formed between Burlington,Vt., and Bilwi, Nicaragua, close to 25 years ago. The project was initiated in 1984 by the Burlington City Council, with then-Mayor Bernie Sanders’ support while the U.S. government under President Ronald Reagan was secretly funding right-wing militias fighting against the legally elected socialist government.
Thus, the people of Burlington and Puerto Cabezas came together to create this lasting connection, which opened the door for Johnson State College students to travel there.
When we landed in Managua, I could feel the difference in the air in an instant. I felt as if I could actually grasp the air with my hand because of the humidity in it. It wasn’t the soaking wet humidity found in our Vermont summers; it was a dewy and inviting warm feeling, reflective, I’d say of the Nicaraguan culture itself. We all got our bags and ran across the busy city streets to the Las Mercedes hotel, where we would stay the first and last nights of our trip because of the availability of the small airline we’d take to get to and from Bilwi. Green plants surrounded us and charged something through our bodies after seeing nothing but white snow for the previous months. This place made me feel more alive than ever and I felt, as I ran across the street with my luggage, that I was standing on the edge of something bigger than myself.
The next morning we boarded the small plane to Bilwi, from which we could see forests and rivers running through the land. Volcanoes stood in the distance.
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As we walked down the road to the Casa Museo, where we’d be staying for the bulk of the week, we saw lots of people making their way throughout their day; some on bicycle, some on foot, some in cabs. Tall palm trees lined the sidewalks. The road was made of red clay-like dirt typical of this region. People peeked out from their houses to see who the group was coming into town. Children were just getting out of school at that hour and we saw groups of little girls walking home in their uniforms of navy blue bottoms (skirts for girls and trousers for boys) and white button-up collared shirts.
We reached Casa Museo, or Miss Judith’s house – a hotel run by the late Judith Kane’s family; a place with the mission of providing visitors with a comfortable, safe and historically educational place to stay while in Bilwi. Miss Judith’s art was on display around the hotel and there were lots of artifacts on display as well to educate people on the history of the culture.
One of the first things we did was tour the entire town, starting at the coast. As we approached the pier, we noticed a large sea turtle sitting outside in front of some market stands. It had just been taken in from the water. As we walked further down the pier we could see that there were several turtles flipped over on their backs; it was harvesting time. The turtles could be kept on their backs for days like this because it was a way to preserve the meat. The turtles’ lungs would be compressed as they lay like this. It was a way to make the death process slow to keep the meat fresh until the people were ready to use it. In our own culture, these turtles are considered an endangered species, so a lot of people in our group had a difficult and emotional time seeing them being harvested and dragged up the stairs off the beach and loaded onto trucks. The people of the coast have been harvesting these turtles in this way for 400 years and it is their livelihood. Not to say that the harvesting of the turtles is right or wrong, but it is a way of life in this culture and as visitors, we had the opportunity to take in and learn what we could about this culture’s way of life. On average in the town of Bilwi, a family will bring in an income of $80 per month. One of these turtles is worth $80. In a community where only 5% of the population has steady work, obtaining a sea turtle can provide for the family for a short time.
We drove to the edge of the town where a small fishing community lived around what looked like the end of a river. This was a place where large boats were brought to be repaired. The children who lived there laughed with us, and one of their biggest thrills was to play around with the cameras we had brought. One little boy even wrestled his dog to the ground to have us take a picture of him doing this. It was hard to leave this community even though we were only there for less than an hour. Meeting children like this always makes me realize how much children really can be the bridges between cultures and how they are able to see so clearly the beauty in seeing the new and learning about what they do not already know.
As the trucks we were on pulled away, a few of the boys rode their bikes after us, and one was even running just as fast as he could to say goodbye. It was a humbling feeling to know how much this community appreciated us traveling there to learn about their lives and culture.
The next day we visited the municipal building and spoke to the first assistant to the mayor and to other town officials. Mostly they discussed the continuing devastation of Hurricane Felix, which hit in September of 2007. It was explained that international aid is sent to the central government of Nicaragua, in Managua, in hopes that it will reach the coast to support the rebuilding efforts, but that money often doesn’t make it out of the hands of the central government. It is difficult to send monetary donations directly to Bilwi; therefore the best way to get any aid to them is to bring it directly to the coast.
We were able to witness a project that Bilwi has established to provide healthcare, psychological care, and shelter for abused women of the community. There were a few women working at the center on the day we visited. We sat in a circle and listened as a local Bilwi woman who worked at the center spoke along with a French woman who was there in a volunteer capacity. This particular program is part of a larger women’s crisis movement in Bilwi. This portion of it
Large sea turtles placed on their backs in preparation for sale in the market.
The view from the coast.
Children learning hands-on skills at a primary school.
had some funding by a larger program based out of France called “Doctors of the World.” Domestic violence has been a big problem in this community, and often it can go unnoticed because men have more rights and power over women, known as “machismo.” A common conception of domestic abuse seems to be that the man has the right to abuse or hurt his wife or children because he owns them.
This center can provide care for women who have been abused if they are able to safely get there. There are even places at this small facility for women to stay with their children if they need safe shelter. This woman’s center also focuses on general issues of women’s health, and so it may not be so obvious to others exactly why a woman is visiting the center.
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In the next few days, we also visited two primary schools. The first was a school for special needs children. This was an elementary-level school, and they also had a preschool program for children as young as 2 years old. We walked into one classroom that was arranged traditionally with children were sitting in desks and learning from a teacher standing at the front of the room. Some children in this class had physical disabilities, as well as learning disabilities. One boy was very proud to show us how he wrote with his feet. He had his notebook on the floor in front of him and he wrote, erased, and did everything else the other students did with their hands.
It seemed as though these students were encouraged to develop their abilities in a positive atmosphere. We visited another classroom that seemed more hands-on. Children were working on the floor sharpening saws and other tools that were lying around. These children were unable to read or write, so they were learning other work skills involving tools.
A few rooms down, there was a dance class going on. The students were all standing in lines and the teacher was instructing them to reach their hands in the air and open and close their hands, going faster and faster. The teacher was walking around adjusting people’s movements and this seemed to be a real class in motor skills. Students were able to listen to the music and work on physical skills.
We next visited the Kokal school, a public school. The principal came into the one of the classrooms to speak to us and welcome us on behalf of the school. One first grade teacher explained that they were in great lack of school supplies all the time; and especially after the hurricane hit, which destroyed a lot of the supplies they did have. She had her lesson plan pinned up on small pieces of paper in the front of the room. Her class was currently working on visual identification – looking at different objects and colors and identifying them. Only a few of the images she had drawn were actually colored in because she didn’t have enough crayons to color in the trees so students could see them from their seats. This shortage of materials seemed typical.
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A very inspirational part of the trip involved a visit to “Movement of the Youth,” a program targeted towards the community and run by teens of the community. The program looks at different community issues and works together to support the resolution of these issues. On the day we visited, they were sitting in on a sexual education seminar. Their most current and important project was working with children who were affected by Hurricane Felix. The teens visited the different families and children of the local community and talked with them about the devastation and loss they had endured. They used art therapy, talking, and games to support the recovery of the children. Some children had lost both parents in the hurricane and these mentors meant a lot in their lives and in their recovery. The members of the movement also speak on the local radio about different community issues and awareness.
The experience of first studying about Bilwi, then visiting made the educational experience not only memorable, but build a stronger connection. Most of us leaving the trip hope to continue to work towards getting back to Bilwi to work with specific projects that we had visited while we were there. Upcoming fundraisers are underway in support of some of the towns’ programs.