Nicaragua has been quoted by The U.S Department of State as the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The communities I'll be working in are rural communities and in these communities, rarely does one even possess the bare necessities. The little makeshift shacks that these Nicaraguenses occupy rarely consists of more than one communal room with no furniture. Nicaragua's staple diet consists of beans and rice (gallo pinto for breakfast, arroz con frijoles for lunch and frigoles con arroz for dinner), but in these communities, people can't even afford beans because of its recent rising costs. This results in anemia for most children even if they are overweight. I've yet to cope with the poverty I've seen here or anywhere. At times justified as caused by their "laziness", most people, especially the women, wake up at dawn and work until night washing clothes manually, cooking food, and selling food in the streets and still, only earn barely enough to sustain. Seldom will you find a better example of injustice than this.
For my project, I'm still working on receiving IRB approval. In the mean time, I've been venturing to communities and meeting the professors in the school and directors of the organizations I'm working with. I met a student working with the Children's Wellness Fund. To describe him as a helper would be an understatement. He would be better described as a sherpa encountered on an expedition to the top of K2. In some ways, he did seem like a guide and helped me through a 12 kilometer trek to the school in another community named Santa Fe. But he also introducted me to schools in Santa Ana and Manchon where I was able to meet the directors and professors and arrange a time to present my research study to the community members. Now that I have surveyed the community, let's see if I can sucessfully reach the summit.
No comments:
Post a Comment