jiñocuao

we can´t work at the clinic on the weekends at parajito azul. most of the staff go home to be with their families, and they have asked that we take this time off too. it is hard to leave the kids for two days, especially since we are seeing such progress. andrea wants to keep poking them. lindsay wants to keep holding them. we all want to see them continue to improve.

but since the centre has asked us to respect their down time, i have packed the weekends full of as much nicaragua as possible. i want these amazing women from canada to see that there is so much more to nicaragua than the chaos of the capital city. i want them to fall in love with this country, just as i have, so that they will want to return. once nicaragua is in your heart, it is impossible to ignore her cries.

i took our group to my favourite place in the world, the town of jinocuao. it was a four hour drive from managua, with the last hour and a half on bumpy country roads. it is a town of campesinos. of people that live off of the land. it is a town so filled with community spirit and love that i am overwhelmed each time i visit.

our team stayed with families in the town. chris and i were with julio and evelia, the same family that i have been staying with since 1999. this will be my fifth time in their home. each time i feel more welcomed, and even more loved. i feel a part of this family, so far away from my own.

kids are everywhere in jinocuao. we are swarmed with kisses and hugs from the moment that we arrive in town. we walk down to the river with a group of twelve kids, and chris wins them over by being a clown, and then cliff jumping with them. they tell my that my boyfriend is beautiful. i agree.

24 hours is such a short amount of time to spend in jinocuao. i try to cram it all in. we visit the pigs and the chickens that hang out by the outhouse, the the new playground that a german delegation helped to build, the furniture workshop where the community beds are built, the mini-library where the kids can study, the well for gathering water to bathe yourself with, the water pump for the drinking water, and the corn grinder that each family will visit every morning to have fresh cornflour to make the day´s tortillas.

on sunday morning after the local church service, andrea gives a workshop on acupressure points and massage. she addresses some of the regular health concerns faced in the community, such as diarriah, malnutrition, pain control, and high fevers. the response is amazing. community members are excited to learn about new techniques that will allow them to heal themselves, but more importantly, to heal each other. we are humbled by the energy and the love that is sent our way.

it was my time in jiñocuao that convinced me to go into social work. it was here that saw first hand the amazing power of community. these people have almost nothing in terms of material wealth. they are some of the poorest people in the americas. but they opened their homes and their hearts to us without a second thought, and they are doing AMAZING things for themselves within the community. they are working together to create change. i respect them more than i can say, and i am so grateful to have had the opportunity to share this experience with my partner, and with my friends from canada.

i hope that you are all well! thanks for your ongoing support and love!

abrazos muy fuerte,
jania