When the government doesn't do its job, the citizens will

Ok, I'll publicly admit that I had a developed world relapse this weekend and went to the beach. The streets were clean, the food was familiar and the language was English. There were lots of police officers, too.... something I realized I hadn't seen since I left the U.S.

Surprisingly, for such a lack of law enforcement officers, there is very little petty crime in Granada. Perhaps that is a bit of a generalization, but my travel books seem to agree. Sure, there is a lot more chaos in the streets... jay walkers and litterers (is that a word?), but not too much else in the misdemeanor department. Most Granadians go to bed before 10 and there are even hired neighboorhood watchmen. They are paid by the residents of the neighborhood, and their job is to go around at all hours of the night, blowing a whistle to inform the residents that they are watching out for trouble. The first night I was here I awoke in the middle of the night to the whistle blowing and my first thought was that a woman was being attacked and was blowing a whistle for help. I wasn't sure what to do, but then the whistle blowing persisted and I decided it was probably just some sort of tomfoolery.

Friday night I went to a Rotary event at the Granada Jockey Club (it looked like a country club stuck in the year 1958). The event was the inaugaration of the first female president of the Rotary Club of Granada... Karla Saenz, daughter of this year's President, Evenor. It was quite a festive and informative event. The speeches were all different, but had to do with the significance of women in society. One speech was very eloquent, focusing on the struggle and importance for the equality of women. Another speech was very, ummm, off the mark. Carlos, a big burly member of the Rotary Club and owner of the local aguardiente (a hard alcohol like moonshine) distillery, gave a speech about women as beautiful creatures. I think he had had a little too much to drink.

A Nicaraguan band played some covers of popular songs like "Imagine", but without the real words. I'll give them credit though, it sounded like it could have been English. I guess we were supposed to imagine what the song would sound like in English.

All in all, the inaugaration of Karla as president was a landmark event for Rotary, although it seems that the rest of the country has a long way to go with egalitarian matters.

Which brings me to my next topic, Machisimo culture.

So, back at the beach I ran into some Peace Corps volunteers from northern Nicaragua. They are working on a sex education public health project. I learned quite a bit from them about rural Nicaragua and cultural attitudes. According to one volunteer, machismo is the biggest problem with the spread of disease and unplanned pregnancies. Obstinately, men make most of the decisions in relationships, including the use of contraceptives. More often than not, they don't stick around after their partner becomes pregnant.

I have noticed and heard that there are many single mothers in Granada. All three of the Nicaraguan women my age or older that I have met have young children with no apparent father figure. Unfortunately, this puts these women in economically compromised positions. School is not mandatory for children here, so many children work in the streets selling things instead of attending school. There are so many children here. On any given day, at any given time, there are children of all ages (from 2 years on up) playing on the sidewalks or wandering in the streets.

Last week, I biked to a public school in Panatil, the poorest neighborhoood in the outskirts of Granada. I was astounded by how impoverished this neighboored is. I guess it would be considered a shanty town, with tiny houses made of scrap metal and wood and dirt floors. Their school is in a state of disrepair. Right now there is no running water because the municpal water pipe is broken. There are latrines with only three walls slapped together. Many schoolchildren lacked shoes.

I went with some other students from my language school to discuss working on painting a mural with the kids on the side of the school. It also developed into another project...fixing the water pipe. All in all, the repair would cost $100. Not expecting the government to fix it anytime soon, I told the Rotary Club here about the situation and they already knew and have plans to fund the repair. I noticed their sign painted on the side of the school, and found out that they have been working on supplying pencils, notebooks and uniforms to the students there.

I volunteered as an assistant art teacher at Carita Feliz and enjoyed it, but found that that community center is fairly well organized and well staffed. After visiting the school in Panatil, I decided my help would be of more help elsewhere.

The schools are closed for vacation this week, so I am going to volunteer at an orphanage in the afternoons to take care of the kids on vacation. I'm going to look into volunteering at a public school for the rest of my stay, once school resumes.

Well, that's enought for this entry. I could write a novel, but it will have to come in chapters. More on everything later...