Day 11: Rotary Projects of León

I am falling more and more in love with León by the minute.

We had a bit of a rough start this morning due to some confusion in communication. We were supposed to be picked up at 9a enpunto and by 10:30a we were losing steam and beginning to get worried about our day. However, this led to a conversation with our coordinator back home, Brad Bodenhausen, and it's always good to get to hear a familiar voice. (Sidenote: a huge shout out to Brad for helping us navigate the GSE from beginning to present. He has helped make this experience so great and has give us much advice on what to expect. So THANKS!) Our agenda was quickly straightened out and ended up being one of our most rewarding and great days to date.

Our host today was a member of Club Rotario Metropolitano León. Carlos first took us to the public hospital, which is a teaching hospital, for a tour led by the club's president, Dr. Jorge Aleman. We learned about a lot of programs Rotarians have helped with in the hospital. The tour was very hard. The facilities are not the best but not the worst we have seen. Everything is so indoor-outdoor here and it's not uncommon to see birds walking the halls of the hospital. In the maternity ward, there is no air conditioning. We saw a small room with 5 beds in it, every bed had a mother and a child, and some had 2 mothers and children. They are at capacity in every way. We also saw a child who had complications with cerebral palsy. She was eight years old and probably didn't weight more than thirty pounds. It is so sad to see a child so uncomfortable and her mother suffering with her. And her mother had other children at home. My heart just broke for them. There were many sad moments in the hospital and you know they are doing the best with what they have, they just don't have the resources.

The tour felt pretty invasive and I didn't take any pictures, but it was good to see the work that so many good people are doing. Private hospitals have better facilities, likely pay more, etc.

Following the hospital, we went to see some wells Rotarians have built in the rural areas. We have heard about wells but honestly had no idea what to expect. We took a short drive of only about 10 minutes outside of the city to the community of Los Cachorros. A club in Tulsa is helping put many wells in areas so people have access to running water for health and hygiene. The Rotary clubs here also help with electricity in these shanty towns.

A new house being constructed near the well

A few people who lived in the community came over to talk with us. Tomas gave us a lot of information about the community. 40 families with 7-8 members in each family use the well. I can not tell you how thankful these people are and how gracious they are to just have access to water. Tomas talked about how great this will be because people will now be able to own their land, have access to the basic needs of shelter, water and electricity and hopefully their children will know there is a better life. An elderly lady, Navidad came over as well. She smiled the whole time and greeted us with affectionate terms. We have heard that when surveyors go to talk to people in these villages they often have a perception of a very high quality of life and are very happy.

A new house being built next to the well

Paul gave out toys to the children

We took another quick drive to another village. This village might have the best view in all of León, and looks over the city and the volcanos.

A little girl came by to get water and gave us a demonstration of the well. She was really working those biceps.

These two little girls also came by to see who was there. We gave all the children toys and honey sticks. I wish I could have caught their laughter on video. They just kept giggling. All the Nica children are so beautiful. You just want to give them all huge hugs.

Fingers caught in a finger trap

An even sadder thought is these children will probably grow up and stay in the same cycle. They currently do not have access to schools and Nicaragua has an official unemployment rate of over forty percent, which means it is likely closer to or higher than fifty percent.

After visiting these communities we went to a program for the deaf and intellectually challenged. The teachers here work without salary and have huge hearts. It is such a neat facility and give children a change to thrive rather than letting their disability be a detriment to their emotional health.

She was hilarious and super social

Shy little guy

Christi handing out honey sticks

Many communities that we have visited don't necessarily want to show us the poverty in their communities that we see everywhere just driving down the street. This was such a heartbreaking experience. It is so great to see what has been done, but there is so much left to do.

Our evening plans were to meet with members of the club as well as some Rotaractors (two of whom are Carlos' sons). Before dinner, Carlos suggested we watch the sunset on the beach. That is as hard of a transition to write as it was to do in real life.

The beaches here are gorgeous, with huge waves and warm water. We played in the surf for a small bit and then watched the sunset. Paul even caught a wave and body-surfed.

People taking pictures of people taking pictures

Turn around! Don't drown!

I have to note that Christi got some crazy wicked sand rash from a tumble. She was pretty excited about her battle wounds.

We went to a local restaurant to meet up with the Rotary group. We learned a lot about projects the local Rotaract group is doing in the region. It is only 8 months old (officially) and is already very mighty with their projects. It was awesome to see that much excitement in civic service.

Bar grub Nica style

Tomorrow we have an early morning and are leaving at 6a to go to Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. It's only about 1.5 hours away. We are riding with a lady who is actually currently hosting two girls from the US who we met briefly. One is from New Hampshire and spent the past 3 months studying in Costa Rica. She actually used to live in Knob Noster. Random world.

 

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