Obama and Latin America

Here's an excellent article by the Council on Hemispheric Affairs that reviews Obama's first year in office in terms of his Latin American policy.

Facing Poverty and Privilege

I have no idea what the word “poverty” really means. In the United States, “poverty” is the government designation for the income level at which a family of a certain size cannot meet their “basic needs.” In Nicaragua, poverty means living on less than a few dollars a day. So is poverty relative? I don’t really know. But whatever you call it when someone can’t make ends meet or they skip a meal so their kids don’t have to or they work five jobs and barely scrape by or their children are exceptionally small because they were malnourished at some point, how do those of us with more than enough money and security in our state of excess respond to it? Do we throw money at the situation, give away all we have, lend money, refuse to give money because we believe in justice, or do we simply make sure never to be in a situation where we’re faced with that choice?

I certainly don’t actively seek out people who society labels “poor” just to force myself to face my privilege. But here in Nicaragua, I can’t choose to avoid it as easily as I can in the U.S. Whether it’s my friend asking me for a loan for her son’s school registration fee, a neighbor coming by my house asking for food, a blind man begging on the bus, or an English student who can’t afford their textbook, I frequently feel a familiar pang of guilt mixed with I’m-a-graduate-of-a-liberal-arts-college-and-we-have unpacked-our-privilege mixed with helplessness mixed with relief: “I’m glad I have the money not to be in that situation.”

Did I really just say that? Yup. Truth be told, it’s uncomfortable to ask for a loan or a handout, and I thank God (not every day, just when I’m faced with the issue) that I don’t struggle to pay my bills and can by a ticket home whenever I want. And that’s when I’m living on a volunteer’s stipend.

So aside from mixed feelings and the urge to run away, what do I do when I face a blind man on the bus asking me for money? I passively stare straight ahead (or out the window), don’t give him anything, and then I reflect on the pop culture question ‘What would Jesus do?’ Certainly not what I just did. I conclude that not only am I not Jesus, but our world is so broken I firmly believe that the “right” thing to do is the opposite of what Jesus would do.

I’ve been taught from a young age that handouts are not great – not justice, not the way to bring someone out of poverty, better to give your money to an organization who can distribute it properly. Whatever that means. Being a Christian, especially a Catholic, means justice, not charity. Which means God wants systemic change, genuine equality, not $.25 handouts. So I don’t give money. Because of that lesson, and because I selfishly don’t want to play the game where every time someone approaches me for money I debate their sincerity and make a judgment, more likely to be based in racism, classism, ageism, sexism, and outfit-ism, than anything else. I’d rather not dirty myself with those kinds of judgments. So I avoid eye contact and reflect on the fact that I think I’m actually pretty sure Jesus would give money to every person that asked for it. Never mind that that might be a lot of people, and never mind that they might spend it on drugs or alcohol or other sinful substances. Jesus would not judge, he would simply show love in the moment and share of himself, perhaps offering a word of encouragement or kindness. (Of course, he would do all this without being the least bit patronizing and while continuing to work for systemic change in other ways. But that’s a whole other issue). And so I hold tightly to my money, feeling disgusted with myself that on one of the rare occasions I actually feel pretty certain about what Jesus would do, I can’t even bring myself to follow in his footsteps because it’s just not “right” in today’s world.

Luchando for Christmas All Year ‘Round

For me, what most significantly marks Christmas here is the choir music. Instead of singing about angels, Santa, and even the traditional Nativity scene, most of our Christmas carols talk about Christmas as a state of being, one marked by conscience, solidarity, and action. During the Christmas season I sang over and over again about how Christmas should be present the whole year around in the struggle for social justice and the way we relate to one another.

For example, in “Navidad sin estruendo” or “Christmas without Thunder,” the chorus says:

“To Bethlehem we come and go by pathways of joy, and God is born in each one who devotes themselves to others. To Bethlehem we come and go by pathways of justice, and in Bethlehem people are born when they learn to struggle.”

The word luchar, which I’ve translated here as “struggle,” is the principle word used in Spanish to describe that state of working towards and hungering for social justice. To understand the miracle of Christmas as the birthing of luchadores/as, or “strugglers for social justice,” is striking because we usually associate images of gentleness and passivity with the Christmas story. Struggle, however, has little to do with sitting and waiting patiently. How much more meaningful is the Nativity scene when we reflect on the difficult journey that brought Mary and Joseph to the stable, and when we remember the struggle that Jesus chose in his adult ministry? As a poor, unwed-but-pregnant couple, Mary and Joseph were labeled as sinners by their society, but instead of listening to the criticism, they chose to glorify God by following his plan for them. And as a prophet speaking truth-to-power, Jesus faced both political and personal adversity, glorifying God with his peaceful but revolutionary stance.

The second and third verses of this carol talk about the people awaiting a rich, submissive, kingly figure as their Christ, and how instead, they got a poor but powerful-with-words baby who denounces oppression and proclaims liberation in the name of God. Of course, I, too, love the image of Jesus as a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. But that image moves me more when I, like Mary, ponder in my heart the future of the baby and how I can radicalize those around me in the name of Love and Justice (aka God).

The song goes on to say in its final verse:

“Christmas is a pathway that doesn’t produce a great thunder, because God resounds within those who walk in brotherhood. Christmas is the miracle of going door-to-door and finding out if our brother needs our bread.”

And so it isn’t about changing the world alone, miraculously birthing a divine but human savior, or gift-giving. It’s about an awareness of and willingness to struggle with those around us for God’s abundant life.

Click here to hear the choir singing another Christmas carol.

Cookie Monsters

Twas a night in mid-December, and all through the house not a creature was stirring, except maybe a mouse...and Amanda and I decorating as we strung up a line of white Christmas lights on our porch, a batch of Betty Crocker cookies baking in the toaster oven. Stepping back to admire our work, we caught the distinct aroma of charred cookies wafting out from the kitchen. (Luckily you can't make too many cookies at one time in a toaster oven). We went inside to rescue them when suddenly there arose such a clatter in front of our house that we went right away to see what was the matter. We found a group of eight little boys from the neighborhood, probably ranging in age from 8 to 13 years old. They were clamoring for water and making smooching sounds at us: "Hey, Sweetheart! "Bring me water!" and "Hey, gringa!"

This immediately caught our attention. As self-proclaimed feminists, we knew we couldn't allow this kind of behavior to continue. Amanda began a dialogue with the boys while I ferried cups of water back and forth. She asked the biggest boy why he was making the smooching sounds.

"Because he likes you!" the younger ones chorused.

"Well," Amanda explained, "when you like a girl, you have to get to know her first before you call her sweetheart and get her permission to kiss her. Do you like it when people do things to you without your permission?"

"No..." another boy answered.

"Well, that's how I feel when you say those things to me."

Evidently thinking the lecture was over, they began to smell blackened chocolate chip cookies and insisted we give them some. As I said, you can't bake many cookies at one time in a toaster oven, so we only had a few cookies to give away. Amanda explained that they could only have two cookies and would have to share.

"We don't care, even if it's just a little piece. We want cookies!"

It became clear when Amanda brought out two blackened cookies that the boys were not interested in sharing. They gobbled up the pieces doled out by Amanda, and then began to wander away. The quiet lasted only a minute though, before the little mob was back, once again making smooching sounds and inappropriate comments. Amanda went out to the porch again only long enough to say that she was offended and that they couldn't be friends anymore. When the noise still continued after she came back into the kitchen, I went out and threw a bowl of water on them.

After they left for good (not wanting to be splashed again), Amanda and I removed another small batch of less-blackened cookies and vented our frustration. (My patience was already wearing thin since only a half hour before I had received a similar litany of harassment from a group of teenage boys as I worked out at the gym. Ooh, I was just ready to throw water on SOMEONE). For one thing, a group of little boys is just annoying-but what if they had been ten years older? And even though hearing catcalls when we walk down the street is "normal," shouldn't our own house be the one place we don't have to deal with it? And finally, it's no wonder that grown men here treat women with so little respect, when they clearly learn from such a young age to do so.

Then I felt guilty for having resorted to "violence" (throwing water) to resolve the situation. I wonder what Mother Theresa would have done.

And if anyone is interested, the secret to baking cookies in a toaster oven without burning them is wrapping them in a few layers of foil.

The U.S. Economy and Immigration Reform

Recently, the Center for American Progress and the Immigration Policy Center released a report detailing how comprehensive immigration reform will not only cause economic growth but is necessary to boost the faltering U.S. economy. The report, complete with economic analysis of three immigration policy scenarios, and written by UCLA economist and founder of the North American Integration and Development Center Dr. Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda, can be found below. Or, for a quick summary, watch this interview with Angela Kelley, VP for Immigration Policy and Advocacy at the Center for American Progress.

Immigration Report - Complete

All You Need is Love

Check out the CCBN Choir (including me!) singing the Beatles' "All You Need is Love" on www.starbucksloveproject.com.

Purísima

“Tu gloria, tu gloria, gozoso este día, O dulce María, publica mi voz, O dulce María, publica mi voz…” These are the words to a popular chorus dedicated to Mary that is heard all over Nicaragua during the days leading up to December 8^th. The flutes at the CCBN, the choir, the recordings at the mall, people humming on the street – pretty much everyone has the catchy tunes stuck in their heads. And not an hour goes by (not even the early morning hours) when you don’t hear a loud boom coming from a firecracker. All this bulla (or joyful racket) is setting up for what is known in the Catholic world as the feast of Mary’s Immaculate Conception (her conception, not Jesus’), or Purísima as it is known here. To celebrate, many people construct altars in their houses to honor Mary. Then, on the evening of December 7^th, old and young alike go out for the Gritería (basically, this translates to “Yelling Fest”). Groups of friends and family go door-to-door and sing one (or sometimes several) of the traditional Marian tunes after beginning with the greeting “¿Quien causa tanta alegría?” (“Who causes such joy?”) and response “¡La concepción de María!” (“Mary’s conception!”) Then, the members of the household give out sweets, fruit, or other goodies to the singers. It’s a lot like Halloween in the U.S. with a few tweaks.

For many, the celebration is an excuse to go out and make merry, but for others this celebration is deeply spiritual. Many are giving thanks to Mary for answered prayer. For example, the Arts Coordinator at the CCBN told me about some of the blessings he has received from the Virgin. Suffering from cancer and struggling through chemo a few years ago, he woke up one night crying out to the Virgin, asking her to end his pain. Soon after, his doctors told him he could stop chemo, and today he is cancer-free. He gives thanks to the Virgin every year with his family, usually waiting until the popular celebrations have subsided to honor her in a more personal way. I, too, joined in the festivities Monday evening, finally able to sing along after having learned the songs with the choir. I was struck by the joy and diversity that marks this yearly celebration as one of the most important on the Nicaraguan calendar.

FOBV Retreat

Last week Greta and I had the opportunity to take a two-day retreat to Granada for some relaxation, planning, and reflection. We had an incredibly rich experience, getting away from the bustle and noise of Managua and finding a peaceful space to do some long-term thinking for FOBV. We talked about our role as accompaniment at the Center, discussed ways to strengthen our relationships with VMM, FOB, and the CCBN, reflected the challenges we’ve experienced in the first five months of our program, and planned for our spiritual life, the blog, and next year’s English class. In the midst of all that we made time for some sweet chocolate pancakes and walked around picturesque Granada, enjoying the colonial architecture and people-watching.

One of the most interesting conversations we had was about how we see our task of “accompaniment.” While a lot of different definitions may exist, we envision accompaniment as a role that involves asking key questions (especially “why?”), working on collaboration by connecting key project members, keeping the project moving, and encouraging a group to focus on their reality. I’m not sure what I thought accompaniment would look like when I first got here, but now I feel strongly about how important it is to keep our role sustainable by being “accompaniers” instead of “leaders” or “organizers.” If Greta and I left tomorrow, the projects we are involved in would continue just fine without us. While our role in them is important, the projects do not revolve around our ideas and actions; rather, we support and encourage the projects as they grow out of the initiatives of CCBN staff.

In terms of the blog, we discussed our goals and what kind of a voice we want it to have. We feel that as two volunteers living and working in a Nicaraguan context, we can share our personal experience on the blog as a way to give our friends and family in the U.S. insight into Nicaraguan life without presuming to represent the entire country and people. Our major goal is to cause our readers to think “Oh, I didn’t realize that...I wonder why that is?” So please, let us know if you react like this!

After all the reflection on our first five months at CCBN, we returned to Managua Wednesday afternoon feeling refreshed and excited about the next stage of our term here. We really are part of an exciting and dynamic program and are learning tons. In fact, one of our main problems is that time is flying too fast to enjoy it all!

Nicaraguan Migration

This morning I attended a presentation at the Casa Ben Linder on the reconfiguration of Nicaraguan transnational families. The speakers were Cándida Rosa Gomez, a researcher with Jesuit Migrant Services, and Kristin Elizabeth Yarris, a doctoral candidate at the UCLA Department of Anthropology and a Fulbright Scholar. Their presentation focused on the social, cultural, and economic consequences of migration for the sending families and communities. Immigration is a multi-faceted and ever-present issue for the United States, and hearing about it from the perspective of those left behind brings to light several factors that are often overlooked in the debate.

First of all, it is important to note that the Nicaraguan immigration phenomenon includes immigrants in the United States, Costa Rica, Mexico, and other Central American countries. In fact, 50% of Nicaraguan migrants go to Costa Rica. This phenomenon can be studied from the perspective of those leaving because they cannot find living wage jobs in Nicaragua, the perspective of youth leaving to find better opportunities, or the perspective of a gendered lens looking at the increasing numbers of women leaving their children behind, just to name a few. The feminine perspective is currently one of the most neglected viewpoints in the academic world, which is why Gomez and Yarris chose to make it the focus of their presentation. Additionally, gender is what makes Nicaraguan immigration different from other Latin American immigration, with single mothers looking for a way to support their children making up a majority of Nicaraguan immigrants.

Nicaraguan immigrants in Costa Rica face many of the same dangers and documentation struggles that Latin American immigrants in the U.S. encounter. Crossing the border itself is dangerous, and once in Costa Rica, immigrants can’t return to Nicaragua and are always facing the threat of deportation. One frequently overlooked aspect of the struggle is that while Nicaraguan immigrants in Costa Rica are paying into the tax system, they have no guarantee of receiving the benefits, such as healthcare in their old age. At the same time, though, the families they have left behind often don’t have someone in the workforce in Nicaragua, so they are missing out on benefits as well. Immigrants to the U.S. also slip through this crack.

Another major issue in the immigration debate are the remittances that immigrants send back to their home countries. The families in Yarris’ study receive an average of $100 a month from their migrated member, and most of these families state that this money is still not enough to live off of. In Nicaragua, remittances make up 7% of the GNP, and 8.1% of households receive them. Of these households, 73.7% are receiving remittances from family in the U.S., while 23.5% are receiving remittances from family in Costa Rica. But who else is “benefitting” economically from this phenomenon? Gomez and Yarris mentioned both Western Union, who charges quite a bit for money transfers, and cell phone companies (such as Claro and Movistar in Nicaragua, both part of larger multinational telecommunications networks), who allow families to keep in touch.

Yarris’ research focuses on the children left behind by migrant mothers and the grandmothers who often assume responsibility for them. She is looking at how families shift to care for these children and how these changes affect gender relations within the families. Often, children left behind do not show their mothers affection, despite the fact that they are well-aware of who their mothers are. Communities also look down on these women as having become too “liberal” or “loose” because of their immigration experience. These circumstances create a situation of double-denial or double-discrimination for the women. Additionally, an interesting factor to keep in mind when thinking about the grandmothers-turned-mothers is that they are often quite young - perhaps only 40 years old. Young enough to have the energy to care for children, but old enough that it is difficult to find work in Nicaragua. They are left behind, too, and their grandchildren fill the void left by their own daughters.

For more information, check out some of Jose Luis Rocha's work. Rocha is a leading researcher on immigration with Jesuit Migrant Services, and some of his articles can be found here.

Staff Retreat at the CCBN

A few weeks ago Greta and I participated in the CCBN's annual staff retreat, which consists of 2 1/2 days of evaluation, reflection, planning, and relaxation for the entire team. We started out the retreat with a presentation by the Center’s General Coordinator on the state of the impact of the Center’s work. We learned that the Center’s work has directly benefited almost 2500 people over the last year, including over 1000 students enrolled in courses, 113 scholarship students, and over 50 participants in the arts groups.

Beginning with last year's retreat, the CCBN has organized activities into strategic projects, including “Tools for Work with Dignity,” “Strengthening Adult Education,” “Breaking Down Barriers to Education and Enriching Children’s Learning,” “Promoting the Right to Arts and Culture,” “Promoting the Right to Live Free of Violence,” and “Institutional Strengthening.” For most of the weekend, we worked in these teams to evaluate the progress made on each project and to plan for the upcoming year. We also did a lot of work on the conceptualization of the values and ideals behind the projects, working to come to a consensus on exactly what our goals are and how we envision living out our mission.

I worked with both the “Tools for Work with Dignity” group and the “Promoting the Right to Live Free of Violence” group. As English teachers, Greta and I are part of the “Tools for Work with Dignity” project because several of our students want to strengthen their resumes and get jobs or get better jobs. Our group debated what we believe “work with dignity” actually is, whether it’s about the kind of job one has or the way in which one carries out one’s work. We also wrestled with the degree of responsibility the Center should feel in getting students jobs as they finish their courses, or if it’s more about giving students the tools to find jobs and empowering them to initiate the search. Perhaps we didn’t come to a clearly-defined consensus on these issues, but our discussions helped us create a vision for the project and helped me understand more about the philosophy behind the Center’s work. It isn’t about everyone thinking and believing the same thing, but rather about sharing our diverse perspectives and using that diversity to create a larger vision.

Greta and I, along with the CCBN’s Mennonite Central Committee volunteer Melissa, planned the evening activities for the weekend, with the goal of relaxing and having fun with our co-workers. The first night we walked a labyrinth and painted stones to represent the transformation we underwent on our walk, and the second night we washed each other’s feet as a way to remind ourselves of the service we are all so committed to at the Center. Having an artistic and reflective outlet helped break up the hard work we were doing and gave us a chance to goof off a little.

More Information on Honduras

Here are two more reports on Honduras. The first is from a forum in Brazil organized by the Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado, a university in Sao Paolo. The second is from the most recent Witness for Peace delegation in Honduras, led by a long-term volunteer in Nicaragua.

Political Situation in Honduras v3
WFP Honduras Report

Reports on Honduras

Here is an excellent article on the Latin American-U.S. connections behind the coup in Honduras.

And below is Amnesty International's Honduras report.

-Amanda

Amnesty International Report on Honduras