Cookie Monsters

Twas mid-December, and all through the house not a creature was stirring, except maybe a mouse...and Amanda and I decorating for Christmas as we strung up a line of white lights on our porch, a batch of Betty Crocker cookies baking in the toaster oven. Stepping back to admire the effect of our Christmas decoration, we noticed the distinct aroma of charred cookies. (Luckily you can't make too many cookies at a time in a toaster oven, so we had plenty of dough left to try again). Suddenly, there arose such a clatter in the street in front of our house that we went 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!" "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."

Lesson over, they smelled blackened chocolate chip cookies and insisted we give them some. Since you can't bake many cookies at one time in a toaster oven, we only had a few cookies to give away. Amanda told them they would have to share two cookies between them.

"We don't care, we want cookies!"

So Amanda doled out pieces of the two crispy cookies, which were greedily snatched up by the boys, who didn't seemed as interested in sharing after all. When the cookies were gone, the boys wandered away and Amanda and I returned to the kitchen to experiment ways to bake cookies without burning them. Five minutes later, we heard the same commotion in front of our house. "Hey sweetheart!" and more smoochy sounds. Amanda stalked out angrily and announced that they were being disrespectful and they couldn't be friends anymore.

When even this didn't deter them, I went out and threw a bucket of water on them.

Once it quieted down again I had a chance to think about what had just happened. Feelings of frustration lingered, and I remembered that at the gym that evening a bunch of teenage boys had also been catcalling at me as they passed by. Was I supposed to put up with it in my own house, too? Then I felt guilty for having resorted to violence, even though it was only a bucket of water, to resolve the situation.

I wonder what Mother Theresa would have done.

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

The Situation in Honduras

A few weeks ago I attended a talk at the Casa Ben Linder on the current situation in Honduras. Patty Adams and Sydney Frey, members of the Ecumenical Committee in Nicaragua, recently returned from a week-long delegation to Honduras to accompany the Honduran people, be in solidarity with them, and act as international observers during this time of repression and instability.  Now, Patty and Syd have returned to Honduras to act as delegation coordinators for an indefinite amount of time. This is a summary of their talk from a few weeks ago, which includes their observations of and perspective on the current situation and its significance.

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Syd and Patty began their talk by stressing the importance of knowing the facts in order to be able to counter the misinformation and misrepresentations of the coup in the media.  On June 25, a bill was introduced and approved in Honduran Congress which states that the Congress “disapproves” of democratically-elected President Manuel Zelaya’s conduct.  However, this bill gives no recourse for removal of the president, it simply states the Congress’ disapproval.  Later that night, the military informed President Zelaya that they would not give him the support he needed to complete the survey he had planned for June 28.  This survey, permitted under a citizen participation law that allows the president to conduct a non-binding survey to acquire information, seems to be at the heart of the matter.  The survey was set to inquire if the Honduran people want a fourth ballot box in the upcoming November election.  If so, these results would be brought to Congress for approval.  This fourth ballot box would be a referendum asking if the public wants to go forward with a constituent assembly to review the Honduran constitution (just a Wikipedia link, but a good place to start, the constitution has a controversial history) and contemplate a new one.  There was and is no chance of President Zelaya continuing his presidency after the next election because it would take until at least mid-2010 to convene the constituent assembly. So, as opposed to what the media has reported, this survey does not establish a new constitution, nor does it seek to keep President Zelaya in power.  Patty and Syd speculate that not only was the military ensuring that the survey did not take place, but they wanted to remind Hondurans and others who chooses the president - those with power, not the people as a whole.    

The people’s movement, the birthplace of the idea for a new constitution, is made up of several civil society organizations, including the Committee of Family Members of Those Disappeared and Detained (COFADEH), unions, especially the teachers’ union, and indigenous organizations, led by the Civic Council for Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPIHN).  Together, they founded the Frente Nacional de Resistencia Contra el Golpe (National Resistance to the Coup), known as the Frente, in response to June’s coup.  They are committed to non-violence and hold national weekly meetings dedicated to ending the repression and bringing President Zelaya back.  Despite the fact that they are non-violent, they have faced significant repression, including having their marches attacked by both the police and military.  These attacks have included baton beatings, sexual assault by baton, illegal pepper spray, and tear gas.  Some people have been killed and many are disappearing.  The U.S. media is reporting that no one has died, however, this is simply not the case.  This is the main reason the Honduran people’s movement has asked for international observers.  A major aspect of the international observers’ work is to listen to testimony from victims of repression.  One of the main reasons that the U.S. media is misrepresenting the situation is that journalists are being targeted in the repression.  Patty and Syd spoke with one journalist who has been beaten twice while attempting to report on the marches happening every day in Honduras.  They also heard testimony from teachers who suspect that the death lists are back.  Evidence for this includes the fact that coup-instated president Roberto Micheletti has appointed Billy Joya Améndola, previous head of the infamous 316 death squad during the 1980’s, as special security advisor.

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With Zelaya now back in the country, the repression has only escalated.  To follow what is happening and do some of your own research, here are some helpful links:

• The Quixote Center is a social justice organization working closely with the people of Honduras. Today's update "Tension in Tegucigalpa" was written by Patty, and it contains links to more information on the human rights violations occurring in the country. 
• Another good source of information is Amnesty International's reporting.  
• Here too is TeleSur, the local Honduran TV station that has audio and video feeds available online.  
• And finally, a link to the School of the Americas Watch video of Zelaya's return to Honduras. 

All of these links have suggestions for how U.S. citizens can stay informed on what is happening and what they can do help stop the repression.  Many are of the opinion that the U.S. should just stay out of other people's business, and I admit I often get frustrated with the way my government interacts with other countries.  However, I think the important question to ask when it comes to the coup in Honduras is at what point did the U.S. start meddling? With a little research, I think we'll find that the U.S.'s involvement in Honduras extends much further back than a few months ago.  Perhaps the more interesting question is what has the U.S. done in the past to contribute to the creation of a situation where human rights violations are occurring? 

Just this morning one of the teachers here at the Center told me how important she thinks it is to stop the repression in Honduras because that is exactly how the war here in Nicaragua began. Many Nicaraguans are concerned that if it can happen in Honduras, it can happen here, and really anywhere in Latin America.  The conclusion for Patty and Syd has been that this is a testing ground, and if these undemocratic and repressive practices are allowed here, there’s no telling where they might happen next.              

Dance Group Travels to Costa Rica

Last weekend I accompanied the CCBN’s dance group to Costa Rica for five days of travel, performance, and group bonding. This is the group’s second year visiting Ciudad Quesada and working with the Catholic archdiocese’s pastoral social (much like U.S. archdiocese’s social justice offices and ministries). The purpose of the trip is to present traditional Nicaraguan dances to Nicaraguan immigrants in Costa Rica, as well as to educate the general public about Nicaraguan culture. We had a wonderful time and learned something about the realities faced by Nicaraguans in Costa Rica.

The trip was fast-paced, with two full days of travel to get to and from Ciudad Quesada and a handful of dance performances in three days. The group performed at two elementary schools, an immigration event sponsored by Alianza Migrante (complete with a rally and march calling for immigrants’ rights) called “Dia del Migrante,” and a church. At each stop 14 dancers and two musicians performed six to eight dances, including La Negrita, La Húngara, La Madrugada, El Solar de Monimbo, and the famous Palo de Mayo from the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua. This year the group had a marimba and a marimba player along, which added a lot to the traditional flavor of the performances. Performances were packed, and audiences were enthralled by the dancers and the music. During the school performances, Patricia Ruiz, the group’s director, would bring children onstage to learn the basic pasos (steps). And after the performances at the “Dia del Migrante,” several immigrants chatted with me about how the dances carried them back to their childhoods. They also shared some of the struggles faced by Nicaraguan immigrants in Costa Rica. I was struck by the similarities between these stories and those that I’ve heard in my work with immigrants in the U.S. The struggle for the right to work, the right to an education, and the right to live free from discrimination were all mentioned at the “Dia del Migrante.”

From small children to grandparents, people were delighted with the performances, and their smiles made the group’s impact obvious. And watching the young people dance, I could see their passion for this art form and for their culture in their smiles and the way they moved their hips. It was a powerful experience for me as a foreigner in Nicaragua to observe how a group Nicaraguan young people experience being foreigners. One young dancer, Jorge, told me that last year he was moved to tears by the joy he felt at having the opportunity to travel outside his country and the pride he felt in representing the core of his identity as a Nicaraguan and as a young man through dance. When I’m in Nicaragua, I don’t think much about taking pride in being from the U.S. and sharing my culture with others, so these young people gave me much new insight into my role as a foreign volunteer.

New Friend's Blog

Check out our new friend Melissa's blog at http://www.maengle.blogspot.com.  We are excited to get to know Melissa, who just arrived in Managua to begin work with the CCBN through the one-year Mennonite SALT Program.  Her latest blog entry depicts the steps most people in the Batahola community take to do their laundry.