Various

Various

I read an article in the newspaper here recently that reported the results of a survey of Nicaraguans by apparently righteous public opinion pollsters.  Asked if they would move out of the country if they could, somewhere between 54 and 57 percent of Nicaraguans said they would. (The estimation results from my faulty memory for the exact number and not any vagueness in the poll results).  I am astounded by that number.  Can you imagine if between 50 and 60 per cent of your countrymen and women  wanted to move?

Finding a way out obsesses many people and many people make it, if not to the preferred destination, the United States, then to the next bests: Costa Rica, Panama and especially Spain. Sometimes it seems that every family has a son or daughter living abroad.  I live with a woman who has six children, two of whom now live abroad, one in Spain and one in San Francisco.  Today at the pulperia I met a woman named Maria with a son in Los Angeles she hasn’t seen in 5 years.  Such sadness in her face.   When people ask where I’m from and I tell them, they tell me about their family member in Miami or Los Angeles or Texas, sometimes New York. I ask for how long they’ve been gone.  Two, five, ten years.  Do you visit?  Never.  Do they come to visit you? They came once, maybe twice.

I have met several people who want to improve their English so they can emigrate.  For them the language is the key.  They haven’t figured out yet about visas and money and jobs abroad.  They just think if they work hard enough to speak English, doors will open.  And maybe they will.

This exodus is a killer. Not only does it deprive Nicaragua of the talents of many ambitious people, but it wreaks havoc with family life—and the family is the heart of this country. There are, of course, the grieving mothers and fathers.  But the children take a hit, too, when their parent leaves to work somewhere else.  Grandmothers raise their grandchildren and people complain that the source of discipline is absent when parents aren’t there. It does seem to me a double cruelty: Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere, and also suffers not only a drain of talent but an assault on its strongest institution.

 ( I could also write about the other problem here, the lack of financial responsibility of men for their offspring under the law.  There are laws, but as in the U.S. 30 years ago, they are not enforced.  And besides, who has a job and wages with which to pay child support?) 

Something cheerier: Avocadoes and mangoes are in high season and falling off trees.  It’s a bonanza if you happen to have the right trees in your yard.  I do not, but people share.

I tried to start a community English class but made some miscalculations and it may not work out. It has been a good experience from which I learned a lot about how to do this kind of thing.  Maybe it’s not moribund.  We’ll see.  But it has caused me to sit outside the community center waiting for students between 6 and 7 some nights. And that is the most beautiful time.  Across the street is the park which now is filled with amazing trees dripping with bright red flowers from its crown down, and from its branches hang giant black pods, like those of a locust at home but much, much bigger.  The sky darkens slowly, a few people walk in the street. The air is cool, there’s a little breeze. I secretly hope no one comes to class so I can sit a little longer.

In contrast I have started a successful English Club at my high school.  It’s voluntary for kids who want to learn more English.  It’s a pleasure to teach motivated kids without the constraints of a curriculum and the need to share the planning.  My goal is to improve the ability of the 10 to speak meaningful English, and their confidence to try to say things.  I taught them how to say “What does____mean?” and “How do you say______in English?”  With the ability to ask, they do it all the time.  What do they want to know?  What does “download” mean? A translation for “I love you” and “Love me”.  What does Black-eyed Peas mean?   Love and computers and music. I reminded them that in class they studied how to say “I want” and “I need”.  We did an exercise where each said what s/he wanted.  I started with “I want a million dollars”.  They wanted to visit Brazil, to be a doctor, to drive a big car, to speak English.  One said, no lie, “I want to kiss Elsa” (another student in the group.)  Elsa was sanguine. What a thrill to see all those dreams popping out in English!

I have my low days, but the highs are so high that I’m getting addicted to Nicaragua.