So Much Room For Activities

These past couple of weeks have in fact been a blur. So much has happened, that it’s actually a little difficult to put memories to certain days. It’s not often when tons of new, different activities occur simultaneously, so for me it was a little overwhelming.

            For instance, I neglected to mention that during our language taller, the National Emprendedurismo Competition took place in Managua. At the convention center of the Hotel Holiday Inn, the winners from all the regional competitions in Nicaragua convened to compete for the top spot. We had teams from all points of the compass: El Rama R.A.A.S, San Rafael de Norte Jinotega, El Viejo Chinendega, and of course my own team from Villa El Carmen. And what’s more, every business volunteer was required to come, so it was one of the few opportunities we had to see each other in one place. I’d be lying if I said that I would be on the edge of my seat, glued to every presentation, especially with so many of my friends there. More than likely, I would be in the back row, making wise cracks to my friends and shooting the breeze. But not this time! I was appointed time keeper for each presentation, which meant I was front and center, with the judges, and since I had nothing better to do, actually paid attention. The first thing I noticed was the world of difference between my local competitions and the national competition. Here, the kids participating are the ones that are the leaders of the classroom and (maybe this is wishful thinking) the future leaders of Nicaragua. They actually care about the project and their education, and it shows in the professionalism and quality of their presentations. There were some really incredible ideas, beyond the “100% all natural” or “superior quality and taste” products you hear during other levels of the competition. Among my favorite products were a car battery charger (which has huge implications in the campo where that can be the only source of energy), roof shingles of micro concrete, a flea repellent (doesn’t really exist down here), and a belt with multiple uses and patterns (using Velcro or snaps, you’re able to accessorize your belt in whatever way you could imagine, at a relatively low cost). Some really creative products were at the fair, and yet it seemed that the more creative products barely got recognized this year. A coffee based drink, flour made from pejibaye, and a flowerpot took first, second, and third place, respectively. I was planning on banning all bebidas in next year’s competition, as there is nothing original about them, but how is that possible now if it can win at nationals? Granted there is more to the evaluation process than creativity (Creativity – 30, Business Plan – 30, Presentation – 20, Marketing – 20, Finances – 20), but come on. It was a disappointing end for me, and it left a sour taste in my mouth. But I think all of SBD 56 took it as an incentive to improve the competition for next year, so hopefully some good will come out of it. **Unfortunately, I forgot my camera in Villa El Carmen and was unable to take any photos, sorry folks**

The competition and our language taller flowed right into our first In-Service-Training (IST), held in the liberal/college capital of Nicaragua, Leon. I know that sounds really exciting right? A couple days of nothing but training and charlas for 8 hours a day, where do I sign up? Surprisingly in a lot of ways it was, but largely because of timing and location – which I will get to in a bit. So our first four months in site have been solely devoted to teaching the emprendedurismo class and focusing on the competition. But for those of you who may remember when I told you in person close to 10 months ago, there are two parts to my title: business teacher and business advisor. This IST honed in on the second part of my title, business advisor. So we started off with an art gallery of sorts, where on a large piece of paper, everyone drew about their secondary projects and business advising opportunities within their sites. It was an interesting tool to see what could possibly be out there, and if there are any possibilities for collaboration with other volunteers working on similar projects. Great brainstorming idea. This was the icebreaker for the next couple of days, where we went over the culture of business advising in Nicaragua, the business advising approach, and different ways of financing start-ups, among other things. As we found out at the end, we’re the first small biz group to put a large focus on advising, so we’re guinea pigs in a lot of ways. Over the next couple of months, I’m expected to build relationships with small-medium sized businesses in la Villa, and develop and implement an action plan on how to improve their businesses. But where are all of these businesses hiding? My biggest problem is finding them, letting alone develop a relationship with them. But as school is out, I have plenty of time to do some serious research. More or less I now have two months of vacation, with as the saying goes, “Nothing but time.” Or maybe it’s nothing but surfing, but we’ll see.

The location and timing of our IST was so good because in coincided perfectly with a holiday known as La Purisma, which is almost exclusively celebrated in Nicaragua from what I’m told. La Purisma celebrates the birth of the Virgin Mary, and while it’s celebrated throughout Nicaragua, the largest celebration is in Leon. So although our IST ended on the morning of the celebration, our entire group booked a hostel to participate in the celebration. It’s similar to Halloween in that people decorate their homes (with altars praising the Virgin Mary instead of scary scenes) and people go from house to house (or stand to stand) to solicit dulces and little trinkets. La Purisma is also know as La Griteria (which more or less translates to the shouting), because to be given the dulces, one must scream, “Quien causa tanta alegria?” answered by “Maria de la Concepcion”. Literally thousands of people come to Leon for the event, the lines are multiple blocks long to go from house to house for the dulces. And there is a massive fireworks celebration in the main park from the roof of the Cathedral, where the masses gather to watch the celebration, to sing and praise the Virgin Mary, and watch the act that goes with it. The whole thing is quite the spectacle, especially because the fireworks literally explode 100-150 feet above your head. There’s no regulation or anything regarding fireworks, so it’s kind of a free for all. I’m pretty sure who ever was in charge didn’t need a permit or anything for such an extensive firework display. So the event is doubly interesting, because there is the chance of fireworks exploding too low, or inadvertently shooting into the crowd, both of which did happen at one point. But fear not, no one was hurt.

So until the next episode, adios amigos