Transition to Service

View of one of the streets

I found out two weeks ago that my site is a small municipality in Madriz, located in northern Nicaragua. My town is absolutely beautiful, nestled in the mountains on the steep banks of the Rio Coco.
The urban area is home to about 3,000 people, with another 19,000 living in rural surrounding communities. There are three elementary schools and one high school in the urban area, as well as a health center and a casa materna. A casa materna is a house with rooms and beds for pregnant women from extremely rural areas to stay close to medical care as they get close to their due date. This helps institutionalize births and therefore reduce risks of life-threatening complications.

I will be working in all three areas, the schools, health center, and casa materna. In the schools I will be teaching sexual education and general health education classes. I also really hope to work with the teachers to make a more sustainable sexual education curriculum, which can be continued after my two years are over. In the health centers I will be giving charlas to the patients waiting for their appointments. I will also work with midwives and volunteer health promoters to further their training and knowledge surrounding HIV/AIDS, and maternal and child health. Similarly, in the casa materna I will work with the pregnant women to further their knowledge about their pregnancy, warning signs, breast feeding, and other topics.

The beautiful view when I walk out of my bedroom

I went to visit last week and had a lovely time. My house and family in Madriz are absolutely amazing; I have already been welcomed me into the family. I have 15 new brothers and sisters, yes 15. So far I have only met 5 because none of them live at home anymore. I also live in a bed and breakfast, so there is a steady stream of interesting people to talk to around meal-times. Most of the guests that were staying at my house last week were staying for the week in order to work in the town or the surrounding communities.  There is a lot of good hiking in the mountains, and there are some places in the river that are safe to swim in during certain times of the year. Although, there is a myth here that if you swim in the Rio Coco, you will end up marrying a Nicaraguan… I might be willing to test out that myth. Aside from the hiking and the river the most popular things to do are play cards, watch telenovelas and have interesting conversations. I’m thinking this will be a pretty good fit for me. So far those are some of the things I have enjoyed doing most with my free time.

I took this on a hike from my town to a nearby  community

I swear in as a Peace Corps Volunteer on Friday, May 24^th. I can’t believe how quickly the last couple months have flown by. Over the weekend I’ll head to my site to begin my work on Monday. Also, I feel like my Spanish will definitely be sufficient to start work. I started with the Spanish level “Novice-High”, and am now “Intermediate-High”. Although I’m proud of myself for moving up so much in the Peace Corps’ language levels, I think what I’m most proud of is my newfound confidence in Spanish. I feel confident enough to get around my community, to travel across the country, to have conversations with just about anyone, and I can talk on the phone in Spanish and understand just about everything we’re talking about.

Me in front of the bridge that crosses the Rio Coco

Moving to my new community is bittersweet. I have had an amazing time in Carazo. I have met many incredible people, have had some great times with my fellow Peace Corps trainees, and I now feel like I have a Nicaraguan family here as well. Starting over in Madriz will be another few months (but really years) of adjustments, putting myself out there, and hopefully having more fulfilling and exciting experiences. I’m just now starting to feel ready for the change, but I also plan to savor every last minute here in Carazo.