Jesus is My Homeboy

This week has been an extremely busy one for me.
After the rainstorm raged all day last Sunday I had the opportunity to attend mass at the CCBN in the chapel for the first time. It was absolutely wonderful. The power was out for a little over an hour (a frequent occurrence) and everyone sat quietly in candlelight waiting for it to return. It was a great time for reflection- for once the air was cool, it was quiet and dark, and the little light that was emitted from the candles illuminated the gorgeous mural of Nicaraguans offering gifts to the infant Jesus. The mass began with a song entitled Entrada- You Are The God of the Poor:

Vos sos el Dios de los pobres.
el Dios humano y sencillo,
el Dios que suda en la calle,
el Dios de rostro cutrido.
Por eso es que te hablo yo
así como habla mi pueblo
porque sos el Dios obrero
el Cristo trabajador.

You are the God of the poor.
The human and simple God,
The God who sweats in the street,
The God with the weather-beaten face.
That’s why I can talk to you
The way I talk with my people,
Because you are God the worker
And Christ is a worker, too.

Hearing these beautiful words being sung I thought about my first week and all that I had seen- not places though, just people-- Nicaraguans, and the way in which they live their lives. It’s rather interesting. I live in a city where everyone seems to sweat in the street, whether adult or child Nicaraguans have a way of making nothing into something. Here, every person is a businessman. For instance, my host mother sells chocobananos and helados (chocolate covered frozen bananas and freezepops- amazing!) from our freezer to bring in a few extra cordobas. People sell water, flannel, jewelry, toilet supplies, anything you can think of: all on the street. (I wake up every morning at 6 to a woman outside my window yelling ¡Pan! ¡Pan! Aka Bread! Bread!) All of this selling is most likely directly connected to the dependence on others that has become integrated into daily life in Nicaragua due to countries such as our own, but I’ve honestly never seen people work so hard to make a living.

Additionally, all of this hard work combined with ideas of Liberation Theology have made Jesus like some sort of Pop Culture phenomenon. For instance, every day of the week I step onto multicolored buses with pom-pom like material hanging from the windows. The inside of the buses have sayings painted all over them such as, “God is Everything”, “Jesus is my Co-Pilot” and “Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.” I also often see people wearing hats and clothes reminiscent of that “Jesus is my Homeboy” phase we went through in the US. However, as the saying goes- actions speak louder than words- and I’ve been trying to figure out if all this hype about Jesus in a country that is 60% Catholic is legitimate. I’m having trouble making connections between people saying Jesus is “cool” versus trying to truly live their lives following Christ. Possibly, I shouldn’t be allowed to make these judgments and/or generalizations about people living in such great poverty who connect their suffering with that of our savior, especially when I’m far from perfect. Still, my mind is having trouble grasping being part a culture that seems outwardly more sexual than my own (though statistically that may not be so) with vastly different relationship norms also publicly stating how much they love Jesus.

Nonetheless, I do constantly witness great generosity and love from the Nicaraguan people. For example, on the street I often see people who have next to nothing themselves give away the little they have to others in worse situations and give thanks to God for their blessings. That is definitely something I’ve learned to do here in Nicaragua- thank God for almost every moment of my life and all of the incredible blessings that I have been given. Such as: living in a country that is free, having a wonderful family, friends, food, this fellowship. Truly, every experience I have now I try to remember to thank the Lord for allowing me the opportunity to live the life that I’m living. A life in which I have the ability perform acts of community service and the chance to give and to receive invaluable gifts from other human beings. According to the priest during his great homily last Sunday (I was proud of myself for understanding the majority of it), community service is one of the most important things a person can devote their life to because it is such a clear expression of love for other human beings.

Still, even with my love for service, I was thankful to have some time this week to go on a few trips and learn more about Nicaragua. Wednesday, instead of my normal schedule of English class in the morning and Spanish class in the afternoon Greta gave me the day off and let me take Spanish class in the morning so that I would be able to take a trip with some other students from Viva Spanish School. Myself and 3 other students, along with a guide went to La Laguna del Apoyo and the small tropical picturesque towns of Catarina and Sierra del Oriente. As our microbus departed from Huembes Market and we began our drive into the country away from the stuffy air of Managua I immediately knew this trip was going to be great. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and there wasn’t one ominous rain cloud in sight. The bus dropped us off in Sierra del Oriente- a town full of artisans and specialty shops. There were shops with many handicrafts- anything from dolls, to dresses, to pottery. The last which we got to see made first hand. After our short pottery lesson we decided it was best during the heat of the day to take a small taxi the rest of the way to the lagoon. Coming upon the lagoon was so surprising after driving through the narrow streets and colorful buildings of Catarina – it was like falling off the edge of the world. The view was breathtaking and like nothing I’ve ever seen before. A huge hole in the earth full of bright blue water surrounded by hills with the city of Granada, Lake Managua, and the looming volcano Mombacho in the background. We were under time restraints so we could only stay for 45 minutes, but I was ready to get out a hammock and stay forever.

After the trip, there was much work to be done to prepare for a group of students from St. Ursula’s Academy in Cincinnati, Ohio that was coming to visit the center for a few days during their trip to Nicaragua. The girls arrived on Thursday night and Greta and Amanda did excellent jobs facilitating activities for them (I helped create a few dinamicos/ ice breakers but really my job was to help wherever and whenever I was needed). I had a lot of fun participating in the activities as well. For instance, Friday night the group of traditional dancers from the center taught myself and the students how to dance the folkloric “Sapo” (frog) with long practice skirts. Then we were able to take a turn and teach the dancers the “Cha Cha Slide”- odd I know but so much fun! Saturday morning we participated in the Children’s Story Time Program for 2 hours- which hopefully I will be able to work with more in the future playing games and doing great activities based upon stories. For example, one of the Batahola students read a passage about the importance of human rights and afterwards we were separated into groups and each group was told to create a different right to express through painting. My group’s right was the “right to Education” and we drew books, and pencils, a school, a globe and other symbols associated with education. It really got the kids talking about why education was important to them, and I thought it was a really great project. Other rights included, food, a home, love, and health care. In the afternoon, the girls were given a tour of the programs the center does like drawing and painting, instrumental practice, sewing class, and cooking class. I’d have to say my favorite program to visit was the one in the beauty salon where all the girls got their hairs styled in different Nicaraguan fashions. I’m not going to lie, it was pretty humorous and I did not partake in said hair adventures.

Sunday was also wonderful- except for the waking up at 5:45 in the morning part. I was allowed to tag along with the girls on their trip to Volcán Mombacho, Nicaragua’s largest volcano at 4409 feet. We spent the morning hiking the trails, and even though it was very foggy the air was nice and the jungle environment and plant life of the volcano was different than anything I’ve ever seen. I got to see howler monkeys in their natural habitat! Later, we took boats around the islands of Lake Nicaragua and stopped at one for lunch. We finished the day with a drive through the city of Granada. Overall, it was awesome but tiring. It was great to hear the girls reflecting on their trip so far and it reminded me of the importance of reflection and how I needed to come home and journal. There are a lot more activities occurring at the center this week (as there are all the time), and I hope to keep you informed in as timely a manner as I can. :)