Week Seven:
Casa Verde

September 7, 2015

Health: Good! I am a little hungry, but that might be because it’s almost lunch time.

Homestay: Great! I am glad to be back with the family again! I got back in time to help Katty at the county fair, but for the most part, she didn’t really need my help by the time I showed up because Herbie was around to help. Luis is apparently in a soccer tournament that could let him travel to different parts of the country with his team if they win enough games! I really hope that his team does well!

Happiness: Like always, I am doing perfect in this category.

What an amazing trip! Despite all of my fears, the 2016 Fenix retreat to Ometepe was a resounding success! We spent most of the first day traveling to our hotel, but in the evening, we had an extremely informed, and educational conversation about the impact of tourism on local businesses on Ometepe. I had to make sure that I incorporated some educational activities into the retreat, so once we arrived in the port of Moyogalpa, I had Fenix members ask local business owners how tourism had impacted their business, and lives in general. During the discussion, most of the Fenix students explained that the people they talked to said that tourism brings more money, and economic opportunity to the island, but it also increases the level of competitiveness between businesses. Sending tens of thousands of tourists to Ometepe brings a substantial amount of capital to the island as well, and so the influx of tourism has sort of put the local economy into overdrive, with business owners at each other’s throats as they vie for the tourist dollar.

The next morning, we ate breakfast, and one of the staff at the hotel we stayed at gave us a fascinating look at some of the community development programs organized by the hotel. The hotel is called the Hacienda Merida, and its staff members do a great deal to ensure that the local community of Merida also benefits from their profits. The Hacienda Merida has even organized and supported the construction of a bilingual school for children in the local community that is made entirely out of plastic bottles, and cement!!! What a great way to promote social and environmental responsibility!

We also visited the Santo Domingo beach and the famous Ojo De Agua the day after our arrival. The Ojo de Agua is a pool of mineral water that many claim to have medicinal benefits! We spent roughly 3 hours there just swimming in the pool, and relaxing. In fact, we spent the majority of the retreat following the morning tour just kicking back, and taking a well-deserved break after a busy 3 months of programs. The night before we made the journey home, all of the Fenix kids told me that they had a fantastic time, and that this retreat was their favorite of the three that have been organized for them! I swear I almost had tears in my eyes.

I realize now that I only have about a week left before I have to go back to the US, and it’s only recently, after the retreat has finished that I have actually had much time to reflect on my experience. In all honesty, I could go for pages, and pages about how much I have learned working for Casa Verde, especially over the course of two summers, but for the purposes of this entry, I will say that working for Casa Verde has significantly improved my capability to work proactively on the tasks assigned to me, and has increased my confidence in my ability to lead others.

For the most part, I have had to carry out all of my projects independently, with little support from permanent CV staff members. This partially has to do with the fact that as of right now, my main supervisor has gone to the states to get treatment for a blood infection they caught this summer, and my secondary supervisor has picked up so many parasites here that she also needs to go to the states and have a medical procedure to clear all of the bugs from her system! Fortunately, a staff member named Lidieth Alvarez has sort of stepped in as the intern manager, but with all of this organizational reshuffling going on, I was primarily responsible for the success of my projects. That sort of pressure did a great deal to motivate me to work proactively, and make the most of the time I had. For example, if I needed information from Lidieth, I learned to call her as fast as I could and schedule a meeting with her for as soon as possible. Additionally, I learned to make deadlines for myself and follow them meticulously. I honestly don’t think I would nearly be as far on the packet as I am now without learning to hold myself to my own deadlines. I can easily apply these work related skills to my studies at Cornell when I need to meet with group members for a project, professors for a meeting, etc.

However, I honestly believe that the main lessons I have taken out of this fellowship have more to do with how to adjust to living in a completely new cultural environment.  One of the main objectives held by Casa Verde involves building cultural competency in all of its volunteers, in order to make them more effective global citizens. After living, and working in a place where everyone is at least three shades darker than me, don’t speak English, and live by a completely different set of implied social customs for so long, I have not only learned more about the cultural patterns within Limόn, but I feel like I will take some of those social patterns back with me. For example, whenever I am talking to someone down here, I have learned that I am expected to look at someone while I am talking if I want to catch all of the hidden cues that they give off in their facial expressions.

On top of all this, my Spanish has naturally improved a substantial amount since I arrived here 6 weeks ago. Notonly am I now completely conversational in Spanish, but I have even begun to take on a bit of a Nicaraguan accent when I speak Spanish! I could not have picked up these habits if I had not been forced to lean into uncomfortable situations every single day of my fellowship, and for the internship I completed with Casa Verde last year. In order to complete my projects, I had to interact with local community members in Limon, and this meant working around language and cultural barriers of tremendous magnitude. My experience in these situations has thus not only helped me to gain confidence in my Spanish skills, but also in my ability to work, and grow in situations far outside my comfort zone.

In the past 3 years, Cornell has provided me with countless opportunities to grow as a  student, and as a human being. Of all of these opportunities, I can say with full confidence that my Cornell Fellowship stands among these as the most life changing, and constructive opportunities I have been offered at Cornell. I cannot thank everyone involved with helping to make this trip a reality enough.