Who we are

There's something very soothing about rain falling on a tin roof.  The dull roar becomes a tranquilizer, numbing all your others worries until a trance like stupor is reached, complete with the drool and buddhist-like humming.  It rains a lot here during the rainy season, which I love.  Every time it feels like the city is being washed clean and layers of dirt and stress get purged from my body.

Thank you to all the people who have sent me emails in the past few days.  It's been great to hear from all of you and it sounds like you all are doing well, which I truly hope is the case.  Several people have asked some specific questions about the people, work, ect and so I thought I'd address them in this blog.  Please continue to send any questions you have along...they often give me food for thought.

First, people wanted a little more background on my coworkers and fellow volunteers.  Asofenix is in itself a very small organization, the key to it's success is the strong partnerships it has been able to develop with;  international organizations such as Green Empowerment and Hivos (Dutch program I think), the Nicaraguan government, both locally and within the Department of Energy, and finally with the local communities that need the help but don't know where to go.  All three relationships are vital as without the international aid the money would not exist, without the government the access would not exist and without the communities, well, nothing would get done...or stay done for that matter.  In many ways Asofenix serves as the bridge connecting the resources to the communities, both monetary as well as labor and skill-ish (as in my case).

Right now we are a group of 6.  Jaime, our director is the man.  Period.  Nothing would get done without him.  He taught in rural schools for many years before leaving to study renewable energy systems some 15 years ago and create Asofenix

about 7 years ago.  His time spent teaching in the rural areas allowed him to be able to develop trust with the original communities we worked with.  Trust that has now spread as the success and benefits that the communities experience following Jaime's plan are observed by their neighbors.  His hard work and ability to accomplish goals have also gained the trust of his international partners, with both Hivos and GE signing on to 10 year partnerships.  As for the government, well when constituents are happy so are they.

Seth and Sarah are married volunteers from the Mennonite Central Committee on loan to Jaime for 3 years.  Seth has a masters degree in tropical farming techniques/fauna/I don't really know, but he knows alot about the local agriculture, what they're doing wrong and how to improve their practices.  Sarah is a registered nurse and so she focuses a lot on the health problems, mainly through developing workshops for the communities on proper health techniques and trying to teach them why they get sick.  Seth and Sarah have a house in Bramadero, one of our communities, and thus have had the opportunity to spend considerable amounts of time living and working with them.  As I said before, their knowledge about everything from bus schedules, to do's and don'ts of rural living have been great.  They are both also planning the schedule for the service learning trips that Asofenix sponsors over christmas break, these trips are a good source of income as well as helping the communities and spreading awareness.

Last but not least is Fanny.  Fanny is a Nicaraguan working (not volunteering) for Asofenix.  She has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and worked for two years somewhere else (not very thorough is it).  She makes a lot of our technical presentations and gets a lot of stuff done that it would take a non-spanish speaking gringo like myself months to accomplish.

So we're the core.  There's usually a revolving door of volunteers who are here for 3 months or so working on small projects or lending a hand, but for the most part we're it.

As for how we're viewed in the communities, we're generally very welcomed.  I absolutely love spending time with my family in Candelaria.  They're very open and welcoming, as is the whole community.  We often get what we call the "gringo stare" as we come into a community for the first time but it only lasts for a day or so and usually by the time I leave I'm usually being asked to go help them work in the fields or go visit accompany someone to a friends house in the next village (which I found out was an hour walk...45 minutes after we left).  The only problem I can really complain about is that they feed us too much, and I still don't feel comfortable throwing food away (although I've become adept at feeding it to the dogs when no one is looking).  I think Jaime's presence and connection with the people really helps.  It's nice that we're not a huge organization that just throws money and strangers at a problem.  Instead we live with them and work with them, not for them, making sure they have input in the project and it's done the way they like.  Today for example we had a meeting in Managua of about 20 community leaders to discuss the different systems, what has worked and what hasn't, and to let them share ideas with eachother.  It's their village and their project, we recognize that and I think they in turn respect us more for it.

That's all for now.  Cheers.

Dave

PS - pictures of people to follow.  I have to get to the airport sometime this week though first.