Sister School Trip to Nicaragua Blog Entry 2: Nicaragua - An Introduction

Gaby, Lorie, and Emma stand in front of a 2012 mural, made by school children, centered around a hope for peace, with the Gandhi quote (translated): “An eye for an eye and the whole world will be made blind.”  

One of the reasons that Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Americas, after Haiti, is that it experienced many years of revolution and civil war.  This history is chronicled in Esteli, which we visited first and which served as a good introduction to Nicaragua.

Esteli is famous for its political murals.  These murals express many aspects of the Nicaraguan revolution in 1979 , the many years of war which followed, and the evolution of the country into a peaceful democracy.   In the 1970’s, many Nicaraguans became Sandinistas, revolting against Somosa, a cruel dictator who had ruled for many years, and against the international corporations, such as United Fruit, which worked hand in hand with dictatorial governments to assure that almost all Nicaraguans lived under essentially feudal conditions.   Like many other Central American countries, Nicaragua is populated by mostly indigenous peoples who traditionally farmed but did not hold title to their lands, and became easy prey for individuals and corporations who bought up land, and hired its original residents to work for almost nothing.

The Sandinistas, led by Daniel Ortega, held democratic goals such as a decent standard of living for all; social, educational, and medical services; and land reforms which would allow campesinos to own the land on which they worked.   These ideals led to a socialist revolution, which in turn triggered a panic reaction in the Cold War United States.  A brutal civil war between Sandinistas (defenders of their their new revolutionary government) and Contras (highly subsidized opposition forces to the new revolutionary government), which lasted more than a decade and cost innumerable lives.  Various other governments, including the USA, fueled this conflict with arms, which extended the struggle for many years.

Ever since their revolutionary period, a cultural climate in Nicaragua developed which is open to cooperative movements and innovative solutions.  Projects involving Nicaraguans and internationals abound, and a spirit of possibility remains in Nicaragua paralleled by persistently difficult economic circumstances. 

In Esteli, we witnessed a collective of women, las mujeres ambientalistas, who recycle corn husks and other fibers, along with paper trash, from the largest market in the city to create a hand made paper operation.   These women turn market refuse into beautiful paper which is then made into greeting cards and journals.  This is one of many examples of kind of independent nonprofit groups which exist in Nicaragua.

This woman demonstrates for us how she and her colleagues make paper out of recycled materials.

On Saturdays, they work with school children to teach them to make paper too.This woman demonstrates for us how she and her colleagues make paper out of recycled materials.

We also toured the famous Esteli political murals which number over one hundred, in which school children and artists have been expressing their dreams for the future for thirty years.  The images below represent this work, which is ongoing and reflects the evolution of Nicaraguan society.  In these murals, images of gun toting revolutionaries morph over time into images of health care, children at play, and peace.  Likewise, dark colors gradually change to rainbows of hope.  The projects which we are about to experience in Sabana Grande represent a part of this tradition of small scale, collaborative, nonprofit projects-- a tradition through which Nicaraguan communities work steadily to make their lives better.

This woman demonstrates the idea that people of any age can learn to read.  A major literacy campaign has been an essential part of the ongoing Nicaraguan revolution.

A mural illustrates the importance of media, in the form of a radio station, to spreading the word and giving people voice.

 

The key to the future is in our hands… A world of hope, where nature is not abused.