Sinking My Teeth in...

By Robert Terenzi, Jr.

I am lying in my hammock after lunch when Dania, my nine-year old host sister, tosses a mango into my lap. Mango season is only just beginning and yet, already they lie scattered around my host family’s driveway and yard. I scoot over to share the hammock as Dania and I peel back the leathery outer skin in eager anticipation. I sink my teeth into the succulent and sweet flesh, and she laughs at me as juice dribbles down my chin and on to my shirt.

Nicaragua is a country which many of us know very little about, despite the fact that U.S. politics have played a major role in this small nation’s history for well over a hundred years. I approached my trip to Nicaragua with diligent study, reading up on the history, politics, and culture in preparation. But, just as you cannot understand the taste of a fresh mango via someone else’s explanation, nothing could have prepared me for the reality that awaited me.

From a distance, the facts are overwhelming; almost half of Nicaraguan households are living in poverty while over 15% report living on less than $1 a day. According to the CIA World Fact Book, there is a 33% illiteracy rate for people over the age of fifteen, one of the worst in Central America and when compared to its southern neighbour, Costa Rica, boasting a literacy rate of 96%, is simply depressing.

The fact is though, Nicaragua is vibrant country with a pulse you can practically feel as soon as you step off the plane. I am currently living in León, Nicaragua, a small city of over 200,000 people, and I have never been so warmly and openly received in any of my travels. As I stroll through the markets overflowing with goods that range from fresh cinnamon to fish still dripping with salt water, I wonder how I could have gone so long without knowing what fruit was meant to taste like. Many of things I have tried here are so foreign to the U.S., they do not even have English translations. In truth, Nicaragua is bursting at the seams with a cornucopia of indigent wonders, waiting for anyone lucky enough to make it to this oft forgot gem. That the people are poor is undeniable, but their emotional wealth greatly exceeds anything I have experienced before.

As a volunteer, I have the great fortune to be involved with meaningful and beautiful work, a welcome change from the kind of materialistic and consumerist energy that drives most interactions in Boston, my home town. In working for Project Minnesota-León, I have been able to become involved on a number of different levels, from teaching English to teenagers, to helping construct a school in a rural community, to visiting a Casa Materna (a place for expecting mothers to receive food and help during the final days of their pregnancy). So often we ignore opportunities for us to make something of our lives and contribute meaningfully to those who lack the opportunities and means we take for granted. I have never heard of anyone who said on their death bed, ‘I should have spent more time at the office.’ Take a chance and break away from the daily grind, even if for only a few days, to come to Nicaragua. I give my personal guarantee that you will not regret it.