Speed Bumps

I recently learned how to say “speed bump” in Spanish. It is policia acostada, at least in Nicaragua. This means police officer laying down. I found this definition very funny. First just picturing one of the blue clad officers from my town lying on the road to slow traffic provides an interesting vision and secondly the police don’t seem to do a whole lot, especially in my small town of Morrito. But who can blame them, when they really don’t know when or if their next pay check is coming and whether or not their job with be secure when a new government takes over? At least the police force is working in the aptly named speed bumps.

Thinking of speed bumps and the cleverness of their Spanish names also got me thinking about the speed bumps in my service over the past year. My work has definitely been moving slowly thanks to numerous obstacles that are decreasing the speed of my effectiveness here. First and foremost the rainy season (April-early December) provides a challenge because the time of the rainstorms is unpredictable and it will inevitably rain during a meeting I have scheduled, preventing anyone from coming. Some days, right in the middle of wet season it rains all day and I sit in my hammock reading or spend hours chatting or watching TV in a neighbors living room. I guess the later of the two is work, since cultural exchange is usually taking place throughout our discussions. The pace of life is also much slower down here, creating a cultural speed bump. If things aren’t completed in the most time efficient manner, nobody worries. People don’t stress about getting things done immediately, they just sort of mosey into projects. At first I found this frustrating, but now I’m afraid I won’t be able to readapt to the fast pace, production driven arena of the States. Finally, parasites have proven to slow my work down. Somehow even the most obscure forms of parasites have found their way into my stomach and intestines. I won’t go into detail of the results of my little friends, but while they don’t completely incapacitate me, they do drain my motivation to get out and get work done. And the more resistant ones require a trip to Managua to see the doctor (and get put up in a hotel with air-conditioning, wireless, and cable…so who’s complaining?). These are rather gross speed bumps.

My work is trucking along down here, regardless of the policia acostadas. I have 3 very active youth groups. Two of them are in Morrito and use theatre to teach health themes. My youth are very excited to start using the sociodramas they have been working on to teach their peers in the school. My other group is in a community, and those kids think I’m great at soccer. They are almost a self-sufficient group, but still value my presence, especially all the fun icebreakers I can provide them with. I’m am now trying to form an new group of youth health promoters in yet another community…fingers crossed. `

These are just some thoughts on speed bumps.