A Clipboard, a Nissan Pickup, and a Very Bumpy Road

Saludos to all, and welcome back to my blog

It has been a good while since I last posted here, as many things have been going on, mixed in with Easter week in Nicaragua and a couple of intensive weeks travelling in the field with my coworkers and program manager. Now that I have some free time on my hands as I settle back into the ways of Canada and its brisk spring weather, I decided I would post another entry.

"A Clipboard, A Nissan Pickup, and a Very Bumpy Road"

These three essential components describe well the first week of my most recent field work, through the east-coast's rugged region of Nicaragua's RAAS (Region Autonoma de Atlantico Sur). The RAAS region of Nicaragua is very unique from the middle and western parts of Nicaragua, which are primarily inhabited by the Spanish-speaking population of the country, and many more of the country's larger urban centres. RAAS is one of the two autonomous regions of Nicaragua, with distinct cultures and populations from the rest of the country. One of the major distinctions is the rich cultural mix and backgrounds present within this region, ranging from native groups of the Miskito and the Mayangna, to the Creole African population, speaking a heavy creole Afro-Caribbean English. The degree of influence and presence of the Afro-Caribbean culture and language becomes stronger as one approaches the east coast of the nation, with the Corn Islands (60 kilometres into the Caribbean sea; and highly recommended) exhibiting the extremes of this culture, with the absence of Spanish speakers a regular occurrence.
The field work did not take us to the islands however, but it did bring us right to the coast, and to many hidden, small communities along the way, granting us glimpses into peoples' highly isolated lifestyles.

The purpose of the trip was to follow up on some of Techno-Links' end clients; users of the technologies that the grant-winning businesses produce and distribute. The first week was working with clients of Tecnosol, the first round winner that is working to distribute bio-digesters to small rural cattle farmers in order to improve their sustainability and independence from commercial suppliers of fertilizers and propane kitchen gas. By use of the bio-digesters the farmer is able to utilize the manure from the cattle to produce bio-gas, a sustainable alternative to propane. The gas is produced from manure, water, and nothing more. After the gas exits the bio-digester and is piped to the kitchen for kitchen use, the bi-product produced ("biol") is deposited at the opposite end, leaving a potent fertilizer.

Juan Humberto is one of the project's very successful farmers, who has worked with the bio-digester for some time now and has employed the use of the biol effectively as well, creating his own compost and fertilizer uses for other plants around his farm. Juan no longer needs to purchase propane gas from town and has cut down his costs greatly.

The calm and collected participants of Tecnosol's initiative continue to look onward, to the future of sustainable farming and alternative agricultural energy methods. These brilliant bovine have little idea as to the difference they are making for the farmers of Nicaragua and other proponents of bio-digesters around the world.






The first of the two weeks in the field was no easy feat, as many of the roads to access the farmers were barely roads at all. The pathways were merely washed out dirt/rock pathways that have faced the severe climate alternations of the rainy season, switching with the desert-like dry seasons of the country's summer months. This back and forth pattern leaves a not-so-pleasant trail of scattered rocks, semi-submerged in the hardened soils, at times resembling the shape of sharp and bloated footballs. Travelling for hours across these roads lends chance the truck may glide across the broadside of the football with relative ease and smoothness, but also brings the probable passing that the nearly completely exposed football could have one pointed end highly exposed from the earth, waiting to send the passengers of the truck flying into the ceiling of the cab. The challenge for the driver is to cross the 20 km stretch of road within the allotted 3 hours, as to not fall behind and arrive home late at night (returning on the same quality road), while the passengers' goal is to find a position and manner to sit throughout the journey that leaves the least bodily damage. Riding without a safety belt poses the risk of launching one's self into the ceiling, and enduring a good blow to the head/neck, while fastening the safety belt eventually leaves bruises and lacerations across the shoulders and chest, where the "said" safety belt has repeatedly attempted to keep you "safe", every 10 seconds, for the past 3 hours of being launched around the cabin of the truck like a can of paint in the motorized shaker at home depot. Needless to say, after a few days on these roads, my upper torso felt like I had undergone some sort of military training with intensive workouts and all-day fitness drills.


The following is a quick screen capture of the map where we traveled, with the original Google Map accessible in the link to follow.

Journey Map

The journey was extremely enduring but full of adventure. Working the long days and crossing hundreds of kilometres on back-country roads really summons feelings of unique opportunity and the gift of experience. Meeting and talking with the farmers that MEDA works with in the small communities of Kukra Hill, and Laguna de Perla (both communities within the RAAS region of Nicaragua), helps one to understand the extreme disparities between how some families live in Nicaragua, and how families live in Canada. Although these differences are acknowledged and common fact to most, even those not working in development work or overseas, seeing the lives of those living in Managua and other urban centres of Nicaragua still appear significantly different than those in the remote communities of RAAS on the east coast, often in deeper levels of poverty due to remote locales. These individuals are exceptionally isolated and bringing in the technology of bio-digesters to create a cooking fuel from on site natural resources (besides burning firewood), presents a superior alternative to purchasing propane gas tanks from the nearest towns and villages.

Passing 6 months with MEDA as an Impact Assessment Intern with the Techno-Links project was an excellent opportunity to become increasingly exposed to developing-world conditions, but in addition to this, proved to be a pivotal learning stage in my life to witness business connections made between local businesses and the small rural farmers of Nicaragua.

Given the gift to work and live abroad is a pivotal time in one's life, to learn about culture, language, mannerisms, and all things different, that invigorate and awaken one to the vibrancy and reality of life outside of North America. It was a pleasure to work with MEDA and serve in the monitoring and evaluation of the Tecno-Links program. I would recommend this internship with MEDA to anyone interested and would love to tell you more and answer questions if you would like to contact me.

arifriesen@gmail.com

God Bless, and continue serving and exploring the wonders of the World.

- Adrien Friesen

RIVAS & RAMA - Al Campo Take 2

Upon the realization that we were lacking our required quota of small-scale farmers from each client, it was time for Roger (coworker and business consultant here in Nicaragua for MEDA) and I to embark on another adventure into the rural expanses of Nicaragua's countryside. The first two days would be spent in and around the municipality of Rivas, where we would gather information on 5 more farmers by means of a lengthy questionnaire taking approximately 1 hour. The clients were all very friendly and helpful with giving us all the information that we needed, and at the one farm we needed to park Roger's car and head to a different part of his farm by motorbike, as it was the only vehicle that would fit through certain areas and tiny dirt roads.

The best part about this was that the guy I was doubling with carried a shotgun strapped around his body, meaning it was literally pressed in-between us on the motorbike.

He spent time explaining to us how the in-Vitro Plantain plants are going to help him a lot, as his crops often suffer from plagues and illnesses that reduce his production and quality of final product. He showed a lot of enthusiasm to be working with EIAG (Escuela Internacional de Agricultura y Ganaderia) and TechnoLinks MEDA.

Another one of our clients was working more in the processing of the plantain to be made into chips. She even gave us each a little grab bag upon departure to savor the product, they were tasty :)

The second phase to our journey took us out to the east coast of the country, entirely by land, in a tiny Nissan truck, squeezed full of equipment and passengers, fun... The actual trip was quite an adventure and an unforgettable experience, however, it was not an easy feat, with some 25 hours spent in a vehicle over the course of a few days, many of these hours being thrown around the backseat of a tiny pickup like a golf ball inside of a paint can, being shaken in that machine you see at Home Hardware. The morning after the first 7 hours on these roads left me feeling like I had been through an intense workout of weightlifting.

RAAS (Region Autonoma del Atlantico Sur) is a beautiful and unique part of Nicaragua, with distinct history, language, and culture. Many parts along the east coast are in fact primarily English speaking, with Spanish and indigenous dialects to follow. Containing much smaller settlements and underdeveloped road infrastructure, reaching many of these areas is usually performed by boat, but since we needed to deliver some equipment as well as carryout the questionnaires, we needed to proceed by truck. 

The picture above is that of Rama, really the final jumping off point before you get into the jungles and winding river-ways of RAAS. Rama has a harbor area where you can take boats to further destinations towards the coast, such as Bluefields, Laguna de Perlas, and further boats after to Corn Island. The further east you get the more African American descent the people begin to appear, with Caribbean twangs to their creole English and only patchy knowledge of Spanish at times. 

 

This was the closest I could get with the zoom
on my camera of our good friend and his Pit Viper encounter

One of our clients led us on a trek to his farm, as we drove in for about 15 minutes, and then parked the truck and continued on foot for another 20. Along the way we passed beautiful, lush coconut trees and a magnificent setting sun, only for the peace to be broken by a sudden shout from the front of our march. I inquired to the nearest person to me and he said that there was a Yellow-Bearded, venomous Pit-Viper ahead on our path, with really no other route for us to go due to the thick brush we were traversing. We watched from a safe distance as the owner and farmer of the land beat at it with a stick (tactfully of course) and tried to get it scared off without getting bitten. I noticed he jumped back a few times as I could see something lunging at him; was I ever happy to be a good three people behind in the jungle trek line-up. 

The trek out to Rama and the RAAS region of Nicaragua was an adventure for sure, but I do recommend that if you ever feel like reaching the small towns of Bluefields, Laguna de Perlas, or other coastal destinations, either take a boat from Rama or fly directly from Managua (although you would miss some beautiful mountain scenery then), but that's just my opinion ;)

Managua Take 2

My second take on Managua Nicaragua.

After finally settling into our house after a good 10 days of shifting hostel to hostel, we are finally able to begin exploring what is around us, and can gather a greater sense of our new barrio. First topic at hand, security. Depending on who you talk to, Managua is either an extremely dangerous city, where you need to keep guard at all times and all places (which is the truth), yet others will tell you that it has improved greatly lately and compared to the rest of Central America it is one of the safest and you are better off here than many other neighboring countries. I personally feel slightly on edge, but not a whole lot more than other developing nations.

City Behind Bars
Getting into our house is quite the process, as first, there is a gate with a padlock, then another two locked doors to pass. So you need to fumble around with three keys to come AND go. So if you want to let a friend out you need to go and get your keys to open all the doors... A little time consuming, but once you are inside our house you can see why we chose this locale; a beautiful garden area separates the front section with the back, a nice open air area (in reality almost all of the house is quite open air, which is necessary to keep airflow and a fresh breeze without the need for AC).

 The most secure feeling when you are enclosed with spun, jagged metal-topped fences. This, along with our three locks needed to enter can either make you feel very secure, or it can make you feel there is a real reason for all of this, and possibly a little less secure once you think about it....

A close up of our cage-sweet home. It doesn't look fancy from the outside (and really its not too fancy inside), but its cozy yet spacey, familiar yet exotic, and comfortable yet rustic. Its just what Kathy and I needed to balance out our lives here in Managua

This is the view down our street, arriving by taxi the first few times was quite difficult as it all looks the same and it very hard to locate. The houses for the most part are all just single storied buildings hidden behind a long wall of bars. You need to get familiar with the shade of paint on your bars, or the shape of the trees around your house - there are quite a few trees trimmed to perfection actually, in quite stark contrast from some of the barred dives, leading to the horticultural masterpieces.

Above to the left is the entrance area to our house, lined with pillows on the floor and a comfy sitting area; one of our housemates can often be found here, relaxing on the netbook or napping after a night of little sleep :)

 And here is the beautiful sala with the open air concept, behind you can see the winding stairs that lead up to my room. I like this room the most out of the house, and with the fan and the evening breeze it is a lovely locale to watch a movie or read a book.

This is our mid-garden area. There is a little cooking/bbq area, along with a tiny table and some chairs. It is sort of a courtyard, and you can look down at it from upstairs as well.

 Around our neighborhood there are evident contrasts, as I see some fairly wealthy houses and families, right next to explicit poverty. When you walk across the main street near our place you find yourself staring into the face of poverty immediately, with a sort of duct/storm drain almost acting as a separating factor. There are makeshift bridges to peoples establishments and businesses to bridge the gap.

 These two pictures of a gas station along one of the main streets just illustrates the development that screams American auto culture, as you would be a little confused as to where you were if you were planted here all of a sudden. I wouldn't be able to tell you if I were in Canada or Nicaragua, if it weren't for the PUMA sign on the station, I thought it was a brand of shoes...

This is just a glimpse of what the bus terminals look like in Managua. This particular section isn't too busy, or maybe we hit it at a low time of day, but these are some of the buses carrying the population from city to city, along with some of the nicer buses as well, not seen at the moment in the photos. I foresee myself returning here soon to catch a bus to the next destination, as its always fun to get yourself out of the city on weekends.

Although the blog is a little hodgepodge in this entry, maybe I'll work at working out some themes in consecutive posts :) I hope at least it has lent a little more of an idea of our lives so far in Managua.

Until next time. Adrien

Al Campo!

It’s been over a week now since my last post and life in Nicaragua is starting to sink in. Not only have I had the opportunity to see so much more of this city and country, but I have also gained a much more intimate understanding of what my job will entail. This truly was the busiest I have been in a long time, with the Friday and Saturday being spent driving around to different towns to visit small scale farmers working with our first-round grant recipients of the Techno-Links project.

Three businesses had been selected as the grant winners from the first-round: Burke Agro, who works with drying and packaging fruits for export to buyers such as Whole Foods in the United States; EIAG (Escuela Interamericano de Agricultura y Ganaderia – Interamerican School of Agriculture and Livestock), which is a post-secondary institution in the southern region of Rivas, that works with educating farmers about using their new “vitroplantas”, a selected strain of in vitro plants that are a more versatile, healthy, and resistant plantain crop. From this the farmer can use less fertilizer and pesticides because the plantain is already at a greater advantage from the previous in vitro process. The final winner we went to visit on the following Wednesday was that of Tecnosol, a company working to provide biogas from manure through the installment of biodigesters, of many uses in the house including cooking and a lesser need for fuel woods, while also simultaneously creating fertilizer to be used on the farmers’ crops. For Tecnosol we needed to drive up into the mountains of Matagalpa, the coffee growing region of Nicaragua to the north. Here we performed a similar task as to the others, performing questionnaires with the farmers who are working in partnership with Tecnosol to improve their crops through the said technology they work with and promote.

The field trips were long days, usually on the road and meeting with the businesses and farmers between 8am and 8pm, returning home in the dark. We went on these visits the Friday and Saturday, as well as the following Wednesday. The Sunday was off, but the Monday and Tuesday were spent at a workshop where all of the second round winners came together to meet and sign the agreement with MEDA/Techno-Links. These were also quite info-intensive days at the Bank of International Development. Participatory activities were performed to inform the new businesses of MEDA’s goals and visions of businesses development, as well as the indicators of progress and success that would be used in the future to measure the proposed goals at select intervals of the business plan.

This man was showing us how the biogas produced from the biodigesters of Tecnosol that have allowed for odorless cooking fuel, with a direct gas line coming in from the biodigester directly outside.

As I was riding in the back of the truck, I spotted these two boys getting comfy on the back of their ride, I did not have these luxuries in our truck, just the hard box in the back so I decided to stay standing and take a few photos.

                                                                                                

All of a sudden we came to a line up of buses (upwards of 18 long school buses packed with people to every square inch) and had quite a difficult time getting through. Of course being the one white skinned individual in the box of the truck, there were many howls and calls of different slangs as we passed - but I am sure they were all in good humour ;)

The next little while will be a more laptop based workspace, but I am looking forward to a little more structure in this sense for the next bit. I have a feeling more field visits are on their way quite soon though, and I am ready for them. The visits give me the opportunity to meet with the faces of the people that MEDA and Techno-Links work with, and gives a better understanding and deeper meaning to the work being done.

On a non work-related note, Kathy and I are finally finished with the hostels, well, kind of... Last night we moved into our house finally and got to spend the evening with our new roommates who are very friendly and welcoming. We need to split the big room upstairs for a while until the second one frees up, but that is fine because I am quite comfy on the floor with a little mattress... It was just the ants crawling over my bed last night that raised an eyebrow....

Today we are off to San Juan del Sur, a beach town in the south.... which means a few more hostel nights.. again. I will post on this later :)

Ciao!

Managua - take 1

Bienvenido a Managua, Nicaragua

I am finally on the ground and life is buzzing with change, challenge, and adventure. This is definitely not my first time landing in a new country with a completely foreign environment in front of me, and quite frankly, this time is actually easier than some in the past, as when I stepped out of the arrivals area to confront the herds of taxi drivers and seemingly best of new friends, I had the advantage of some familiarity with the language, which was not always the case many times before. I was meeting Kathy, my fellow co-worker and intern with MEDA in a hostel/guesthouse that was supposedly located somewhere near the office of MiCredito. The first taxi driver did not take my proposed price and insisted on double, but I soon found the chosen cabby to help me complete the journey into the city for the reasonable fare of 10 USD.

When we finally pulled up to the hostel it was clear that I was expected by the owner, as the moment I stepped up to the gate (as most every place is gated in Managua, either communities or single dwellings) she immediately exclaimed: "Adrian?" with a very inquisitive tone. Once inside she pointed to where Kathy was and I snuck up to surprise her for a grand reunion and hugs :)

The next day was my first set of waking hours in Managua, as things look quite different when you can see them in plain daylight. The city is completely disorganized (like many developing nations' cities), but the addresses here are fairly difficult as well, as there really aren't any. Almost all directions and addresses point to a general reference of where you are going. e.g. two blocks south of the "virgin roundabout", 1.5 blocks east of here, and then 2 houses more to the south with the house on your right hand side. This is the address of said house you may be trying to find. Needless to say, when things are already extremely confusing, this doesn't facilitate the matters much.

The streets themselves are always a good way to get a sense of the noises, the smells, and the scenery, that constructs a well-rounded feel of the city. Some characteristics are notably similar to other places I've been, but certain aspects that I experienced here are not as prevalent around other capital cities in Latin America. The mule-drawn carts were one scene I haven't seen a whole lot of before, and the level of handy craftsmanship in constructing wheelchairs using plastic patio-chairs.

Generally though, I haven't felt under much danger yet, but I also haven't been here all that long, or out around the more dangerous neighborhoods at night (which was not in my immediate plans by the way). I have noted almost all places being gated up, several walls and fences with barbed wire or broken glass coating the top of the walls for added security, and some neighborhoods have street guards that are supposed to keep a lookout for suspicious activity. I believe these same guards will be in the new neighborhood where Kathy and I will be living within a week or so. My first trip to the office also involved a checking in at the reception, as I was asked to my purpose there, after explaining I was another intern with MEDA, they still needed to take down my name and have me officially logged as entering/visiting the building of MiCredito.

So many of the glass fence-tops are quite beautiful with different colours and orange Crush'd bottles, unfortunately this is all reflecting the level of distrust and violence that is an everyday part of life in Managua. Walking home from the MiCredito office I also passed a local eatery/watering hole, with a big sign on the outside stating that it is prohibited to bring guns and knives inside, which seemed obvious to me but also a bit unnerving that people need reminding. Furthermore, after reading this part of the sign, there was more underneath that I believe stated a few exceptions including those in uniform.. And there was something about minors as well. I plan to photograph this sign as I would like to clarify what it meant exactly, and who is allowed to bring their firearms and switchblades into the restaurant.

Techno-Links

The organization I am serving with, MEDA, has a project called Techno-Links which has established a grant matching programs with agricultural technology suppliers in both Peru and Nicaragua. The goal of the project is to strengthen these technological linkages between the farmers and their suppliers, to attain a more sustainable livelihood and better quality of life for both. Through the careful selection of the most promising business plans proposed to Techno-Links, the winning businesses received a matching grant with the requirement that they place an equal or greater input of capital funds into their business development plans. There will be consecutive follow-up interviews, questionnaires, and data collection to monitor and evaluate these businesses' progress, as well as the impact they are having on their end producers (the farmers).

My position as the impact assessment intern will include partaking in these activities and effectively monitoring and evaluating their progress and impact, through the means of field excursions and face to face encounters with the farmers and businesses, as well as case studies.

It is then aside from the shocks and adventures of a new country, that I am soon departing on my first field excursion to the countryside. I will be going with the project manager from Canada who is visiting for some time in both Peru and Nicaragua to do some surveys with the grant recipients of Techno-Links and MEDA, as well as my co-worker (a business consultant to the grant recipients) who lives in Leon, a city a bit to the north of Managua. We begin tomorrow and I am excited to get into the field and see the rural side of this beautiful country.

I look forward to updating you all with my next post and appreciate all those reading and supporting me in this pivotal moment in my life, full of adventure, opportunity, and blessing.

God bless
-Adrien