T-minus 3 Days!

This week has definitely been hectic, even though it’s only half over. Being one of three people in our group of 12 who speaks Spanish, I am essentially charged with translating a third of the work that the entire class comes up with to make sure that it is understandable by the Nicaraguans who will have access to our materials. In particular, I think that my group’s work was the most tenuous to translate. I’m the head of the education group, which means that we are in charge of coming up with the materials that are given to the teachers on the training day that Jacob mentioned he was planning last week. We’re putting together a booklet of 20 different lesson plans, with ranging levels of difficulty, on the topic of the rainforest and in particular the animals that live there. These booklets will be distributed to the teachers who come to the training day to use in their classrooms with their students. As if coming up with 20 different lesson plans wasn’t hard enough, translating all of them was possibly even harder! I’m really glad that one of the other two Spanish-speakers, Pooja, is in my group with me to help me with all of the translations.

But now that it’s done, we can continue the countdown and check our packing lists twice! I know that there are still a few things that I’ll need to express ship to AU, and now is the time to do it.

Until next time!

Marlena

With Makengue in our sights!

Our trip to Makengue is approaching fast, only two more weeks! Preparing for this trip has been fun but busy. All of us are split into groups and working on projects so we can give Makengue as much as we can once we are there and after. Some of the various projects we are working on are educational posters, lesson plans on the rainforest to give to teachers, videos about Makengue, and we have a group collecting ethnobiology information. When the groups first started their designated projects, we all were lost. Everyone had an idea of how they wanted their project to turn out but there was so much to tackle that we didn’t know where to start. Now, one week from the trip, we have clearer vision on the steps we need to take and have come so far in completing the projects.

My partner and I are creating educational posters about Makengue, to give to teachers and to be posted on the Makengue property. We started by looking through all the pictures taken by students in past years. We found that there was a large quantity of mammal, bird, and amphibian pictures. As a result, we are making three posters; each is tailored to one of those groups. The most challenging part about this project was deciding the design of each poster. How were we going to fit the most pictures and information on to the poster while having both English and Spanish translation and making it aesthetically pleasing? Through a lot of time and reworking we were able to create posters that satisfied all our needs. Even though our posters will be printed and completed before we leave for Makengue, our project is not complete. In addition to the three posters we are working on creating a poster that shows where everything on the property is. To be able to do this project we are going to collect data and pictures during our trip. After the trip we will compile the information to complete the poster for next year’s group to bring down with them.

I am overwhelmed with the joys of anticipating this trip. So much preparation is going into this trip not only with the projects but getting vaccinations like typhoid. It feels that this trip should still be at least a month away but it is not! All of our projects are turning out fantastic. You can tell all of the hard work and time that is put into each one. In particular I can’t wait to give our posters to the teachers and the Makengue Reserve to enjoy for years to come. These posters will be one piece of the puzzle in preserving the rainforest and I am proud to be a part of it.

Crunch Time

We will be leaving for Nicaragua in just a little over two weeks and we’re all casually freaking out just a bit. Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely excited to go as I’m sure everyone else is. However, the deadlines of each of our projects are quickly creeping up on us and we’re really starting to feel the crunch for time. Personally, I’m working on putting together a day for teachers to come to visit Makengue and learn about the rain forest as well as topics and strategies for their own lessons back with their students. The main stressor that comes with this project is that it cannot be fully complete until we arrive at Makengue so that I can get a true idea of what the day will look like. This gives me from March eighth (our first full day at Makengue) until March twelfth to finalize and adjust any plans that I had made prior to that time. Speaking of which, March twelfth is my birthday so I’m set to have the most stressful and enjoyable birthday of my life.

Although I am super stressed about all of the things that are going on right now, I do feel like everything is on pace to work out and work out well. Our group’s work ethic seems to be all there and we seem to all be heading towards success in our projects. Speaking of the group, I’m glad that we are in the group we are. We all seem to mesh really well and we get closer every week which is great because we have to deal with each other for a week in Nicaragua. Also, none of them seem to detest my hilariously poor jokes yet so that’s a plus.

All in all, the approaching date of departure is bringing with it a combination of stress and excitement. Both of those factors are only going to grow with time. We’re currently in the time crunch but I honestly think that it’s going to be a fun one despite the overall stress of the situation. I look forward to continuing work on the project and to my time at Makengue and the great experiences and opportunities that will come out of both of them.

More to Come

What’s up y’all?  We only have twenty three days until our trip to Nicaragua!! I don’t know about you, but I am really excited. I am ready to take on this new experience, new challenge, new reality and new inspiration. Every person in this world has a dream whatever their nationality, their ethnicity, or their social status. Since I was young, I too have had a dream and that dream is to travel around the world, meet new people, create unforgettable friendships and memories. I especially want to travel to countries that are underdeveloped and under-appreciated, and for me Nicaragua fits with both of these categories.

When I first got the acceptance letter to go on this amazing trip, my feelings perfectly fitted what Charlotte Bronte once said:

“I sat down and tried to rest. I could not; though I had been on foot all day, I could not now repose an instant; I was too much excited. A phase of my life was closing tonight, a new one opening tomorrow: impossible to slumber in the interval; I must watch feverishly while the change was being accomplished.”

I felt blessed and I felt as if the rain on my parade had stopped, the sun started to shine, a melody started to rhyme and the change was ready to flow into a bright moonlight and that moonlight is ready to ignite the fiery hues of my passion. Okay, I will stop the cheesy lines now.

Anyway, to go on this trip my group and I have been preparing a lot. We have been developing environmental lesson plans for elementary school kids as well as for primary and secondary school teachers. We are going to help them teach lessons on how  important and valuable the rainforest that they are living in is. Moreover, we plan to play environmental interactive games with both the kids and teachers. My job in this group project is to do external research on published lesson plans in books and on the internet. Everyone in my group works really well with each other, so up to this point every single detail of the project has being going great!.

Photo from The Guardian

This week, we had to do a reading on gender and sexuality and the women’s movement in Nicaragua. The article addresses the ways in which Sandinismo has affected the Nicaraguan women’s movement. Sandinismo did raise the profile of women as political actors, but that was not enough to undo sexism. Here’s a bit of somewhat current news on the topic: Nicaraguan law update ‘piles pressure on women to face abusers.’