Wednesday-- Training Day

A little background for what we were to accomplish on Wednesday.  Living Water for the World's water systems in Nicaragua are divided by distance and direction. 

The first sites were in the west where there is more infrastructure and much more population.  The facilities in the east of the country- Caribbean coast- are newer and in much more primitive areas.  There are almost no roads existing between the east and west with transportation mainly by bus on very undeveloped roadways, by small aircraft, or by water taxi.  Our trips in-country take us about 1 1/2 to 2 days to make connections to get to the eastern part of the country.

Our goal is to "re-fresh" the original training for the operators/ teachers who live in the eastern part of the country-- there are 6 systems- some are new and some have been in existence for awhile.  One of them is the highest producer of bottled water in all of Nica.  Last year's re-training was handled by a Nicaraguan employee of Living Water (LWW) and we were told that he lectured the participants for 2 days and no one learned much.  So our goal is to engage them, answering their questions, listening to their concerns and hopefully giving them a bit of new information to make their jobs easier.

We also had participants from 2 potential water installation sites who desperately want and need a system in their community.

We had 37 participants from these 8 communities some traveling for many hours to attend.  One man missed his boat at the end of the training and had to wait til the next morning to return home.  This does not seem to be a big deal for Nicaraguans because time is not nearly as important to them as it is to us.

I mentioned that we had heavy rain all night Monday night/Tuesday morning before traveling to Kukra Hill,  Tuesday night/Wed. morning was WORSE.  Heavy rain knocked the electricity out.  Our water in our rooms depends on a very high tank (gravity fed to our rooms) which in turn depends on an electric pump to keep it full.

No electricity, no refill of the tank.  No electricity, no  A/C, no lights , but thankfully the kitchen which prepares our breakfast had a gas stove and bottled water, even tho the refrigerator was not functioning.

I had culled my stuff the night before, only hauling the teaching materials I planned on using for my newly shortened lesson time of 45 min.  When the teaching bag was full as I put it in my suitcase before leaving, it weighed 17.5 #'s.  It was a pleasure not to have to carry all the stuff to training, cuz we were walking and had to stop by the tienda to get cookies (biscuits) for snacking at the training.

 We stopped by this store on the way to setting up for the training.  6 packages of various kinds of American cookies were bought at this store.  Note the really high shelves with a ladder for accessing everything.  This is the front part of someone's house.

As we got to the training site, we realized that no electricity was available there either.  It is a large building with shutters to keep the rain out (yep it was still raining)  and one light bulb which would not have been much help if it had been on.

Yobeth our translator, standing

Part of the plan for the beginning of the meeting was to show (in English and Spanish) LWW videos describing the filtration system and w/o electricity, a generator was turned on (LOUD).  Interestingly enough, with the generator on, the outlets in the building worked and many people tried to charge their phones.  Taking turns, I think all got that chore accomplished.  The video was played, not sure everyone could hear it because of the generator and the hard rain on the metal roof, but they seemed attentive.  I did my presentation next (and no, I didn't take any pics of me doing my thing, others did, but they haven't sent me their pictures)

I had to speak loudly enough to be heard over the generator and the rain.  We had a good amount of participation- both in English and Spanish-- and yes the translator  was doing double duty.  Explaining to the Spanish speakers what I had said and explaining to English speakers, what the question was.  We got thru it, handed out the posters I mentioned earlier, and answered questions about how and when to use the water.  We had to talk about priorities-- if they had all the clean water they wanted (as we do) they would not have to make the kind of choices necessary, but with 5 gal of water choices would be necessary.  If I had provided twice as many posters, it would not have been enough.  I got the feeling that some were seeing them for the first time.    One man asked if I had more, that he wanted to post them in the stores that are water dealers for his system.  He took the ones I had  posted on the wall as a demonstration.

After my presentation, the group was given a break and they hit the cookies.  Some folks had left home at 5 to get here by 9 and they were hungry.  The six packages of Chips Ahoy and other cookies were gone in no time.

The rest of the time before lunch was spent talking about maintenance of the system, filter problems, and just general questions.

Our co-ordinator had ordered lunch for everyone and they settled down in their chairs to eat beans and rice with chicken.   Our sweet translator who was responsible for the actual ordering of the food, got special meals for "the Americans".  We had barbecued chicken/ mashed potatoes, etc.  We told her next time just order the same for us that everyone else had.

After lunch each system was given a set of"whirl packs" which are used for testing the bacteria in the filtered water.

A demonstration was staged to let participants do the test for themselves.
A representative from the local Health Department was requested to attend to explain the legal requirements needed for the department certification.  He agreed to attend, but failed to show up.

Each of the participants received a new LWW tee shirt as a bonus for attending.  Our shirts are white with a swirly pattern on the back, the new ones are much nicer- blue with children on the front.

I was sitting outside my room after training and was engaged in conversation by a man who had been hanging around the Green Lodge for a couple of days.  He told me all about being forced into joining the Nicaraguan army at the age of 15 (hard to guess his age now- he's had a hard life)  He wanted out of the army, so he shot himself in the foot (literally) and he showed me the scar.   He doesn't have a job, but he makes bracelets and necklaces from seeds.  Yep, I bought one for $5.    I heard later that the Lodge owner tried to run him off cus he was asking his clients of the Lodge for $$$.  

When I checked my clothes I noticed I must have sat on something muddy during the day (not surprising).  I washed the pants off w/ soap wrung them out and humg them up.  They were completely dry within hours, with no trace of mud and not at all wrinkled.  I love Columbia clothing.

The moon over Pearl Lagoon

After a successful day we walked to "Best View" restaurant for supper.  I had Pollo de la Plancha,  fried plantains (hard and dry) and cucumber/tomato salad w/ Italian dressing.  And it truly was a wonderful view-- my picture doesn't do it justice.

Rain was off and on all day and by the evening, it was not raining.  The electricity was back on when we returned to Green Lodge.








Nick called me each night we were here-

I was having trouble  getting a phone call through, but he was surprised with the clarity of the call.  I explained that directly behind the Green Lodge is a huge cell tower.

Tomorrow we travel to Pueblo Nuevo and Orinoco island to find out next installation place.