Hola, buenas tardes! Our names are Abby Wocher and Lauren Jesch. Abby is a third year Nonprofit Management student with an interest in international human rights. Lauren is going in to her fourth year as a Political Science major with minors in Nonprofit Management and Middle East Studies. We both decided on this particular trip as we have a passion for social justice and advocating for human rights.
The two of us just returned to Managua, after our three night stay in the beautiful city of León. Here, we had the opportunity to stay with a host family that CGE paired us with. The host families were all involved with social work in Nicaragua (current students, family members of students, professors, professionals in the field, etc.). Neither of us can speak nor understand Spanish very well and we realized this prior to the study abroad; therefore, we expected the few nights in our the home stay to be quite the experience…and we were right. If we could choose three words to describe our stay with our specific host family they would be: challenging, gratifying and humbling. We had the honor of staying with the Espinoza family: Ruth – the mother, Juan Calero – the father, Maria Fernanda and Natalia – the daughters. Ruth and Juan Calero were both professors at the UNAN, the University of Social Work in León. Both were very passionate about educating their students and the community about the importance of social work and the impact that it can have on society. Maria Fernanda is 15 years old, while little Natalie is 10. Ruth and Juan Carlo spoke/understood little to no English, so we relied on the daughters to help us translate if we were really struggling (Google Translator also came to our aid on plenty of occasions as well).
We were immediately welcomed into their home with open arms and minds. We were both anxious and nervous when waiting to find who we would be paired with on Wednesday, but the emotions were quickly calmed after the first night due to the family’s generosity and patience with us. Their house was quaint, but offered us what we expected and so much more. Despite the fact that we struggled to formulate sentences and questions, we still enjoyed one another’s company and found ourselves laughing and communicating in any way that we could.
We do not know how or if we will ever be able to thank the Espinoza family enough for their hospitality and kind souls, but we promised each other that we would never forget the experiences we shared inside their home and the city of León; furthermore, that ultimately we would continue to advocate on behalf of human rights wherever life leads us.
In conclusion, we would like to take this moment to reflect on the three words we chose to describe our adventure in León.
1) Challenging: The language barrier, the heat, the different foods as well as customs, and the time. We managed to communicate somewhat effectively due to both of our efforts in finding new and simple ways to speak (not conjugating verbs for example…since that was a skill neither of us had brushed up on). There was no air conditioning so we relied on each other to keep the energy up and to tolerate the heat together with the family, as they were constantly sweating too. When ordering food there were often things we had never seen or heard of before so our taste buds had a new experience also. Time was of the essence so we were constantly trying to make the most of every moment. We joked that our family also ran on their own time, because we were also slightly late when it came to arriving at the correct times on the itinerary.
2) Gratifying: There was a certain kind of satisfaction that we both felt after the home stay. We realized that we were still able to build relationships with several members of the community despite the inability to mutually understand each other’s language. You cannot fully comprehend another culture until you are totally immersed in to it. We do not believe that we would have been completely exposed to Nicaraguan family interactions, daily activities, or lifestyle in general had we spent the whole trip in our hotel.
3) Humbling: Taking a step back from the lifestyles we lead back home allowed us to appreciate the simplicities the families find so much happiness in. Emphasis is not put as much on the materialistic items that Nicaraguan people don’t have, but instead placed on what they do. Members of the community take pride in their homes and families as they have worked so hard to obtain all that they have. It isn’t uncommon for Americans to have an individualistic mindset, but it is truly refreshing and humbling to see such a united and collective mentality among the families here in Nicaragua.
