On Wednesday, May 14th we visited a non-profit agency in Matagalpa called Casa Materna— an organization that serves and houses primarily rural women who are experiencing high risk pregnancies. Upon entering the agency we were quite impressed with the aesthetic appearance of the building that served as a home to these women. The common areas such as the living room, kitchen, and craft room were fairly large open spaces and were painted with bright attractive colors. The craft room had several different handmade crafts and coloring projects hanging on the wall and the room was also decorated with a beautiful mural that took up a whole large wall. While these physical and aesthetic details may seem somewhat insignificant in the grand scheme of things, it is actually quite impressive and comforting to us as visitors and one would imagine, most likely brings comfort and a sense of “hominess” to the women staying there. Having the place decorated nicely also cultivates a sense of dignity and respect for the residents and displaying their art work and teaching them how to craft gives them something to do and be proud of.

Another thing that stuck out to us, is how difficult it must be for these young girls and women to come to this maternity home while dealing with the stress and complications of having a high risk pregnancy. Not only are they likely frightened and anxious about the health of their babies and their own health, but they also have to leave their homes and family and friends behind for a number of months. While credit and respect is rightly given to the agency for running this organization and providing services to an in-need population, it is equally important to acknowledge the self-sacrifice and courage that it takes these women to make the decision to come to Casa Materna. However, it also makes one realize just how little opportunities and options that women with high risk pregnancies from rural communities have available to them. In many ways, for the sake of the women’s own health and the health of their unborn children, Casa Materna is the only choice available to them. It was also impactful to hear that sexual abuse is quite high in the country overall and also in the rural communities which is what leads to many very young girls having high risk pregnancies.
Overall, we were actually quite impressed with the way the organization runs and the holistic approach that they take by providing multidisciplinary services. It was amazing and inspiring to have heard that the organization was started by members of the community and is also self-sustained by members of the community. It is so impressive to see people come together for a cause and to address their own unique needs like those who work, volunteer, support, and live at Casa Materna.

Crsytal Romine

Stephanie Kiefer

This past Friday and Saturday we had the pleasure of visiting Leon, which is located about 60 miles northwest of Managua. During our visit we had the opportunity to meet with Nicaraguan social work students and learn more about them and their culture.

On Friday we visited UNAN (the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua) where we began with a brief introduction to social work in Nicaragua. After that we were surprised by a game intended to break the ice between all of the students. The basic premise was that we were on a sinking ship and in order to survive we had to make little “boats” with students, with a specific number of people (that was shouted out to us). It was a little overwhelming because the instructions were given in Spanish first, so the UNAN students were able to get a head start before we even knew what was going on. The Nicaraguan students were very enthusiastic about the game, which was unexpected. They seemed excited to play it and had no problem pulling us into their “boats”. Us American students were complacent just standing in our respective groups, but the other students huddled close together in a group embrace. It caught us off guard because we had never been formally introduced to these people and yet they were so welcoming with us.

We then broke off into smaller groups to talk about ourselves and college life. We didn’t get to talk long, but it turns out the UNAN students are very similar to us. Students from both universities expressed a desire to study social work because personal experiences led them to want to help people. Several of the UNAN students talked about how their families weren’t initially supportive of them studying social work, which was also the case for some of the American students. One difference between us was the cultural expectation of how long a young adult should live at home. Unless a student lives far away, Nicaraguans typically live with their families until they get married. At OSU, many of us live or have lived in dorms, or live in apartments away from our families. It’s expected that we don’t live with our parents year round.

The campus itself was small, with open air buildings. We had already been to a Nicaraguan university earlier in the week and had become accustomed to the general style of building by this point in the trip. One of the most surprising things to us was the graffiti on the walls in the hallways. There were large areas where students had written words or phrases in permanent marker or pen. They were also much more limited with their technology than we are at OSU. All of our buildings have computers in them and there is even specialized software in certain labs. Although they didn’t say how many computer labs there were, the one we looked at had much more out of date computers than we see at school. They also had a ,little window where one can get photocopies made. It seemed as though technology was not as omnipresent as it is at OSU.

In the afternoon the students gave us an hour long cultural presentation. They sang traditional songs, danced traditional dances, and performed a short play based on a Nicaraguan legend. Although we couldn’t understannd most of what was going on, it was a very impressive show. We appreciate how much work they put into it, and it was a great way to learn a little about Nicaraguan culture. Overall it was an enjoyable experience getting to interact with actual Nicaraguan and we are grateful for the welcome we received by students and staff.

Stephanie Kiefer

Crystal Romine