#30 Finally Some Free Time

It’s been a while since I’ve had the chance to sit down and write a few blog posts. The last few weeks of training were packed with literally non-stop activities, classes, trips and assignments permitting me no time to chill out or write a few paragraphs. It is three weeks later and I am finally a sworn in Peace Corps Volunteer living at my new site on the beautiful volcanic island of Ometepe.

One of the things I am proud of accomplishing during training is our time spent with our youth group. Every week for the past 2 months or so we have spent at least 2 hours every Tuesday and Thursday with a group of five 14-19 year olds working with them to create, market, sell, and participate in a competition for the best overall ‘effort.’

Our product – an artistic ceramic piece, with a story and a working whistle etched into the product – didn’t come to fruition until the last two weeks, and it wasn’t until the very last week that I realized the impact we had on the five people in our group. In my training town were four trainees and together we gave classes/lectures to our youth group on goals, leadership, analyzing markets, marketing strategies, presentation skills, decision-making, working in teams, and thinking about their future.
During the final week, youth groups from each training group in the business sector and agriculture sector competed in a product fair to see who had the best product, presentation, and reflection on what they learned in the past few months. The competition was located in nice location about 45 minutes from the closest training town and for many of the students it was their first times being that far from home. During the drive, many students were taking pictures on their phones of the Nicaraguan landscape and their energy was practically tangible. The competition lasted for the morning hours until after lunch on a Friday, allowing the students to be excused from school for the whole day.

While our group undoubtedly had the top product, we did not place in the competition. It was a combination of being out-done presentation wise and the fact that you can’t eat a piece of art that lost it to the judges. Our group was still ecstatic to have competed and participated in the whole project and really proved it to us later in the week.

A few days after the competition, we took our youth group out to an expensive dinner at a touristy look out point near our training town. We reflected on the past few weeks and casually discussed each other’s lives over dinner. Following dinner, our youth group brought us back to one of their homes (also a ceramic workshop and showroom) and gave us the four ceramic pieces we worked with them to produce. They explained how grateful they were to have worked with us and how much they learned during our meetings. We exchanged contact info explaining that if the 5 of them were to need anything (letters of recommendation, advice, or just want to chat), they should feel free to contact us. We walked the other group members back to their house where they gave us hand crafted whistles as gifts.