A 10 month reflection

So as I mentioned in my last entry, I happily took the option to stay on for further  year here and keep doing the work I love doing.  Before I start up in the new position, I will be heading back to the UK for about a month, at the end of July.   As such, I thought I would take this opportunity to reflect upon these 10 months that I have been working at Casa Alianza Nicaragua. 

During these months, I have had the opportunity to work with over 500 kids coming from very difficult nd traumatic backgrounds of abuse, violence, extreme poverty, exploitation and life on the streets, and do what I can to help them turn their lives around, and provide the opportunites and tools for them to do so.

I have climbed volcanoes with gang members, helped coordinate national sporting events to provide alternatives to drug use, worked out on the streets were kids live and sniff glue, participated in workshops to help combat the crime of human trafficking, and done what I can to provide healthy and sustainable activities, respect, love, understanding, discipline and support to all the kids we work with.

It has, on the whole, been a remarkable experience.   There have been low points -  getting Dengue Fever right at the start was probably the highlight of that, and there have certainly been times where I have felt the work getting too much for me.    In spite of that, I love what I do, and I am aware how privileged I am to be in this line of work.

I also remained convinced that Casa Alianza really is quite a remarkable organization.  The work it puts in to support, defend, protect and rehabilitate children and teenagers is phenomenal and vitally important.  All the kids we work are provided with shelter, food, education, skills training, psychological support, legal support, family reintegration processes, medical care, activities and trips.   The work also extends to the communities and their families, in order to build capacities and tackle the problems at their root levels.

So there it is, 10 months at Casa Alianza Nicaragua, and one more year to follow.   It has been tough, very tough at times,  but that’s all   part of the fun.

No child or adolescent ever chose to live on the streets, no child or adolescent ever chose to work in the sex industry or on the streets under the baking sun selling cigarettes and chewing gum.   As such, we will keep working to try and ensure kids are not forced into those situations, and keep supporting all those who are.

At this point I remember the tragic words of Nahman, a child living on the streets of Guatemala, brutally murdered by Guatemalan police.  On his gravestone are the words which still inspire me more than ever -

"Solo quise ser un nino, pero no me dejaron" - I only wanted to be a child, but they didn´t let me.   

More than ever, we want to let children and teenagers have the childhood and adolescene they deserve and are entitled to, no longer robbded of it in cruel and inhuman ways.

I remain grateful to all who read this blog and support the work of Casa Alianza.

Staying On

It was, to be honest, a tough decision, and I am really very grateful to some of my friends and family who helped me out on it.

Anybody who reads this blog will know I absolutely love the work at do, but at times it can be tough and draining, and living in Managua (not exactly the safest or friendliest city in the world) never makes it easier.  

So when the National Director of Casa Alianza Nicaragua offered me the chance to stay on for another year, as a regular member of staff in place of being a volunteer, I was faced by a dilemma.  Do I go for it for one more year, is it now time to head on to something new, or even to head back home?

It took a lot of thought, but I have decided to go for, and accepted the opportunity to continue working out here for another year.

I have been exceptionally fortunate, and done a lot of wonderful jobs in a lot of fantastic countries. But one of the main things that I have really discovered out here, is that to truly make a difference, takes a lot of time, and a lot of commitment. 

I would say, in all honesty, that it took me more or less six months here before I really understood how to work best with the kids and the other members of staff.   In those six months I had to really work hard to learn the patience, understanding and the discipline needed to work with these kids, that I have talked about in previous entries.  I also had to learn how to keep my own motivation and personal faith high, in spite of considerable challenges to it.  

I would now happily say that I have got to the level where my understanding and practice is now strong enough to be able to really do positive things.  For me, the project I set up, which I wrote about last month, as been a major example of this.    It took a long time and a lot of effort to get to this level, where I have felt confident enough in myself to set up projects which I really feel might benefit our kids, but now I am there. 

As such, to move on and do something new, or maybe to head back to Europe, just didn’t seem right at this point.  I feel very privileged to have got to the stage where I am at with the kids and other members of staff, and it would be too much of a shame to lose that. 

As such, this blog will be active for at least one more year, and I will do my best to keep the stories coming as we keep working to protect, support and rehabilitate the lives of children of have gone through existencies that no child would ever choose, including living on the street, substance abuse, commercial and sexual exploitation, human trafficking, violence, abuse and abandonment. 

For those in Europe/UK, I will be flying back to the UK at the end of July to catch  up with family and friends,  and will be about until the end of August, before heading back out here to Nicaragua.