Thoughts on Work and Play in Nicaragua
May 20th, 2008 by Wes
(This is a guest post from my wife Paula!)
I am sitting now looking out over the bay at the beautiful blue of the ocean. It’s spectacular. The heat has dropped considerably and my energy has settled into living at an interesting pace. Life is so different in a developing country. Some things that I take for granted at home, things, like the ease of travel, power, air conditioning, foods that I like and know, comfortable furniture, meetings, language, transportation; are all harder to come by here. Some of my observations on the country:
Work: The country is really in a stage of development. Even though the news has so many things to say about how development has stopped in these countries, that the troubles with the economy and government are putting things at a stand still, this is not what I see. I see hundreds of workers laying roads, cleaning up streets, building homes, working in shops and restaurants, creating a future for their families. In the year since my last visit I am finding a much different town. Recently there was a community effort to clean up the beach. Over 264 individuals in a town of 2,000 participated in a clean up of the beach in the bay of San Juan. they hauled away around 3,000 pounds of trash.
I have been to countries where there is a lot of work to be done, and not much is happening. Here, people are constantly on the move, striving for a future for their children. When you consider that this is a nation of about 6 million, and of them, around 4 million are under the age of 21, the paradigm shifts about what is important. I find myself always aware and in wonder of what drives these folks, what the motivation is and what it is like to be striving for this kind of change that they are.
Play: People here often pause to enjoy and appreciate what is. The folks who have moved here from the States, Canada, Australia, Italy, Greece and many others often pause to look out at the ocean and say, wow, see how lucky we are. When they take a break they find a place to sit and enjoy the views. It has got me thinking, how often do I pause in the day to give thanks, for my beautiful home, the Boise valley, my friends and family? So many of the folks who have relocated here have few to no family in other parts of the world. They in essence, adopt one another as family and take an interest in the day to day life of one another. The sense of community is strong. What a gift and blessing to gain perspective on my own life and remember that I am such a small part of a greater whole. The world is a changing. I need to stay present and appreciate it!
Paula
