Report, Nicaragua Trip, Jan-Feb 2008
FOOD and DIET
The typical diet in Barrio el Rosario is very high in starch
and sugar. Professionals once thought that if poor people got
enough calories, they were getting enough protein at least,
due to the average composition of native foods. This is no
longer the case since more traditional foods have been
replaced by cheap starches, apart from their beloved polished
rice (2-3x per day) which is mostly starch in the first
place. Almost everyone is hooked on sweet drinks and white
bread. And, as we shall see in a few paragraphs, starchy foods
are no longer relatively so cheap.
Due to our own budgetary constraints and the terrible rise of
basic food prices in Nicaragua, our actual food budget is very
low. In spite of semi regular donations of cooking oil, rice
and some beans, $240 per month for food is no longer adequate.
Our first act was to change from five meals per week to 3
better quality meals a week, Monday, Wednesday and
Friday. This has another advantage of taking pressure off the
ladies who are cooking and cleaning. In particular, Isabel
Duarte, our Administrator, gets some relief from not only the
larger responsibilities but the details of cleaning and
mopping. Isabel is always around the Gorrioncitos, taking care
of mutliple issues of the playground, the kitchen and the
school building. At her pay of U$60 per month, she deserves a
break. Personally, Isabel is a terrific person full of the
spirit of helping these kids.
Our second act was to invent peanut butter.
By weighing many types of bread, we discovered that the
cheapest bread costs about U$.50/lb with some up to U$.80/lb
in this poor barrio. Bread is almost as popular as rice, with
the advantage of convenience, that no cooking is needed and
that kids snack it, plain, happily. Rice now costs between
U$.30 and .40/lb. This is unprecedentedly high, and the rice
still needs to be cooked, an extra cost in fuel and time. Both
of these foods are UN-enriched and contain very little protein
(6% in rice and possibly 8% in white bread). Other favorites
are starchy plantain bananas and corn tortillas (white
corn). Another category is all kinds of sweet and starchy junk
foods; and of course a terrific market in super-sweet grain
drinks and soda pop. This junk food market is astonishing to
me but makes sense in a world of immediate gratification, and
a poverty metality that ses no hope in savings.
Protein and "nutritionally dense" foods are generally absent
from this diet with the exception of small amounts of
now-expensive cheese and occasional milk, usually heavily
sweetened with sugar. Soup is considered a "hearty"
food. Actual meat dishes are unknown. Milk [@ about U$1.00 per
liter/ 35g protein], eggs [@U$1.25-1.50/ doz; or 50 g
protein/$1.00], cheese [@up to U$2.00/lb or 45g
protein/dollar], lean hamburger [slightly under U$1/lb or 80g
protein/dollar].
Beloved red beans @U$.65-.75/lb contain 100g/lb thus maybe
150g protein/dollar. Beans have been the staple food but
prices have risen so dramatically that bean consumption is way
down, in spite of the fact that they are still an efficient
food buy, with iron levels comparable to those of meat.
Peanuts offer about 120g of protein per lb but peanuts cost
only U$.50/lb. Thus peanuts seem to be a potential
nutritional superstar, at a whopping 240g protein per
dollar. While meat is known for its iron content, according
to my food composition tables, peanuts actually contain MORE
iron per lb. Obviously these values are contingent on local
conditions and soils. [David Kennedy raises the potential of
peanut allergy which is growing more common in the civilized
world. The response to this is somewhat complicated, but
having made a serious study of allergy, I'm pretty certain
this will not be problematic any time soon in this
community.]
Bottom line: the kids Loooove peanut butter, especially on
bananas. Our peanut butter, roasted peanuts in a large
aluminum pan, ground to PB in the neighborhood mill is an
instant superstar. The vitamin C in the bananas help the
non-heme iron to be absorbed. I hope it is nutritionally as
good as I think it is.
Soy has been studied and subsidized for many years. Women in
our community have been shown how to use soybeans to make
soymilk but the use of soy has never taken hold. Nor is it
much used anywhere else in poor communties in Nicaragua,
according to what I hear. I'm not sure as to why and wish I
could find some analysis as the practical use of soy by the
third world poor.
We are no longer able to get one of our old nutritional stars,
soy meat. This is a dried product, grey in color that actually
tasted good. It was cheap; it came from Texas and we would
consider buying it in bulk if we could find it already shipped
to Nicaragua. I've looked long for this but it is apparently
no longer there. [CAN ANYONE OFFER ME SOME PRACTICAL ADVICE ON
PRACTICAL USE OF SOY, including some costs??]
Protein isn't everything but it is one handy marker of value.
Vegetables are harder to categorize, quantify and compare. I'm
guessing that carrots and a large yellow squash (ayote) at
about U$.42/lb are among the best deals, considering that
deepness of color is a convenient measure of nutritional value
in vegetables.
We emphasize that vegetables should be a part of every
meal. It amazes me that our old CuisineArt food processor
still survives, though it is in almost daily use. This has
helped get vegetables into the bellies of kids for years,
since they cannot pick vegies out if they are liquified.
Fruits are sold near the school to absorb the coins these
kids always carry for junk food. As always, the mango
fruit now in full harvest-- from the grand, generous
mango trees provides a good measure of nutritonal salvation
for these children. During the harvest, many mangoes are
free. But as more houses are built, mango trees die.
My recommendation will be that we raise our actual food budget
to U$22 per day (3 days a week) plus Tues and Thursday with
peanut butter and banana (@$9 per day), for a total of U$4200
per year, food only. We'd consider adding vitamins and/or iron
supplements possibly mixed in with peanut butter. This would
depend on donated vitamins no doubt.
WATER
The Little Sparrow School has rarely had running water in the
daytime, when 100 kids and the neighboring Health Care Center
need it. Water was available only because Isabel Duarte went
out every nite when water USUALLY comes through existing
pipes of the city's water system and filled up every
available pail and container.
After considerable study, we decided on the simplest and
cheapest solution a 500 gallon water tank right in the
kitchen.We did this for a total of about U$600. This was a
joyful project and money well spent, money which came from a
slush fund (apart from our regular budget) provided by a few
thoughtful people.
Trash separation and compost
One cultural norm we are flat out trying to change is the
Culture of Trash. Just the act of throwing trash in a
container instead of on-the-ground is a small revolution. We
go a step further in separating the trash into Burnable (in
our high efficiency burner), Compostable (for our compost
pile) and Plastic, etc. for the garbage truck. Our buckets
are in the open and well marked. The school and playground
are not perfectly kept but better than ever before.
Paper can be composted but given the traditional method of
burning all including plastic bottles, we thought it might be
okay to do some burning. Meanwhile, plastic bottles are now
recyclable, for very little money but enough so that a few
people collect them.
Teachers
We subsidize the two kindergarten teachers' miserable U$26
monthly salary with another $20. We are hopeful of another
subsidy from Spain but failing that, both Marcia and I would
like to be able to give these two fine women yet another $20
per month. One of them is especially poor.
Our first and second grade teachers are quite decently paid by
the Ministry of Education.
Fun
We introduced some extremely soft, soccer-sized balls to the
kids for little girls only, and NOT for kicking. I had
great fun just throwing this ball back and forth with some
small girls, delighted in soon being able to catch the thing,
and not being afraid of it. Lots of laughter in this and a few
other "games", favorite of which was "Little Monkey".
We had the 2nd annual Great Little Sparrows' Circus, face
painting and parade thru the streets. In spite of numerous
glitches, lateness, failures and the loss of one of our stars
to sickness, we made it through an hour of improvisation and
general hilarity, at which point the young pros of the School
of Mime and Theatre set up and put on their usual great show
of dexterity and acrobacy.
Stars of our show included a young fellow from the audience,
Mario, who volunteered to come up on stage for the Laughing
Contest. The only one. He was also the only volunteer to come
up and allow me to cut off his head, pretty daring considering
I had never seen this 10 year old before. He was shaking in
excitement and or nerves.
One of our best young friends, Connie Guerrero, gamely
performed two dances, one with her younger sister, Diana. The
other kids seem to suffer greatly from self-consciousness, or
fear of making fools of themsleves. The playground, just
built last year, is the joy and luxury of these kids, many of
whom learn of it for the first time as they come with parents
to the Health Center next door.
Trees
Last year we planted a number of trees for both fruit
production and shade. Between heedless abuse by kids, lack of
protection and lack of water, some suffered. I invested U$11
apiece on 10 stout metal tree protectors, and instituted a
watering program, mainly by a few boys, but with Isabel at the
backup.
With some trees are under attack by leaf-cutter ants
(zompopo), we discussed what to do about them. Trees don't do
well without leaves. First suggestion was poison the
ants. After I suggested that generally killing and poisoning
is not often the best solution, we decided to protect the
trees with little plastic collars. And Lo! They have worked.
Etcetera
Our cooking gas use has become expensive so we have gotten
metal skirts set around each pot, a well-known fix for
efficiency.
*********************************
Part II The Larger Community
Composting Toilet
As part of a challenge from a Canadian friend, we built a
composting toilet, two chamber, Vietnamese style, much like the
one at my house here in Tennessee.
In the larger picture, some solution is needed to the problem
of the continuing pollution of Granada's water supply. The
chief engineer of the city's water system told us that, as
more people moved in, spreading the suburbs farther out, they
polluted old wells and new ones had to be drilled. It was not
just the fault of the crude latrines, Engineer Delgadillo also
blamed the flush toilets feeding into very deeply dug sumps.
We went looking, first, for people who might need a new toilet
and second, who would promise to help out at the Sparrows,
cooking and cleaning, in return for a toilet. Anyone whose
latrine- toilet overflowed during the rainy season was
eligible. It helped that we could tell folks that we (Tom, the
Canadian and I) had such toilets at our own houses. And
interestingly, they use this same type atop the Mombacho
Natural Reserve.
We finally built one which serves two families of 11 people. It
cost of 600 U$ dollars (400 materials, 200 labor) a lot of money
until you realize that building materials cost the same there as
they do here in the USA. In addition, there are no used materials
just lying aound as there are here.
Once finished, we informed all the proper authorities, invited
them to the grand opening. None came, in spite of expressed
interest.
From first reports, no stink, everyone happy.
I'd like to be able to make more of these, assuming this first
one works. But for the life of me, I can't see how to cut the
costs, apart from the labor, some of which is highly skilled.
Soccer Field
In hopes of creating more fun for teenage boys, we offered to
build a lined soccer field with goals on a field closeby. I
first got permission from the owners for the kids to play
there. Then when the boys got together, we walked around the
field, and staked a general area covered with inedible (not
even the goats) scrub. "Sure" says I, "Clean it up and we'll
put the lines down." It had to be cut with machetes. Funny
thing they never cut a weed. Oh they discussed it quite a
bit, I chaffed them on it. And finally I even offered to go out
and hack for an hour to no avail.
Why? How could this happen? The sad fact is soccer involves a
lot of running, its almost like work. The neighborhood boys
don't like to bother. Their game of choice is a baseball game
played in the streets, hitting a rubber ball with the hand,
not a bat. It takes no real physical conditioning, as the
bases are not far.
I believe this is another casualty of TV. Everyone sees how
easy it all is on TV, a whole life of excitement in just two
hours, just sit back and watch. And this is mainly what the
young fellows in the \u0152hood are doing.
In cruising Mombacho this time, I passed the beautiful
baseball fields and remembered . . . . 14 years ago, every
weekend there were baseball games, teams with uniforms, ages
18-30, fairly serious and good games in these lush fields. I
used to take the local kids a couple of miles in from my cabin
to toss balls and watch.
This year, passing by on a Sunday, I found nothing, no
action. I asked a young guy on the path, what happened to the
baseball? "It's dead," he said, "they don't play anymore." My
assumption is that local baseball has been overtaken by the
electronic age.
Chocolate
As always, I made chocolate, or rather trained some others to
make chocolate. The idea is make some production that will
bring income to someone in the \u0152hood. There is a general
shortage of chocolate in Granada, and everyone likes our
product. This particular chocolate is an invention, a different
process, a chocolate that does not melt in the tropical heat,
it softens.
This was not one of my central projects. The people involved
can make the chocolate but are not inclined to business
savvy. At this point, the chocolate biz down there is unlikely
to take off, in spite of wide margins between costs and
potential income.
************************
Long Term
In an attempt to move forward with Moringa Oleifera and leaf
nutrition, I wrote a preliminary letter on behalf of the women
of SoyNica in search of a grant. This was sent to 27 selected
foundations. I also offered to help them get into the chocolate
business, either the European (and Tennessee) style or the
tropical type. They certainly sounded interested but they must
make some investment in order to do it.
Pursuant to an old grant made to Professor Leo Mayorga, we have
finally made the long-dreamed metal covered solar leaf dryer
for testing. Regrettably, Mayorga left the country in early
January, thereby leaving me a complicated process. I built a
small dryer and a larger one. Preliminary results are less than
optimal.
*******************************
Personal
I was fortunate to live in corner of \u0152hood where I got a
decent sleep most nights, a tiny house back off the Pan
American Highway, across from the large and wealthy Granada
Cemetery. In the last few weeks, the mangoes raining down on
the thin tin roof sounded like bricks, a bit disconcerting at
nite. Of course its always nice to get up in the morning and
pick up several mangoes to eat. The little strip of land backs
up onto the Solorzano sawmill thru which I walked many times.
My office was the house of the Little Sparrow administrator
Isabel Duarte, a block from the Sparrows. I had use of a nice
computer we sent down last year, and a phone that could call
out to any, including cell phones. This allowed me a measure
of efficiency in a pretty slack society. Of course, I had to go
out to a Cyber-cafÈ for internet hookup.
Again I had the pleasure of the company of Roqui (Rocky), a
german shepherd who played stick with me every morning and let
me love him up. Roqui became very obedient never a
beating or a hard word-- including going home when I told him
to. I've done my best to pass him on to his next friend at the
house of the Cruz family, young Ezekial.
When I got there, Raquel, the beloved 1st grade teacher
weighed less than 100 lbs and had a large goiter on her
neck. No doctor she had talked with had mentioned the word
iodine, though they did know she was deficient in T3 and T4,
the two thyroid hormones which require iodine. I had a bottle
of powerful vitamins, which included iron and iodine. We
bought iodized salt and supplemented her diet with more
protein rich foods. Raquel's neck is close to normal, she has
gained weight, has energy and smiles more these days.
Mama Lola soldiers on, first one up in the morning, last to
quit work at nite, cooking, cleaning, caring for the kids, all
the time. I made jasmine tea for the both of us every morning
and miss her and this ritual.
Pocha (actual name, Juana Valkyria Cruz) was to have her 15th
birthday (special) party the day I left. As I walked out the
door that morning to fly away, I left her my nice (empty)
suitcase since I wasn't even close to filling my old beat-up
one. That was remedied when I picked up 25 lbs of cocoa paste
from Harm, the Matagalpa chocolate magnate on the way to the
airport.
In the Cruz house, as in most others, people are very security
conscious, never wanting to leave their house unguarded. In
spite of the poverty, many people had a pretty nice (worth
stealing) TV set, some had two. TV is a huge feature in barrio
life. Robberies are not common but they are regular
occurrences.
The mother of Mama Lola is formally giving away this property
to her three children. This means divviying it into three lots
that are about 25 ft by 180 ft, one of which (containing my
little casita) will be for sale, asking U$10,000. I pray them
a good new neighbor.
Employment is low in Granada and Nicaragua. The gringo-led
real estate boom has busted though not completely. This means
that construction work is down. Other than two shoe factories
in our neighborhood (employing 100 people), every fourth
little house is selling something, ice, coca-cola, little bags
of chips, sweet drinks or generally junk food. Selling stuff
to each other.
The girl children have some work to keep them busy, and the
females seem to keep their hopes up for a while. For the boys,
its bleaker and boring. I believe TV tends to passivize
people, impedes original thinking, imagination and action.
I tried to leave an example of fun, honesty and useful
imagination. I played with and encouraged a lot of kids and
knew many by their first name. Katerina, Leila, Marta, Laura,
Rosita and Lucia. Connie, Diana and Nicole. Eddie, Lino, Luis,
Henry and Santiago. I don't intend to go back next January but
would encourage others to go, possibly with some plans in
hand.
My sincere thanks to all who have aided and abetted this effort.
J Sandino Hepler, April. 2008
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