This week I have been doing a census in a barrio up the hill, Gruta Javier.
We didn’t really know anything about the community, besides where it is and
that it appears to be very poor. Eduardo, one of the Project HOPE staff, is
helping me. We are doing a short survey that asked for names and ages of
household members, as well as monthly income and the type of house they live in
(i.e. corrugated metal, cement block, etc.). I also take a picture of the
family for Project HOPE to use in the future if they decide to partner with the
community. In the middle of the community is a huge building project; the
government is building apartments for single mothers that will cost
approximately $30/month. This means the community will be growing significantly
in the near future.
Eduardo is hilarious. He is in charge of children’s ministry
at Project HOPE and used to be a professional soccer player in Nicaragua. He is
learning ventriloquism, so when we see kids in the community he talks to them
in a funny voice with his mouth closed (this produces amused looks from the
older kids). When a kid was looking at the truck we came in, Eduardo pretended
his voice was the truck talking and the child looked confused and walked away. Eduardo
is learning English, so he is always keen to learn new words and their
pronunciations. He will make me repeat words he doesn’t know and write them
down. Since we are both learning each other’s languages, sometimes our
conversations are quite entertaining. When we were driving up to the barrio
yesterday he pointed out a woman we had interviewed for the census the day
before and said, “We censed her yesterday”. When I saw two men using roosters
for a cock fight, I said, “look they are fighting with the chickens!” and
Eduardo responded, “no, it is like boxing”.
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| Eduardo |
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