Dear Friends and Family,
I realize this update is
much overdue, but I'm very excited to share the news that Georgina, the young
nursing student in Nicaragua sponsored by friends and family, has surpassed all
expectations!
Georgina is ranked 3rd in her class. She studies SO much.
Before I left she had turned in her main project of the year, called a
“documental”, kind of like a Nicaraguan thesis. She worked so hard for about 6
months straight. I have never seen Georgina so exhausted, She had to travel to
a place called ‘El Cua’ which is a VERY rural area (way more rural than where I
lived). She spent about 4 days a week traveling 5 hours there and back by bus
with her 2 other group members. Then she still had classes on Saturdays and
project deadlines. The topic was teenage pregnancy and awareness of birth
control. It was a group project. Part of what they did was promote and educate
young girls in rural areas on types of birth control, a very sensitive issue in
Nicaragua, which is a very conservative country with a largely catholic
presence.
The coolest part of the “documental” for me was that
Georgina herself learned so much. Georgina also comes from a very catholic
family who lives in a very catholic town. Before I met her she had never seen a
condom, nor did she really understand the mechanics of how one gets pregnant.
This is part of the reason so many young girls get pregnant, lack of
understanding. Georgina has not only had to LEARN all that stuff, she also HAS
TO TEACH it to others. Who is better equipped to teach skeptics about the
importance of birth control than a reformed skeptic?
Attending university has taught her so many other valuable
life skills (as it always does). She has become more independent, learned how
to use the Internet and email, and has traveled on her own. It has increased
her confidence, she sees that if she works hard she can accomplish something
with her brain, and that her value is not based solely on her ability to be a
virgin bride. She has learned how to use the internet and even has email!
I am now in the United States (my life update below) She has
been emailing me on her progress. She
said that she is now in “practica” which I guess would be like residency here.
She has started to see patients and tells me stories about how her and her
fellow classmates have to practice injections and assist doctors. She says that
everyone wants her to be the one to inject because she has a “steady hand, and
does not get squeamish”. I can’t verify that all her classmates want her to go first, but she does
have a steady hand, I watched her attend
to her dad when he cut himself with a machete, and there was blood everywhere.
She handled herself calmly and coolly (while I left the room). I think she does
have a natural ability.
Georgina is doing well in school. I am very proud of her, as
is her family. I am also very proud that together we made this possible. After my two years of service I still feel that
of everything I did, this initiative has had the highest impact. I learned so
much during my service but the biggest lesson for me was that the best way you
can help is by supporting someone who wants to help themselves. We can donate
food and clothes and build schools, but if people don’t want to do it for themselves
our efforts are wasted.
Before I left, I gave Georgina money so she could pay her
tuition in advance up to October because I was going to be leaving. We were
sitting in her bedroom, there are two children size beds on either side of the
room with about a yard in between. The beds are perfectly made the sheets
crisply ironed (in her life and school work, Georgina is super precise). I sat
on one bed and she on the other. We closed her wood slab door with the iron rod
to bolt it closed for privacy (only her mother, father, and brother know about
her scholarship-we did this two save face on both our parts, I couldn’t provide
scholarships for everyone who asked, and she was embarrassed that she was
getting help from me).
I handed her
the cash she glanced down and said “thank you” quietly, then she added “it
gives me embarrassment accepting this money from you, it gives me embarrassment
because I know that it comes form your grandparents, your aunts and uncles,
your friends. These are not rich strangers with tons of money, they give money
because they love you. I never want you
or them to feel like I take it for granted. I will work hard to be successful.”
Then she said, “I don’t know how to thank you. May God bless you” (they say
that a lot). I swallowed hard (she always says stuff like this and it makes me
uncomfortable). I said “I did it because I love you and your family has done so
much for me, I don’t know what I would have done these two years without you
and your family. I would have been so lonely and sad”.
As you can imagine we both shed some tears. We spoke about
the journey of this scholarship. Which felt as painfully real to me as it did
to her. We applied to two other scholarships one local and one from USAID
before I thought of reaching out to all of you. Each time we were rejected she
lost more hope and I got more frustrated. My mom so correctly said that in
those two years was the first time I ever experienced “a door being closed to
me”. In my life there had always been a way to make something happen, I may
have had to knock on a lot of doors, but one always opened. Her life was the
complete opposite. Nothing was ever open to her, as a single young woman from a
poor family who lived in the countryside, there were not any doors even visible.
I provided the doors to knock on but all of you opened it
for her. As she would say “Thank you and may God (or your higher power) bless
you”.
On that note, costs for her studies have risen. She has more
costs than I initially calculated because of all the travel she has to do for
her residency and her materials (she had to buy a stethoscope, blood pressure
gage, nurse’s uniform ect) for residency. In addition to those unforeseen
costs, the local currency, the Cordoba has decreased even more and it is now
almost 25 Cordobas to the dollar, as opposed to 23.5 Cordobas to the dollar,
when I arrived. It now costs her $35.00 a month to go to school. Between her
father and I we have shouldered the costs and she is now half way through her
studies. I was going to continue to shoulder the cost myself, but a very wise
woman said “Ask for more money!”
So I’m going to! As I hope you can see your investment has
been successful! She is doing better than I expected in school and I have faith
that she will continue to do so. Therefore, I will continue to accept any
donations you would like to make. Any money that is not spent will be reported
and returned (Don’t worry my mom is a good accountant).You can send them to:
Alicia Harvey
11008 Dreamy Way Dr.
NW
Albuquerque NM, 87114
If you would like to
contact Georgina (and can speak Spanish) her email is Georgina
Palacios georginadejesuspalacios@gmail.com.
If you would like to write her a note but don’t want to translate it. Email me
and I will forward it on to her.
Here
is a break down of where the money goes and her monthly costs:
$_8
- transportation for a month from __Sisle_ to _Jinotega__
for Georgina to go to school
$_20_-transportation
for a month from Sisle to el Cua for her unpaid internship “residency”
$25__
- tuition for Georgina each month
$_13_
- school books, supplies
As for me, in September I accepted a part time position with
a non-profit that is based out of Jinotega, the nearest city to my community. I
am working with them on marketing and community outreach. Right now I am based
out of New Mexico working from my mom’s house (thanks mom). At the end of
October I will be going back to Nicaragua for 5 months to work with their
volunteer outreach program. One of my goals is to continue my work with girls
in some capacity. Since the position is only part time, I know that I can do
it. I have the experience, connections, and now I will have the Internet
capabilities. During my service my girls meeting was one of my favorite
project. It was weekly and we talked about self-esteem, peer pressure to have
sex, the costs of having a child, our relationships with our parents, and how
to make friendship bracelets. Often, I danced around energetically trying to explain
what the mechanics of sex are, why women are more likely to get infected with
HIV, and how to put on a condom/ get a man to agree to wear a condom.
I WELCOME your thoughts/ideas. Actually, I NEED your
thoughts and ideas on how to continue work with these girls.
From the bottom of my heart I thank you for all your support
to both Georgina and myself. I love you all!
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