Hola Amigos y Familia,
If you are reading this then you probably know that I am going to Nicaragua! I leave tomorrow (August 27) bright and early, and I just was able to upgrade to first class for $109!!! Which is super exciting and now I get to check luggage for free which I would have had to pay for, so it ends up being a pretty sweet deal! I am flying Continental to Managua with a layover in Houston. I will be traveling for about 18 hours total which will be a ton of fun!
Unlike previous travels, I will not be sending out mass e-mails. I will instead be updating this blog with both updates and pictures. For all of you less tech-savy individuals, you can "subscribe" to my blog via this site by hitting the "FOLLOW" button on the right hand side of the page under the "About Me" section. You will then be prompted to enter in your info and email address and then the site will send you an email whenever I post! It is really easy, I promise, but if you have problems, shoot me an e-mail and I will assist you! Or, you can add this site to your favorites and check it periodically.
I arrive late at night and I will be taking a shuttle to Granada, Nicaragua where I will be doing two weeks of language school and home stay with a local family. After the first two weeks I will be heading down to San Juan Del Sur (SJDS) where I will be for the remainder of my time (apprx. May). I will do one additional week of language school before I start working. I am doing spanish school to get a handle on the accent and learn medical vocab while improving my speaking ability, I have taken 6 years of spanish though....so hopefully I will be able to be understood! Stay tuned...
So many of you have been asking, what am I doing in Nicaragua and why am I going?
I will be in San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua for approximately the next nine months or so working at two health clinics with an organization called Newton San Juan Del Sur Sister City Project. In a nutshell, I will be going out to the "campo" (country) with a local OB/GYN and midwives assisting in house calls, shadowing them and collecting data. I will (hopefully) be creating a monitoring and evaluation program/system for the two health clinics in town that monitors maternal health/mortality and potential infant/child health. I will also be working in the clinics, assisting wherever possible, hopefully see some births and collect some more data. I will also be working with a newly created domestic violence shelter, doing some program creation, setting up another monitoring and evaluation system and potentially doing some policy advocacy and awareness for a newly passed, but largely unknown law protecting women (and men) from domestic violence. I may also be involved in a campaign to re-legalize abortion in Nicaragua, it was recently outlawed. Lastly, I will probaly also be doing health trainings, both at the clinics and in the campo. Very basic stuff ie: sexual education, birth control, pregnancy and delivery etc... I probably will be roped into a few more projects, but for now, that is the plan!
So, why am I doing all of this? Well, I am working on my Master's Degree in Sustainable Development. Sust-ana-who? Dev-what? Well, in a nutshell, the philosophy behind my degree (I am focusing on maternal and reproductive health care development and policy) is to create systems, programs etc... that create platforms for countries, cities, populations of people etc... to attain certain standards of development. For example, working to lower the maternal mortality rate in a given country by creating health clinics for safe delivery and care, which would allow that country to meet standards that have been defined as acceptable, for example, lowering the number of maternal deaths so that it comparable to say, Europe. So, what I am doing/focusing on, is working in low-resource settings (primarily developing countries) and creating systems, programs etc... that are sustainable. What does that mean? In my opinion, that they do not need a terrible amount of money to run, that they are created with the community in mind, that the solution to the problem is culturally relevant and that the community has ownership in some form over it...all while preferably not harming the environemtn. Now, many people may have a completely different answer for you then this, I took an entire semester on the theory and practice and philosphy of sustainable development, and we never "really" got an answer. For this purpose, that, in a nutshell, is Sustainable Development.
Back to the "why". For my Master's Degree in Sustainable Development, a part of my degree requirement is that I have a full-time 6-month practicum where I can practice the skills and concepts that I have learned this past year at school and expand and fine tune my skills. For those of you who don't know, I was in Brattleboro, Vermont this past school year (2008-2009) at SIT (School for International Training) Graduate Institute. I finished the 9-month course-work component of the program and the second component, the 6-month practicum, has led me to Nicaragua. I wanted to be in a Spanish speaking country and I fell in love with Central America in spring of 2008 while backpacking through it with Kristina and couldn't really imagine myself in any other part of the world.
I have gotten a lot of questions asking what I will be doing, and other then the description of my projects I gave above, I have no idea what my day-to-day life will look like. I don't yet know how regular my access to internet/phones will be, but it should be ok, at least weekly at a minimum. I know I will NOT be on a 9-5 M-F type schedule, so that is also still up in the air. I also do not even know, yet, where I will be living! I am looking into hostels, hotels and potential home stays at least in the beginning until I get my bearings down and meet other volunteers, at which point I may get an apartment. It will definitely be an adventure, so stay tuned!
San Juan Del Sur is on the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua directly above Costa Rica. It is pretty touristy for Nicaraguan standards, so there will be other ex-patriots and travelers there. But, it is on the beach and I am oh-so-excited about living on the beach for the next 9 months! I don't yet know what the communication situation will be like down there, but will let you all know as soon as I know! I will be primarily using skype (username: kimberlycalkins) for contact...so you should all get an account! You can also find me on facebook.
A LOT of people have asked me, what are you bringing? Can you bring almost nothing with you? How will you get your stuff there? I have mastered the art of packing light after many adventures traveling, especially after Europe Trip I, where I packed waaay too much and had to/was forced to throw stuff out. Also, having survived the cross-country re-localization, I have learned to live with less. I am bringing one large backpacking backpack, which now weighs somewhere between 50-70 pounds! (why I didn't use this instead of a suitcase my first summer backpacking through Europe I will never know....), my school backpack that holds my laptop and one small day-pack style backpack...and that is it! Hopefully, my snorkel bag my get thrown in as well if I run out of room... So, what is going in those bags?
My Laptop
My camera
Batteries
A headlamp
Rechargeable Flashlight
Spanish Books
School stuff/papers/reference materials
Pens/Pencils/Tape
Journals/Spiral notebooks
A Tale of Two Cities & Great Expectations for leisure reading
Two small photo albums and a few flat picture frames (the clear/flat plastic kind that are magnetic)
6 pairs of capris/gauchos/bermuda shorts
6 knee-length skirts (one formal)
1 pair of ultra light-weight long khaki pants
3 lightweight long-sleeve buttons ups
3-4 t-shirts
Waaay too many tanktops
Two casual sun dresses
3 bathing suits
1 Fleece
1 black pashmina scarf (I know its not cold there, its a potential sun cover up and outfit spiffy-upper for events/nights out)
2 pairs of long yoga pants
2 pairs of short pj pants
2 pairs of athletic shorts
Socks (very few)/bras/sports bras/underwear
Chaco sandals
Teva flip-flops
Salomon water/trail shoes
Hiking boots
1-2 additional pairs of flip-flops
1 pair of black flats
One pillow
My purple down throw (which has been to EVERY country with me!)
3-4 towels
A first aid kit (cold medicine, anti-diarrhea pills, Dramamine, cough drops, anti-histamines, Aleve, Excedrin, RX anti-diarrhea antibiotics, bandaids etc...)
Tons of sunscreen (it is really expensive down there)
Bug Spray (lots)
Misc. toiletries
Some make-up
A few pairs of cheap earrings and necklaces
Ear plugs
Sleep mask
3 nail polishes
Two ankle braces (hopefully these will NOT make an appearance...)
An LL Bean shower/toiletry kit that hangs and has a hanging shower caddy
8,732 chapsticks (I am an addict...)
Snorkel equipment
Yoga mat
Beach mat
Headset/microphone (for talking with you all on skype!)
Two pairs of glasses (one old in case I lose/damage my new ones, which I have done before traveling, not fun!)
RX sunglasses
Cheap sunglasses
Drawstring backpack
Two travel purses
Locks (a laptop lock, bike lock for locking up my bags to my bed, and many luggage locks)
Travel alarm clock
Two water bottles
I wish I could bring...
My movies (but I lived without them in Vermont, so...)
Some sort of music device, but since all my money goes towards traveling I am the last person on the planet sans Ipod...
A TON of books, I already envision withdrawals
Diet Pepsi! Can already feel the migraine that I will have for weeks while I detox off it...
A fan or air conditioning unit
Spider spray/killer
Sadie & Sam (my sister and brother in-law's golden retrievers)
My UW hooded sweatshirt
All of you! Well, maybe not ALL of you...haha ( :
And so the adventure begins... Love and miss you all ALREADY! -Kimberly
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