The Rainy Season Seized Up

I arrived in Nicaragua on July 30, and will be returning to the states, “si Dios quiere” (if God wills), early December. The rainy season in Nicaragua lasts from June-December, and I am happy to report that it sounds worse than it actually is. Since in the Northwest, the rainy season is long and miserable, I had low expectations for the comfort during my time in Managua. However, I found that the rainy season here could be more appropriately titled as “The Hot with Occasional Downpour Season”.

When it does rain, the temperature is still unbearably warm, and it is almost never cloudy or overcast for more than a few hours at a time. I think there may have been one or two days which were overcast all day, but don’t forget, it was still hot! There is also a great deal of humidity, so even if rain brings the temperature down, it seems that the humidity increases which in effect doesn’t seem to change the temperature at all.
October was the month with the most rain, and November has been extremely mild. I think there was one hard rain all month; two tops.

The benefit of traveling during the rainy season is that prices are lower for tourists, or so that is what I hear. I have little to compare my experience to since I have only been here during rainy season. I would say that the most useful tools for navigating the rain here would be an umbrella and rain boots. Forget wearing a rain jacket; every time I did people stared at me. I wore it anyways because I missed home, but truthfully it rains so hard that an umbrella is far more practical.

So I survived. I prefer Managua’s rainy season to Seattle’s any day.

- Kine Camara

UAM Celebrates International Education Week

November is almost past, and with it many memories have stayed in our minds. This month was an eventful and crucial time of the year for many UAM students. While students had to face the end of the semester and the final exams that come with it, there was still room for fun during this month with the celebration of International Education Week. 

Winning Team for Jeopardy. Congratulations to CUSE!

UAM’s celebration started on Monday, November 12 with a Global Jeopardy event. Seven faculties of the university were represented by two students who participated in a ferocious competition for the ultimate price: free tickets to go to the movies. For those who do not know what Jeopardy is like, it is a fun game of trivial questions regarding eight topics. In this case, the subjects were according to the celebration of being international so questions were asked regarding world history, language, cartoons, world leaders, world flags, math, movies, and UAM trivia. In the end, Gustavo Salinas and Johnny Siman from the CUSE faculty were the ones who took the victory home and the Medicine faculty took the price for best cheering crowd. 

The next two days were celebrated by inviting two great role models to give a small talk regarding important International matters. On Tuesday, Audrey Huon-Dumentat came in to talk about “100,000 strong in the America’s. What does it mean for Nicaragua?” This was an interesting and important topic for many UAM students since they gathered information regarding international scholarships. Finally, to end UAM’s celebration, on Wednesday, November 14, we had the pleasure of having Greg McDonald Vice-Director of the Peace Corp who came in to talk about the institutions 50^th anniversary and what they do in Nicaragua and around the world. He also shared some motivational and interesting personal stories. 

We would like to thank all of those who joined, helped, and supported us during this great celebration. UAM is truly committed to internationalization. We promise that this celebration will be a yearly event which will keep growing and getting better as years go by!

- Adriana de los Angeles Diaz Rizo

I'm Definitely Going to Miss Mornings

I’m definitely going to miss waking up in the morning, sitting on my “porché” or veranda, drinking coffee and hearing bachata down the street, along with birds chirping and doña Mara serving clientele in the “Pulpería” or local store across the street. When I actually wake up early enough to enjoy a relaxing morning before heading off to class, I find peace and serenity in the silence of my home and the “coolness” that exists earlier in the day. By 10 a.m. any hopes of feeling comfortable in the heat are lost, especially if you are accustomed to the wet Northwest chill that I am used to. I have found that no matter where I am in Nicaragua, I can count on hearing Latin music in the late morning, and I love it.

- Kine Camara

The Perfect Smiles

“A smile costs nothing, but gives much-

It takes but a moment, but the memory of it usually lasts forever.

None are so rich that can get along without it- 

And none are so poor but that can be made rich by it.

It enriches those who receive, without making poor those who give-
It creates sunshine in the home,
Fosters good will in business,
And is the best antidote for trouble-
And yet it cannot be begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is of no value
Unless it is given away.” - Anonymous

This past Saturday, November 10 UAM’s DO! in collaboration with OrphaNetwork visited Brazos de Amor in Jinotepe, Nicaragua for the first time.  Before we even got to meet the kids, we were nicely offered a tour around the property. Walking around, it was a pleasant surprise to see how my expectations of a dusty and sad place were replaced by the reality of a vibrant, heartwarming, and welcoming environment. The air was cool and refreshing unlike the one in Managua, a beautiful view could be witnessed from one of the buildings, and the most enchanting thing we got to see was the smile of the children and their sparkling and curious eyes as we walked pass by them. 

Once we toured around the property, we finally gathered the kids into our first activity: an interactive game to help us get to know them, and encourage them to trust us. As the activities progressed, we noticed them losing their reservations and approaching us more confidently. We got to know a lot about them: their favorite colors, what they liked to do, what animals they liked, if they were team Barcelona or Madrid. They got to know us as well. Once we finished introducing each other, we got divided into several subgroups depending on the activity the kids wanted to play. On one side, the boys formed teams and played soccer, while on the other hand, the girls and a few boys played volleyball, tag, and even talked about the TV series Vampire Diaries, which, we found out, is a house favorite. We were pleasantly surprised to encounter such happy and lively kids we could easily get along with and even more surprised to see them warm up to us on our very first visit. Once we left the Orphanage we really felt we were leaving some friends behind.  

The experience was, without shadow of a doubt, one of the most rewarding and fulfilling we have had. It was an afternoon spent between fun and games and getting to know the children a little better; by the end of the visit, we had learned most of their names and them ours. It is an understatement to say time passed us by; when we realized we had to go, it was well after the time we had intended to. With some final words from each of DO!’s members and some of the less shy kids, we parted with the promise to return and the eagerness to do so.

We can happily say that this Saturday proved to be a milestone to our ultimate goal, which is to introduce Bibloko as a tool for learning and fomenting thought development. Getting to know these wonderful children, in a sense, will help us achieve our goal of contributing to their education which is the only real patrimony any person could hope to leave to another. Not only that, we are also certain that we will be learning a lot from them as well, including experiences about life such as being grateful and genuinely happy with what we have.

Last but not least, we would like to give a special shout out and thanks to Alvaro Rivas for allowing us to visit Brazos de Amor, for guiding us the entire way and to the staff in this wonderful place, for motivating us to interact with the children and encourage us to be a positive role model in their lives. 

- Zenelia Boza and Adriana de los Angeles Diaz Rizo

Thought I Was Special, but No!

Before arriving in Nicaragua, I had a serious of orientation and information sessions regarding my study abroad. A large portion of the orientation process was opening a discussion about culture shock: what it is, how it manifests and how to cope with it. Now all of this information was good, but I pretty much thought I was exempt from the whole phenomena and set it aside.

Despite all the warnings, I truly believed I would be unaffected. Even more, I thought I would not miss home at all. However, the last three weeks, I have missed my home, friends and culture more than ever. I have been so homesick, that I have even begun to miss things that I generally hate about my home city. For instance, I miss the cold weather of fall. I miss wearing a rain jacket. And I even miss my busy university schedule with classes paired with an internship that barely leaves me room to take a shower. This feeling of homesickness has definitely surprised me and has not felt good, but after some time in self-pity, I have been able to begin reflecting and feeling gratitude.


The truth is, that I miss being apart of a community. Back home I have so much support from friends and family, and I am familiar with the resources in my community that I need to succeed. All of this contributes to my quality of life, and I bet if I stayed in Managua for two years, I would be able to build the same understanding here that I have back home. It just takes time.


Through all the homesickness, I have been able to make use of the coping mechanisms that my coordinators suggested before I left the states. I talk to friends and family on a daily basis, I treat myself to foods that remind me of home, I wear my rain jacket even though people look at me like I am crazy, and I listen to lots of music that I don’t get to hear in Mangua. Now that I have less time left than I have been here in Nicaragua, I am back to feeling excited and just want to make the most of every day that I have here. There is lots of travel to come in the next month and I will have many stories to tell!

- Kine Camara

ORPHANetwork: a Job Worth Your While

ORPHANetwork is a nonprofit organization that seeks to feed, nurture, and educate abandoned children in Nicaragua.  They have partnered with various institutions in order to achieve this goal and are now sponsoring two meal programs in Managua as well as 5 orphanages in total around Nicaragua. The real goal of this organization is to make the orphanages self-sufficient so that they don’t rely on government funds and random donations which are fickle and sporadic. ORPHANetwork manages their income, creates a budget for them, and sees that the children are well fed, well educated, and are on the way of reaching their full potential. This network provides for comprehensive orphan care and has now touched over a million lives, spreading their message throughout the country of opportunity and care. They also provide for transition assistance which is unique to this program in Nicaragua. After high school, ORPHANetwork makes sure their kids reach a higher level of education and secures for them a job, housing, and even goes as far as checking up on them every few years to ensure a positive transition. 

So now, why work for them? They help a lot of kids, sometimes too many, but their own mission is to provide aid for all orphans that seek their mentorship so they have a no turning down policy. They don’t need money, or assistance in fundraising events or gifts for the children, what they need is your time to spend with the kids. There are numerous activities you can help with; ranging from the distribution of food to helping the kids with their English speaking skills. For more information you can visit ORPHANetwork and hopefully, if you are interested enough by now (hopefully I’ve done a good job at this) you can join UAM’s DO group which will be working closely with this organization. 

- Zenelia Boza