My Nicaraguan Exit Interview

This was published in the quarterly magazine for Peace Corps Nicaragua. It is a publication written for volunteers by volunteers. Filling this out also means that my service is coming to an end. I can not believe that it has been two years. I am due to leave here in July.
1) Name: Oliver Dunn
2) Site: Somoto, Madriz
3) Nicknames: Chele (whitey), Profe (Professor), Oliver Cann, Oliver Garza
4) Favorite Dicho (saying): “Que me la vaya bien” (“Go well for me”), why am I going well for you? , “Si dios quiere” (If God wants it”), a great way to not have to do anything, apparently God didn’t want it.
5) Any advice on dating a Nica? If you get more attention here then you did in the states, then I am sure it is true love.
6) What did you do during your service? Helped build Primary Schools, Tried to teach kids to think originally, Tried to help restaurants with their business, traveled all over Nicaragua. Read tons of books.
7) If you could change one aspect of your service what would it be? I did it pretty much the way I thought I would and wanted to.
8) What will you miss? Having so much free time to relax, read, write, reflect, and hang out. I will certainly miss being able to get sauced off of $5.
9) What would BRING YOU BACK to Nicaragua? If I receive the following phone call within my lifetime: “Oliver, this is Danny Ortega calling. We have a bit of a situation. Nicaragua, as you are well aware, is going through some growing pains. Well, as it turns out the Nicaraguan people have banded together to develop their tourism trade by organizing themselves and their resources. We have decided it is about time that Costa Rica stop taking all of the tourists in Central America. The reason I am calling you is that your President has made me aware that you are well versed in this field. In fact you are the only person in the world who can make this happen. Without you there will never be a possibility for Nicaragua to reach “developed nation” status. The future of Nicaragua, its culture and people rest on you. We are willing to pay you whatever it takes for you to lend us your services. Please, please, come back to Nicaragua to help us. You are our last hope, without you we will surely fall.” So yeah if I received this phone call then I would at least flip a coin, heads being that I come back.
10) Your most pinche (cheap) moment? I lived 2 weeks on 500 cords ($25) to see if I could do it, I guess this is not that big of a feat for an Agriculture Volunteer, what do you people spend your money on?
11) How has the PC changed you? I will certainly be much nicer to and more patient with people who can not speak English very well. I have even more of an appreciation for the US then I already had. I am much more realistic on the effectiveness of “development work”.
12) Favorite Nica food or drink? Gallo Pinto (Rice and Beans) with Ketchup, Tacos with ketchup and cream, Fresco de Naranja (Fresh Squeezed orange juice).
13) Most random care package item? A box of baby wipes, however they came in handy.
14) How many times did you have to poo in a cup? Never, I am the bionic man, I imagine all the lead and arsenic I had in my local drinking water helped me.
15) Best/worst memory? My best memories were the times I spent with other volunteers, too many to count. My worst memory was almost dying when a truck I had hired nearly fell off a cliff when the brakes gave out.
16) Bus stories? A fond memory I have riding a bus was when a friend and I rode on top of one. We were heading to a rural mountain community and we took turns passing a bottle of rum and coke, while dodging the low laying branches and power lines. The views just kept getting better. (If this is not permitted then I was just making it up, but I did have a helmet on.)
17) Most embarrassing moment? It was kind of embarrassing coming back to site after the two consolidations during the threats of hurricanes. It never got worse than a torrential drizzle in my site and they could not understand why I had to be emergency evacuated.
18) Would you do it all over again? If I were to be transported back two years, I would do it again. That is to say I am glad that I did it. Would I do another 2.25 years after this? Ni quiere a dios (Even god wouldn’t want it).
19) Did you ever think about quitting? Never seriously, the idea of working 10 hour days, having to wake up at 6am, and sitting at a desk seemed worse.
20) Conveniences/commodities/creature comforts you missed the most? Choices at a bar, food from all over the world, being surrounded by people who “get you”, peace and quiet, not having to cross my fingers every time I eat, warm showers, not being bored out of my mind, not being asked for money or visas every day, common courtesy….shall I continue?
21) What's next? Travel through South and Central America for as long as the readjustment allowance allows. I suppose after that I will look for a job that I can make a lot of money so that I can buy a bunch of crap to make myself feel better about all the time I spend at work. Have a family, sacrifice for my children so that they can have more than I did growing up. Have them grow up to be unappreciative, resentful and tell me how I ruined their lives. Eventually retire, move to an old folks home, have my mind slowly slip away and call my family, who only come to visit twice a year out of guilt, the wrong names. Sit staring out of a window muttering nonsense to myself and then one day become mulch.
22) Advice for remaining volunteers? If given a choice, most people would not choose to do this. Don’t let someone make you feel guilty for not doing enough. Do what you need to do to keep your head. Make sure you keep a good sense of humor about things.
23) Parting words: Roses are red, violets are blue, you’re still in Nicaragua, sucks for you! Thanks for the memories.

Development Work in the 3rd World

Visions of poor naked children playing in the dirt usually come to mind when one thinks of the 3rd world. Houses made of mud brick, straw or corrugated tin roofs dominate the landscape. Well this is not too far off, but certainly not the rule. There are disparities in wealth just as we have the in the United States, the most wealthy nation in the world. We certainly have all of the modern conveniences at our finger tips, if we have the means to take advantage of it. Often there is a bit of guilt for the people who have “everything”, and our benevolent conscious grips us when we see the commercials about what 20 cents a day can do if we were only to make the phone call to pledge this meager tithe. Millions of people around the world do try to help by donating tens of millions of dollars worth of money, clothes and food. Clearly it is the duty of humanity who can afford it to be socially responsible. It is not as if one chooses at conception where they wish to be born, into what family, or socio economic level. There has been a lot of good done and a plethora of good to be done.
The problem that seems to exist though is that the inefficiencies in development work are such that no person in their right mind would invest in a public company with similar practices. In effect that is what we are doing when we put money into a development project, investing. The goal is not to see financial returns, but rather to see that people are better off than before.
Currently countless dollars are poured into projects that do not have clearly defined goals and objectives. Many religious groups are to blame for this fact. They think that to give gifts are the way to better an underdeveloped nation. This has created a culture of the open palm. People will wait around for years for someone to rebuild buildings, roads, bridges, schools, homes, latrines, wells etc. There are very few non governmental organizations (NGOs) that will teach people how to do the work that will offer them the opportunity to better their own lives.
What is happening is that the open palms have replaced people willing to break a sweat. It is much easier for both parties to throw money at a problem, but never effective. How can people in developing nations be trusted with lump sums of money? Clearly they have not learned the skill of using it to grow and develop or else they would not be in the predicament they are in. Government officials in the US are corrupt; do we honestly think that they would not be here?
An issue that I have seen is that there are too many NGOs. They tend to overlap in many areas and think it beneficial to reinvent the wheel at every step. Understandably they have to have something to sell the investors, but why aren’t there NGOs who are able to direct finances towards programs that exist and have proven effective. How many different English programs are needed? This is the case in most niches of development work. Everyone want to have their name stamped on a product and none of them are very good products. It seems that the type of people who go into development work are scattered. They may begin with an idea and then see need in other areas as well. They then try to reach 6 or 7 different issues and do then all poorly. Could any company be effective if they begin making bicycles and then see the need for t-shirts, bubble gum, couches, light bulbs and cement? Possibly with the work force of the US government this would be possible, but in the real world this is not efficient.