The paper has been completed and I have begun to concentrate on my job here. After a long afternoon on how to write a grant proposal for FSD, I was overwhelmed. There are a lot of pieces that go into a grant and they give us two and a half weeks to write it. The idea of putting in more septic tanks is a good one, however, FSD does not fun infrastructure or aid, which simply giving away septic tanks can be categorized in that way. They want sustainable projects. What does sustainable mean? I’m figuring that out. It means education and ensuring the project continues when the intern (me) is gone. Sustainable also means, under the best circumstances, that it will also need no more money given to it, instead in-country participants will have the means to fund the project in any necessary ways.
So with septic tanks I first have to have the need of the community stated. So we will go around to some 50 or 60 families and survey them both on their knowledge about the disposal of their dirty water and if they would be willing to put forth the labor as long as we are supplying materials. The survey will be a key part to showing the grant funders that the community has interest and a need for septic tanks. Also from this survey we will be able too see what knowledge the community has or doesn’t have about water disposal and septic tanks. Then we will make a brochure about dirty waters and septic tanks that especially hits points not as well known in the community.
Unfortunately this week has been possibly the least productive weeks of my life. I had a fairly full day of work Monday. Tuesday I had an all day trip to Esteli for a meeting. Wednesday I was told not to come in until the afternoon, which I found out was because my supervisor had a meeting all morning. Then I got a phone call today saying to take the rest of the week off because my supervisors child is ill and she doesn’t feel well either. So I basically haven’t worked all week and most of the kids down here with me working 9 hour days are kinda mad at me. But that’s just the way things work here. Even when we are working we are taking a break every hour to paint our fingernails, stare off into space, or eat something. We know we are over-worked in the US and down here they have no one to really answer to and get little work done. Trying to balance these two mindsets and be as productive yet as relaxed as possible is all of our challenge here in Nica these days.
Other than that…a group of us traveled to Granada last weekend and stayed overnight in a hostel. It was a nice weekend together but Granada is a really touristy place that you sometimes can feel like a number with a dollar bill sign. It’s a hard feeling to explain. Like most trips, the place doesn’t matter it’s the company.
Last night (Wednesday) we went out to dinner and dancing to celebrate our coordinator’s (Mariana) birthday as well as an intern’s good-bye party (Katie has been here since Jan. and Wednesday was her last day). It was a very good night. We ate Mexican food and then went to Hipa Hipa, a dance club who were celebrating their ten year anniversary. So it was a great night of celebration. Needless to say when I got the call this morning not to come in today I was slightly relieved since I got in at three in the morning last night. But I give it to all of my friends who got to their jobs at 8am this morning (Thursday).
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