The Ministry of Education

On Friday I attended the monthly Ministry of Education Meeting with Karla. Karla claims that it is good for GVI to show its presence among the so called leaders of the Ministry of Education. I, personally, found the exercise futile.
The Government cancels school for the day (the Government has a certain affinity for finding reasons to cancel school in Nicaragua, they invent the most creative holidays), and all of the teachers in all of the preschools, in all of the departments, gather in their respective schools to hear the monthly speech given by the publicity arm of the Sandinistas. This month, the speeches were about prenatal care, and how to handle an infant in their first few months of life. And I quote “an infant begins to realize the world in their first months—hot and cold, blue and red. Then they will begin to make their first sounds.” As if we didn’t know. Why, in a meeting of preschool teachers, would anyone talk about prenatal care and care of three month olds? Your guess is certainly as good as mine.
I think everyone realizes how utterly useless these meetings are. People show up late and don’t exactly wear their Sunday best. In some cases, the tranny hookers in San Jose were better dressed. Of course, the tranny hookers are better paid—the Nicaraguan preschool teacher is paid 500 Córdobas every three months. This is US$25 per three months or US$100 per year—just US$.27 per day. Many of these women are young, early twenties in most cases. How are they to begin their lives on US$.27 per day? And for those women who are out of their twenties? For those women that already have families? Living is an impossibility.
I met a most remarkable women in the meeting—Marcia. Marcia is the paternal grandmother of three children. I did not ascertain what happened to her son, but Marcia did tell me that her daughter in law ran out on the children, when the youngest was just two years old, leaving them to fate. Luckily, Marcia’s heart is larger than her daughter in law’s disregard and she brought the children into her house, to be raised as her own.
Marcia now supports a third grader, second grader, and first grader on her US$100 per year. She is unmarried and she goes it alone.
The people I meet here never cease to amaze. The common resilience to hate and disregard astounds me. The ability to surmount inescapable odds captivates me. The people here have such a desire to live. And in many cases, although they do not have much, I think they live better than we do.