HOY Hear Out Yellow

Today was our first experience filming in the rain- not terrible and the ponchos were particularly exciting. We woke up especially early to compensate for our consistently late mornings the past few days. Bianka, Brittany, and I took a lovely walk past Ortega’s house to pick up a Spanish documentary titled, “Our Every Day Poison.” Although recommended, the film turned out to be not so effective unless painfully boring was the intended response. However, I´ll give this documentary credit as it was slightly better than last night’s entertainment: Spanglish. Adam Sandler, I expected more from you. Muyambi asserts that in our newly-acquired filming expertise, we’ve become too critical of other movies.

In any case, the majority of our morning was spent at the encampment- near heart wrenching for me, personally, knowing it was our second to last day with the Managua community. Despite being unable to verbally communicate in any eloquent manner, I feel as though we’ve developed very real and close bonds with some in such a short time. Especially the children, especially Carlitio. Carlitio has potential to be the most adorable 8 year old that I have ever met…(I´ll post a picture) We’ve started to fear for his safety as we think Grace is scheming a way to bring him home with us… Grace and I can’t help but want to give these children everything we can. As they instantly accept and welcome us, they stare with big hopeful eyes stained with the pain that overhangs the encampment. And so we do; we put Cordoba’s in their pockets and lollipops in their hands, but it’s not near enough.

I hope there will soon be a way for these children to have everything they deserve. Hopefully, the message of this documentary will instigate positive change to provide necessities, sustainability, and
opportunities for these strong people and their children. I later encountered a familiar face from another documentary. We talked, and by talk I mean he spoke in Spanish, words I could not understand, and I responded with all that I could- multiple “mucho gusto’s” and a genuine hug. Being there leaves me feeling so conflicted, all I want to do is help but it’s hard to do so in a way that allows for this community to help themselves and not in a way that simply hands over temporary sustenance. While I was off distracted by the smells of cooking fires or engaged in a game of Tag with Carlito and his friends- Bianka, Connie, Muyambi, and Brittany conducted two interviews. One dialogue was with a former banana worker and another with a Doctor that provides check ups for encampment members. We left the encampment onward to our favourite mall. Lunch as per usual and another 6 person cab ride to a University. The tentative interview was ultimately not quite successful, but I think these challenges can only be expected in the nature of our visit and resources here. The rest of the day consisted of research, naps, and two variations of rice dishes for dinner. We´ll be heading to Leon within the next couple of days and I´m excited to see what the change of environment will bring. Wish us luck on our journeys!

With love,

Lauren, Grace, Connie, Muyambi, Bianka, and Brittany