Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Quote of the Day ‘The very substance of the ambitious is merely the shad ow of a dream.’ -*L- William Shakespeare Left The backyard of a I home In L Nueva Vida. ■ Below: Two im students II from Si Wlnthrop ■ University JR walk to their fgj work site In J Nueva Vida Twenty students and faculty spend a week of work and travel in Central America Story and Photos by Kristin Freest ate Copy Desk Chief In all my life, I never expected to spend the hist week of Christmas vacation digging latrines in the Southern Hemisphere. Mom finally gave the trip her blessing after the Y2K non-disaster, and two days later, I was in a plane with 20 other students and faculty members from USC, Winthrop Univer sity, Columbia College and the University of Ten nessee at Knoxville. We lived in Ciudad Sandino, Nicaragua, for a week, volunteering at the Jubilee House Community, an ecumenical Chris tian community llial served llie area. Tlial’s nearly 30 Deo pie altogetlier, sharing all meals, five bathrooms and concerns about malaria. The at mosphere: friend ly. Tlie task: to dig 20-fool latrines for local families whose latrines didn't meet , Health Ministry standards. Armed with pikes, shovels, buckets and varying degrees of Spuiish fluency, we set to work for about 10 of the more than 1.300 families in the area of Nueva V da. Nueva Vida (“New Life”) is a community where the govern ment relocated families whose homes ,iArlrn..n.l L.. LI.. "VIV UVJVI W* l/J IIUIIIV'UIV 1-tlVVII. I IIV/ JWVVW "V.IV. UU.HI , (UIU HUM ilies of up lo 12 lived in one-room pavement-block houses that were a little less than 20 feet by 20 feet. Tiie work days began in layers. We awoke around 7 a.m. every day to the sound of a rooster that, toward the end of the week, we thought would made an excellent dinner entree. Then, we would crawl out from under the sheets of our bunk beds, dress, and put on the sunscreen, the bug spray, the gloves. The first night that we ar rived in the airport, we were driven to our new home in a small bus • that had been donated to the Jubilee House from a church in Maryville, Tenn. The driver swerved back and forth over the dirt road that branched oIT the paved road and led to the house. At the time, I thought he was avoiding potholes; the next morning, we saw that he was al so driving around the piles of trash in the road. The country is poor, and the idea of trash pickup doesn’t exist. Instead, the people bring their trash to centrally located dumpsters and then, when the dumpsters overflow, leave the rest in the streets. Often, they would bum the paper trash to be rid of it, but it was nonetheless common to see mothers or children picking through the trash heaps for anything they could use. We split the trip between working and touring. On work days, we paired off and spent the day in a hole in peo ple’s backyards, speaking with .l . r • i• .1 —-—— k me Kimmc) ai ucsi wc could as we deepened the holes foot by foot. Generally, it look at least an hour to dig a foot, and the work be came more chal lenging the deeper we dug. I’d nev er seen the world from a mole’s eye view until this trip. As the holes got deeper, we’d lower each other in ipS^ with rope or a ladder and then ^ work as long as we could. It was summer in Nicaragua and the sun was bright, so we had to lake frequent breaks to drink water. Although it might have seemed hot above ground, it proved to be even more so below. Most ol the holes were about 39 inches square, and we worked inside with all the tools, digging the earth that we weren’t standing on, sweating profusely for the lack of wind. The earth itself was cool, even damp, but it held in the heat. At the end of the day, we gathered at the bus. As we waited for the other groups, we had more of a chance to visit with the people in the community. The children were especially excited to have North American visitors, and they would run up and hug us, hold our hands or pull on our shirt sleeves until we took a picture of them. The pictures showed children not unlike those in the United States, with tangled hair, smiling faces, bright eyes - but often wearing clothes that, while clean, were worn or faded. Some of the children were naked, many were barefoot and a fair number of them suffered from swollen bellies caused by malnutrition or prirasitic in fections. The people had little because they weren’t given the chance to have more. When hurricane floods threatened or washed out their homes, the government moved them to this community to start over again. Not everyone was willing; some went anyway. One grand mother told me that she laid to be carried from her home not because she couldn’t get to safety, but because she didn’t want to go. The area was established as a refuge, not for growth. Men can’t find jobs because the community is nothing but houses; women tend their homes and children. The mother at the house my partner and 1 worked at washed her clothes, dishes and children in the same plas tic bucket in her backyard. Her young son carried the needed water in buckets from the spigot on the street, and when she was finished washing, she threw the leftover water over her grassless yard. The Jubilee House is trying to promote unity and health in the community. It organizes block meetings and community government and has opened a free clinic, which gives people the chance to get examined, treated and educated about any disease or health disorder they might have. But the people still need more, and not just in the way of employment, healthy food and water, clothing. Manuel, one of the Nicaraguans the Jubilee House hired to work, said simply: “Nueva Vida has a sad air about it.” The need makes life simple - as simple as it can be. People worry about their immediate needs, and beyond that, little exists. They keep house, provide for their families, keep their gales closed by bending a nail over the door, hang their clothes on barbed-wire fences to dry. The fences don’t constrain the people, though. For every work er or mother of three or man in search of a job, there is a poet, a dreamer, a comic. And in spite of the differences in language and cul ture, they recognized that in us, as we recognized the same in them. The people we saw live differently, but if nothing else, the trip taught us how similar our differences make us. They understand hope, just as we do, and they understand sadness. They know mean people. They worry about their children. « And all this we learned from a few days of working and touring. It’s funny what a little digging can do. The missionaries of the Jubilee House Community. _..« ,i.... i r._ Sniyi ii< i lie Masaya volcano. Left The Peace Park, built In honor of the I truce between the Contras and the Sandanlstas. Guns and tanks were cemented over to make walls and stat ues. Below: A mural on the side of a wall in Ciudad Sandlno. Campus Notes Rotary Scholarship workshop to be held Fellowships and Summer Programs will offer a workshop for the Rotary Ambas sadorial Scholarship. To find out more about this foreign study opportunity, come to the Gressette Room at 6:30 p.m. Tues day. Outreach to call prospective students Carolina Outreach will call students on selected Tuesdays during the spring se mester. From 5:15 to 7:15 p.m. Tuesday and Feb. 29 at Lieber College, students can telephone prospective USC students. Clothesline sponsors painting sessions Clothesline T-shirt painting sessions will be from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednestlay. Ses sions will be held in Patterson Hall's Gar rison Room and in the Bates West class room. For more information, call Sexual Health Programs and Sexual Assault Ser vices at 777-7619 or 777-8248. Every one is welcome. T-shirts and paints are provided. Workshop to be held on perfectionism The second session of a perfectionism workshop will be offered from 3 to 5 p.m. Thursday. The workshop will identify the varieties of perfectionism, especial ly those prevalent on the college cam pus, and how to recover from the re lentless, exhausting way of life. Traditional dancing comes to Gallery 701 Traditional dancing from New England with caller Craig Whitehead and live mu sic by Laurie Fisher and Karen Delgado Gaughn will be Saturday from 8-11 p.m. at Gallery 701,701 Whaley St. There will be a dancing workshop at 7:30 p.m. for new dancers. All dances will be taught, and partners aren’t necessary. For more information, call Columbia Traditional Music and Dance at 796-8935. Seminar to teach authentic meditation Authorized representatives of Sant Thak er Singh will offer instruction in medita tion on the inner light and sound at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Russell House and at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Richland Coun ty Library. This meditation can be learned by anyone, regardless of faith. For more information, call 1-877-MED1TATE or check out the group’s Weh site at http://www.santmat.net/. ronce training course offered to Columbians A free 10-week course is being offered to Columbia residents. Participants re ceive a graduation certificate and are el igible to participate in a 10-hour elective ride-along program, which offers obser vation of police work under actual work ing conditions with an officer. The class will begin March 7 and end May 9. Call the Columbia Police Training De partment at 733-8399. Ambassadors accept new members University Ambassadors is accepting new members. Pick up applications at the Vis tor’s Center from Feb. 24 until March 1. Applications are due at the center by 5 p.m. March 1. For more information, call 777-0169 or e-mail sarahjones@sc.edu. Nutrition, exercise information available Nutrition and excercise consultations, body-fat percentage estimations, blood pressure readings and more are o fie re# by peer health educators in the Open Door Drop-in Center from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday at Health and Wellness Programs in the Student Health Center basement. For more in formation, call 777-8248. Applications available for advocate award Nominate any member of the USC Co lumbia community who has made a pos itive impact on your freshman year for the Outstanding Freshman Advocate Award. Professors, advisers, resident ad visers, student leaders and staff are eli gible. Applications are available in the Student Government office, the Russell House Information Center, the Univer sity 101 office, or through freshman En^ fish classes. ■ CORRECTIONS The Gmnecock strives to report the facts correctly and responsibly. If you come across any inaccuracies in our reportage, please let us knov.