Seeing Nicaragua an “eye opener” for Lisa
Travelling to a poor country can be “quite the eye opener,” as MEDA staff member Lisa Maenpaa says about her recent trip to Nicaragua. While Lisa has travelled to her home country, Ireland, and to other Western countries, this was her first venture to Central America.
Lisa spent a week in and around Managua in November to conduct an internal audit of two MEDA projects, Produmer and MiCredito.
“The difference was startling and immediate,” says Lisa. “Upon arriving at the airport at 8:30 in the evening and waiting for the bus to our hotel, I was greeted by a young boy and girl about 10 and eight years old panhandling. My first thought was, ‘Why aren’t they home tucked up in bed, as my kids would be.”
While visiting MiCredito branches was not unlike going to a small rural credit union in North America, the client visits proved to be an adventure. “The roads are full of gouges and craters. Many times I wondered if we were going to make it to our destination, and on one occasion we had to leave the truck and walk the rest of the way.
“En route, I was shocked to see a woman with small children living in a rusted, corrugated iron shack – I realized how poor some of these people really are, with no social welfare to rely on. But the upside was meeting with MEDA clients, who are doing well, and are happy to have access to small loans to grow their business through MiCredito. They are entrepreneurs who, with microcredit, can buy more stock for their shoe or clothing business, or buy a taxicab so they can feed their family.
“We are so lucky – we don’t realize. I was able to impress that upon my children when I showed them my photographs. It was a great opportunity, for them and for me.”
Lisa’s work will take her to Tanzania in March.
Children outside their home in Nicaragua.
Body language reveals cultural differences
MEDA staff member Sara Cressman was intrigued with the different communication styles that she encountered on her recent trip to Nicaragua. And despite the language barriers, she found she was still able to communicate.
“They use a lot of body language in Nicaragua,” says Sara. “On client visits, I saw many of them using a hand motion that we would use for emphasis in making a point – hitting the edge of one hand into the palm of the other. I learned later that in their culture, it means paid, and they were referring to repaying their loans from MiCredito,” MEDA’s microfinance institution in Nicaragua.
“I also found it interesting to observe how Nicaraguans point to items. In Canada, we use our index finger to indicate an object or person that we are referring to in speech. In Nicaragua, they purse their lips to point.”
Other points of interest for Sara were the incredibly bad roads, which helped her understand why pickup trucks are the vehicle of choice. “It was also interesting to see, in addition to the official North American-style paved speed bumps, some, obviously homemade, of dirt. That’s a home owners’ way of slowing down traffic in front of their home.”
While Sara was in Nicaragua to do an audit of Produmer, MEDA’s horticulture project with sesame seed farmers, she had time to visit clients in their homes as well. “I noticed that instead of the sofas one might expect to see, they often had rocking chairs in their living rooms. To me, it indicated the importance of taking time for relaxation with family and friends.
“I was able to see the impact of access to credit for small business persons through MiCredito. Clients noted they now enjoy a better standard of living, retailers can buy in bulk for a better return on their products, purchase new equipment or a new taxicab.
“While their English was just as limited as my command of Spanish, I learned that MEDA’s efforts in Nicaragua are giving many poor people hope for a better future.”
Sara hopes to return to Nicaragua in March to conduct an internal audit of MiCredito.
