Days 20 & 21: Luz Solar campaign

Saturday was the day of our big campaign. We had spent all Friday afternoon preparing for it and had almost everything planned out when Saturday came around. According to Tim, the SEC country director and team leader, a lot of people from the community we where about to visit had already signed up to buy solar lamps. It is therefore with great expectations and a little bit of apprehension with regards to our abilities to manage large crowds that we entered in the small white van and began our three-and-a-half-hour-long journey to Esquipulas. The ride was extremely uncomfortable and bumpy but we got a chance to observe the rural parts of the Northern Highlands of Nicaragua. Mountains, hills, herds of horses and cows, modest little houses with people, dogs and chicken, banana trees, coffee plantations, tropical landscapes and of course...volcanoes accompanied us visually along our trip.

When we arrived in Esquipulas, a sizable town even further up in the mountains than Matagalpa, we started setting up everything we needed for the campaign: tables, chairs, products etc... We hung up the posters we'd put together on Friday afternoon and organized the campaign by setting up separate stations for the different types of products. Pauline and Peter would be working at the "vision station", perform eye exams and sell glasses, Ben would be in charge of the water filters, and conduct surveys about them, Jerren would attempt to light a fire in the "Estufa" (stove) and conduct surveys to figure out if the stoves had potential to become SEC products in the near future and Maddy, Emily and I would be in charge of the "solar" station. Tim and Greg would be helping out at the different stations and handling the crowds. 

Preparing the campaign...

La "Luz Solar"

Ready!

After finishing setting up the campaign, we opened the doors and let people in. Soon enough a decently large crowd arrived and  we offered them seats to accommodate the wait until the start of our presentation. Once most people had arrived, Tim opened the presentation by introducing SEC ( Social Entrepreneur Corps) and our general mission with regards to remote communities in Nicaragua. Then, our group presented each one of the stations and the products we were selling that day. 

People waiting for our presentation

Since most of the people in that specific community had regular problems with electricity and were here to buy solar lamps, we expected a lot of people at the "solar" station. Indeed, when the presentation ended we got a large amount of people  coming to our station all at once. It was time to apply my newly learned Spanish skills to a real-life and somewhat hectic situation.

We had previously assigned roles and while Maddy was welcoming people to the station, writing down basic information and conducting surveys to investigate how our solar products were perceived, Emily was answering questions about the solar lamp and the other solar products and I was making the sales, taking client's contact information and reminding them of basic rules  and requirements regarding the solar lamps. 

People checking-out our "solar" station

Maddy working it!

Greg and a woman from Esquipulas

Pauline performing an eye exam

Emily explaining how the solar lamp works

Peter performing an eye exam

Maddie at the solar station

Vision station

Women waiting for their free eye exams

Maddie helping out at the vision station

Peter working at the vision station

Even though my spiel was somewhat hesitant at first, it got better after each sale and was pretty solid after the first couple sales. The only thing I kept struggling with throughout the campaign was the "writing down names" part. It is unbelievable how complicated Nicaraguan names are! At least three names per person. When I was lucky it was something on the lines of "Jose Andres Ramirez" or "Maria Josefina Gonzales" but in most cases it was much more challenging than that. I tried my best to listen as carefully as possible and it turned out ok in the end. It even generated a couple of laughs amongst the clients and loosened the atmosphere a little bit. 

My solar poster!

Tim talking about reading glasses

Maddie, Ben and Greg at the water station

Maddie and Ben with the water filters

Me and Tim explaining how the solar lamps work

Greg and the old lady

Jerren taking a break

Emily and the old lady

Jerren and the "tulip" water filter

The campaign ended up being pretty successful and even though there are definitely ways to improve in the future, we were very happy about the number of sales we had made at the end of the day. After having eaten lunch, which the people helping out with the campaign had prepared for us, we packed up all the products and began our journey back.  Soon after we had gotten into the van, it started raining and deprived from the view of the Nicaraguan landscapes, we decided  to play "20 questions", which ended up lasting the entire trip back to Matagalpa.

When we woke up the next morning, it was raining again so we decided to stay in and enjoy a relaxed morning at our comfortable hostel. In the afternoon however a couple of us decided to confront the rain and went on a hike through the natural reserve "Cerro Apante". We were trying to climb up the volcano but our lack of a map made us go up a sketchy looking and soaking wet path in the middle of nowhere that we thought would lead us to the top. It didn't. We went along empty cabanas until the path suddenly ended near an abandoned house far away from any human life. So we hiked back down the volcano and when it started pouring rain again, made our way back to civilization. Regardless of our failed attempt to climb to the top it was a pretty cool adventure and we got to see some of the flora and fauna of the natural reserve. As we were waiting for the bus, we even met a super nice  older couple working for "Bridges to Prosperity", an organization that "Duke Engineers Without Borders" happens to work closely with as well. We got to meet a woman from Atlanta as well as a girl from Canada who were working with them and had a very nice exchange of our impressions of  and our different experiences in Nicaragua. We finally said goodbye and climbed into the bus that took us back to our hostel. 

That night, Tim (the SEC country leader in Nicaragua) took us all out to eat surprisingly delicious pizza at Matagalpa's probably only Italian restaurant, which was a lot of fun. We then packed our bags and got a good night of sleep before traveling to Leon, the Lion city, on the next day.

Day 19: Cascada Blanca

On Thursday, we took the bus early in the morning to visit one of the majestic waterfalls surrounding Matagalpa: the "Cascada Blanca". After a crowded bus ride that took us through the beautiful hills and small villages of the Northern Highlands of Nicaragua and during which we got to see herds of cows and horses as well as coffee plantations in the middle of rain-forest-type landscapes, we arrived at the "Cascada Blanca". 

Small break before continuing our adventure to the falls

 Once we climbed down a small path that lead us to the waterfall, an incredible view opened before our eyes. 

We're following the leader... wherever he may go! ( Peter Pan reference)

La Cascada Blanca

Small versions of Ben and Jerren about to walk behind the Waterfall

Me at the waterfall

Views of the "Cascada Blanca"

We continued our exploration of the "Cascada Blanca" by following the path behind the waterfall and entering the caves nested in the rocks next to it. While we were taking pictures their, we woke up a family of bats that rapidly escaped to another cave. 

Me under the rocks behind the waterfall

After climbing down the rocks, I decided it was time to test out the water and jumped into the ice cold river. Considering how hot it was outside, it turned out to be a great and very refreshing initiative. I was therefore followed very shortly by Jerren. Ben on the other hand decided to explore the river by foot and jumped from rock to rock, falling in the water frequently. The others hung out on the rocks and enjoyed the great weather while watching us making our way through the river. 

Me walking through the river

Ben trying to hold on to his rock and Emily and I watching

Me and the waterfall

Sitting casually by a waterfall

While exploring the river, we found a natural jacuzzi created by watercourses that where flowing between big rocks. Jerren and I jumped on the occasion and got free spa-time in the middle of a tropical paradise that seemed to be completely isolated from the rest of the world.

Our natural jacuzzi

Jerren and I when we found the natural jacuzzi

Chilling in the natural jacuzzi

After enjoying the refreshing water for a while, Jerren and I competed against each other to see who could best swim against the current and reach the rock in the middle of the rapids first. After numerous failed attempts on both our parts and as I was loosing my strength in the middle of a last attempt, I managed to push myself off a small rock I had discovered earlier which gave me enough momentum to swim the rest of the way and finally reach the rock, snatching away the victory!

Victory!

My competitor ended up adopting my strategy and reached the rock shortly afterward.

Jerren finally reached the rock too

Finally we all made our way back, fully refreshed and some of us a little tired from swimming against the current. Regardless of soar muscles, definitely one of my top ten things we've done and seen so far in Nicaragua. Absolutely fantastic experience!

Team "Impacto" at "La Cascada Blanca"

Once back at the hostel, we finished our project presentations for the next morning and made the last small adjustments to the product catalog for "Las Mujeres Ecologistas de la Pita".

On the next day, we took the bus to San Ramon and gave our first micro-business consulting presentation in front of Jessenia Diaz and Mabel Sanchez, the two women representing "Las Mujeres Ecologistas". We introduced ourselves again as well as our mission and delivered to them the  different flayer designs from which they could choose from, the  inventory and finally the product catalog. Just the surprised look on their faces and their smiles made our work in the past week  completely worthwhile. I had written down what I wanted to say in Spanish beforehand to help me out during the presentation and to my relief I performed my part in decent Spanish and the whole presentation ran quite smoothly. We then, taught the two women how to replicate the work we had done in the future and how to maintain the catalog and inventory using simple Microsoft office tools. Although Mabel was hesitant to touch my computer and manipulate the document on Word at first, she ended up doing a great job at writing, changing text styles and inserting pictures after we'd guided her through the process. We ended with a discussion on how to generally improve their marketing strategy and gave them tips on how to build stronger relationships with former and potential clients.  The main goal of the presentation was to not only provide them with tools they can use in the future to improve their business model but also open their eyes to opportunities and ideas that have the potential to enable them to become self-sustainable. Witnessing their enthusiasm about what we were presenting to them, even if the amount of information was a little bit overwhelming for them, most definitely reinforced my conviction that "Teaching a man to fish" rather than "giving him fish for the day",  is the way to go when it comes to development work.

In the early afternoon, we left San Ramon (but not before buying some souvenirs for our families and friends back home) and went back to Matagalpa where we discussed our results from the morning and started preparing for next day's campaign in Esquipulas, a village up in the mountains, three hours away from Matagalpa. Special focus of the campaign: Solar lamps!

Days 16,17 & 18: Teach a man to fish

On Monday, the group separated into two teams. While team "Iniciativa" drove up to Leon, the cultural and intellectual center of Nicaragua, our team, team "Impacto", drove up to the "coffee city" Matagalpa in the Northern Highlands of Nicaragua. After a three hour ride during which we entertained ourselves by playing "20 questions", we finally arrived at our hostel "La Buena Onda". There, we were welcomed by our host, a cute fat bunny that, as we would soon find out, was going to hop around the hostel during the entire next week.

Cute bunny!

After settling in and eating some delicious mango chicken at our hostel, we toured a little bit around Matagalpa and saw the parks as well as the giant white cathedral near our hostel.

La Buena Onda, hammocks

More of our hostel

The common room

The atrium

My first Mango smoothie in Matagalpa

La Buena Onda Café

Ben, Peter and Greg waiting for their food

Maddie and Pauline

Emily and Me

Maracuya jugo/ Passion Fruit juice

Mango Chicken

The next morning, we took the public bus to San Ramón, a community two hours away from Matagalpa. There, we met with Jessenia Diaz, one of the women in charge of "Las Mujeres Ecologistas de la Pita", a business created in 2004, dedicated to the fabrication of recycled paper products. All the materials, including the fiber, flowers etc...are manually collected by the women and transformed into one-of-a-kind products.

Jessenia Diaz

The Atelier

Paper "frame"

Paper "mixer"

Me making paper

My final paper

Paper "press"

After watching Jessenia demonstrate to us the process of making recycled paper products, we got a chance to try it out on our own.

Then, we discussed with her what type of problems their business was facing in order to gain a better understanding of the areas we could improve. Although she didn't have a precise idea of what she wanted us to do, she made it clear that their business model needed improvement in terms of marketing and general communication with clients. That and the lack of a detailed inventory made us decide upon three separate deliverables: A product catalog tailored to attract more clients, flayers that could be distributed in the main tourist locations in Matagalpa, and finally a detailed inventory of all the products, to keep track of their designs and better manage their sales.

While we were doing that, the other half of team "Impacto" was working with Fernando, the man in charge of "ADITUR", a local sustainable tourism agency and helped him set up a professional facebook page.

Recycled paper products

Libretas grande

Agendas

Separadores

Libretas pequeñas

Trajetas

Libretas

After an intense photo shoot, during which we captured the entirety of the products to use later in the catalog, we walked around the tourism office where numerous local artisans where exposed and took the bus back to Matagalpa. Once arrived, we got lunch at a typical Nicaraguan "buffet" and went back to the hostel to work on our projects.

Paintings from local artists of San Ramon

 Jewelry made out of huayruro and other seeds

Dresses made out of plastic bags

While Emily and I worked on putting together the product catalog and flayers for "Las Mujeres Ecologistas", Greg and Pauline worked on the inventory. Additionally, we put together a training presentation with the goal of teaching the group of women how to maintain and update the catalog and inventory and generally how to use simple Microsoft Word tools to improve their marketing strategy.     

After three days of working on the catalog, the inventory, the flayers and the final presentation on how to better market their products, we arrived at our last consulting meeting in San Ramón on Friday ready to help Jessenia and the other women of "Las Mujeres Ecologistas" get their small business off the ground.