Trip to El Tuma- La Dalia

For those who do not know me… The purpose of this blog is not only to allow you to follow my PULSE assignment for Save the Children but also to share some of my compelling (and humorous) Nicaraguan experiences.

4.45, the phone rang. I woke with a start. I had been dreaming that I had fallen asleep and missed my flight. On realising I was in Nicaragua I was full of energy, knowing that this was the first time I would leave Managua for a business trip.

We would go to the La Dalia with to celebrate the 4th Festival Fair Day of Action against Violence against Children and Adolescents.  This celebration was part of several actions that took place on October 19th in various continents to raise awareness of the harmful effects of violence towards children, not only physical punishment but also sexual violence, neglect and exploitation of labour.

Before leaving home, I prepared some sandwiches. I did not know when and where we could stop for breakfast in Central America... and everybody knows, basic needs are the first to be covered ....

We met at 6 am in the Save the Children office and left 15 minutes later. We made the trip in a minibus and the journey took 4 hours. The roads were not in a very good condition due to both the falling rains during these last months and the material which is used to build them.

All staff wore T-shirts printed for the occasion, and a headband. Most of the people used them for their hair… and wore mine on my wrist, Rambo-style… for obvious reasons.

 We went to a sports centre where activities had already begun. There were more than 1000 children and 200 adults occupying different places and half of them paid attention to a small stage where some children put on a performance.

We went to the Save the Children stand where the staff were distributing pamphlets which outlined the work being carried out in the prevention of child violence.



Working hard...



We were assigned a schedule to distribute this information... I started at 11am. It was crazy. Hundreds of children were coming to request information. We had clear targets and target times and we worked under pressure with continuous demand.  We had 10 seconds in which to deliver the goods to each client.  Despite the process being optimised it was not standardised, therefore along the way there was the opportunity for improvement.



After having finished my "work period" I went to see the various activities which were taking place. Plays, dances, socio-dramas and songs by Mario Montenegro (Nicaraguan singer and songwriter) passed through the stage, while several clowns with balloons delighted those attending the event.

A few weeks before I had attended a music concert and was impressed by Mario's voice. I had not heard of him before that.  I took the opportunity of meeting him and chatted with him for a while.

We spent five hours in La Dalia working, enjoying the event, and hoping to minimize, if not eradicate, child violence.

 It was not only day of celebration, but also an educational one. A speaker continually repeated the rights and obligations of children in order that if people report cases of child violence and not accept it as normal. And, thinking long term, they can educate their children in a non-hostile environment.