Personal Goals

Last Tuesday was my group’s Close of Service Presentation. We had 30 minutes in which we had to present on our service to the entire Peace Corps Nicaragua staff, plus the American Ambassador to Nicaragua. It is a bit nerve-racking to come up with a service-defining presentation, encompassing 10 people, in Spanish, with an audience that includes the ambassador, for just 30 minutes. Plus my group fights incessantly.

The “gift basket” we presented to the staff to thank them for their support. Every Volunteer brought something from their site to share. I brough enchiladitas (they are kind of like orange colored Fritos).

In the end we settled on each one of us making a three minute presentation, highlighting a special story, person, or theme from our service. In addition, we would each be able to present up to three photographs.

The idea was to not talk about the boring stuff that everyone knows that we all do: working in the schools with kids and teachers. Instead, we wanted to really add some color to everyone’s perception of our service.

So what did I talk about? A big part of my service has been working with cooperatives, so I wanted to highlight that work. When I begin working with a new group I always ask them to draw on a piece of paper their personal goals. It helps everyone see that a business is not an end in and of itself, but instead it is a means to an end. The end being their personal goals. Over the last two years I have taken a number of pictures of these drawings, and I selected three to present to the staff and the Ambassador.

This is a woman from El Tránsito. She works with a women’s sewing collective, and also has cancer (she is doing a lot better right now than when this photo was taken). It is hard to see her drawing, but despite all of the challenges she is currently facing, she wants to raise additional chickens and pigs so that she can earn more money and her daughters don’t have to live and work in Spain anymore.

Francisco (“Chico”) is a member of the Telica Volcano rural tourism cooperative. He is 23 and in his last year of weekend high school. His goal is to graduate high school, go to university, and one day own a vehicle. He would be the first person from his village to go to university, and also the first to own a vehicle. However, before he gets the truck he ought to hope that a road gets built to his community.

Roger is 15 years old and was in his last year of high school when I had him draw this. He was a student of mine and worked with another tourism cooperative that I have worked with. He speaks some English so he wrote some things on his drawing in English. I like how one of his goals is to be happy. I also find it funny that he wants a house for his wife, children, and his mother.

Tuesday’s presentation was actually just one part of a week long close of service conference. We all got to Managua on Monday, and on Tuesday morning we had our final language interview. The Peace Corps language teachers record a conversation with us and then give us a certified language level (guess what I got). After the presentations on Tuesday afternoon we all went to the Deputy Director’s house for a Mexican and Asian fare dinner (the group voted and we split right down the middle between the two cuisines). The Deputy Director is an excellent chef and generously has all groups over on the occasion of their COS presentation.

From Wednesday through Friday we were in Hotel Granada for our official Close of Service Conference. Afterwards, on Friday afternoon we hopped in a boat and headed for our private island in the Isletas of Granada that we rented for two nights as our goodbye party.