Day 3

Today we arrived in Chinandega. It was about a 3 hour bus ride from Managua so that took up most of the morning. I was a little worried about motion sickness so I took a Dramamine pill and it worked. Didn't get motion sickness and it made me drowsy. Anyway, the bus we rode in is the same bus the members here use to make an 18 hour trip the the Guatemalan temple. Pretty impressive. On the trip we also saw a smoking volcano. They must be live, but I don't think there is much of a real threat of them erupting on any large scale. That would be exiting though (don't worry mom, nothing will happen.

We hit the streets today in our small groups. Each group was assigned an individual with an existing business to try and help. Eddy was the individual our team was working with. The people in charge kind of rolled their eyes and said we had a difficult task ahead of us. He is a nice kid who is a return missionary. He has some welding skills he uses to do some welding and repair work. The reason it is challenging is that he is a "jack of all trades and master of none" I'm not exactly sure how to translate that into Spanish, but it would help if I did. We are going to spend the day tomorrow helping him put together some marketing materials that he can show prospective clients. He will actually go door to door telling people what he does when he doesn't have work to do.

The most challenging part of the day for me was the Spanish. I'm 11 years removed from this type of Spanish speaking and I'm feeling a bit rusty. It is coming back and the practice is great. I really could use a refresher course on not only ball bearings (Heidi will get this) and business words in Spanish. I'll be fine. The Internet only works in the hallway of the motel we are staying at and since it is open air and 85 degrees with a fair amount of humidity I'm going to head inside to some air conditioning, bad TV, and hopefully a good nights rest.

Day 2

I'm really excited about this project/experience tonight. We had a great wrap up meeting tonight where I really feel like I am starting grasp the vision of what Cause for Hope is trying to do.

We spend the morning as a group going over Marketing 101 principles and some of the simple problems the businesses we'll be helping are facing. After lunch we got in some large vans with our teams and went out to see the situations. This is my team. Left to right is me, Karen, Hallie, Kristi, and Charles. This girls are on the soccer team and Charles plays on the basketball team. I don't know them very well yet, but they all seem really enthused to be here and to help out.

We visited about 5 different people/families in the Managua area to see what they were doing and how Cause for Hope has helped them get going in their business ventures. The first lady we visited sells vegetables out of her front room. She received a loan $100 to start her business 2 months ago. She sells about 15 different types of vegetables to the people in her vicinity after traveling to the market every day.

The next individuals we visited were a couple of older ladies that sold "refrescos" (fruit juice drinks) and "platanos"(plantains). They had separate business and were sweet old ladies but lived and operated out of very poor circumstances. The woman who sold "platanos" sold 3 for 10 Cordobas (the local currency where 20 Cordobas = $1). Cause for Hope also helped them obtain a couple of resources to get going. They seem to be surviving on faith.

Then we met a nice couple, (Oscar y Flor) that operates a little ceramics business. They have molds they use to form the little trinkets I've come to learn many in Latin Americans love to furnish their homes with. Oscar was the dad's name and he did some oil paintings on the side that also helps supplement their income.

Pablo was our last stop and he is a real success story. He has a little business where he makes banana chips. He would cut them up, fry them, put them in bags, and go out and sell them on the street. With some help he has been able to set up a little shop where he has some of his family actually make the chips and bag them. He has about 10 guys that are out selling the chips on the street now. He's not exactly raking in the dough but he has made a lot of progress. Apparently he was inactive before he recieved some help, but now has a strong testimony, attends church, doesn't sell on Sunday, and pays his tithing. The amazing thing is we literally had to walk through a canal that was filled with trash. It wasn't too far removed from something we would call a dump.

We ended the tour of Managua with a quick visit to the Cause for Hope office there. They have a nice operation and 3 young men who had all received their mission calls traveled 2 hours on a bus to share their testimonies of the gospel with us. They had all received help from Cause for Hope that enabled them to serve. Two of them were the only members in their families. All three bore powerful testimonies of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I was really with their faith and willingness to do whatever they could to serve a mission. Hopefully they will be successful both during their missions and after.

As I mentioned initially, in our meeting tonight I really caught the vision of what they are doing here and it is really amazing. I'm thrilled that I have a chance to help. They have 10 offices in Central America and they let us know that they will be opening 5 more in Peru in the near future. This really could become a very powerful organization for good.

Arrival in Managua

Safe arrival in Managua Nicaragua. Today wasn't a bad travel day. Three hour flight to Houston, 40 minute layover, then boarded the plane only to find out the pilot is stuck in traffic somewhere but we were only delayed about an hour, another three hour flight, and we arrived in Managua, Nicaragua safe and sound. The flight actually went by pretty fast for me because I picked up a copy of "Angels & Demons" to prep for the movie. I read quite a bit and am a little worried I'm going to sacrifice an hour of sleep or two tonight to keep going. I've missed reading for pleasure.

Paul and I are actually accompanied by about 30 BYU student athletes and a couple of their coaches. They are going to be working on a couple projects with us for about a week. We'll find out more tomorrow but we are to act as team leads because we speak Spanish (at least we claimed to on our applications). They brought a film crew with them to tape what goes on so hopefully it will become a documentary that will show up at the Sundance Film Festival next year.

I am both happy and excited to be here, and I'm anxious to find out what we'll be doing the next couple of days. The only real concern I have at this point in time is whether or not the delicious chocolate covered Oreos my sweet girlfriend sent with me will melt before I get to eat them all.

Day 1

Today will be the beginning of quite an adventure. I got up early to say goodbye to my parents and now I'm clearly just trying to avoid packing. I have about 3 hours to get ready so I should be fine. The purpose of this blog is chronicle my trip to Nicaragua for what is called a social venture internship. The premise of the internship is to help the people in Chinadega, Nicaragua create and develop simple business ventures that will not only allow these individuals to improve their standard of living, but to also have a positive impact on the overall economy of the country. It is a tall order, but something I'm definitely looking forward to.

My traveling companion is Paul Rowley. He is also a first year MBA student at BYU and we will be working together on this trip. He is a great guy and I think we are going to have a lot of fun together. We joke around that we are essentially the same person. We share the same name, both graduated from Murray High School, are from Murray, Utah, have the exact same phone, take the same classes, and he is married to a Canadian (I'm dating one).

The organization that is coordinating our efforts is called Cause for Hope. They have had a lot of success helping people throughout Central America. More about this organization and the area we'll be will going can be found on these links.

http://www.causeforhope.org
http://www.causeforhope.org/chinandega.htm