Field Trip: Day 1

Today was an early morning at the Manna house. After chugging our respective cups of coffee our group started loading up the micro. By 8am we had filled up the car with milk, oatmeal, vitamins, cooking supplies, art supplies, and toys. We then went off to the ranchon...

Tessa, Julie and Dane got dropped off at the ranchon. They took care of set-up while Geoff, Matt and I drove to La Chureca to pick up the moms and kids in our program. Because of the heavy rainfall that Managua has experienced over the past two weeks, the dirt road into La Chureca was in terrible conditions. Thankfully, however, we had Geoff at the wheel. He managed to get us in and out without a glitch.

It was about 9:30am when we drove out of the dump. Instead of having food and supplies in the back seats, we now had a handful of excited children. Milton and Wendy were particularly adorable. Throughout the drive they looked attentively out the window and pointed things out to one another. It's amazing to see how happy kids can be with the littlest things. A simple car ride was an adventure for them.

Once we arrived at the ranchon, we set up two scales and started measuring the kids. As soon as a child was done being weighed he or she could get started on their coloring activity. Most of the kids were eager to color in their turkey. We even had some mothers that were happy to pick up a crayon and chip in.

Around 10:40am we gathered up all the mothers and had Maria (better known to us as the Soy Lady) begin the presentation on soy. While the mothers listened attentively to Maria, we entertained the kids. With a video camera on one hand and Josue on the other, I walked around the ranchon video tapping the kids as they played soccer, swung on the swing set, ran around, and ate their fair-share of cookies.

The mothers, meanwhile, were being put to work in the kitchen. Maria had them slicing and dicing, cooking and cleaning. The mothers seemed to be really enjoying themselves. Together with Maria, they transformed soybeans into a delicious cinnamon flavored soymilk. They also learned how to convert soybeans into soy meat. I have to admit that when I first saw the soy meat I thought it looked more like a paste than anything else. As soon as I tasted the chorizo and fried tortes that the mothers made out of it, however, I was won over.