Playing Favorites

Once in a while I'm asked if I have a "favorite" student in BECA.

Tough question.

Being the Martian that I am, it is really hard to break through that language (and cultural) barrier and really get to know what someone is like here in Nicaragua. I mean what he or she is really like. Neither do I think it is appropriate behaviour to get "too close."

Nevertheless, I can't help but be impressed by several students in our program..

If BECA ever gave an award for "Student of the Year," it would probably be Esther Carballo. Not only does Esther excel academically -- all marks consistently in the 90s -- but she is always there whenever we have activities. In fact, I don't think Esther has missed one community project all year.

Bottom line, Esther always shows up.

Therefore it really didn't come as a huge surprise when I paid her a house visit earlier this year. A picture on the wall got my attention.

She went to the trouble of framing a picture of two of her BECA sponsors, Kay and Henry.

Esther Carballo 10/16/2010

Need I say more? I won't say she's my favorite. But she's of one of the students I really admire.

I'm a Martian

How do I get along with the Nicaraguan students?

Well, let's see here.

Most are more than half my age. Given my pathetic Spanish, it's fair to say that they speak a different language. Let's not even talk about customs and cultural stuff.

All in all, I'm pretty much a Martian to them.

The last few months, I've spent quite a bit of time with some of them.

Why? Well, many are crazy about learning English and one group of four tourism students asked if I could help them out a bit.

When other students got wind of it, they also wanted to receive classes. Kinda tough to say no after you've gone along with the idea for others.

Before I knew it, I was giving 2 hour sessions, 4 times a week to about 18 students from various careers.

(Aside: I still am not fussy about this obsession they have with English. I don't know, it just kind of smacks of some form of imperialism. Nevertheless, that is fodder for another blog . . . )

This English gig occupies a lot of time. Probably way more time than I expected to dedicate to the endeavour when I started. (A teacher prepare? Have teachers always been doing that?)

Back to the original question. I think we get along pretty good and they write some nice things in their blogs about me.

But hold on, not so fast!  Don't forget that Nicaraguans are incredibly polite.

And I don't think they'd ever tell this Martian otherwise.

The "P" Word

The "P" word.

From what I can see, the "P" word is the impetus for a decent majority of the social projects in Nicaragua.

People come to Nicaragua from all over the world to fight it, to reduce it, to combat it, and some come to wipe out the "P" word altogether.

I'm talking about "P" as in Poverty.

We know that "poverty" sucks, but tell me . . . does anybody know exactly what it is?

A search in Google for "What is Poverty?" turns up over half a million results. Half a million! I can't even begin to imagine the resources of human capital dedicated over the years to defining the "P" word.

I used to spend time trying to figure it out. I figured that because the mission of BECA was "Combat Poverty with Education" then we better know what the heck it is.

BECA Students on a Dengue Prevention Campaign May 2010

I confess. After three years, I'm still trying to figure it out.

I am the founder of a non-profit organization dedicated to combating the "P" word in Nicaragua, but I can't tell you what it is. Huh? What's up with that?

Well, let's turn this around a little bit. I think I can tell you what the "P" word isn't.

It isn't very positive.
It isn't very pretty.
It isn't very pleasant.
AND . . . it definitely isn't very uplifting.

That much most of us can agree on.

So, I ask you, what is it doing front and center in BECA's mission statement?

BECA is all about giving opportunites. It is about giving people a break that they deserve. It is about opening doors.

I'm really sick and tired of the "P" word. And I absolutely CRINGE when I hear BECA students use it. (Does anyone else hear a voice crying out "I live in poverty, help me"?)

Time for an executive decision. It's time for the "P" word to hit the road. That means that over time, all references to the "P" word on the BECA website and in BECA communications will be removed.

No better place to start than with that BECA mission statement.

" The BECA mission is to create an educational opportunity for every Nicaraguan high school grad who is serious about continuing their schooling."

R(not)IP, "P" word.

How I Use My Kindle to Read Books

Last year, my friends, Suzanne and Brock, sent me a kindle.

To someone living and working remotely - by that I mean far from any English language bookstore - it has been an absolute godsend!

Not my hand!

I have a system when I read a scholarly book; that is, a book from which I want to take notes to refer to later.

Let me share this with you. Easy as 1-2-3.

1) While you read, highlight the important bits. Instructions from the Amazon website:

To highlight one or more lines:

1. Use the 5-way to position the cursor where you want to start highlighting.
2. Press the 5-way to anchor the cursor.
3. Move the 5-way to select the desired text. Use Next Page or Prev Pages to highlight text across multiple pages.
4. Press the 5-way at the place where you want the highlight to end.

2) After you are done reading and highlighting, turn the Kindle wireless on for 15 minutes. This will enable your highlighted passages to be automatically downloaded to your Kindle account online.

3) Go to your Kindle account online and sign in. A page like the one below should appear. Click on "Your Highlights."

 4) Using your mouse, highlight the passages from the book in question. Right click on a highlighted bit and choose "copy."

5) Paste the contents in your favorite word processor and delete the unnecessary gobbledygook. Geeks can use macros to speed this part up, however I kind of like manually reviewing my highlights and deleting superfluous passages at the same time.

6) Optional for tree huggers. Print out the saved document. With excellent books, I make a note in my calendar to review my "summaries" once a month or so.

That's all there is to it. Did I say "easy as 1-2-3"? Oops.