Gail

Afterwards, Terry, Terry’s daughter, Kulat, Kulat’s daughter, and Kumar went off into a separate car, while Gail, I, Nelson, Cala, and the two female volunteers we met at the Savanna Park drove off into La Carpio. Gail said that she’s been doing this for ten years.Meanwhile, almost every ten minutes, she receives a phone call on her cell phone about meetings/volunteer work. This woman is intense, EXTREMELY passionate about her work, caring, and seems to do everything. I jokingly asked her “what she doesn’t do.” She replied in a jokingly but slightly serious fashion, “sleeping, eating, having sex, and visiting friends.” I was really, really shocked by her response, but I just laughed it off. She was very open, very warm, and very “American.” Afterwards, I thought to myself, “hahahah I’m starting to like this woman.”

Afterwards, we went to La Carpio. About twenty high school kids are volunteering here this summer, and Gail was giving them an orientation. I sat in and listened. What a great speech- she talked about the Nicaraguan government, the foundation’s purpose, and her reason for doing this for the past thirty years. She lives off her a little house, which has a room she’s renting out (her house was flooded today due to the rainstorm yesterday…. The walls were pouring out water, and the toilet was overflowed… some of her papers got destroyed, but she said that she kept most in a container because of past experiences similar to this). Her father gives her $400 dollars a month. She takes NONE of the foundation’s money for herself, and lives in the foundation so that the foundation doesn’t have to hire a guard, she can commute easily, and take care of this organization. She’s been doing this for the past thirty years. She has an adopted daughter (Cala), a son (seems pretty quiet), and a daughter (whose birthday was yesterday, and who is also pretty quiet). She claimed, with an extremely confident and inspirational tone, that she CAN NEVER take a salary for herself as long as she sees these women and children in La Carpio who can’t even eat food. A extremely large portion of the land is owned by a small portion of the people (mainly the government, who is wealthy). Gail said that she not only wants to see these people well-fed, educated, and well-clothed, but “independent.” That was her long term goal, as well as the CRHF’s

So was I motivated by all of this? To be honest, I felt that I should have been extremely caring and motivated to fight poverty after Gail’s speech. I felt it was the “right thing to do….” And thus, when I realized, that deep down, I somehow did not feel that same passion for these people as Gail, I felt somewhat “guilty.” But maybe it’s simply because I haven’t had enough exposure to this stuff yet, and haven’t talked with the homeless people so much yet. But I did feel compassion for these people, and I realized that they had very great stories and lives, but just unfortunate circumstances. Maybe time will change my feelings and strengthen my passion for my work (hopefully). Oh yeah, and Gail said that we should “NEVER feel pity for these people we are serving,” but rather honor and love that we have the privilege of giving them a hand (or something like that). I thought it was a great phrase to instill into the volunteers.

Also, Gail obviously has had hundreds, if not thousands, or volunteers throughout her 30 years here. To be honest, I kinda felt like just another figure…. Almost somewhat not as important. But maybe this is just a current perspective that will change. Gail does, very surprisingly, give me and all her volunteers a huge amount of personal attention, and is very open and warm with them… how does she manage to do this?!?!?! This is taking time management skills and multi-tasking to the next level! But still…… this is all the more reason for me to make my project rigorous and active, rather than just “simple volunteer work.” I cannot bear to stand that.