4th Annual Career Fair

 Last week, after a good amount of work(our whole team) and a few stressful days(me), we put on a Career Fair for the 11th and 12th grade students from my town and a nearby town. 6 high schools came-about 400 ish students-to learn about local universities and options for their futures. 6 universities from Chinandega and Leon, the Naval Base, the Casa y Clinica and our new Association Youth Footprints came and set up informational tables with banners, posters and demonstrations. One university even put on a demonstration of how to hook someone up to an IV, which included sticking a needle in one of their classmates and actually inserting a saline solution into his vein.

The morning of the event, I have to say, was stressful for me. As I have learned, Nicaragua and Latin America in general, runs on their own time. People always talk about "Nica time". Basically what that means is that an event scheduled to start at 9 am, could start anywhere from 9 am to 10:30am. People usually are not in a rush, which fits into who I am perfectly! Except when I'm running a big event; then I like things to be on time...I like people to be on time. A few people arrives at 8 am as we had planned to begin setting up, but the majority of our work team did not arrive until 10. The fair was planned to start at 9. Anyway, I was definitely worried. Luckily-since we were starting so late, and unfortunately-because we wanted them there- neither the mayor, nor the health center director, nor the director of all the schools were able to come. We pushed on without them though...jumping over small troubles with our donated bus, not having enough lunches and then having one too many and wishing and hoping that all of the students came. 

Eventually, I calmed down when things started to run smoothly. The first school came; in perfectly straight lines, they listened to the national anthem and to the introductions given by Xiomara and Carolina. While there are a few things I would change for next year, overall the event was a huge success pulled together by the whole community! We were donated music and a sound system by the Catholic Church, lunches by a local comedor and a local port worker union, the bus by the port and the time and effort of 6 universities, the fuerza naval, 6 high schools, 9 youth volunteers and a visit from the Peace Corps office. Overall it was a great event!