On Friday we had a stirring presentation by Jesuit priest Fr. Fernando Cardenal, who in the early 1980s was the country’s Minister of Education. He planned a famous Literacy Crusade that recruited and trained 100,000 volunteers to spend 5 months teaching reading and writing to illiterate Nicaraguans in the cities and remote rural areas. It reduced the illiteracy rate from more than 51% to only l3%. UNESCO observed the results and gave Nicaragua two prestigious awards for the accomplishment. After the presentation Fr. Cardenal challenged everyone to do something great with their lives, and then he asked to embrace everyone present!

Maria Schirch and our Spanish teacher Rene posed with Fr. Cardenal for pictures because both of them (Maria when she was only 13 years old) had participated in the crusade as volunteers.

During the weekend we had hoped that the transportation strike would end, but no such luck. But the dry season appears to be ending! It rained hard Saturday night and briefly flooded the streets. We hope more rains follow soon; once the rainy season is well underway the temperatures cool down and everything gets greener. The dry season starts each year in November or December and usually ends in May. After 5 months of no rain, everything is pretty dry and parched.

For Monday’s lecture Doug talked about the war in Nicaragua from 1981-1990 and how it was eventually resolved by the Central American peace process and the commitment of Nicaraguans to pursue peace rather than war.