|
Preface
On Christmas Eve of 1999, I step from the plane in Managua, Nicaragua. My family and I have arrived in Managua this dark night to visit my son, Sam. Sam is a complex character, defined on one hand by his affluent American upbringing, indulged and self-indulgent, and on the other hand by his eccentricities. He took a year off from the University of California at Santa Cruz, only to return for an off-campus field studies program in Nicaragua. Sam does not call himself by his given name. During a wilderness outdoor education "quarter" sponsored by Santa Cruz, in the desert in California, he changed his name to Nandi. The last time I saw him, he wore his wear in dreadlocks down to his waist.
Sam is compelled to wander. By age 21, he had traveled the United States three times – once driving and twice hitchhiking. Now he prefers to travel through Central America; Nicaragua is his second trip. Sam is fascinated by and believes in natural foods and organic farming. On the ground in Nicaragua, I am irritated because I have to carry a huge cardboard box, inside it is Sam’s food dehydrator. Sam purchased the dehydrator in the last month of the four month stint during which he was an assistant farmer at a community supported agricultural cooperative. Sam used the dehydrator only once to dry fruits. I saw no reason to carry the dehydrator to Managua but my wife had agreed to bring it. I wondered how Sam would get it home. Sam volunteered with an organization called "Si a la Vida". The organization is run by Jonathan Roise. Jonathan Roise first met Sam at an interview in our home. At that first meeting, Sam felt uncomfortable with Jonathan. Sam had chosen Si a la Vida for his field studies on a whimsical connection. During part of his year off, Sam worked in a local health food/cafeteria, sometimes as a bus-boy and sometimes as a chef. He saved just enough money to travel to Guatemala to enter a Spanish language immersion school. While there, he befriended Josh Roise, the son of Jonathan Roise and his former wife from Trinidad. I think Sam anticipated that Jonathan Roise would be a cult figure – a cross between Bob Marley and Jerry Garcia. When Sam met Jonathan at our home, his expectations were dashed. Jonathan is a middle-aged American Quaker. His spirit and demeanor reflect the group of Quakers that live on Bainbridge Island, Washington and support the Si a la Vida Project. At that first meeting, Jonathan explained to Sam that his hair would be an obstacle with the children at Si a la Vida. Jonathan did not think Sam would have to cut his hair rather, he suggested that, like all obstacles, Sam would have to surmount it. At the airport we hardly recognized him. He has shaven his head recently and the growth now has the appearance of a buzz-cut. Sam had arrived in Nicaragua three months before. First, he served at the primary facility of Si a la Vida located in Managua. We "tour" that location early the next morning – Christmas day. After that, we travel by bus and ferry to the Island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua. The Island of Ometepe consists of two overlapping volcanoes with dirt roads encircling each volcano. On one of the dirt roads is the town of Altagracia, the location of the second Si a La Vida facility, an undistinguished rented house. In Altagracia, we meet all the people associated with the project – teachers and kids – and tour the site of a new home for Si a la Vida – a 17 acre lakefront plot which Jonathan Roise purchased – he admits precipitously. One beautifully designed dormitory building sits on the land overlooking the Lake. The building is open to the sky. Construction ceased because as we learn from Sam the Project has run out of funds for construction. At some point, Sam suggests – untypical for
him – that we read his term paper. I read what follows and discover why I
brought the dehydrator to Nicaragua. Life,
Work and Culture Upon
Return: An Afterward
|
