On Monday I went to look at the two schools Hotel con Corazón is supporting with one of the managers of the hotel and the coordinator of the tutoring program who is Nicaraguan. What the hotel does (in order not to take away the responsibility from the government to run the schools in this country) is employing and supporting 6 tutors that on Monday through Thursday go to the schools in the afternoon and give extra classes to 60 children, 30 from each school. On Fridays the tutors go the houses of these children to speak with the parents about the developments of their children, hygiene, among other things in order to involve the parents. The dream scenario would of course be to support ALL the children, but the hotel has chosen to focus on quality rather than quantity with the aspiration to provide quality education to more children in the future.

At 9.00 in the morning we took the minivan to an area close to Laguna de Apoyo which is a lagoon in a crater about 30 minutes drive from the city of Granada. I have not been there yet but it is supposed to be beautiful, like so many other places here. The road to the first school was bumpy like no other road I ever been on and a 4 wheel-drive vehicle would have been more appropriate. The driver did an amazing job; on the other hand he drives the tutors to and from the schools every day.

Again, just like when I was going to San Juan del Sur, I could not stop looking through the window of the car. This time I was observing the houses along the road. There were not many but there was a big variety in the quality of how they were built. Some of them were fairly well-built clay houses with brick roofs, others would not fall under the category of “house” in Sweden. It looked like the inhabitants had taken whatever they could find and patched together a shelter. They had used fabric, carton, large peices of metal and planks. I did not have too much time to reflect over this because not before long we arrived at the first school. Already when the minivan pulled up next to the fence of the school the children were gathering at the entrance. I happen to like children, I am not an extreme child-lover but I appreciate the abstract and innocent way of thinking that children have so I was immediately charmed. The first thing I noticed was a little girl at the entrance that had a backpack at least three sizes too big for her. I am not overdoing it when I say it was the same size as her. When we entered the school I got introduced to the teachers. Each teacher is responsible for one level (1-5 class) of approximately 50 children, which is a terribly large class. In both of the school we got a tour through the classrooms. They looked a lot like the classrooms we had in Sweden years ago only these schools can’t really afford a catheter or a proper whiteboard. They are pasting white paper to the wall and use it as whiteboard, putting up new paper when the first one does not have any more space to write on. In the second school they did not even have running water and electricity. At both of the schools the children were having their break while we were there. Most of the children were playing baseball, using a racket and a homemade baseball. From far it looked like the ball was a piece of paper shaped into a ball. The younger children were following us around, giggling every time I would take a photograph or say “Hola, que tal?” (Hey, how are you?). The little girl with the way-too-big backpack was constantly were the camera was. Most of the children were quite dirty and about half of them (the ones that could afford it) had a uniform on. I couldn’t help but to notice how curious, beautiful and energetic the children were. It might seem given but it really hit me that they could as well have been children from Sweden. What kept me nervous the entire time we were at the schools were the playgrounds. In Sweden (and I have also seen it in Holland) the playgrounds are built in the safest manner possible. The swings are made out of a soft type of plastic and the “ground” is made of something that looks like stone but feels like rubber when you walk (or fall) on it. At the schools the ground was dirt and grass and the equipment was metal with sharp edges. I was just waiting for one of the children to fall and get hurt. And they did, only when it happened they would just get up and continue playing tick or whatever they were doing at that moment.

When we got into the minivan to drive back to the hotel I was filled with impressions and the coordinator asked me what I thought. I just replied that I had no words (and I especially did not have the words in Spanish!). The whole way back to the hotel I reflected over what I had just seen and how blessed I have been to grow up in a country like Sweden, getting the basic education that I have. I was enthusiastic about working at Hotel con Corazón and making an effort to help out already when I arrived here, but now I am even more determined to make a difference and help the hotel make more profit.

Helping the children is, after all, the main reason why I chose to go here.