Megan's Introduction

To start off my first blog post, I feel the need to point out one of my most recent revelations. Nicaragua will be the 21st country I have visited, in the 21 years that I have been living. Although one might shrug such a number off as a coincidence, I feel as though this number embodies the travel bug that bit me early in life, leaving behind a deep desire to see more, in attempts to know more. If I look at each country I have traveled to as symbolic of how I have grown as a person, I am looking at Nicaragua to become one of the most defining moments in my life. In this post I will elucidate two ways Nicaragua has already affected me.
As I often decide around this hour to satiate my addiction to coffee, I also thought it would be a good time to read Witness for Peace’s pre-departure articles for Nicaragua. Incidentally, and almost grimly, starting off with Oxfam’s report “Poverty in Your Coffee Cup.” After each sip and each line, I cannot help but wonder if am I contributing to the coffee market failure where famers are being forced into the deepest levels of poverty due to unfair wages. Feeling immediately guilty about my stereotypical American coffee addiction, I am relieved to at least know that the coffee I drink is Fair Trade. Yet at the same time, the guilt lingers knowing that Fair Trade only fixes part of the problem for only a select number of farmers. If you know anything about me at all, then you know that I never settle for anything less than perfect. How then, as an avid coffee drinker, can I contribute to fixing the coffee market so it works for all persons? Boycotting coffee would just be silly, because I certainly would not want people to lose their jobs. On the other hand, I am now going to find it difficult to purchase from brands like Kraft, Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, and Sara Lee, knowing that they continue to reap the benefits of their unfair trading policies. What can I do then? Where do I begin?
On a slightly different note, I wish to point out that I am strong believer in the power of advocacy. Advocacy can be applied to not only speaking out for impoverished coffee farmers, but to others who have lost a voice in society. It is my belief that advocacy is a privilege for people who possess the power to know and tell, at the same time, advocacy should be the duty of all persons who possess such power. When did my opinion of advocacy form? Traveling throughout India at the age of 17 was another one of those defining moments in my life. Through my experiences in India, I learnt that there are those who are simply left forgotten, invisible, and voiceless. These people were often the orphaned street children I encountered within the major cities of India. Riding on the rickshaws or just roaming through the streets, one can tell that the majority of the begging homeless were in fact street children. This is a multifaceted problem in many developing countries, a problem that tugged on my heart strings so hard, that I broke down in the streets of Rajasthan after being nudged ever so slightly by a guy on the street.
This diversion, I swear, is relevant because since that moment where I screamed in the face of an innocent Rajasthani guy – I have been pulled to advocate for at-risk and/or underprivileged children. Not only because such children lack a voice in the systems of society, but I understand the power these children have in molding our increasingly globalized future. Here is where the relevancy kicks in further… although I have only been working with children on a local level I have always had a desire to act more on an international level because of my experiences in India. That is why I was beyond excited to hear that we are visiting Los Quinchos, an organization that takes in street children. I am looking forward to finally being able to put into perspective the type of work I have always dreamed of doing one day.
As you can probably tell, I am beyond excited to go to Nicaragua. I promise, however, to try and keep my blog posts less verbose in the future.
Best,
Megan