I have been trying to find the words. Wednesday April 18, protests erupted throughout Managua in response to a new Social Security law in Nicaragua. They started out violent and progressively worsened and spread throughout the week. This post is not to comment on the events that took place, but rather how they affected me. If anyone has questions or would like to discuss the events please feel free to reach out to me separately.
As protests continued into Thursday, myself and the 38 other trainees were returning from our practicum week. Something most of us felt was a new peak in our experience (I have an entire blog post about that which I will finish soon but the recent events slowed down my progress). All of us had to transfer to a different bus in Managua and we all received calls telling us to get off earlier and that a Peace Corps van would pick us up and take us to our homes.
Confused, we followed the directions, all safely returned to our homes, and recounted our practicum week with our families. We were later informed that due to the protests class would be cancelled the next day. The following day was spent keeping up with the news and watching the violent protests continue to unfold. My tiny town saw very little, if any, disturbance but many volunteers were in areas that were much more violent.
The Peace Corps did an incredible job of staying in contact with us about the situation. At one point I spoke to a staff member who reassured me these were just precautions and in their opinion things would calm down shortly and things would go back to normal. However, due to the unpredictable nature of the situation, things only got worse. The violence intensified as government buildings were burned to the ground and people were dying in the streets. My family and I spent all day Saturday continuing to watch the news and discussing what was happening. My fellow site mates came over and my host-mom distracted us by teaching us how to make tacos (and some of the best tacos I’ve ever eaten) (yes, I have the recipe). We received another email that afternoon about how we should not be walking around our towns without our family, for safety purposes.
Once again, that night the violence was heavy. Around 8pm my family received a call from neighbors that some people were marching from the nearby town to ours to burn down our government building. My mom quickly locked the gate, shut off all the lights, and for the first time I was a little scared (I kept my knife on me all night, as if that was going to help me). While there was a lot of noise and more traffic than usual on the streets, our town stayed calm without any arson.
Sunday, we were informed we would receive an email with “what’s next” at 11am. As we waited we spent our time talking in a trainee group chat about what was happening in our respective towns. During this time the President was also announcing a redaction of the Social Security law that had ignited the protests. My family was relieved and explained all would go back to normal now. Then at 2pm I received a call from a friend that I needed to pack my bags and that we were being evacuated. I would receive a call soon from the staff but that was the plan of action.
So naturally instead I went into my room and sobbed for a bit. My boyfriend and brother acted as great support as I awaited my call. When I finally received it the only information I was given was that we were being consolidated because there were many volunteers in unsafe locations and they wanted us to all be in the same safe place. We were also going to be evacuated but most likely to just another country for a week or so until things calmed down. We needed to pack a bag, up to two, but could leave stuff in our rooms because we would most likely be returning. I would receive more information in a few hours (I left most of my stuff in my room in Nicaragua so I will be returning).
From there everything moved so quickly. Through the grapevine I was told we were going back to the US and five hours later that was confirmed by staff. Monday, we were all picked up from our homes, I got one last 1$ haircut at 8am before saying a mutually tearful “so-long” to my family in Nicaragua, not knowing when I would have the chance to return. All 160+ Peace Corps volunteers were then consolidated to Granada with the amazing help of the PC staff who risked their lives and left their families to drive to and through dangerous parts of the country to get us to where we needed to be.
We then spent two days in Granada asking more questions than there were answers to and feeling lost and emotional. Everyone was an emotional wreck including our staff as they promised through tears they would be doing everything within their power to bring us back quickly (during this time the only thing we were reassured of was that this was not a closing of site, just a temporary evacuation).
The range of emotions during those two days were all over the place as we all attempted to come to terms with our new reality (it was also an interesting situation because it was a very rare occurrence where every single Peace Corps volunteer in Nicaragua was in the same place). We found out we would be driving to Costa Rica on Wednesday and heading back to the states for what everyone hopes will be only 30 days.
Please don’t ask me how Costa Rica was because honestly it was horrible (but Peace Corps Costa Rica were incredible hosts it was just the situation, was not a vacation). Our time was spent going through the process of understanding what temporary evacuation means, how long it could last, and how it will affect our service. Not fun stuff. The staff from Washington HQ were great and very understanding but I think they could gauge that the situation in general was less than ideal and it was difficult to have a good attitude about anything. We did leave the hotel for one night to enjoy food in San Jose. It was disorienting how developed the city was and had me longing for Nicaragua even more. Friday many of us rebelled against the many meetings (all the staff were incredible and understood) and instead spent time trying to process what was going on and how we would deal with it.
Friday afternoon I had my flight back to the US booked and set. Something I also forgot to mention is I have the most incredible, selfless, and loving partner I could have ever asked for. As this was all unfolding, and when I found out I needed to return to the US for a month, he decided he would return from his trip to come be with me. Even after I insisted that he continue with his travels (he would be in Greece now) and that just the thought was enough, he still bought a flight back.
Now I’m in the air, nearing my arrival to the United States, and I am not ready. In Nicaragua I was constantly learning from my family and other Nicaraguans, pushing myself to improve my Spanish and technical skills, and I lived simply and humbly. It is difficult to translate all that made my life feel fulfilled in Nicaragua back to life in the US. I plan to spend this next month traveling with Fou, enjoying this time we can have together, and hope that this time next month I will be preparing for my return to Nicaragua.
https://www.peacecorps.gov/news/library/peace-corps-nicaragua-volunteers-evacuated-safely/