The community of Masatepe.

Here are notes taken during a meeting the delegation had between
two women and a man that live and in Masatepe, Nicaragua, a
community about 45 minutes outside Managua.
----Due to the subject matter, and privacy factors, no names will be
included.
--Woman in Blue shirt
She has worked for 3 years in a free trade zone factory. Her job is to
operate a machine that puts seams into pants, shirts, and various
other textiles. The hours of the job are 6:45AM-5:20PM. She gets a 30
minutes lunch break, but no sick days. If you dont come to work, you
dont get paid. She gets paid 110 Cordoba daily (The equivalent
conversion to dollars at the time was about $4.78 a day). No benefits.
When asked if 110 Cordoba was enough, she replied No, but
sometimes [110 Cordoba] is better staying in my home making
nothing, and then began to detail who works there. The oldest person
working is around 40 years old (she herself is 39 years old), while 18 is
the youngest. Before she got this job, she was a domestic worker or a
coffee picker.
--Here the man jumps in
He says that many people in the town dont have an education, so they
cannot leave the town. He said the bosses and owners of these zones
know this, and prey on the people for it.
--Woman in Blue Shirt continues
She begins to detail how sometimes they dont even get a bathroom
break because it is a waste of time. She said if there is a large order
due the next day, there are no breaks, not even for lunch, and they
have to work longer hours, sometimes as late as midnight to fulfill the
order. They must even work on Sundays occasionally. There is no air
conditioning. Even when I am sick I have to work because I have to
take care of my family. Right now she is on 15 day medical leave
because she is ill. She says that when the labor ministry, or other
outsiders come to check the conditions, no one speaks out or
complains to them for fear of losing their job. She has 6 children.
--Woman in Green shirt
She works cutting coffee from the trees on a coffee farm. She even did
this while pregnant. In fact, she just had a baby and he was 28 days
old at the time. She gives God credit for protecting her and her baby
during this time because it a dangerous job. For half a box full of
coffee cherries that she picks (the best I can approximate it from her

showing us the size with her hands is that a half box is around 2 or 3
pounds of coffee) she receives 20 Cordoba (about 85 cents or so). In a
day she can sometimes fill 7 or 8 half boxes, on rare occasions she can
fill as many as 20 if she has her son helping her. The average amount
of Cordoba she makes in one week is around 800 (or approximately
$35). She said that the man then ships the coffee off to she thinksCalifornia. She detailed how sometimes through picking, beans can just
fall from the tree, and with this sometimes she get another half box or
so (It is important to note that the coffee picking season is from
October to February, so when the season is done she does not have a
job).
Her mother in-law will often watch her kids whilst she and her
husband are working. She says that she sometimes brings her children
with her, as young as 7 years old to pick coffee either because she
needs them, or because they dont have anyone to care for them at
home. When asked if it is difficult to get a job if one is a woman she
responded yes, any kind of physical mans job is very hard to get and
maintain with a family, as well as pregnancies and such. She then
began to speak of the dangers of cutting coffee. She says the terrain is
very mountainous and it is easy to lose ones footing, and many people
do fall and injure themselves. There are many bugs and wasps that
bite workers. She went on to say that many people say women can just
be housewives, but she disagrees because her husbands salary is not
enough to feed them all. To conclude, she says she would rather her
children not ever have to work there.
--The man- (for background, he is a member of the community who
started a non-profit group focusing on teaching art and music (as well
as supplementary education) to young community members)
He told a story of how one day he was walking down the street
and saw a group of men, all between 18-35. He recognized some as
living in the same Campo as him. He asked the workers if they could
have anything, what would they want right now. The men told him
things like, women, cigarettes, alcohol, and baseball equipment. He
later asked a woman he saw that same question, but her answer was
different: she responded that she would want a future for her children
above all else. He found out that she had 5 kids, 3 of whom were at
home for they were ill, and 2 were in school. He looks at this story as a
motivator. He thinks as young people, we can help people. In 1999 he
started his project. He was to teach children painting and music, and it
served a dual purpose that the parents of the children could use the
classes as a day care of sorts. According to the man, the youth of
Nicaragua generally have no hope in their future. Many youth cannot
imagine a way to make their lives better, because it has been this way
for generations. His program addresses this by giving kids music and
art, and even the older kids tasks of teaching the younger ones. This,

he says, gives them purpose, and hope. What the man wants is a
more sustainable form of education for his community.
He quotes the bible at this point and talks of how God gives us
new talent and use everyday, and we must use that talent to help
people who need it. Now there are 210 students at his nonconventional school. He tells of how [WOMAN IN THE BLUE SHIRT]s 13
year old son is in the program, and here she chimes in by saying
--He is enthusiastic and loves the program, he learns all the time. He
goes to the classes lightheaded because he is so excited to learn-(The man continues) The goal is to have the children find their own
path; to give them options, and to give them hope.