Patience and Process

After many delays and shifts to our initial itinerary, we finally arrived to Managua, Nicaragua on Saturday morning. We had two major visits to our itinerary; Casa Alianza (a shelter and resource for young adults struggling mainly with addiction and/or violence) and a meeting with Maria Lopez. At Casa Alianza I played basketball with the kids- by that I mean I was shamelessly beat by one of the younger girls in the program. The young adults are undergoing a long re-integration process to prepare them to be part of society; starting with basic skills, like following a routine and eventually acquiring a technical skill for the workforce and gaining employment.
Once they were done schooling us on the courts and dance floor, we headed out to meet Maria Lopez, the writer of an autobiography about Romero- a Martyr to Liberation Theology. Her success as a journalist was obvious-she doesn't waste a single poetic word when talking. Her views on change were particularly insightful. She began with her interpretation of Romero, as someone who was making radical change not because of the assassination of his friend, but because of his longing to return to his true roots as a poor boy in El Salvador. Her interpretation made me view Romero as someone who was on a journey towards self awareness rather than a reactionary leader.
She continued the conversation by reminding us that as we seek change, we should not lose patience, or 'the emotion or waiting'; that we must remember that change, particularly institutional change, is a process.
As I look around Nicaragua I catch myself being outraged and impatient. Why are we not finding a way to end the root cause violence that so many of these kids are now spending years trying to overcome? How can there be so many unnecessary fake, decorative metallic trees around Managua, when the locals are waiting months for basic medical attention? With Maria's point in mind, I wonder what that process towards change looks like, and how we can begin to think in terms of systemic change here, rather than in the framework of small, instant battles to be won.
- Andrea Martinez