Participants Blog

Adios FunArte

So its my last day here at FunArte and it feels as though my heart is breaking into a million pieces.

This is home to me now, I can´t leave these people! FunArte is like my equivalent of heaven on earth. Working with kiddos, painting, drawing, singing, talking about equality, AIDS, anti-drug and violence etc. And with the best staff of people. I have really grown attatched to my coworkers. Leaving Manuel, Jafeth, Katy, Tania, Rafita (Rafita Chalita Gringita), Carlitros, Freddy, Wilmer, Chio, Angelina, Aura, Tamara, Elvia, Orlando. Yo no creo que esta la fin! Me siento muy triste, pero yo se que yo voy volver aqui espero pronto.
I also can´t believe that I can get by with my Spanish, considering landing here I was absolutely useless. Now I take cabs and the drivers think I´ve lived here for years! I don´t say much, mind you, but what I do say I say perfectly!

I just can´t get over not seeing them and working with them all of next week. There is still so much to do here, to talk about, to paint and get done. I have to come back, its just something I know I am going to do. Being here is really being in another world. I don´t feel as though I´m on the same stretch of land as Canada. They are worlds apart. This trip has awakened a desire to travel and meet people through conversation and the building of relationships that I never knew I had. I have only ever really traveled to Europe for no longer than one month and strictly as a tourist and art gallery observer. Never have I invested months in getting to know the people of a place on as close a level as I have on this trip. I know them, I know their upbringings, their family tragedies, their struggles and a connection has been made to them that will make it harder to leave Esteli, Nicaragua more then any other European country I have been to yet. Despite the uncomfortable situations a Third World Country brings, I will remember what I have learned from those situations and leave this place without regret or resentment. Nicaragua has taught me to let go, that I can not control everything and that I have to accept things and let go of my attachments. In moments when I feel as though my life is crumbling apart I have to stop and think of the kids that I work every single day with who are beaten yet brave and unbroken. That is unbelievable. They´re laughter resonates and reassures me that I can be brave and happy too. It´s okay to be happy! I know that sounds dumb but its something that has taken a lot to understand, but I get it now.

- Siobhan Sweeny, Nicaragua