How I Joined Team Azul in the League of Retirees, Veterans, and Chubbies

Conor / Nica 64 / TEFL

Michaela and I arrived in Nueva Guinea just as the school semester was coming to an end, which left us ample free time our first few months in site. As a result, we made it a priority to meet as many people as possible by getting out and about.

We started by frequenting a local gym, which is where I met Omar. Every night at 6pm, Omar arrived with a laptop computer and a black trash bag with a hole at the bottom. He pulled his head through the hole and wore the bag like a pancho. Then he opened his laptop and turned on the workout program “Insanity.” For 35 minutes, he was the Nicaraguan Sean-T, calling out floor sprints and power jacks in Spanish to a group of 10 to 15 people.

After a while, I asked Omar if he knew how I could join a soccer team. He said he played for a local men’s league and invited me to meet him the following Tuesday night for meeting with some of the organizers. He instructed me to say I had never, ever, played soccer and just wanted to learn.

Volunteer Health Update: Nov 2016

 PCMO / Peace Corps Nicaragua

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Road traffic safety, Sunscreen, and Emotional Support

Volunteer Health Update: July 2016

PCN Staff / PCMO

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Insect bites and stings, UTIs, and Stress Management

STAR Committee Updates

1. Support group retreat!

2. Alternativa Nicaragüense de Diversidad Sexual-ANDISEX is proud to announce the June 28th LGBT Pride Parade in Managua.

The Tales We Tell Ourselves

Lindsay / Nica 65 / EEP

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It was a Friday afternoon and the sun was at its peak. It had been at least a month since it last rained so everything was extremely dry and dusty. I was sitting in my room trying to move as little as possible in order to avoid working up a sweat. It was hot, and normally that doesn’t bother me too much, but this day I started to feel a sense of panic. We hadn’t had water for the past two days and nobody knew when it was going to come back.

You Are My Other Me

Tara Seibel/ Nica 66/ ENV

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My neighbor in the United States was a vibrant, strong 6 year old with big glasses and a black and white puppy – Rainy. Every day after school, she’d visit. Sometimes her visits were to share a new song she learned or teach me how to string a fishing pole. When summer storms would roll into Wanblee (a small town on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota and home to the initiation of the American Indian Movement) she would run to my garage, grab our Pow Wow chairs, and we would sit. We would watch as the Thunder Beings made their way to the Badlands, bringing rain and an epic storm across the sky – a storm we could see coming from 40 miles west. Watching the storms and admiring the grand nature of all that surrounded us, Rainy would tell me stories about the Star Boy and the White Buffalo Calf Woman. She shared stories that rested close to her heart. She told stories that were passed down to her from her mom and dad and from all of her ancestors that, too, welcomed the Thunder Beings through their history on the land in (what is now) South Dakota. Rainy is Oglala Lakota Sioux, a descendant of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull. Her whole self is strengthened and enhanced by the stories, the people and the traditions that surround her.

Mental Health

Taylor / Nica 65 / HE

nicapeersupport

By: Taylor Boggs

Mental health is defined as a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.

Mental health is an integral and essential component of health. The positive dimension of mental health is stressed in WHO’s definition of health as contained in its constitution: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” An important implication of this definition is that mental health is more than just the absence of mental disorders or disabilities.

Determenation of Mental Health

Multiple social, psychological, and biological factors determine the level of mental health of a person at any point of time. Poor mental health is also associated with rapid social change…

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