After parting ways with our host families in Sabana Grande, we travelled to Selva Negra, literally “Black Forest,” a scenic, self-sustained ecolodge and organic coffee, veggie, flower, and livestock farm in the Nicaraguan cloud forest. During our one and a half week stay, we received a tour of the grounds, including explanations of the coffee production process, an encounter with some excited baby goats, and a view of their on-site vermicomposting operation, which is part of a system that produces seven million pounds of compost annually. We talked about barriers to communication, spent time being one with nature by doing a solo in the woods, and shared our feelings about each other in the gifting circle. Mausi, one of the owners of Selva Negra, gave us a history of the place, complete with explanations of how they once fled to the United States after being chased by the Nicaraguan government, and of how she came about her expansive comic book collection. We discussed how to make a living, what constitutes a healthy appetite, how to form and improve communities, and the Universe Story; and we also got schooled by Willow and Tommy about belly dancing and the history of hip-hop, respectively.

                                    Selva Negra children helping prepare the vegetable garden

 Most notably, though, we spent roughly half of our time designing and building a school playground and organic veggie and herb garden for the children of the coffee pickers employed by Selva Negra. After the tour of the grounds on day one, we got to have a look at the site, and then Karen, one of Mausi’s daughters, and her husband Don debriefed us. We set to work the next day sharing ideas and mapping the possibilities for a layout. The following morning, we presented our plan to Karen and Don. We worked hard Tuesday through Friday, and Saturday morning we finished the project by painting our tire creations with the kids. The final product included a lochness monster (which we named Larkspur, after Neal’s mysterious wife), a music center, an underground telephone, the gardens, and a tire island in the center of it all.

                                                Kids and Leeann testing the new tire fort

 For me personally, building the playground was the most rewarding project we’ve worked on thus far. I think the difference was that we had a hand in the decision-making. The creative process of designing the playground was enjoyable in and of itself, but it would have been less so if we didn’t know that we had the authority to bring our ideas to fruition. We really were going to build this playground, at a site we had seen and felt, for kids we would soon meet. We talked about the importance of giving workers an understanding of the complete operations of a company, accompanied by some degree of executive clout, during our discussion on making a living. I saw that sentiment come to life in myself and in our community. It was so very gratifying on Friday, when the kids ran out of the classrooms and went wild on their nearly complete new playground, to see what started as a problem converted into laughter and exhilaration. For our group, it became a realization of what we can accomplish together, and we did it without spending any money or consuming any new material. I love it. It was a powerful demonstration that there’s hope. We didn’t save the planet by building a playground and a few raised beds, but we certainly made a step in the right direction, and that’s created a ripple effect that will continue quite possibly forever.

                                                     The completed playground project

Sammy Meador