The man in my previous post, his name is Antonio. The local people call him Tio Antonio, which means uncle Antonio in English. While Tio gave us a tour through the hammock workshop he stopped next to this guys and said: ‘Do you remember Oscar from the story I told you about before? This is him! He works now in our workshop.’
“One day I met this boy in the community where I used to live. His name was Oscar. The locals called him ‘loco’ because he never spoke. I took the time to get to know him and soon I found out Oscar wasn’t crazy. He couldn’t speak because he was deaf. I wanted to do something for Oscar. I bought him a hearing aid, but most of all, I wanted him to lead a normal life. I searched for information about teaching a deaf person how to speak. I was a chef in a restaurant and Oscar helped me in the kitchen. While we were cooking I taught him vocabulary. We developed a strong connection. My experience with Oscar inspired me to explore more kinds of disabilities. In my spare time I volunteered in a school for children with special needs. I found out that our education system for people with disabilities doesn’t guarantee professional opportunities. I felt the need to change that.
I did the impossible by setting up a hammock workshop for blind people. The idea was provocative and the first hammocks we made were dreadful but it paid of. After three years of practice we now make the best quality hammocks in the entire region. Recently we even made one for pope Franciscus. A few years ago we also opened café de Las Sonrisas, which gives deaf people the opportunity to be a waiter in our restaurant. We employ more than 46 people with disabilities. Knowing that this makes a difference in so many peoples lives gets me up every morning.”
Nicaragua – Granada
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While we were in Tio Antonio’s workshop/café we made a video clip. You
can check it out here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WxYTQ3zLQA
Nicaragua – Popoyo
“Seven years ago I went to the USA to work. My aunt who lived there invited me to come. Because I didn’t have the money she paid for all my travel expenses. The first year I worked very hard just to pay her back. After a while I met this American girl and we fell in love. When she got pregnant we decided I would officially apply for citizenship. During the process she would be my guarantee. It’s not easy to become and American citizen and at some point I had to go back to Nicaragua to wait for the results. The final step of the process was paying a 600-dollar waiver. Paying a waiver is something like apologizing to the government of the United States for the years you stayed illegally. My application was about to be accepted when I received an email from the Ambassador saying my guarantee had pulled back. I didn’t understand what happened so I called my girlfriend. I asked her what was going on, she said that she got confused. It was too much responsibility and she didn’t wanted to continue with the application. Even though I was devastated I can accept the fact that our relationship is over. My biggest concern is my son. I haven’t seen him since 2010 and I’m afraid I don’t get to see him grow up.”
Nicaragua – Popoyo
“They say that the eyes, are the mirror of the soul”
Nicaragua – Popoyo
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