The Youth Group Saga

Do you ever feel like you are trapped in a bad movie? Well that is what it is like having to deal with all the drama that comes with trying to form a youth group in Nicaragua. Imagine the scenes from Groundhog Day when the main character is forced to continually relive the same day just to find new ways to either kill himself or entertain himself. That is how I somehow ration my life here and dealing with my group.
Now, as bad as I make it sound, I am really proud of my youth group and I want to make that disclaimer now and make it clear. There are many amazing things about my group and I am lucky to have even formed one and to have one that continually wishes to meet, but still… damn. As I discussed earlier, the whole mess began when I formed this group with the help of another Nica. Now his age is kind of an enigma and it is impossible to tell by looking at him. I have narrowed it down to 17 to 21, but I have heard as young as 15 and as old as 23. I prefer to go with the interquartile range, but my leading piece of evidence is that he is still in school because I have seen him in the uniform and it was at a primary school. However, to disclaim this evidence and exclude it from this make shift trial is that grades are in no way a marker of age in Nicaragua; hence the example of me teaching a 16 year old 5th grader.
Now that we have re-established the antagonist, let us set the story in motion. It happens that I went to Matagalpa last weekend on Sunday to do some errands and meet up with my friends. I was excited to get out of site for the day and all the kids agreed that Sunday was a good day to just rest and leave our meetings alone. Well, I guess that changed right after I left and they had a practice with my doppelganger, Julio. This anomaly of age led the practice, but I guess some type of drama unfolded and depending who you talked to he either a) eliminated half the team b) was attacked by the team or c) a ostentatious coup d’état. I prefer the latter but that is just because I read way too many political books and secretly want to take over the world someday. Needless to say when I got back into town I was immediately greeted by a frenzied mob of kids eager to explain what happened. Now, San Dionisio is a small town and news travels fast. That also means that rumors and exaggerations are not only to be expected but fester and grow into elaborate stories accepted as truth. I told all the kids not to worry about it, that no one was kicked off the team and that we would all practice on Monday as if nothing happened. Well, this entire week practice went really well and the kids were on pretty good behavior for 14 and 12 year olds. They seem to respect me and it is pretty amazing that I have the power to control of kids voluntarily without the backing of an entire school department. The real trouble happens after practice when we go to see Julio regarding our uniforms. (A small digression: Julio went with the team earlier this week to solicit money from the beneficiary owner to buy uniforms. The man kindly obliged and gave Julio 100 cords to buy a model uniform and then the man would buy the remaining uniforms. Well after our little disagreement, Julio decided to leave the team and run off and form his own team. He also took it upon himself to use this money for his new team) We decided that we needed to confront Julio about this issue and see if we could confiscate the money. To make a long story short, it did not go well. Julio lied through his teeth about the money and said that he already spent it; he also mentioned how he talked to the man at the beneficiary which is a confirmed lie due to the fact that the man was out of town all week. It gets worse; Julio’s mom decided to come out and started bickering with the kids I brought along as witnesses. They were all so distraught, but in a positive note, we all kept our cool, I did get a little sarcastic about saying, “In my culture it is not acceptable to ask for money with one group and then use it with another. It might just be a cultural misunderstanding, but I see that as stealing and I think in your conscience you know that as well;” probably a little too harsh, but I was pissed and this was the last straw. This is the same kid who was using my name and position for his benefit. I already talked about how when we were soliciting for money or the town’s truck he was very quick to mention how it was always me wanting it and that I was in charge. Oh no, I will not have him speak for me and it is scary to say, but he will not be using my clout for his own cause.
Surprisingly this did not demoralize the team, quite the contrary, it seemed to invigorate them and the team practiced well with me the next day. I was never a big proponent of getting uniforms, but now I wanted them just to throw it in Julio’s face. Yes, I can be mean and vindictive when I want to. My team surprised me this morning by showing up at my door with letters already typed and they just needed my signatures. I was so proud of them and later in the day they already had the model jersey ready to show our sponsor.
Everything seems to be falling in place for my youth group. I have a solid group of 15 players and they are more committed than I am. I have a fellow professor who is very interested and wants to start leading practices with me. This professor also has extra soccer balls we can use and helps me find teams to play against. This weekend we have the town of Muy Muy coming to play against us here in San Dionisio and we are turning it into a mini tournament with little kids playing in the morning, my team in the afternoon, and the older kids in the late afternoon. It is amazing if you just let the events unfold before you how they seem to just work. Not bad for a week’s worth of work and it all starts over again this Monday.