Helping Family

Last year, we had an experience in Managua that was both terrible and comforting. We were robbed of a significant amount of our US cash, and were subsequently cared for and comforted by a very wonderful Nicaraguan family who had witnessed the robbery.

We certainly learned our lesson about where and when to change money from US $ to Nicaraguan cordobas. We drove up to the grocery store, La Colonia, at La Plaza Espana near la Rotonda el Gueguense at dusk. The usual older lady wasn't there, but we were really desperate for cash, so stopped and started to talk with a young man. He aggressively wanted to change our money for us, and reached into the car to take the money from my husband's hands. This tipped us off, but it was too late. We struggled with him, all of our hands holding on the the dollars for dear life! But he had a better angle and strong hands, and suddenly our cash was gone.

He had been waiting for suckers just like us! Apparently he and 3 other men had planned it all, and quickly jumped into a waiting taxi and fled the scene. We were very upset, needless-to-say, and realized we brought it on ourselves by going into an obviously questionable situation.

But, in the end, we met a wonderful Nicaraguan family though this experience. They had witnessed the whole event, and came to our aid, first by simply giving us the details of what they had witnessed, and then commiserating with our loss. They realized how upset I was, and counseled that I shouldn't be driving in my upset condition. Then they offered to guide us to the police station to report the crime, so off we went to find the station. One of the sons translated for us as best as he could. Of course, it wasn't very productive, since the police were not particularly interested and we couldn't provide much information about the thieves. I was given albums of photos of known thieves, and tried to identify any familiar faces. Neither my husband nor I could really remember the face of the thief, so we weren't able to provide any details. But the young man who was with us, Francisco, was really insistent about filing the report, and he and his mother, brothers and sister stayed with us the entire time. When we finally said good-bye later, it must have been midnight! They had been so comforting and sympathetic, and I hoped I could someday do something for them.

The next day, a good friend, Roberto, took an entire morning off from work to accompany us to the Medical Crimes office, and helped us through the bureaucracy there. I felt that my injuries (bruises and scrapes) were so minor compared to what we saw in the waiting room. I could only imagine the events and experiences behind some of the injuries in the waiting room with us.

It was an interesting, if expensive, experience, and reinforced for us the goodness in people even among negative events.

I guess the morals are: 1. Don't try to change money at dusk at a location where you don't know the money-changer! Simple and obvious safety precautions that I will pay attention to forever more! And 2. Good kind people are everywhere. Language is no barrier to sympathy, kindness and dedication to integrity.