{"id":31925,"date":"2019-11-11T16:46:40","date_gmt":"2019-11-11T15:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/?p=31925"},"modified":"2019-12-09T16:01:13","modified_gmt":"2019-12-09T15:01:13","slug":"nick-hammond-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/nick-hammond-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive Book extract of Nick Hammond new book: Back to School"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back to School<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

IT\u2019S never a good look, the red-faced, sweat-dripping one. Especially at breakfast.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But Nicaragua will do that to you, especially if you have to move around at all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And this morning, I do have to move around. Not dusting myself off for a marathon you understand, or taking part in an inspirational bout of spinning, but just getting on and off a bus. Everything seems hard work in the heat when you\u2019re used to throwing back the curtains to skies the colour of an elephant\u2019s backside.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So by the time I step from the aforementioned bus in downtown Esteli somewhere, dust puffing up from the scruffy pavement as I disembark, there\u2019s already a telltale dark patch appearing on the shirt between my shoulder blades.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While locals seem to carry off this look with ease, appearing to have just completed some healthy outdoorsy type of job, I look more like I\u2019ve been thrashing through the undergrowth for a decade, narrowly avoiding the grasp of lurking serpents and fang-toothed mammals of every description.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is this apparition, Dear Reader \u2013 minus the pith helmet \u2013 which greets the little old lady who stood meekly before the primary school, hands folded in front of her plain beige habit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She is a nun, complete with wimpole, sparkling eyes and a height of not more than five feet in heels. But behind those eyes is steel she needs it. Sor Purificaci\u00f3n Guitierrez is Principal of the Belen School in Esteli, which has been \u2018adopted\u2019 by some sections of the cigar community \u2013 most notably Sasja van Horssen\u2019s Longfiller Company of the Netherlands. His amazing Amsterdam store, Cigaragua, donates 10% of every stick sold to this little patch of dry earth. And as Sor Purificaci\u00f3n of the Fe y Alegria <\/em>\u2018Faith and Happiness\u2019 Christian charity leads me around, I can see why.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bright eyed, bushy-tailed little ones abound, in spankingly smart uniforms and with the gleam of freshly brushed teeth. They grin as we enter their classrooms and proudly sing in Spanish to show off their skills.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They have very little \u2013 but the sad truth is that these are the lucky ones. Statistics show that youngsters in Nicaragua\u2019s poorest areas \u2013 like Esteli \u2013 spend as little as five years or less in mainstream education.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That means before they\u2019ve even reached their teens, many of them are out working to help their families make ends meet. From here, it is easy to fall into a life of drudgery \u2013 gangs, drugs, under-age pregnancy or unemployment \u2013 and the cycle repeats itself.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Pro Nica charity is determined to try and help break this cycle and last year handed over a cheque for in excess of \u00a320,000. That may not sound a lot in Western terms, but it goes an awful long way in Estel\u00ed. It has bought equipment and paid for the building of new classrooms, designed to be able to cope with older as well as younger students \u2013 so they can do some evening classes and continue their education.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My diminutive guide leads me to some scrub ground at the rear of the school, where a set of rusty goalposts have been hammered into the cracked, parched, cemented ground. I wouldn\u2019t fancy a sliding tackle on that, let me tell you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd this,\u201d she says proudly, with a grand sweep of her arm, \u201cis our new playground.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There\u2019s some rickety play equipment which has seen better days \u2013 a wonky swing, old seesaw and the like. And they are thrilled with it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These are good people and they deserve better. I have two girls of my own and as I watch these little Nicaraguan bundles of energy I can\u2019t help but appreciate that we all lead very different lives.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve bought this book \u2013 and I sincerely hope you haven\u2019t stolen it \u2013 then you are doing your bit to help these beautiful raven-haired kids and their families have a better future.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Thank you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back to School   IT\u2019S never a good look, the red-faced, sweat-dripping one. Especially at breakfast.   But Nicaragua will do that to you, especially if you have to move around at all.   And this morning, I do have to move around. Not dusting myself off for a marathon you understand, or taking part…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":31926,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31925"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cigarjournal.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}