Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 27, 1993 TAG: 9303270106
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KEVIN KITTREDGE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The Nicaraguan grade-school principal gets panic attacks just going to a city in his own country.
Until last week he never had been outside his country.
Granados arrived Wednesday in Blacksburg for a week-long visit.
He finds the U.S. cold, he said through an interpreter. The temperature in Nicaragua seldom drops below 55 or 60 degrees.
He also finds the U.S. wealthy.
Granados, who comes from a town where horses are still a primary mode of transportation, said he now understands the difference between developed and underdeveloped countries.
He may soon find out something else about America: its love for celebrities.
Because he's one.
Granados, a slight, shy Nicaraguan with a wide smile and no English, will be the guest of honor at a luncheon Sunday at Custom Catering in Blacksburg.
More than 170 people have bought tickets, organizers said.
Interest in Granados' visit is high, in part because he is the first resident of Blacksburg's sister city, San Jose de Bocay, Nicaragua, to visit Blacksburg.
He also is principal of Bocay's only school, which was rebuilt in 1990-91, largely with donations from Blacksburg residents.
"It's important and significant that he came to tell this country" about his home town, said Jim Shotts, treasurer of Blacksburg's Sister City Committee. "This, I think, has given new interest in the school at Bocay."
Bocay is a city of 1,700 near the Honduras border.
Many of its residents are merchants who trade with the subsistence farmers who come to town from the surrounding hills, say Americans who have visited. The diet in Bocay runs heavy on beans and rice, supplemented by bananas.
The town was brought to the attention of Blacksburg residents by human rights workers exploring war-torn portions of Nicaragua. The town was hit hard by the Contra war, said Gary Hicks, who has worked in Bocay for the human rights group Witness for Peace.
To make matters worse, Bocay was struck by a hurricane in 1988. The storm badly damaged the school and washed some 15 houses down the Bocay River, Granados said. "It was a disaster."
When a delegation from Blacksburg visited a few years ago and asked what they could do to help, Bocay residents pointed to the school.
It became a Sister City Committee project in Blacksburg - with a fund-raising campaign that included media coverage and a booth at the fall festival, "Steppin' Out."
The six-room schoolhouse, which cost $25,000 to build, was dedicated in 1991. It initially offered grades one through six, but recently has added a seventh grade, the principal said. The school has about 500 students.
Granados said he is pleased his school has been rebuilt - but he is still unhappy about conditions in Bocay. Teacher training is unavailable in the area, he said, and many of the residents have no formal education.
The principals' visit is part of an ongoing exchange of visitors between Blacksburg and Bocay, Shotts said.
Several residents of Blacksburg already have been to Bocay. Until now, no one from Bocay was able to return the visits.
Just buying an airline ticket was an obstacle. Residents of Bocay typically make about $50 a month, said Granados, whose visit was financed with donations.
Granados, who flew into Roanoke via Miami and Charlotte, N.C., will return to Nicaragua Wednesday.
During his stay, he will visit several Blacksburg schools, as well as appearing at the Sunday luncheon. He also has done newspaper and television interviews.
In addition, Granados will speak at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Coalition for Justice potluck dinner at Blacksburg Presbyterian Church.
"That's open to anyone," said Woody Leach, chairman of the Sister City Committee. Leach said they hope to bring someone from Bocay to Blacksburg on an annual basis from now on.
by CNB