BY JULIE IRWIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
![[first lady]](/editions/1998/11/16/maria_170x126.jpg)
Maria Dolores Aleman
(Gary Landers photo)
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MANAGUA, Nicaragua - Four years ago, Maria Dolores Aleman was a Xavier University senior, living along Victory Parkway and preparing for a December graduation.
First lady of Nicaragua was not on the list of career choices for the soon-to-be college graduate at the time. But that's the position the 26-year-old holds today, as her country struggles to recover from Hurricane Mitch.
Ms. Aleman's father, Arnoldo Aleman, was elected president of Nicaragua in 1996. Because her mother is dead, Ms. Aleman became first lady. All of a sudden, the political science major found herself a participant in the organizations she'd spent her college years studying.
"You're used to reading about these people in the news, and suddenly you're talking to them, and you're part of them," said Ms. Aleman from her office in Managua's Presidential Palace. "I didn't know my father would be president. I studied the (United Nations), and all of a sudden you're a part of it and going to the National Assembly."
The relief effort continued Sunday with at least two more planeloads of supplies arriving from the Tristate. Matthew 25: Ministries of Loveland is sitting on 190,000 pounds of cargo still to shipped, but has had trouble acquiring space on military flights because of the build-up in the Persian Gulf.
Supplies include donations from Procter & Gamble: 250,000 Pampers, a semi-truckload of baby wipes and nine truckloads of Hawaiian Punch.
From grueling to worse
Since the hurricane devastated her country late last month, Ms. Aleman has been working seven days a week to help organize the government's response. The largest conference room in the Presidential Palace has been turned into a warehouse, where bags of rice, sugar, beans and milk are assembled for the neediest regions.
Ms. Aleman helped to secure many of the contributions to the warehouse, which include supplies collected at embassies in the United States. She pitches in, too, helping pack the goods and get them out to those who need them most. She showed up for work over the weekend in overalls and a sleeveless T-shirt, with her hair pulled back in a thick braid.
"It's so sad to see (the victims), knowing they lost members of their families and lost body parts, or knowing two weeks ago they were doing OK and now everything's destroyed," she said. "We just have to concentrate on rebuilding our country."
Although Ms. Aleman's days are especially grueling now, her position was hard work even before the hurricane. Her days begin at 7 a.m. and often don't end until 9 or 10 p.m. She sometimes attends events with her husband, architect Geronimo Gadea, and sometimes with her father alone. Security guards patrol the office she has decorated with family photos and a statue of Mary, mother of Jesus.
She has adjusted to the role well, but politics was not in her blood growing up. Arnoldo Aleman was elected mayor of Managua just as his daughter was preparing to leave for college. She returned to Nicaragua after graduation to work on her father's coffee plantation, and his campaign for the presidency began a year later.
The job has its advantages, among them meeting world leaders such as President Clinton and the king and queen of Spain. It also has its drawbacks.
"You kind of lose your privacy, but it's interesting and you get to meet a lot of people and do good things," Ms. Aleman said. "It's just a totally different experience. Everybody knows who you are, what you do and follows you around."
Priorities on hold
The country's needs mesh well with the priorities Ms. Aleman set for herself when her father took office. She has championed projects that help the poor, women and children, and she serves as chairwoman of the social cabinet. Her dedication has earned her high marks even from those who disagree with her father's conservative policies.
Most of that work is shelved now until recovery from the hurricane advances. She estimates it will be a year until she can resume work on her former projects full time.
"Our economy was growing. Everybody believed things were going well," she said. "All of a sudden the hurricane comes and everything stops. . . . I think nobody imagined anything like this."
First ladies to meet
![[first lady]](/editions/1998/11/16/maria_550x409.jpg)