***For those of you who may not know from previous blogs, I have a small group of home school children in South Carolina that are following my blog for lessons in geography, culture, and missionary work. So feel free to read ahead, but the focus, length, and content of this blog is for them!***
When my team and I arrived in Nicaragua, I was already mentally ready for Thailand. Our time in ministry was going to be short, less than 3 weeks; it was our third country in Central America, which made it slightly less new and exciting; and we were all anticipating the team changes that were to come at the end of the month.
Little did I know that Nicaragua was going to prove to be my favorite place so far on this trip, and I have a strong feeling that the Lord will have me back here one day in some form or other. Having been filthy from head to toe 95% of the time, doing hard manual labor several days a week, never once escaping the 100 degree heat, and experiencing an incredibly difficult month personally and in ministry, it seems strange that I loved it so much.
Nicaragua is the second poorest nation in the western hemisphere, located between Honduras and Costa Rica. Nicaragua does not have the four seasons that we learn about in the US. Rather it has two seasons: hot and wet, and hot and dry. About 6 months out of the year, Nicaragua is dry as a bone, brown, and around 95-100 degrees most days. The other 6 months, it cools off a bit and experiences tons of harsh rain storms, but the countryside becomes beautiful and green. Because my team was in Chinandega during the dry season, we were super hot and super dirty all day, every day. Also, we had a huge, active volcano called San Cristobal that felt as if it were in our own backyard, although it was actually several miles away. Nicaragua has several active volcanos!
We began our month in Nicaragua in Granada, which is a small touristy town on Lake Nicaragua, for a 4 day debrief. Lake Nicaragua is an enormous, fresh water lake that is actually inhabited by bull sharks…so much for escaping sharks when swimming in fresh water! I was also able to see monkeys living on Monkey Island, which are not actually native creatures but were set free there after proving to be too aggressive to be kept as pets. Once beginning our two and a half weeks of ministry, we had two off days. We visited the beach in Leon, which looked similar to Carolina beaches, only with lots of large rocks in the water. Our other off day was amazing…we got to go volcano boarding down an active volcano called Cerro Negro! Basically, we did a very strenuous hike up the volcano with home-made sleds, where we got to feel the heat of the soil from the lava inside, and then slid all the way down the volcano just like you would if you were sledding in snow! It was super dirty and super fun!
This month my team lived at a compound that our ministry, Vision Nicaragua, owns and which hosts missionary teams. We slept in a big room full of bunk beds, had cold showers (which actually were amazing!) and had all of our meals cooked by two lovely Nicaraguan ladies. We ate tons of rice…usually at least twice a day….and beans, as well as a few chicken or pork dishes, and had piles of pancakes for breakfast! We also had delicious organic food at one of our ministry sites, an orphanage located on an organic farm…Holly, you would be proud!
Outside of the few main blocks that the large cities have industrialized, most of Nicaragua is very rural and has very basic living conditions. As in Honduras, the majority of the people in Nicaragua are working hard every day just to make sure their basic needs are met. Many people live in homes made of pieces of metal and trash, and there were pigs, chickens, and cows wondering around peoples yards almost everywhere we went. In many communities, children often go without shoes or even clothes.
The government in Nicaragua is socialist, and puts little emphasis on education, medical care, or quality of life for its citizens. The economy struggles greatly and has not been able to break out of the devastating cycle of poverty that imprisons most of its citizens. In the area that I lived and worked in, the great majority of the men work in sugar cane fields using a toxic pesticide that kills them at an early age, leaving behind widows and fatherless children. While many children do attend school for primary education, the large majority do not have secondary or collegiate educations due to lack of funds or availability.
My ministry this month was awesome: we worked at the orphanage doing all sorts or random manual labor, including painting, moving furniture, putting in gutters, gardening, and playing with children. I also worked with Dr. Michael, a man who was put through medical school and employed by Vision Nicaragua to do free medical work in the clinic, and I was able to assist him in seeing patients.
Please pray for the many, many widows and fatherless children in the Chinandega area, and that the Lord will provide for the spiritual and material needs of those living here. Everyone was so kind and warm towards us, and my heart goes out to the women who are in their 20’s who are widows and mothers of 4. I hope to return one day, maybe leading a team…whose in?!?
