Hello! Welcome to Ometepe Island! I will be taking you on a virtually tour of life here at Cicrin Children’s Home. I like to call it “Summer Camp.”
Here at Camp we have all three meals cooked by our lovely Nicaraguan kitchen ladies. They don’t speak a lick of English and I’m still questioning if they like me or not! I think I do the dishes a little too slow for their liking. However they do crack up whenever I try to speak Spanish.
I haven’t gone a day (meal for that matter) without eating rice and beans– you get used to it, or so they say.
Because the government does not agree with orphanages, Cicrin is a “protection center” for kids whose parents cannot take care of them.
There’s around 18 kids living here, and they love hanging out with us “gringos.” However they call me “Cheena,” which literally translates to “The China.” They think they’re hilarious. 🙂
We have morning ministry everyday. We rotate each day from going to two different schools, cleaning up around Cicrin, and prayer walking around the community. They like to work us hard every once in a while!
I had my weirdest day of ministry on the Race the other day at a tiny school called Sacremento. They had us, along with 20 or so elementary school children, rake up the leaves off the side of the road and burn them. Afterwards we went back to the school and danced and sang to the volcano, hoping it would heed our song and not erupt in the future…
After ministry is what we like to call our “siestas.” Aka nap time! There’s never a lack of hammocks on the race to have siestas, either.
Daily life is very peaceful on the island. There’s a beautiful lake right at our backyard. With temperatures at low 90s, humidity at 80%, and showers that stop working on the daily, the lake becomes a regular hangout spot! And every night, without fail, the sky puts on the most beautiful performance.
Another thing about Summer Camp is, you aren’t ever really clean, and you never smell too great, either.
There’s usually not a time of the day we aren’t sweating, and there’s a constant breeze blowing dust onto us.
The showers, during the couple hours a day they do work, come straight from the brown, smelly lake. Our clothes are hand washed in this very same lake, as well.
All that to say, Febreeze has become a very dear friend of mine this past month!
Well, I guess that ends the virtual tour of my life here this past month, and for the next two months to come.
It’s so crazy that my trip is almost at a close! Please pray for focus here and also for God to prepare us for what’s next after the Race.
Thank you for all your support and prayers!
Love,
Sabrina
