Our ministry in Nicaragua is a bright spot in a community full of poverty and despair. The physical campus, a large track of land with several buildings on it, is surrounded by dilapidated shacks, muddy roads, and trash filled roadsides. I could feel the spirit of poverty and despair permeating the air. It was so strong it was almost visible. Yet as we turned down the driveway for our ministry, you could feel the difference. Everything is meticulously taken care of. The buildings and furniture may not be new, but they are loved and clearly cherished. Our ministry site is beautiful and loved.
When I first learned about our ministry in Nicaragua, I was excited. We would be helping a group that supports local families by providing food and education to the community’s children. Before I arrived I figured we would be teaching English classes, doing VBS type activities, and leading Bible studies.
Then I found out the real purpose of this ministry – the health and safety of 29 children. Up until recently, these 29 children who have been abused and neglected lived in the very dorms we are staying in within the safe walls of the El Ayudante campus. They came from families where parents had abandoned them, abused them, neglected them. They came from a level of poverty where their families had no home to provide them. All of these children were removed and placed at El Ayudante (meaning “the helper”) to have a safe and healthy home. Then a government decree was made, declaring all children must be immediately returned to their families except in the most extreme cases of abuse and abandonment. 25 children were picked up and returned to 11 different families from El Ayudante, while 4 remained on campus for their own safety.
I was amazed to find out the history of the families El Ayudante works with; I never could have guessed the dark pasts of the children I had just met for the first time. These children still come to El Ayudante. After the government decree El Ayudante didn’t abandon the children, but arranged it so the mission picks them up every morning to feed them breakfast, take them to school, bring them back at noon to eat, then tutors them in all of their subjects until 4:00 pm when their parents come get them. In practice, El Ayudante can’t keep them on the compound 24/7 for their safety, but they make sure these kids have a safe and stable place to eat two meals a day, receive extended education, and learn about God. The staff here provide rules, teach self-discipline, and show love to children that may never receive it from their own homes.
El Ayudante also has reached out to the parents to help them. They worked with all 11 families to build permanent homes to ensure the children had a place to live. But El Ayudante’s dedication to their former children didn’t stop there. They provide mentorship and micro-loans to the parents to help them become self-sufficient enough to care for their children. This is where my team and I come in. With my background in marketing and communication I, along with my teammate Megan, have been asked to co-teach business skills classes, ethics classes, and marketing classes to the parents of the El Ayudante children to help the parents succeed with the micro-loans.
I feel such a sense of honor at the request, but also trepidation. Megan and I will be the first to ever hold these workshops, so we are helping build not only the courses themselves but also a legacy that can be used with other parents in the future. Our mission is to help these families learn to earn and save their own money in order to be self sufficient. In turn they will be able to provide food, clothing, and shelter for their children. What an amazing opportunity and responsibility! God definitely put us here for this reason, as they needed people with business knowledge and experience here and now. Together my team and I will be working to help these 29 children find a safe haven in their own homes one day.
Please partner with me in praying for guidance in lesson plans, quick understanding for cultural differences, and a desire for the parents to better themselves. Pray that God would loosen the chains of alcoholism that so many of these parents struggle with. Also pray for my teammate Sarah who will be teaching sign language to a boy at the school, Kelsey who will be teaching guitar, and Hannah and Paola who will be working on devotionals for the parents.
Xoxo,
Kristin
