A group of us are working in the hills outside of Palacaguina, Nicaragua to build a one room adobe house for a single mother this week.
After moving a large pile of adobe bricks this morning, several of us were told to take a break and rest on the dirt road in front of the land. We immediately noticed a sweet face peering around the corner from the one room adobe house nearby. It was an older woman and my teammate Kelsey and I decided to go and talk with her. We asked permission to enter her house and she hesitantly greeted us, allowing us to look inside.
We immediately notice that this woman has absolutely nothing in her possession, not even what it takes to survive. Her bed is a metal cot frame with cardboard on top. Her clothing consists the outfit that she is wearing. Her food is a small rusted bowl of rotten tortillas that sits outside covered in flies. She has no source of water. She begins explaining to us that she has three sons. She first points out the man standing in the yard smiling (Juan Antonio – 24) and explains that he is 'enferma en la cabeza' (sick in the head), and it is clear that he has severe autism or asbergers. The second son (Jose Armando – 22) is lying inside curled up under a blanket and she tells us that he is also sick with fever, sore throat, and stomach ache. She has taken him to the doctor, but has no money to buy the medication that he needs. Her third son (Carlos – 18) has chronic headaches and she is praying that God will heal them all. Immediately, we both decided that we had to do something about this situation and asked her if we could bless her by buying her some food and medicine for her sons. We asked her what food we could provide for her and she asked for rice, beans, and tortillas.
We asked her what medicine her son needs and she brought us an empty package so that we could take it to the pharmacy to get more. We explained to her that we would return after we ate lunch. We ate back at the church and then went to a small store nearby and purchased 3 liters of corn for tortillas, 5 liters of rice, 5 liters of beans, 2 gallons of water, 2 rolls of toilet paper, a bar of soap, 3 bags of chips, and 2 packages of the medication for Jose Armando.
We walked back up the dirt road to her house to give her the food and pray over the family. She was very grateful and explained that she believes God has already healed Carlos from some of his headaches in the past and she trusts that He will do the same for Jose Armando. It is such a blessing to be able to provide for a family that is definitely struggling to survive. God has placed us in their life so perfectly, and we plan to return to check on them in a few days. Please join me in keeping Martina, Jose Armando, Juan Antonio, and Carlos in your prayers.
