And the village stops again. Week after week the village of
Bethel and the surrounding villages that we are working with stop whatever they
are doing when they hear the news. Immediately they will start informing their
neighbors, friends, family, and the outside villages. Within an hour people are
arriving to comfort the families and friends.
Another person has just died. The village is not chaotic
because it has become a normal routine for the village to stop. They know what
to do because the village stops usually once a week. Thousands of men have been
infected with a kidney disease that is incurable. Some of the men that work on
our property have the kidney disease and the women who cook and clean for us
are widows because of this horrible disease.
Why are there so many people dying in these villages?
Because a few people want to save a few bucks so they can buy material items. The
owners of the sugar cane fields buy a cheap pesticide that is killing men and
women all over Central America. The U.S.A. has banned this pesticide in the
U.S.A. because they know that it kills people however they are still exporting
it to other countries. The owners of the sugar cane fields and producers of
this pesticides don’t care about the thousands of families who are affected.
All they care about is the thousands of dollars that fill their pockets.
I have wanted to write a blog about this pesticide issue for
a while. However, I have needed to gather information on it so I can explain it
before a little better. After talking to several people and doing a little
research on this I have a little information that I want to share with you. I’m
not going to go deep into the issue but I am going to touch the surface so you
will know what is going on.
This blog is going to be summed up in a few paragraphs that
won’t fully do this issue justice. All I am trying to do is shed some light and
get people to start praying. I’m not even sure if a 400 page book would inform
you about all the things that this pesticide is doing to people and their
families. Words just don’t justify how horrible this situation is but faces do.
So what am I talking about? In Nicaragua and throughout
Central America there are sugar cane fields everywhere. Thousands of people
flock to these fields for work knowing that they are literally signing their
life away when they choose to take the job. The workers are mostly men and boys
who need to provide for their families. They make about $4 for an entire days
worth of work.
(A truck filled with sugar cane)
Why did I say that these men are literally signing their
life away when they take the job at the sugar cane field? Well it is simple but
not so simple to prove. The owners of the sugar cane fields are using a
pesticide that is made in the U.S.A. that is causing the workers to be infected
with a kidney disease. Once a persons’ creatinine level reaches a certain level
that means that they have been infected with a kidney disease that there is no
cure for. At the sugar cane fields, the workers creatinine level
is tested every six months and when it reaches the level right before they get
the kidney disease, the workers are fired from their jobs and sent home to die
without any benefits.
The guys who are working in the fields breathe
in this pesticide and drink the water that the pesticide has found its way
into. Every person that works in the fields is pretty much guaranteed to get
the disease. It is just a matter of time before they are fired and sent home to
die. The men are leaving wives and children behind and it is a constant
cycle of boys and men dying from this disease.
(One of the guards for Vision Nicaragua who has the kidney disease)
Today we were informed that one man, Juan Carlos who was 22
years old, died this morning from the kidney disease. 2 weeks ago Tonio died
from the disease. A month ago a 23 year old man died from it. And right now
there are thousands of men who are living with the disease waiting for death to
show up at their door. Within the next 10 years people have predicted that
there will be over 3,000 men who die from this disease.
I know this blog only gives you a tiny picture of what is
going on. But I wanted to write this blog to inform you so you can start
praying for justice. Hopefully, someone will be able to prove that it is the
pesticide that is killing these men and justice will be served. But as of right
now, no one has been able to prove that it is the pesticide killing the men.
Therefore, the cycle of continues.
In closing, I want to say that YOUR PRAYERS ARE POWERFUL AND
EFFECTIVE! So please lift your voice to Abba crying out for justice. He will
get justice when His people cry out to Him.
(Tractor trailers used to transport sugar cane)
