Nicaragua Reflections
By Several Christ Church Members
Oct 6, 2013
Ephesians 2: 14
[ Audio
(mp3, 7.1Mb) ]
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This past summer a group of
Christ Church youth and adults travelled to Nicaragua on a service trip to
the village of Masaya where Christ Church has long standing ties. For this
Sunday's sermon, the team told us of their experiences and impressions.
The participants' journal
entries below formed the basis of their reflections, although they do not
precisely track what was said.
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Journal Day #1
Sophie:
In Nicaragua,
the people who hosted us were the Jubilee House Community, a dedicated group of
idealistic Americans who work there on sustainable economic development. Once
we had arrived and unpacked, Neville, the Jubilee House volunteer coordinator,
eased us into our visit by showing us around Managua.
While preparing
for our trip we had talked about things we could do to make the people around
us feel more comfortable. The idea that
we should designate a camera or two for the day and that we need to remember
not to stare at people.
I was reminded
of this this morning. From the minute our bus pulled up to the outdoor market there were eyes
on us, then as we walked through the market people were reaching out and
touching us (and trying to sell things to us). I began to think about how it's kind of like a zoo. Everyone wants to be close to the animals,
stare at them, feed them even. And at the zoo there is always the barrier
between us and the animals. I guess the
barrier between us and the Nicaraguans would be language, appearance, and an
overall way of life. I believe that
throughout the trip we will be faced with attempting to break down this barrier
-- but just like at the zoo, I don't believe it will be fully possible.
Then in the evening we went to mass at the Batahola community center, and the barrier came down part
way as the people at the church began to accept us as a part of their community
and not part of a display. This allows
us to have hope that the barrier might eventually,
over a long time, wear down and collapse completely.
Ephesians 2:14
For Jesus is our
peace, he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall –
so then you are no longer strangers and aliens but citizens and saints and
members of the household of God
Monday Journal Day #2
Kelly:
On three
separate days we visited Inhijambia, the local program that mentors and
nurtures street children. Inhijambia has three phases. Phase One
has a Welcome Center for street children who want to change their lives.
Though it is
only our second full day here in Nicaragua, I think it is the one that will be
most memorable. Today many of us visited
the Inhijambia Welcome Center for the first time, where we were welcomed with
open arms and warm smiles. When the
introduction process was finished we all went to the second level of the
building to what was a
much more light-hearted atmosphere. Music begins and the boys share their talents with us. These talents included singing/dancing to
classic Nicaraguan folks songs and dancing to modern American pop songs. After the performances were done everyone got
up to play different games. Though there
was the barrier of not being able to understand each other verbally, it didn't
seem to interfere with our power to connect emotionally, which I thought was
incredible to experience firsthand. For
instance, there was a dance competition, my partner
was a little boy who happened to be a great dancer. I felt like by the end of the game, this
little boy was definitely one of my friends, but I didn't even know his
name. The situation, to me, reinforces
the power that a smile, body language and even laughing have.
2 Timothy 1:7 –
For God has not given us a spirit of timidity but of power and love and self
discipline.
Erin (read by Dan):
Besides the
Welcome Center, Phase One at Inhijambia runs a drop-in school inside a
children's library. To get there, we followed the Inhijambia leaders deep into
the heart of a huge covered market.
While walking
through the market may have brought varying degrees of apprehension and
discomfort to the group, once we reached the school-within-the-library we
generally all felt more relaxed and at ease. At the outreach school, we spent some time with both young and old
students. We were all very impressed with the work of the students, and even
more than that, we were impressed with the pride and enthusiasm with which they
presented their notebooks and interacted with us. Through body language and broken Spanish we
were able to communicate and form relationships with the people. While at first a bit awkward, we were able to
break down the barriers dividing us. They were not intimidated by us, not that they necessarily should have
been, but with a group of people coming in who had more education than they did
one may think they would have been more standoffish with their work. However, that couldn't be further from the
reality. The students had immense pride
in their work and approached us eagerly with notebooks in hand, anxious to show
us their math and writing, and of course we listened attentively and genuinely
wanted to hear about all of their hard work.
Journal Day 3: Tuesday
Lena (read by Marilyn):
On our second
day with Inhijambia, for practical reasons we skipped ahead to Phase Three, which is called Independent Living. Inhijambia
was using funds we had raised at Christ Church to improve the houses of young
women in Phase Three. We visited some of
these young women in their homes.
After visiting
Wendy, Anielka, and Fátima's
homes today, I am now excited about the new perspective that I gained from the
experience. Even though they didn't have
every luxury that most of us have, they were proud to show us the places in
which they turned bare necessities in cement into love-filled homes. Because these homes are a step up from where
they used to live, a huge improvement has been made. Whereas for me, looking at these homes makes
my heart ache for these people who do not have much compared to granite countertops and
hardwood floors, like most of us living the “American Dream.”
In Wendy's home,
she had 3 rooms: one that is used as an entry way, another as a kitchen/living
room, and the last as a bedroom. A baby
was sleeping in the bedroom, and it was mentioned that this baby and Wendy
sleep in the same bed because there is no other room. This made me feel sad. Yet Wendy seemed to have no issue, and
wouldn't want it any other way.
When driving
through the neighborhood on the way to Fátima's
house, I started to notice the extreme poverty all around me. Tired young children working in the dirty
streets, pregnant women clutching three children's hands, and even dogs with
ribs showing. Fátima
and her four children greeted us with open arms and ear to ear smiles. The four children share one room with two
beds. The one other room was utilized
many different ways: Fátima and her husband's bedroom,
a living room, and a kitchen. She shared
with us the hopes and dreams she had about expanding her home and making sure
that her children are raised right. She
told us that with God's help all will be well, which inspired me to be more
faithful. Fátima
smiled at us all with a grateful gleam in her eyes which at the time I did not
understand. I realize now how absent
minded I was. Who am I to be looking at
these people in their homes with pity? Why is it that I consider myself so much better off and wealthy than
them? Yes, I may have more money and
live in a larger home than they, but they have the selflessness and positive
attitude that I hope to start practicing. We are each rich in different ways, and now I can see both sides. This is a new perspective that I have, and
that was an unintentional gift from the Phase Three women of Inhijambia.
Proverbs 3: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and
lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways
acknowledge God and God will make your paths straight.
Vinny:
Earlier the same
day we had visited Inhijambia's Phase Two house. Having visited the Phase One Welcome Center the
previous day, the only thing we might have expected was being greeted by
smiling faces, decorated bulletin boards crafted personally to welcome “Iglesia de Cristo,” and perhaps some socializing and
mingling-possibly in the form of a dance party? …Spoiler alert: We did get all
those things, but could we have expected them if we hadn't already visited the boys
at the Welcome Center? How would we otherwise
assume that we would be among these brightly lit faces so willing to accept
total strangers into the only place they have that is safe? [Vinny, this is Marilyn in Editing
mode. I changed this a little for clarity; hope it's what you intended: After
all, from what we had heard about these girls and young women, it was family
violence and abuse and trauma that had led them to join the Inhijambia
program. But there we were ….]
Pride in their
preparation, performance and presentation of costumes
Music class,
embroidered matching shirts
Sang songs in
Russian, Italian and French and English (We are the World)
They sang in
harmony
Joy enthusiasm
passion in their voices
Dance smiles
culturally proud to represent their country
Even when they
were shy – preserve radiant beaming
Journal Day 4 – 8/7/13
Erin:
In the middle of
our trip we took a break, piled into the old Jubilee House Community school
bus, and went on an overnight trip: first to the old Spanish colonial city of
Leon, and then to the beach on the Pacific Ocean.
On the way to Leon,
our bus came to a somewhat abrupt and certainly unplanned stop. We were then informed by Chico, our beloved bus
driver, that the bus had broken down because the cable
to the gas pedal had snapped. While at first unfazed by the incident, we eventually
grew impatient. Caroline, Dan and
Marilyn got the hazard triangles out of the bus and placed them on the street
for oncoming traffic. Chico messed with
wires under the hood for a while. After about 30 minutes, amidst ant invasions,
sharing of almonds, and sweaty travelers, I heard Sophie ask Ali, “Worst case
scenario, what do we do?” And Ali
responded, “I don't know.” Something we
hadn't heard on our trip thus far. We
had no backup plan.
So -- we
improvised! Dan, our Eagle Scout, asked
the group, “Does anyone have string?” And Hannah sacrificed her dental floss to help Dan repair the
engine. Just when we thought our luck
was running out, Caroline waved down a public bus. (I think it's worth it to mention that public
buses in Nicaragua are school buses that in America would be considered
inadequate). We were then instructed to
grab all of our overnight belongings and board the public bus for Leon. Needless to say we were a little
hesitant. Nevertheless we hopped on and
left Neville and Dan with Chico on the side of the road to continue repairs. Myself, Adriana,
Hannah, Kelly, Lena, Sophie and Vinny all stood in
the back of a bumpy school bus with buckets of raw fish for about 20
minutes. However, the people running the
bus were more than willing to help this pack of white people find their way to
Leon. We got off the bus at the
terminal, and people directed us to another bus a little way down the road that
would take us to the center of Leon. We
might as well have just painted target circles on us, because you don't want to
be a group of gringos walking through a street market with backpacks and purses
and just one Spanish speaker in the group (Shout out to Marilyn). We made our way to our bus, rode it a few
stops, and finally missed our stop. But
the bus driver made a lap around a few blocks and took us back to our stop so
we could find our way.
So you may be
asking yourself, “What is the point to this epic story?” Well, I suppose what I'm trying to get across
is that the bus drivers showed us nothing but the utmost respect and
hospitality, and didn't try to rip us
off, but rather helped us find our way
and asked for nothing in return but the normal bus fare. Can you imagine if a group of 10 foreigners
held up a New York commuter bus? Even if
the bus driver did spare them and help them find their way, the dirty looks you
would get from the people on the bus would be indescribable. And the looks we got from these passengers
were no such thing. They were friendly
and welcoming for the most part. And
when you're figuring out the Nicaraguan bus system, a smiling face is
definitely a comfort. In case you are
wondering how this story ends, Dan's makeshift floss contraption got him, Chico,
and Neville far enough to get them to two mechanics (the first tried to rip
them off). And get the bus fixed. They met us in Leon. We ate lunch, then boarded our familiar bus with the insides covered with
signatures, and we headed for the beach. I guess what I've learned today was, if I had to choose a group of
people to be with when our bus broke down in an impoverished country, it would
be this group.
Journal Day 5: 8/8/13
Hannah:
Once we got to the beach we enjoyed a laid-back afternoon and evening. The
following day we piled into two wooden boats for a guided tour of a nature
preserve: a tropical mangrove swamp. At one point, our guides surprised us by
inviting us to get out of the boat and follow them on a short, elevated trek
right through the tangled branches of the mangrove trees.
I am extremely
afraid of spiders – But! Even after
explaining that to Antonio (our mangrove tour guide), it did not prevent him
from ramming my face directly into an extremely poisonous banana spider. I flipped off the side of the bench and I
even contemplated jumping into the water. So I mean obviously we had to get out and climb the mangroves which are
surrounded by these venomous spiders. These spiders did not stop Antonio from exuberantly jumping onto a
mangrove branch and going “you can do it, is imagination.” I mean what else could I do, there's only so
much whining you can do until Neville calls you a valley girl; so I
jumped. I got onto the branch and
although the whole thing was a very high stress situation, everyone smiled,
laughed, and looked like they were going to vomit along the way, but that was
mostly me. This experience was the
definition of living in the moment and I nor anyone else
needed the helpful nose touch hint from our ever wonderfully beautifully patient
Alison. I was forced to be aware of the
things around me and we were forced to work together, ultimately bringing the
group closer together and getting us over the hump of mid-trip sickness. As I looked back in the mangroves I remember
thinking how does everyone look peaceful? I'm going to vomit and they're laughing. As I observed all this happiness around me it was ultimately impossible
for a smile not to form on my face. I
looked at all the beautiful people around me and as the nauseous feeling
fleeted I recognized that there was not another group of people I'd rather be
with.
Colossians 3:2 –
Clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, meekness, and patience, Bear with one another and if anyone has a
complaint against another forgive each other just as the Lord has forgiven
you. Above all clothe yourselves in love
which binds everything together.
Journal Day 6: 8/9/13: El Parque
Lena (Read by Ali):
On our third and
last day with Inhijambia, the girls from Phase Two took us to the Parque Velázquez, a new and spectacular public park for
children.
Walking into the
park – our entire group was greeted with a chorus of “hola”
and “buenos” with smiles plastered everywhere. Girls grabbing us asking for photos and
laughing uncontrollably. I already knew
that this was about to be a great time. After a short game of volleyball, we began to walk around the park. Girls were clinging to all of us and I was so
glad to be spending time with them. The
girls were proud to show us the park because it was so beautiful and they were
excited to share this experience with us. Part of the time that I especially enjoyed was at the end, when we all
sang together. Singing “We are the
World” really made it feel like we are “one world.” The girls sang songs for us and vice versa
which was just all around a fab time. I am so glad to have had this time with the Inhijambia
girls.
Adriana:
At Phase Two of
Inhijambia, it's a tradition for a few girls to share their personal stories,
their testimonios,
with the visiting group. This emotionally delicate presentation, which takes
place in a quiet room with a closed door and no distractions, helps the
visitors appreciate how much these girls have suffered in their short lives,
and how far they have come.
As we piled onto
the bus this morning I was mentally preparing for the girls' testimonios. As we walked through the doors of the day
center, the girls welcomed us with open arms and wide smiles, which took my
mind off the testimonies momentarily. When it was finally time to hear the girls' stories, Karen, the first
one to share, didn't know where to start. It was her first time actually opening up and sharing to a group of
strangers. After hearing all three girls'
stories of their traumatizing childhoods, I thought to myself, these are the
same girls we sang and danced with only a few days earlier in the week. That's the part that got to me, the fact that
these girls have gone through so much but we would have never known. They were smiling and laughing like everyone
else. When they broke down in tears
before our eyes I realized that behind the surface of a smile everyone has a
story.
