Last 3 days in Nica - CHE, Market, Beach, Baptism, and more....

Friday (Day 7) morning while the rest of the group had to paint roofs and work on some landscaping, I had the opportunity to visit some of the Nicaragua CHE sites with a representative from our church. 

What is CHE? – (http://www.chenetwork.org/whatische.php) well - (CHE aka Community Health Evangelism) helps identify a group’s needs, evaluate their God-given resources, and find possible solutions to improve their situations. Spiritual teaching releases the power of Christ into the communities as people understand God’s purpose and vision for their lives. CHE often includes instruction on hygiene, clean water, safe cooking, latrines, health care, HIV/AIDS prevention and care, and other basic life issues. CHE outreach programs are designed to reach non-Christians and are focused on evangelism, follow-up, and discipleship. I visited three different CHE sites that were 3 hours from Los Cedros up into the mountains. The roads (if that’s what one would call them) were hard and jarring and this was an update from the non-road access prior. They were more like large rocks/gravel placed into a line. People from the villages still must walk an hour to the bus stop to be able to get groceries not brought or harvested in the mountains. Our first stop was for lunch at the head CHE trainer for the 3 villages. He was a pastor and also taught in the local k-12 school. His wife headed up the women’s organization and the “Health Home” project. Health Home has 3 levels of certification. For a home to reach these levels there must be a toilet/latrine of some sort (usually not attached to the house, more like an outhouse, but with lack of building structure usually was tarp on 3 sides with a shower curtain like door built up around cinder blocks), clean water access, and certain levels of hygiene. We ate lunch at the CHE trainer’s home, a level 3 (highest level) Health Home. The floors were hard pressed dirt/mud. The dining area was on the porch area and consisted of a card table and 4 plastic chairs. From there I could see into the living room/master bedroom area where a large hammock hung in the middle with a small tv and some photos nailed to the cardboard and scrap walls. The children’s (3 of them) sleeping room was in the back and not viewable. The kitchen was just off the porch and had a stove, but since electricity had only been brought to the village recently, it was flaky and more important to power the 2 light bulbs in the house. So the pastor’s wife cooked out lunch over an flames in a hand made wood fire. Dishes and shower, she informed us, proud of her clean water status, were in the back outside. The latrine sat a bit down the hill away from the house. I ate lunch (chicken with rice and corn and amazing spices!) next to a chicken who was warming her eggs and looking not happy that I was eating her kin. 

They gave us each a glass bottle of pop and tried to overfeed us. The home had 2 pet birds that hopped along the lines of electricity in the home. From there we visited the church and meeting hall. There we saw the village pharmacy as well as how some of the men and women were being trained in ways to create goods that were sellable through free trade. The women were learning to embroider fancy hankies and table cloths while the men were learning metal art. I convinced them to sell me one of the last crosses they had left. 

From there we went to the last village where there was a children’s CHE initiative in place. This included dental work and nutritional information. Children could then teach their parent’s and families about these things. The day was long and while we left at 730 am, we did not return til almost 10 pm. Exhausted. I was both humbled and amazed by the work of God, his people, the CHE program, and how my church helps support CHE.

Saturday (Day 8) -  Began with some more landscaping and playing with the children. Shortly after lunch, we left for the market in town. For the locals it is more of a swap meet, but there is a tourist section as well (which the locals avoid). There are trinkets and gadgets and hamoocks everywhere. Everything from cigars, liquor, leather goods, purses, jewelry, wood carved animals, crosses, t-shirts, dresses, signs, posters, etc. We all haggled the afternoon away. I cam back with cigars for my dad, crosses for the women in my life, a machete for the boyfriend, and a t-shirt and single person reader hammock for myself.

Sunday (Day 9) began bright and early with church. We arrived at 730 am to allow set up of the 3 people from our group leading worship there. Church didn’t start til 10am….. blurgh. But it gave the team and some of the home church’s members an opportunity to fix the electricity which had blacked out during the night. 

After an hour and half of church worship and sermons we headed out back to Los Cedros….. to pick up the kids and head to Pochomil (the nearest beach “resort”). We built sand castles and took the little ones jumping in the waves. We bought them cokes and ice creams and chilled out in hammocks. 3 of the team members, myself included, were baptized in the waters there. 

The Pacific ocean at Pochomil was my 2^nd baptism (my first when I was a baby as Lutheran tradition goes). It was a choice I had grappled with since the last time I was Nicaragua. Being around the people I want to serve in my future career and mission work moved me and I wanted to make a conscious decision to dedicated my heart to this. The day finished out with more kid time and some home made tortillas (with gallo pinto beans and rice of course!)

Monday (Day 10)  was our last morning to play with the kids. We then divided into 2 groups to go walk through the local barrios, to see some of the other living conditions and some of the areas where the kiddos came from. Sewage ran in the streets, shacks as smaller than me bedroom would house a family of 5+, and children ran around barely clothed. As we approached some families, we asked if we could pray for them, and their needs. Some prayer requests included prosperity, financial security, illnesses ranging from diabetes (unchecked without $ for insulin), cancer, learning disabilities, physical disabilities, for family wellness, and for spiritual strength. The afternoon was a shock for most people who had never been to a barrio or seen some grave circumstances. 

From there we headed out to Villa Esperanza, a campus for girl’s homes. (http://www.forwardedge.org/childsponsorship/villaesperanza.shtml ) Each home had a house mom and 8 girls. The girls were from a local dump where people would dig into the trash to make cave like homes and use the little girl children (as young as 5) as prostitutes for the garbage truck delivery men. The girls were taken (with their parent’s permission) from the dump (often with their little sisters) to Villa Esperanza (village of hope). There they received an education and life training in addition to religious discipleship. Their contracts with parents said they would get through HS training, trained in how to keep a home and family, as well as job training, all with a focus on a Christ centered life.

After Villa esperanza we headed to pizza hut for an American dinner and to the hotel near the airport. The hotel is 3 hours from Los Cedros where we were, but across the street from the airport, which made our 430 am departure time a little less painful.

Tuesday morning 330 am came early for packing and getting to the airport to begin the long trek home which had us arriving in Spokane at 930pm!

Nicaragua is a country of natural riches and beauty. Its people are kind, welcoming, and have huge hearts. They are strong and proud of what they have. I am blessed to know some of them. I am blessed to have seen a country with such potential. I cannot wait to see what happens to this country and people. I hope someday to return again and again, to continue work I have taken part in and maybe, start something new. Only God knows the future. Faith is not knowing what the future holds, but Who holds the future.