The Story of La Chuscada

This is the community I worked for in the Summer of 2013.

Nicaragua Notes 2013

Nicaragua Trip 2013

I am back from my annual trip to Nicaragua, and while these notes are late, most of it was written while I was there.

Saturday(7/13)

We started with a 1215 red eye flight from San Francisco to Houston. We then had what seemed like an interminable layover. It took 5 hours and I was in a fog the whole time due to lack of sleep and liberal application of benadryl. We flew into Managua, and then took a bus to Leon. We then spent an hour in the Sandinista history museum, and got a fascinating read on the revolution and counter-revolution from a Nicaraguan perspective. The guide was a guerrilla from the 80s, and was very polite, but was very upfront on the US role in the revolution in the 80s,and the role of the US in the assassination of Augusto Sandino.  Most of his discussion with us was on the roof of the building which had a great view of the city of Leon. We then drove to Chinandega and had dinner.

The view from the Sandinista History Museum

Sunday

Today we got up at 7 had breakfast and went to mass at the church adjacent to the property. The mass was in Spanish but luckily the priest spoke slowly. After a brief orientation we got on the buses and drove to Cerro Negro. I have written about this  before, and I am confronted by a question. What happens when the transcendent becomes ordinary? Yes it was a hike in an amazing location, but the novelty has warn off. Then we took a 90 minute ride back to the compound for dinner.

The view into the major crater of Cerro Negro Volcano

Monday

This morning we had a brief orientation, and then went out to the communities. This year's project was in La Chuscada.  It is a community about a 20 minute drive outside of Chinandega along the highway. It is a 20 min walk into the jungle from the highway. Most of our work was along what appeared to be a viaduct from an old watershed project. For whatever the reason, I worked harder than I ever have, manually. It was gratifying, but also tiring. No trouble with allergies. Mostly work with a shovel and a pickaxe, which is called a piocha in Nicaraguan Spanish. I worked with a 17 year old boy named Alfredo,who was one of the hardest workers I have ever seen. There was also a 13 year old girl named Patricia who worked hard as well. I also bought cheese bread,  called a palmita, from Lola, who is from Santa Catalina, one of the first communities that this NGO built. It was a great day.

The crew working on the trench monday

Digging in the trenches with Beth, the Gales and Alfredo

Tuesday

We went back to La Chuscada today do do some more digging. We laid 740 feet of pipe, versus 500 feet yesterday. Today I dug alongside a 13 year old girl named Isabel who worked extremely hard...because she was building a project for HER community. We started early, 9am, and dug until noon. Then after lunch we took a community tour to see their new water tank. There were other people who made a big impact on me today. The first was another 13 year old girl named Milago, whose name means miracle. She was working with her cousin, and was not very tall. The contrast with my daughter Anna was stark, yet the all held the same traits, namely they are strong independent young women. The final person who made an impression was one of the women on staff. ( I'll protect her identity in case she reads this)    During evening devotional, she shared a story of how she made a decision that ultimately caused all of us to be late by 45 minutes...which in Nicaragua is being on time)  She said she felt terrible, and shared how she had struggled with depression. But that for the first time she had been able to realize how her negative thoughts were wrong and that she didn't have to be held captive by them. I stopped by to talk to her afterwards, an told her how strong and brave I thought she was. I also told her that what happened was important because she could now heal. What she was able to do was to recognize a negative thought, and self-correct. And that is one of the first steps in healing from depression.

Also, a bunch of the youth did the Harlem Shake in the trench they we're building. 

Wednesday

Wednesday's are my favorite days in Nicaragua. We get to visit the orphanage, and I get to visit Chilo. I have written about her in the past. I could not see her last year, since she had to have surgery, but this year, she was there, sitting in her chair. She is severely disabled, and has little motor control, but she enjoy playing "futball" where I hold the ball for her left leg to kick. She is so grateful and laughs in in the most miraculous way. Afterwards, we toured the town.

Thursday

Today we were back in the village of La Chuscada digging again, and I was working alongside Milagro again, who work has hard as any of us. I also had a chance to talk to the head of the village,  Sebastian, who kept using the word "historico" or historic, for what this work, the promise of clean water,  would mean to the community for the future of La Chuscada.

Friday

Today we had a "fun day" with the community. It was also the "triumph of the revolution"  day.  We went out to the community and had Mass. It was the first time many of the people in the village had seen in years. It was in both English and Spanish and was very moving. We prayed over Sebastian's wife who had cancer. We then had lunch, peanut butter and jelly as always, in the community. We then had a baseball game with the folks of la Chuscada. We lost badly. They have some great players down there, soccer too. And most of then play barefoot. We then had the talent show, and my team did a bad interpretive dance version of Genesis 1. We won the fan favorite version.
  And I got to say good by to the woman on staff, but not before telling her how brave and strong she was.

Alfredo, his pal, and the baseball game

Saturday

Saturday was a travel day, and we got home after 1am on Sunday.

Postscript

After a lot of reflection, it occurred to me that this is the most impactful thing I do in my life. Without the experience in Nicaragua, I would not have made it through the first half of this year. Doing this kind of work changes and deeply impact you in many ways.

The full set of pictures is here.

Easter: The Value of Faith (for me).

Many of you know that I have had some bad luck lately. Some of it self-inflicted, some not. What this has caused me to do is strip out all the superfluous things in my life and focus on the important things.

One thing that has been a great comfort to me, in addition to my family, has been my Catholic faith.

Am I religious? I don't know. That's for others to determine. What I will say is that I could not have made it through these times without the lessons my Catholic faith taught me.

What are those things? There are really two things:

1. Life is hard. And Life is unfair.
2. Even though you are greatly flawed, you still have a path to salvation. There is always hope.

Consider the following people:

1. Saint Peter, the first pope: He denies Jesus 3 times (!) and still gets to be the first pope.
2. Saint Paul, the great evangelist: Actively persecutes Christians, until the Road to Damascus.
3. Saint Augustine, the great teacher: "Grant me chastity  and continence...but not just yet"
4. Zaccheus, the Tax Collector(Luke 19): Jesus chooses the despised to preach his message.

These men are all deeply flawed, and yet are welcomed by Jesus in one way or another. It is this message that, when facing the toughest times in my life, give me hope. It is the notion that, in all my imperfections, there is still hope for me.

During Good Friday, we say a litany that prayers for other Christians, our brothers the Jews, those of faith who do not believe in Jesus, and who have no faith. The latter gives me the most pause. Without my culture, my faith, I am not sure I could have made it through January and February of this year. And since bad things do happen, how do people with no faith make it through hard times? I really can't fathom this, unless they get help from other people. This is where James 2:26 comes in: Life is hard, and we have to help the people who need it. I must live a life of faith PLUS action.

This Easter, I am grateful for my family and friends, all of whom have helped me through a difficult time. I owe you more than you can know, and I'll be happily working off that debt the rest of my life. Thank you.