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 Nicaragua Mission Progress Report-                                                                            

January 2, 2009 

by Greg and Lois Munz

 Thanks be to God, we landed safely in Managua Nicaragua on Monday, December 29, 2009, at 10:00 p.m. in balmy 28 degree celsius temperatures. “Las Mercedes´´, the Best Western hotel that we had booked, which was near the airport was a comfortable accomodation with tropical vegetation, delicious food and friendly, professional staff.  Our plan was to wait for the other mission team members who were arriving the following day, and then travel together in a rented vehicle to Matagalpa. This allowed Greg and I to explore a little bit of Managua as tourists.

 The taxi cab ride into the downtown area was a contrast to Oakville traffic. Street vendors, standing in between the lanes of vehicles, were selling water and fruit. Riders were sitting´or standing in the backs of pick-up trucks and red lights didn´t neccessarily mean that traffic stopped. We asked to be driven to the museum and then arranged (through gestures, and the phrase book), to be picked up again at 4:00 p.m.

 The museum housed artifacts and a written history of the country from prehistoric times to the nineteenth century. An interpreter helped us with some of the information. The influences of the earthquakes and the revolution of the 1970s were evident as much restoration and rejuvenation is needed, both in a physical way and also in the psyche of the people.

 A cathedral which was once a landmark of the city, stands in ruins, in a city square. Pictures of the once resplendant structure are on display to show the comparison.  People mingle in the parks, set up stands to display local art and sell snacks and beverages. Public transportation in the form of buses, cabs and pedicabs travels along side of cars, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles and even horses and wagons. Our cab driver arrived for us at 3:00 p.m. Perhaps our communication was faulty or perhaps he knew that we would be ready to return an hour early.

The next day, our team members having arrived, we drove to Matagalpa. There were five of us; Pete, Rudy, Bill, Greg and I, packed into the cab of the truck like sardines. All of our luggage was secured in the box of the pick-up truck. We were welcomed by Pastor Hector and Vicar Immer. As the next day was New Year´s Day, a special church service was planned.

We said that we would be honoured to attend the special celebration. New Year´s Eve was a feast for the senses; a mixture of sights (fire works, candles, Christmas decorations, piñatas), sounds (fireworks, vehicle horns, music bands and sound systems, laughter and greetings), smells ( fireworks, food preparation), tastes (buffet of delicious foods and drinks) and touches (hugs and hand shakes).  New friends and neighbours welcomed us into their culture and encouraged us to take part in their celebrations.

 

 The next morning, New Year’s Day, we joined in with the congregation in praising our gracious God for allowing us to begin a new year, the year of our Lord 2009. There were two baptisms and one young man was confirmed. It was really special to join with our Nicaraguan brothers and sisters in Christ in the sacrament of Holy Communion. The approximately one hundred Spanish Bibles that Rudy brought from the Bible League of Canada were presented to the congregations of Matagalpa and Jinotega for their use.

 In the afternoon of January 1^st, we drove to Jinotega to look at the church building there. Priorities were listed to prepare for the next steps in completing the building. There is ´´mucho´´ work to be done, but also ´´mucho´´ enthusiasm, so, God willing, the project will someday see completion.

 We awake each morning to the rooster´s crow (at dawn), the fighting of the city´s cats and the communications of the local canines. We praise God for each new day and the many new experiences to which we are presented.

  Adios,

Louisa aka Lois

Nicaragua Mission Project 002 2009-01-07

 The New Year was ushered in with a special worship service at 10:00 a.m. There were two baptisms (two girls, ages approximately five and seven years) and a young man of thirteen years old was confirmed. We participated in Holy Communion with our Nicaraguan brothers and sisters in Christ. What a special bond to be united in this way!

Pastor Hector is a natural preacher. We could understand snippets of the sermon, of which the topic was the presentation of Christ at the temple. The congregation was engaged as he spoke in a friendly way (without any notes) for approximately twenty minutes.In the traditional Lutheran manner, the ladies of the church provided a lunch (rice with vegetables and chicken, and bread) cooked over an outdoor wood fire. The families socialized, welcomed us and thanked us for the Bibles and other Christian publications that Rudy had presented to the congregation.

Later in the day the mission group along with Pastor Hector and Vicar Immer drove to Jinotega to see the church and to determine what needs to be done to bring the building closer to completion. We met with Deaconess Diogeyda and the church treasurer. Measurements were taken and through a round of discussions priorities were set. On the top of list is a smoothly finished floor and further features that will improve the physical security of the building.

The team is staying at a local family owned hotel with the unassuming name of Hotel la Profe. There is a small kitchen in which they allow us to stock various breakfast foods. This makes getting ready for work each day a little faster and easier. For noon meals we often frequent a very popular cafeteria style restaurant where the lower prices attract many local business people. As it is school vacation time the various tourists from as far away as Sweden are joined by local families for a delicious but inexpensive meal. Evening meal time will find members of the team enjoying some of the many local eating establishments. On Bill`s birthday we were entertained at dinner by a five member mariachi band.

On Friday the constructors began the job of reinforcing the rafters in the church. Lacking high tech equipment like jacks and levels they resorted to simple levers (straight from high school physics class) to raise to roof and fishing line to achieve a consistent height. Then came the work of cutting and nailing (a new skill saw purchased here and spiral nails that we brought from home). The work began and progressed quickly with the assistance of Pastor Hector`s brother Leonardo who works in the construction trades.

Deaconess Christina (Pastor Hector`s wife) conducts a Bible School and play time and lunch program for about twenty-five local children (half of which are members of the congregation) on Saturdays. Christina and Lois worked together to introduce jigsaw puzzles, present a puppet play (about the Golden Rule), and review the Nativity Story.The two Bible Story books, one in English and the other in Spanish, which were used as the basis for the review of the Nativity Story were donated by Erna McBride of Christ, St. Catharines. They provide not only readable text but colourful illustrations as well.In July 2008 the Junior High Class of the Vaction Bible School at Christ Our King, Mississauga made the props for the puppet play.

As this is a lunch program there was extra work to be done. Melba (Vicar Immer`s wife) and several other women of the congregation provided a simple but nourishing meal of rice, vegetables and chicken and a drink. Lois gave out suckers to wish the children Feliz Año Nuevo (Happy New Year).

It is a real adventure each time we ride in our vehicle as the local traffic interprets road rules differently than we do. ´´Alto“ which means ´´Stop´´ to us, could be stop, slow down or swerve. There is a lot of horn-blowing – not to show anger, but to communicate. If one is driving across an intersection, one honks to let the other vehicles know. If one vehicle is passing another, honk to warn everyone involved.

 Walking along the street brings its own challenges. The sidewalk in front of each individual house is the responsibility of each individual resident. Therefore, the sidewalk could be tiled, smooth concrete, broken interlock, dirt, or a mixture of all of the above. A person has to be very vigilant or turn an ankle very easily.

Some streets are paved and quite smooth, and some have broken concrete or big rocks embedded in dry clay. The storm drains at street corners may be covered over with grates; or the grates may be missing. One could totally disappear into a drain hole, never to be seen again; or at the least break a leg.

 Nicaragua Mission Project 003 2009-01-11

Sunday January 4th was a very busy day. We attended church service in Matagalpa at 10:00 a.m. and were greeted by some of the people we had already met during the previous week. The reconstruction of the roof was progressing but not yet finished. That meant that there were several support posts in the centre aisle but no one seemed to mind. It is easy to follow the service as the congregation uses a Spanish translation of the Lutheran order of service. We recognized a number of words in the liturgy and tried to keep up and use the proper pronounciation. The hymns were easier to follow as they were generally a bit slower paced.

After lunch we took a scenic country ride to attend the 3:00 p.m. service in Jinotega. This service was similar to the one earlier in the day as Pastor Hector preached the sermon and Vicar Immer led the Liturgy. We did not understand it either time, but knew it was about the presentation of the Christ Child at the Temple. The congregation received a electronic keyboard donated by Tim Reck. The construction team worked Monday and Tuesday on reinforcing the rafters in the Matagalpa Church, and continued with the process of determining what would be done to improve the lumpy clay floor in the Jinotega Church.

Tuesday proved to be a busy day for Lois in that she had to get up very early to to join Melba and her two year old daughter Maria Angela on the one and a half hour bus ride from Matagalpa to Jinotega. She experienced another aspect of the local culture, endured the pot holes and enjoyed the beautiful scenery along the way. Once in Jinotega she joined with Vicar Immer and Deaconess Diogeyda providing activities for the first Lunch Time Program for the children of the congregation. There were jig saw puzzles to challenge and paper and pencil activities to enjoy. As it was Epiphany the story of the Wise Men was the focus of the lesson for the day.

January 6^th was also a special day for Lois in that it was her Birthday. One the she will never forget. The children wished her Happy Birthday and sang their traditional birthday wish song. Little bags containing candy and special treats were given to the children to celebrate the day. The children of the Matagalpa Lunch Program met with Lois again on Wednesday to construct paper bag puppets which were donated in kit form by the VBS youth of Christ Our King, Mississauga. The children enjoyed putting them together and making up their own puppet stories. The children were not provided with lunch as this was a special gathering, but they were treated to a very tasty cake from a local bake shop.

By this time the rafter job was complete and work was progressing on some much needed plumbing work. Two plumbers were hired to replace the main sewage line to the street and replace the shower drain which had at some point been clogged with concrete by a careless ceramic tile installer. It all works very well now. In addition there was a project planned to upgrade two houses of members of the congregation.

In one case it was the continuation of upgrades started last year and in the other it was a clearly identified critical case. A single mother and her children live in a very small building on the outskirts of the city. The area houses those who are financially challenged. Many of the houses are not really houses at all. They have dirt floors and walls of scavenged wood of various sizes and conditions. The roofs may be of corrugated metal at any stage of deterioration and some of the walls may be bits of plastic sheeting. Cooking is done over an open fire pit which may or may not be protected from the rain. There is usually a tap to supply water and an outhouse. However there are no sewers. This means that any water used by the households simply runs down the street where it has etched ditches. These ditches become fetid and in the rainy season they form flood hazards often overflowing into the adjacent houses. The residents of the homes that have been upgraded have reported fewer illnesses and generally better health.

Saturday brought another opportunity for Lois to meet with the Lunch Program children. The children were in for a bit of a surprise as during the week Lois, Cristina and her two daughters Karolay and Mariza worked very hard to produce 120 red, green, blue and yellow bean bags half of which will be sent to the church in Jinotega. Therefore the children were able to play many new games. The children shared some Spanish songs which would be familiar to you if you were here to enjoy hearing them.

Sunday service was church as usual except for the presentation of gifts and expressions of gratitude and well wishes following the service. There were many group photographs taken and email addresses exchanged. The afternoon brought one last visit to the houses which were upgraded. The families were presented with efficient, though simple cooking stoves.

Three members of the team will be leaving on the first leg of their trip home tomorrow. Rudy, Bill and Pete proved to be an effective force in getting things done and excellent ambassadors for Christ. The end of the week also saw the completion of the work Greg had been doing with Pastor Hector and Vicar Immer. There is now a signed contract for the completion of the floor of the Church in Jinotega.

Greg and Lois will be leaving Matagalpa on Monday as well. They will proceed to Somoto near the Honduran border. They will be meeting with Dr. Fiallos who along with his daughters in Canada has been instrumental in increasing school attendance and reducing the drop out rate in his village and surrounding area. We may be able to learn a few things from their experiences that will prove helpful for future projects. Greg and Lois will then go to the Mission Centre in Chinandega for a meeting with Dr. Ralph Mayan and tour the facilities.

Adios y Paz de Cristo

 

Nicaragua Missión Report 004    January 16, 2009

Three fifths of our mission team left on Tuesday January 13th to return to Canada.  Greg and Lois rented a car – first time that Greg had a chance to drive in Nicaragua –  and headed in the direction of the town of Somo in the northwestern part of the country.

As we were leaving Managua we observed large goups of police officers – some wearing riot gear – and members of the media on the road at the outskirts of the city.  We learned later that a political protest was being organized so the authorities were being proactive.

The Pan American Highway went through three distinctive topographical areas and therefore three distinctive agricultural crops were evident.  The rice fields lay on the low land which was flat to the point of accomodating rice paddies.  Tobacco crops were to be seen on the sun lit areas in culitvated fields and coffee plants were growing amongest the shade trees on the hillsides.  Company names identified which crops were processed by which companies.

When we reached Somoto we were warmly greeted by Dr. Reynaldo Fiallos and his wife Graciela.  Meeting with them was the purpose of our visit to this part of Nicaragua.  They have a farm – coffee plantation in the nearby mountain village of Las Sabanas.  It is here that the coffee we recently sold as a fundraiser was grown. 

The Fiallos family in Nicaragua is instrumental in every part of the coffee-production process;  from growing seedlings in a nursery for distribution to small land owner, to watching the plants take root and grow, to harvesting the beans and getting them ready to ship to Canada.  In London, Ontario, Canada, the younger generation receives the beans at their roasting facility, does the custom roasting and packages them ready for market.

The micro managed personal attention of these select beans yields a superior quality product.

The family is very conscious of environmental responsibility and social consequences of this vast undertaking.  New – better procedures and processes are introduced as they become available but only if they do not compromise the quality of the product.

The family foundation has been organized to carry out charitable work to assist children in the pursuit of an education.  School uniforms and supplies have been donated, lunch programs implemented, sports equipment provided, and a two room preschool built.  The intent is to aid and educate in the community so it will raise its own standard of living.

The municipality of Somoto straddles the old ways of waking up to the crow of a rooster and the peal of church bells each hour of the day and night and yet embraces the new ways of providing a smooth two lane highway through the mountains:  through breath taking buenas vistas.

To be invited to sit down to a meal of locally grown fried bananas, melted cheese from their own cows, tortillas, fresh from the henhouse scrambled eggs and coffee was indeed very special.

When we return to Canada it is our intention to sell Las Chicas del Cafe coffee and use the profit to fund some Lutheran Mission Projects.

To say that our ride to the elementary school in Las Sabanas in a 30 plus year old Toyota Land Cruiser was bumpy is a gross understatement.  These rutted, boulder dotted trails were a challenge to walk or navigate on horseback, so without the vehicle torque and experienced driving skills of Reynaldo the trip would have been impossible.  However once there we could see the kitchen and dining facilities that their foundation built and supports as well as the gardens in which the children plant vegetables to supply fresh produce to eat and also to teach how to be more self-reliant.

Our hosts very patiently led us through some of their history and more of the recent history of the country – earth quakes, hurricanes, political violence and strife.  As it is neither black nor white in so many landscapes, so also it is the inumerable shades of gray that paint the canvas of this country.

Our drive to Chinandega took us for the first time west of Managua.  The topography was quite flat which makes it easier to cultivate the land.  As we drove along the shore of Lake Managua we could see volcanic shapes in the distance.  One cone even had some smoke drifting from its summit.

Once we arrived in Chinandega we had lengthy discussions with Dr. Ralph Mayan who is the Interim Mission Executive for Lutheran Church Canada and Roberto Carlos who is the Volunteer Mission Coordinator for the Mission Centre in Chinandega.

Lois and Greg who are members of the LCC Nicaragua Coordinating Committee presented the Mission Statement, goals and objectives of the NCC to Dr. Mayan and Roberto Carlos.  This led to a discussion of the role that the NCC should play in assisting the Mission Centre.

The prime role of the NCC in relation to the Mission Centre is to provide up-to-date communication between the Mission Centre and those interested in participating in mission work.

The NCC will utilize its web-site to gather information from groups and individuals who are interested in working on Mission Centre approved mission projects.  The Mission Centre will be establishing a prioritized list of these projects for publication on the NCC web-site.

God has indeed blessed the mission work in Nicaragua and we pray that His presence will continue to be felt…..

As our time in Nicaragua is coming to a close we are looking forward to returning home to be reunited with family and friends.  But then we hear that the temperature is low and the snow is high….

Adios, Paz de Cristo

Louisa y Gregorio

 

Nicaragua Report Final Days and Some Reflection

In Chinandega we had the opportunity to visit several churches and attend a Sunday service. We were made to feel welcome even though we had some language difficulties. Fortunately we were accompanied by Dr. Mayan, and Roberto Carlos, whom we called upon to use his translation skills. The three churches that we saw were of a fairly standard design being constructed with concrete walls, glassless steel grilled windows, ceramic floors, and steel roofs. They are painted different colours according to local tastes. They have no pews so the congregations sit on plastic chairs. This makes it easy to use the church sanctuary for other purposes.

 The last church we visited was in a town called Rancheria. Again we were accompanied by Dr. Mayan and Roberto Carlos. The town is in a rural area some distance from Chinandega and is not unlike many other towns we had passed through over the previous weeks: rough unpaved streets, makeshift buildings interspersed among more sturdy structures. There were dogs, chickens, pigs, and children sharing the public areas.

 When we arrived at the church we were greeted by a refreshing scene. Several children were sweeping the yard while a number of volunteer mothers worked together to prepare the noon meal. The church is on a reasonably sized piece of property which allows for an open play area and a church hall which is used for the lunch and dinner programs.

 Deaconess Lisbeth Rivera and Deaconess Milagros from the Mission Centre work together to make it all happen. Milagros rises early each day to go to the market in Chinandega to purchase the perishable items for the day’s meals and then takes a 45 minute bus ride to Rancheria. A group of volunteer mothers, on a team rotation schedule, prepare the meals in a typical outdoor kitchen. The kitchen area is roofed and surrounded by half-height walls. This allows the smoke from the cooking fires to escape, but not before it wafts around the busy cooks. (Even the most basic church kitchens we have seen in Canada are luxurious in comparison to the ones we saw in Nicaragua.) Once the noon meal is served Milagros catches the bus back to the city to take up her duties at the Mission Centre for the afternoon. The next day she does it all again.

 Twenty five children of the congregation make up a portion of the approximately 90 children who are fed both lunch and supper. Before this program began there was obvious evidence of malnutrition in the town; bloated bellies, skins infections, watery eyes, etc. The attendees are identified by local health authorities who volunteer their time. During the school year the children of the congregation not only get fed but they also attend religious classes and receive academic tutoring based on input from their teachers at school. From my own perspective, this is an essential program: one which is making a real difference in the spiritual and physical wellbeing of the children of Rancheria. There are other towns which are not so fortunate.

 On our last full day in Chinandega, we went to the coast to have lunch on the beach and enjoy the breezes coming in off the Pacific Ocean. We knew that before long we would be back in Canada and be faced with minus degree Celsius temperatures and mountains of snow. Before leaving we reflected on the many things we had seen and the people we had met. The scenery throughout Nicaragua is beautiful; from coastal and central plains, to mountain vistas, blue skies, and fields of sugar cane, tobacco, peanut fields, the smoking volcanoes and lakes the size of inland seas.

 Waking at night to the sound of a rooster proclaiming his majesty, the competing responses of other fowl who disagree, the feral dogs claiming their territory, the cats fighting over whatever cats fight over, and the reassuring private security guards communicating with each other by blowing their whistles. The cry of a child, the throaty roar of a desiel truck as it over takes a bus crowded with workers, the whine of a Chinese two-stroke motorcycle ferrying a family of four across a sea of potholes and coverless storm drains. An endless sea of traffic constrained by the ebb and flow of the market is to be navigated cautiously; one moves with the flow when it shifts to the desired direction like a school of unruly fish.

 The little street shops, housed in the front rooms of residences, the many drug stores, street vendors, leather goods, hats, cooked chicken and other unidentifiable, but tasty edibles, the grocery stores, barber shops, appliance stores that also have motorcycles in the showrooms; all a part of the collage. There are nationalistic monuments paying tribute to the revolutionaries and religious displays in public parks alongside the flowering bushes and walkways.

 But most of all we remember the people, energetic, busy, hard working, low paid, struggling to make a living in the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and yet happy and willing to share what they have. We met any number of people like ourselves, people from other parts of the world working to do what they can to improve the lives of those who must stay when we leave for home. And we met families from different levels of the local society, the ones who are relatively well off to those whose families are destined by circumstance to live in poverty without hope of an education or a decent paying job. We met a family who uses its business skills and international experience, to not only provide jobs, but also give the gift of educational opportunities to the children of the community.

 We were there to help, and we would like to think that we made some small contribution to those who are doing the real work – the Nicaraguan Ministers, Deaconesses, Missionaries, and their families, the Nicaraguan Lutheran Synod officials and the support staff. These are the ones who are doing what really matters. We only provide assistance to them so they can work on spreading the Gospel.

 We are home now and back into the routine of life in Canada, but, God willing, we will return…