More about the Nicaragua Trip...

Join us in church Sunday (Aug. 24) when the youth and adults who participated in our mission trip to Nicaragua will lead the worship service and share their experiences.  Together the youth have planned, chosen and written the elements of the worship liturgy and during the Sermon time will share individual thoughts and experiences from the trip.  Please join us! Worship starts at 10 a.m. There also will be special music by Susan Powers and Jeff Berman who were our primary music and art instructors with the folks at El Porvenir. 

Here is some background: A group of 23 (16 youth and 7 adults) traveled to Nicaragua June 25-July 3. We were hosted by the mission organization CEPAD located in Managua and spent four days at the remotely located coffee cooperative called El Porvenir situated high in the mountains outside of Leon.  The days at El Porvenir were spent learning about the cooperative, getting to know the people that live there and teaching music and art to the children and adults. 

While on the trip, we kept a community journal in which the youth could write as they felt called to about their experience. Below are some more entries and notes from the journal. Click here to read earlier posted journal entries.

Notes from our discussion about Poverty
Why are people poor?

Money
ignorance
self centered
no opportunities
different culture
corruption
government
attachment
unhappy
lack of curiosity
lack of communication
lack of grace
loneliness
learned helplessness
oppression
lack of empathy
natural disasters
lack or resources
addiction

Some journal entries:

     Today was very busy with staring the (art and music ) classes and trying to get our ideas across the language barrier. I felt a little tired today because I was woken by the roosters. I really like seeing the mountains and volcanoes from the top of the mountain. We saw a few birds that were really nice, but we only found out the Spanish names for them.  I really enjoyed seeing the coffee, cocoa, banana, and mango trees as well as the leaf cutter ants and the really large tree. I don’t miss much, I am just really happy that I have seen so much already and that I haven’t gotten sunburn yet.
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Before the day started (Sunday), 4 a.m. to be exact, we heard singing and music coming from the farm. It wasn’t until later that we found out that there was a church service and we were invited to join them at 10 for another service. However, the first event of the day started at 2:30 when Katherine developed a sickness and ended up needing to go to the clinic.  We hung out with the kids and did music and art. Then we ate rice and beans and played a game.
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Wednesday: Masaya and the Lagoon

The eggs for breakfast this morning were salty like my eyes because this is our last day.
So, today we went to Masaya and an artisan market, and people bought a lot of stuff- anything from     bracelets to backpacks to hammocks were purchased.
Art lived  in the ashen beaches of a live volcano.
Market vendors screeched and moaned with the desperation of a flock of vultures.
Cuban cigars turned to smoke and lungs filled with fluid.
Warm greenish water welcomed aliens, embraced them with all their mistakes.
Late night yoga seemed like a good idea.
When you are doing it, it doesn't.
Materialism has been successfully indulged in a tourist trap.
The man show old the cigars had silver fillings.
I ate fish but it felt like I ate nothing.
No one looks good in a swimsuit.
My concerns evaporated in the smoke of my 7^th cigarette.
I hope that cat is alive and well.
Maybe he is dead.
I hope he noticed the dirt on my fingernails through the puss in his eyes.
Andrew’s leg got hurt, what will I know him as now?

Jenny Jumped, but not really.

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The community was so misogynistic. The girls don’t even get a childhood or a life. Anne noticed the 7 and 8 year old girls holding their little brothers on their hips, but so did the 16, 20, 30 and 60 year old women.  Elizabeth and Anne also noticed that when they were trying some sports the Nicaraguan guys were laughing and whispering to each other.  But, our girls kept playing and the guys started to respect them.  We saw almost no girls without any other girls or little kids by them.

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