Smiles and Clean Hands

With our first learning tour in December, I had the opportunity to do two capacitations (trainings) on hand washing and teeth brushing with the kids in Bramadero. I prepared everything for the two different capacitations and the students from the group from Cal Poly, were able to lead the capacitations. We did activities like reading a story about both topics, had several crafts relating to the topics and then hands on learning exercises (washing their hands and teeth brushing on a mouth model). It worked out good for me to be able to go around and observe instead of leading the workshop since it was my first time doing these capacitations, so I could see what worked well or needed improvement. One of the students was able to get some toothbrushes donated to hand out, so each child that participated was given one. Also, we were able to give out small toothpastes to each child from Seth's parents church in South Dakota.

The kids really enjoyed the entire workshop, but I thought it was mainly because it was something fun to do. A couple weeks after we did the capacitation we were back in Bramadero and several of the girls were at our house and they said "Sara, can I wash my hands?", I said, "yes, of course." They begin washing their hands and telling me how to wash tier hands "you need to scrub your fingers, wrists, and the front and back of your hands for 20 seconds". During that same visit in Bramadero, I was with another child who had food in his teeth and I told him he needed to brush his teeth and I had the opportunity to review how, why and when we need to brush our teeth. Later that same day I saw that child and he made sure to show me he had brushed his teeth. It is always rewarding to see people beginning to change for the better, but for me it is the most rewarding to see a child take hold of something and make changes.

I will be doing my first capacitation with adults in February in a community where we recently installed a potable water system using solar panels. They will be over hygiene, germs and how they affect our health and nutrition (what we need to eat to be healthy). I am looking forward to sharing some of my knowledge in order to help them improve their health. I am greatful God is using me in this way.

The Bramadero Slumber Party

During the last group when we were in Bramadero I had the privilege to have three girls from the community stay with me in our house. Seth head to return to Managua to bring up more supplies and drop off one of the group members in Managua. I was planning on staying by myself, but Jaime, my boss, suggested it would be better if someone stayed with me. It is not that it was unsafe, but more culturally a woman would not stay in a house by herself, so he suggested someone from the learning group or a girl I knew from the community stay with me. So I decided it would be a great time to have a slumber party. Three cousins stayed with me, Catie (8 years old), Berta (7 years old) and Jacinta (10 years old). They were so excited, partly because they got to sleep on mattresses and also they could stay up late (past 8 pm) and play with our games/toys. We colored, took silly pictures and had fun talking. We have two beds, so the two little ones slept on the smallest mattress and the older one, Jacinta, slept in my bed. The next morning they all helped sweep the floor and straighten up the house...I don't think they wanted to leave, but eventually their moms began to call them and they went their separate ways. That night before heading back to our house I saw all three girls and they asked me if Seth was back because if not they were ready to stay with me again...Seth had returned, so no more slumber parties.
It was a lot of fun and will always be a special memory for me.

Throw a clock out the window (how to make time fly)

Well, its 2009 and time is really flying by. It is hard to believe that it has been over a month since we posted, but the month has really flown by. We have been very busy, but it was nice to see some things come together that we have been planing for a long time.


We had two tourism/working and learning groups come down. We spent time in several of the communities we work in, including Bramadero. The groups spent several days in the different communities working on small projects, getting to know the locals, and understanding what rural life is like in Nicaragua. It was a good time to catch up with people from the US and make some new friends. But it was also a little strange being in a large group of North Americans, with everyone speaking English and talking about "normal" things from the states. All in all it was a great experience, and we were glad to be part of if.

We had two days free between the groups 24th and 25th and went to Granada to spend some time relaxing by the pool, sleeping in, and eating good food. We found a new grocery store that had just opened up and had some fun things from the states. So for Christmas day we ate real cheddar cheese, humus, wheatables, cashews, honey roasted peanuts, and twix bars. It was actually a really nice treat. We also visited several restuarants and had a nice turkey Christmas Eve dinner.

We spent New Years in Bramadero with the group, but were so tired we went to bed at about 9:30. But we did have a nice dinner with 5 of the families that had helped us with the groups, it was a nice time of sharing.

The day our last group left we started a spiritual retreat with the entire Central American MCC staff. There were about 60 people in all. It was a nice of reflection and time with others who share a similar vision.

Tomorrow, we had off to Bramadero to work on a small irrigation project that we installed with one of the groups. It looks like we will have a pretty busy several months, working on different projects and what not. But as with the tourism groups it is nice to see our work paying off.

This is just a small account of what has been happening, we will be sharing more detailed stories of these experiences in the next several weeks when we have more time to sit down.

Happy New Year to all

Tis That Time of Year

Last weekend some of the MCC volunteers got together to make Christmas cookies. Each person had in mind the cookies/candy they wanted to make that was part of their Christmas customs. We made pepper nuts, peanut brittle, peanut butter fudge, short bread cookies, sugar cookies and chocolate peanut butter covered ritz crackers. My family's tradition is to make and decorate sugar cookies and peanut brittle. I had never heard of pepper nuts, but they are a small cookie (tastes like a snicker doodle) that both Beth and Matt make with their families for Christmas. The other recipes were things we wanted to try to make. We had a good time and it felt a little bit like being home, which was a blessing.
That same night Alan and Beth hosted an advent service at the MCC office. There was singing, scripture reading and we lit the four candles (they represented Peace, Hope, Joy and Love) of advent in one night. It was a great time to focus on God as the Christmas season is approaching.

Breaking and Entering

Being white (gringo or chele) here in Nicaragua we always have Nicaraguans telling us how dangerous Mangua is and we need to be very careful. Of course we are careful, but we feel for us it is no different then living in any big city in the states...the only difference here is we stand out more. We have always felt safe here in Nicaragua and still do, but have now experienced a piece of the danger everyone has warned us about.

This past weekend we returned to the MCC office after being out in the country side for a couple days to find the office had been broken into. Someone was staying in the office, but had been gone all day. Every house in Managua has bars covering everything, so I figured we were safe...and we were to an extent. Someone had broken in through a bedroom window by prying the bar that covered the window. The person rummaged through the directors room (she is on home leave so we don´t what was stolen from her) and then to our room. We had several things stolen (most of it only had moneterial importance, but a few things had sentimental value). The odd thing about the robbery was that there appeared to be poop smeared on the wall where the person entered and then the bathroom floor was covered in water and there were a pair of pants in the trash. After describing to the police what had happened they were certain who the perpetrator was. The young person has a colostomy bag (now the smeared poop and the pants in the trash make sense) and steals so he can get money for drugs. He was released from jail three days prior.

Once a ¨face¨ was put to the robber, I could not stop thinking about how sad that persons life must be. His life is ruled by his addiction, so much so that he did not even take the precautions to not get caught (the cops knew it was him as soon as we described the smeared poop on the wall). They mentioned he was young, so what hope does he have being an addict? I am sure he will get caught, end up in jail again, but get out and do it again. There is no money or governemental program here to help him to get off drugs or perhaps he does not want to get off. The thought that contiunes in my mind is that only God´s love can rescue him from his life of addiction, so that is my prayer that he will be open to know God´s love and through that God will change his life.