What Are We Up To?

Life here continues to keep us busy. Since the learning groups left in the beginning of January we have been busy working on renewable energy projects. We are finishing up a potable water project using solar panels to pump water from a well to two large tanks to store water for the community. Each house will have a faucet, which has access to the tanks. Previously, the people had to go to the well and carry 5 gallon buckets (on their heads) to have water in their houses. We will be finishing up the project by the end of this month including capacitations on: renewable energy, family hygiene, the environment, reforestation, agriculture, nutrition, and gender equity.

We are also working on another project installing solar panels for electricity in individual homes. The community we are working in does not have a road and is an hour hike (up hill), so all the panels and equipment are carried by horse or on peoples shoulders. This is a micro credit project. The families have up to 3 years to pay back the systems and choose how much energy they want (30, 50, 80, 100, 120 watts), which each costing differently. We trained 6 technicians in the community to be able to provide maintenance and help us with installations. We will be finishing this next week.

We installed two different drip irrigation systems using solar panels to pump the water. Teustepe, the area where we work, has a 6-7 month long dry season where there is no work (planting), so these drip irrigation systems are a way for farmers to have a harvest year round for consumption and profit. The drip irrigation system is a relatively new idea for Aso Fenix and Seth has been a able to help develop the system.


We will be starting two micro hydroelectric projects in two different communities the end of this month that we will be working on until through the end of May.

Looking Back Over This Past Year

Life here in Nicaragua is so much slower paced than in the states, which has helped me to focus more on my relationship with God. In this past year I have learned things about myself and about who my God really is. Growing up in a christian church I had heard various times that God loves us, what I did not realize was that his love is measureless and what that means in my life. There is no measure to God´s love, there is nothing I can do to make him love me more or less, his love is never changing. Once I realized this it was freeing, I wake up every morning knowing I am loved and through this non-judgmental love I learn to trust him more and more. All God wants from me is to love him because he first loved me, there is nothing more God wants then to restore his relationship with humans.

Something I have never liked was the fire and brimstone approach, which is why I never wanted to evangelize, but this is not what God intended. If God's focus is to restore our relationship with him shouldn't that show how important relationships are to God? The gift of his love is what should draw people to his side and that is how the great commission should be done and not on a soap box, but through relationships. After being here for a little over a year I can see that is why I am here, to build relationships. We can never know which relationships God will use therefore, we must invest in all of them and remember to always prioritize relationships over everything else in our lives.

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