La Chureca

Wednesday marked one and a half years of me living in Nicaragua.  In that time I’ve written 67 of these posts.  I was thinking I could use this as a time to reflect on the past 18 months, but you can reflect on your own and instead I’ll do a little spotlight on La Chureca

I have mentioned the city dump, La Chureca, before.  It has the normal mountains of trash and squalor that you would expect from a dump but also has 1,000 to 1,500 residents, a school, a clinic, a church, and a few other community service organizations.  There is a battle of wills between some of the non-profits that serve there on what way the people can best be helped.   On Thursday there was an event to raise awareness of both the people that live there and of the organizations that are stationed there. 

The day was called Dia de Luz. Since the group, Manna Project International, that I am working with helps out at the clinic in La Chureca I went to the event.  It was a very interesting day.  There were about 300 gringos there, mostly mission teams that are down for spring break projects.  They got together and walked through the dumps flying kites and kicking soccer balls, like a big parade.  I checked out at this part and went to the clinic.  There I got the basics about the basic services offered there so I would be ready to explain to the visitors when the parade passed by.  I am probably, out of all the people at MPI, the least qualified to give tours of  the clinic,  but I got pretty good at skirting around questions when I didn’t know the answer. My favorite thing to tell them was that  “we are expanding really rapidly,” this works for everything from questions about how much it costs to run to how many people come in daily.  My favorite was when people assumed that I work there every day, then I had to admit that it was only my forth time at La Chureca and my first time in the clinic then I  would quickly draw their attention to things that I do know about.  To finish of the day there was a free concert, by the group Braddigan who sponsored the event. 

Besides being completely exhausting physically, Dia de Luz made me do some thinking.  Why am I no longer absolutely blown away by the extreme poverty that surrounds me?  How can people be helped?  How can I help people?  Is it true that any little bit counts?  I know in theory that sounds fine, but what about the whole “one step forward two steps back” concept?  With all these conflicting ideas I was reminded of grace.  A friend pointed out that more than we realize we commit cultural faux pas yet the Nicaraguans still graciously welcome us into their lives.  I am learning more and more that I am responsible for my own thoughts and actions and not those of others.  Who am I to say God can’t work in people’s lives using a parade of gringos and a concert?  And if that is what He wants to do I can’t get in the way by having a cynical attitude.  And I can’t help anyone if I am focused on myself and my problems.       

I got a new cell phone this week.  I am now on a corporate plan with Manna, I get cheaper calls and unlimited texting within network.   This is exciting because cell phone fees are atrocious in this country and now I don’t have to worry about them.

I hope you have lovely Monday.

Love, Joy