Hola from Nicaragua,
I’m sorry I haven’t posted a blog for several days. We were very busy and it takes ME several hours to put these blogs together with the pictures…I have some catching up to do. The second picture above is of an active volcano named Mombacho. They have a great zip line on the mountain with 15 different platforms. The next to last picture is of me and Celina. Celina is the girl that has asked me to escort her at her high school graduation next year. The last picture is of Dennis, Dini and Donnie.
Tuesday after visiting the building sites, we left to go to Caterina to visit Enrique and his family. Caterina is a lagoon created in a volcano. There is a picture of us standing in front of it. Where this picture is taken is a tourist area. Enrique lives at the bottom in the house of a Korean Presbyterian Missionary. Enrique is a Korean Presbyterian Minister and the Father of Dennis, Dini and Donnie. Dennis is the young man we support in Medical College and finished his fourth year in December. Dini, we support, and she finished her first year in nursing school in December and Donnie just graduated from high school and we will support him in his first year in Dental school starting in February. When Dennis graduated from high school, he was number 1 in the school. Donnie just graduated number 2 in his high school. Enrique and his wife Francis have 3 exceptional children. If it wasn’t for us, they would not be able to go to college. The day before we visited, Enrique was given a new Church in Masaya. As a Korean Presbyterian Pastor, he makes $150 a month and receives $50 a month to live on. He does as many other jobs as he can to feed his family … but he also has Church services 3 to 5 days a week and each lasts at least 2 hours. We will support his family with $450 a month this year to pay for all 3 in Medical College, books and transportation. This is a lot for a small nonprofit, but I think this is a small price for what these 3 exceptional kids will do in the future. Tuesday evening we took Enrique’s family to dinner in Granada for Donnie’s graduation. When leaving, we saw a Rotary Wheel and took pictures of it.
On Wednesday we spent all day in Vera Cruz at the building sites and talking to the children and families that we support in school. This past school year that ended the first of December, we had one boy graduate from high school and all of the kids passed to the next grade. I saw most of their grade cards, and several of the kids had all their grades in the 90’s. There are 7 children we support in a small private elementary school in the community and I met the founder and we talked for about an hour. He is from Maryland and now lives in Managua. He started the school in the late 80’s and is in the process of expanding with a high school. He wanted to talk to me and let me know they were increasing their standards and kids that make bad grades or have behavior problems will not be allowed to continue in this school. Also, any new students would be interviewed and investigated before being accepted. This school costs around $6.00 per month per student, and is much better than the public school. I told him I didn’t have any problem with that and if he had to expel or reject anyone we support, I would totally support him. On Wednesday night, we took a few boys to a Nicaraguan Baseball League game. This is a winter league and several Americans are playing in it. We saw Managua beat Chinandega 11 to 10, and an American was the star of the game. His name is Mark Minicozzi, is in the Giants organization, and went 4 for 5 with a grand slam and a double. During the game, I got a baseball that came into the stands. When the game was over, they let fans go onto the field and I talked to Mark and had him autograph the ball I got. He was excited to talk to an American since I don’t think he spoke much Spanish.
Early Thursday morning, we picked up Enrique and Francis at a bus stop in Masaya and took him to his new Church for the first time. There are a couple pictures at their new Church. He met the Korean Presbyterian Area Director and was given the keys to the Church. The Church has enough property to build a house on and we told Enrique that if we could raise the money we would consider building him a house next year. A house inside the town would be much different than what we normally build. It would be much bigger and would include a bathroom. Enrique estimated it would cost between 7 and 8 thousand dollars for materials, but there would be no cost for labor. Enrique has led the job on several of the houses we have built and his estimates are always real close. This would be a big improvement over what he will be able to afford from his salary and living allowance. It would also be a great location for a Mission Team. Those that want to work on construction could do so. Others could work with children in the Church. The Remar Orphanage that Fifth Avenue Baptist Church is associated with is in between where we stay and the Church, so there would be several different projects to work on.
Thursday at noon we went to Yajaira’s for lunch. This is the lady we are building the first house for. They were finishing everything except the roof and windows and doors when we got there. After lunch we took pictures with Yajaira and her children with the Barboursville Rotary banner hung on the house. She cried tears of joy for the next half hour. Since we finally got the welder fixed, our roofing guy was able to put the roof on the house the next day. We said our goodbyes and left. We went to the other building site and everything was going great. We gave Carlos the money for the labor and said our goodbyes and headed out of Vera Cruz. On the way out, we stopped at the hardware place and ordered the materials for the third house. Thanks to our two generous donors that mailed us the money after reading my first blog, I will Western Union the money down on Monday after we get back, and the materials will probably be delivered on Christmas Day. As I have mentioned in previous postings, unless you work at one of the bigger businesses, most people work on Christmas Day unless it falls on a Sunday. They celebrate the Birth of Jesus by spending Christmas Eve in Church for several hours.
This trip we made several trips to the Pharmacy filling prescriptions for people. I also learned a lot about baby milk. There is Nedi 1 and Nedi 2….depending on age. Pedia - cure. We bought a lot of baby milk.
We left Nicaragua on Friday morning and, except for not being able to land in Charleston, everything went fine. The weather was bad, but planes were landing in Charleston. Our pilot was inexperienced and couldn’t land. We landed in Lexington, KY, where they let people that wanted to get off do so, but the plane continued back to Atlanta where they planned to bring the people back to Charleston the next day. We got off in Lexington, rented a car, and drove home. This concluded my 15th trip to Nicaragua and to be totally honest, by the end of the other trips, I have always been ready to leave. But this time was different! The 11 days passed by so fast and there were things we still could have done. I didn’t want to leave at all. The day after returning home is usually a bad day. Reflecting on the trip and thinking how lucky we are to have been born in the United States and thinking of how all our Nicaraguan friends live, it’s hard for me to put everything into perspective. I know I should have gone Christmas shopping on Saturday, but I just couldn’t bring myself to go to the mall and see all the people spending money and carrying presents, knowing that the people I just left probably will not receive any presents on Christmas. But I guess most of the people in Nicaragua know what the real meaning of Christmas is . . . the Birth of the Christ Child…..not receiving gifts!
When we left for Nicaragua on December 10th, we were sponsoring 13 children in school. Upon leaving December 21st, we are now sponsoring 24 kids in school. More people want to get an education than ever before. We have 9 children in elementary school and 9 children in high school. It costs an average of $200 a year to sponsor these 18 kids. We have 6 children in college, and the cost for these kids is between $15 a month for 1 of the students to $150 for 3 of them. We also have 2 houses to build on our trip next December. If anyone would be interested in going with us next December, please let me know. If you would be interested in being a sponsor for any of these projects, your help would be GREATLY appreciated. If you itemize your deductions on your tax return, your contribution would be totally tax deductable. Please send contributions to our 501c(3) organization, Nicaragua Education, Shelter and Health Fund, Inc. (NESH for short) P.O. Box 731, Barboursville, WV 25504. NESH has zero administrative costs because all of the costs are paid by Kroger’s through a 5% rebate they give NESH for using Kroger gift cards.
Feliz Navidad y que Dios Te Bendiga…..Merry Christmas and God Bless you all.
Jack jackmease@measecpa.com
