It’s Hell on Earth, but not for the obvious reasons. Sure, there’s fire everywhere, caused by spontaneous combustion that occurs when the intense sunlight heats mixtures of dangerous chemicals, which creates a dense smoke that makes it hard to breath; there’s the putrid stench of rotting rot, which makes you not want to breath even if you could and wanted to; there’s an abundance of hazards, due to the shattered remains of old appliances, out of order machines, empty bottles, and the like, as well as to dangerous chemicals from batteries, house cleaners, paints, glues, etc.; and there’s rampant disease (in spite of extremely high immune systems) as a result of the poor living conditions such as polluted water, unhealthy diets, the lack of showers and toilets, and overpopulated homes. These reasons would suffice to make someone see why this place is a living Hell. But they are not the real reasons.
As bad, and valid, as the conditions in La Chureca are, the people can, and do, live with them. Granted, it’s not a glamorous life by any means, but the physical conditions are not the most deteriorating thing that one can find slinking and crawling in the shadows of La Chureca. No, for that one must look into the lives—neigh, the hearts (believe it or not, they have every bit as much a heart as you or I if not more)—of the people living there. Most of these have two sides, some more, some only one (those with one-sided hearts are usually young, and are yet to grasp what is going on around them). The two sides are, for lack of better one-word definitions, public and private, or inward and outward, open and personal. Outwardly, the children are usually very lively, running around, playing and laughing, or teasing. But inwardly, these kids have some of the biggest wounds this world can dish out. They are victims of their parents’ decisions, which are as follows: 1. The decision to move to La Chureca in the first place. People come from all over the country to work in La Chureca, where the girls come easy and the drugs come cheap. 2. The decision to drink, smoke, and use other drugs (glue sniffing is the favorite). 3. Finally, the decision to use their kids as sources of income, punching bags, and sex objects.
The parents are victims of their own decisions, we cannot forget, but these children are born or brought into this Hell without a say in the matter. By the age of ten, maybe twelve, these children have been through it all. For the girls that carries a little more weight. While the boys do experience physical abuse, the girls are faced with rape and other forms of sexual abuse from their fathers or from other men in La Chureca. Prostitution is a plague that these girls are pushed into by their own families. From a young age, girls here learn that the only way to interact with men is to try to please their lustful eyes and hearts. What we would call normal relationships almost do not exist between men and girls in La Chureca. For the boys, they go to work as soon as physically able, often before the age of eight. Drilled into their minds is the belief that they will never be anybody, but rather will continue in the lives of their fathers before them, without a shred of self-esteem or value. They learn how to cope, often through the use of drugs and alcohol. There is a shame in this, but it is not strong enough to stop it. Their hunger, pain, and feeling of abandonment and worthlessness are seemingly insuperable.
I guess that in light of all of this, my goal is simply to pour value into these youthful hearts. Value and hope. It starts with value and hope because I still don’t know enough Spanish to really communicate the Gospel in a deep enough way. All I can do at this time is demonstrate His love for them through spending time with all of them. I just started to take kids out of La Chureca on my own, even if just for a brief moment. I don’t really know what my goal is in doing that, but it gives me some time to get to know them better and it gives them time away from all of the mess that they call home. That in itself justifies it I suppose. To me it’s just fun… I almost do it out of selfishness. I want so badly to see these kids change their futures, to see them grab hold of the life that Christ is calling them to, and to accept the love He has for them, which is so often hard to receive.
For me it’s a little easier to realize—I mean the whole world that I come from tells me I’m valuable. I have a loving family, friends, and church; I live in one of the wealthiest places on the planet, where marketing schemes constantly tell me that I’m the only one that matters; and I have everything I need and more as far as living goes. Then I look at these kids, who have broken if not shattered families, who are constantly told that they don’t matter, and who can’t afford even a bite to eat or a new pair of sandals to replace the ones they broke last month. How can God possibly love them? Better yet, how can He love them and let this place exist?
Well, why does Hell exist? It is for the same reason that La Chureca exists—La Chureca, in the sense of the community of people living there, not the trash dump itself. The reason, the real reason, is Sin. And Sin sucks. It ruins everything. Luckily, God has it on a leash, but even so, it has a potency that leaves quite a scar. Living in the thick of it for too long can really do some damage to a human soul. I’m not sure I believe that the damage is irreversible, but it can be pretty darn close. While nothing is impossible for God, nothing is possible without Him. And His ways are not our ways, so I must remember that, even though I may try with every ounce of my strength to change things, the result is ultimately in His hands. And even though it’s often hard to understand how they work, like the question of why do the La Churecas of this world exist, those hands are capable of unbelievably more than I could ever dream up, much less do on my own. Thus, for now I am living with the hope that something wild will happen here, something for which the credit can only be given to Him who reigns over all that is, and was, and ever will be.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Good News, bad news
I'd like to save the good news for the end, but the bad news only makes sense after the good news. I made up my mind to buy the motorcycle, and I went in on Wednesday to check out the prices and see what all would be involved, since i never did receive the call. I decided on the 4-speed, 125cc mensajera, which was the smallest and cheapest they had aside from a little moped which was only $100 less. I made the purchase, also got a helmet, and rode it home while an employee named Rolando drove. I set up a practice time with him, and he said he'd be able to teach me saturday afternoon (today) for a few hours. Well, just like last time, he didn't show up either. So now I have a bike at my house, but I don't know how to drive it. That's the good news and the bad, but now i have some separate happenings that push things towards the happy side.
I had a great time on Tuesday with Christain, the boy from La Chureca. We went to my house, and I introduced him to everyone, and then we went with Esmir to eat lunch. We ate outside a university, and afterwards just walked around and checked out different parts of the school. We saw some judo classes going on, and also visited a reptile farm where there were hundreds of iguanas and turtles. I think it was the perfect place to take him, because he saw where he could go if he kept up with school. He's way behind, 16 years old in just the second grade, but next year they are starting an accelerated program at the school, Lord willing, which is designed to catch kids up rapidly. If he keeps attending and working hard, he'll be able to graduate in four or five years, which would put him just a couple years behind his peers in the rest of Managua. The difficult thing is to help the kids believe that they are valuable and that they were not made for a life in the trash.
On Thursday I took a huge group of kids (seven) from La Chureca to my house. It might have been a mistake, but it was a pretty good experience. We walked about a half hour to the bus stop, and then took the bus for 20 minutes to La Universidad Centro America and from there walked to my house. I told them to all bring clothes to swim in, as well as towels, but none had swimming suits, and only one had a towel, so they just brought changes of clothes. They changed in my room and then we took a bus to Dylan's house. We missed the bus stop and got off late, so we had to walk another 20 minutes. But when we got there, everyone was excited. More good news gone bad. I tell the security guard there that we're just going to use the pool, and he says ok. Just as everyone gets in the pool, he tells us that we can't swim because the pool is being cleaned and the chemicals are too strong. So i get everyone out and dry, and we take the bus to a place for lunch instead. We played for a few minutes in a park, and then took the bus back to La Chureca. It was a fun time, but boy was it hectic. The kids go crazy on the busses, and are so noisy that everyone stares at us... a gringo with a bunch of poor, unbehaved kids, what is going on?
I hope to do more of that type of thing, but this week i probably won't be able to because there are some friends of mine coming down for a week, including Graham and his dad Bob again, who came down during my first week here. I look forward to spending some time with them, but i'll also be busy with HSM dance class and hitting the weights, not to mention figuring out how to get started with my motorcycle.
Adios!
I had a great time on Tuesday with Christain, the boy from La Chureca. We went to my house, and I introduced him to everyone, and then we went with Esmir to eat lunch. We ate outside a university, and afterwards just walked around and checked out different parts of the school. We saw some judo classes going on, and also visited a reptile farm where there were hundreds of iguanas and turtles. I think it was the perfect place to take him, because he saw where he could go if he kept up with school. He's way behind, 16 years old in just the second grade, but next year they are starting an accelerated program at the school, Lord willing, which is designed to catch kids up rapidly. If he keeps attending and working hard, he'll be able to graduate in four or five years, which would put him just a couple years behind his peers in the rest of Managua. The difficult thing is to help the kids believe that they are valuable and that they were not made for a life in the trash.
On Thursday I took a huge group of kids (seven) from La Chureca to my house. It might have been a mistake, but it was a pretty good experience. We walked about a half hour to the bus stop, and then took the bus for 20 minutes to La Universidad Centro America and from there walked to my house. I told them to all bring clothes to swim in, as well as towels, but none had swimming suits, and only one had a towel, so they just brought changes of clothes. They changed in my room and then we took a bus to Dylan's house. We missed the bus stop and got off late, so we had to walk another 20 minutes. But when we got there, everyone was excited. More good news gone bad. I tell the security guard there that we're just going to use the pool, and he says ok. Just as everyone gets in the pool, he tells us that we can't swim because the pool is being cleaned and the chemicals are too strong. So i get everyone out and dry, and we take the bus to a place for lunch instead. We played for a few minutes in a park, and then took the bus back to La Chureca. It was a fun time, but boy was it hectic. The kids go crazy on the busses, and are so noisy that everyone stares at us... a gringo with a bunch of poor, unbehaved kids, what is going on?
I hope to do more of that type of thing, but this week i probably won't be able to because there are some friends of mine coming down for a week, including Graham and his dad Bob again, who came down during my first week here. I look forward to spending some time with them, but i'll also be busy with HSM dance class and hitting the weights, not to mention figuring out how to get started with my motorcycle.
Adios!
Monday, October 22, 2007
Local Celebrity
I was in the newspapers today! I bought myself a copy and flipped through it without seeing anything, so i didn't buy more copies, thinking i would be in tomorrow's paper. i got home and looked more thouroughly, and there i was on the back page of the sports section with a rather lengthy article to boot. I still can't believe it. The website for the article is
http://www.laprensa.com.ni/archivo/2007/octubre/22/noticias/revista/222620.shtml. It blatently lies about us, though, saying that there was a two-month audition with a hundred kids trying out and that we were the selected few. That's totally a lie--as you remember, i was recruited off the street. If there was such an audition none of us would have been selected haha.
I finally went to the motorcycle dealership, and asked if there was someone there who could teach me to drive (i figured that for one, this is nicaragua, and secondly, they probably really want to sell their products). Yes was the answer, and they said that a guy would call me in the next day or two. it's now been three days without a call, so i'm going tomorrow to check up on that. hopefully i can get the bike this week.
Esmir and I went out with Dylan on Saturday to TGI Fridays to watch the ball game and get some american food. i got a jack daniel's burger with bacon, and it was the best i've ever had. It wasn't much of a game, but it took care of that little bit of homesickness we were feeling. We met a guy who loves american football, and he says there are leagues we can play in so we're going to look into that for sure. I'd absolutely love to play football again.
Tomorrow i'm taking a friend of mine from the school in la chureca out to lunch and then to my house to hang out. He's 16 years old and a really nice guy. i would like to take a different kid/group of kids out every week or so to give them a time outside the dump and get to know them. their parents pretty much give them permission for whatever, so hopefully i'll be able to do some of that. Dylan and Lauren's apartment complex has a public pool, so i'd love to take the kids there. they can't swim, but it's a pretty shallow pool.
That's pretty much all that's going on... still working hard on that spanish
http://www.laprensa.com.ni/archivo/2007/octubre/22/noticias/revista/222620.shtml. It blatently lies about us, though, saying that there was a two-month audition with a hundred kids trying out and that we were the selected few. That's totally a lie--as you remember, i was recruited off the street. If there was such an audition none of us would have been selected haha.
I finally went to the motorcycle dealership, and asked if there was someone there who could teach me to drive (i figured that for one, this is nicaragua, and secondly, they probably really want to sell their products). Yes was the answer, and they said that a guy would call me in the next day or two. it's now been three days without a call, so i'm going tomorrow to check up on that. hopefully i can get the bike this week.
Esmir and I went out with Dylan on Saturday to TGI Fridays to watch the ball game and get some american food. i got a jack daniel's burger with bacon, and it was the best i've ever had. It wasn't much of a game, but it took care of that little bit of homesickness we were feeling. We met a guy who loves american football, and he says there are leagues we can play in so we're going to look into that for sure. I'd absolutely love to play football again.
Tomorrow i'm taking a friend of mine from the school in la chureca out to lunch and then to my house to hang out. He's 16 years old and a really nice guy. i would like to take a different kid/group of kids out every week or so to give them a time outside the dump and get to know them. their parents pretty much give them permission for whatever, so hopefully i'll be able to do some of that. Dylan and Lauren's apartment complex has a public pool, so i'd love to take the kids there. they can't swim, but it's a pretty shallow pool.
That's pretty much all that's going on... still working hard on that spanish
Thursday, October 11, 2007
New Friend
I met a guy named Daniel Bain the other day at La Chureca. He's been in Nicaragua for over two years now, and he's working with an organization called Love Light and Melody, the same organization that held a concert in La Chureca back in March. I was there, and so was Daniel. He was driving the girls from the rescue house home after school this week, and yesterday he took me to a coffee shop afterwards to talk. He's a really cool guy, and is now the only contact from LL&M in Nicaragua. I'm still not exactly sure what all the organization is doing, but they have a sponsorship program in which people can sponsor one of the children from the dump on a monthly basis. Hopefully I can get more involved with him and LL&M soon.
I had another meeting today with the HSM group. We decided to change the practice times from four days a week to two, which is much better. We will be getting paid for practice time (the amount is still TBA) and will still be getting free gym access. I said last time that the video was up, but that was when I was in the middle of the upload. It turns out it will take about 8 hours to do, so i don't think it will happen. Sorry. We're still not on the television, or in the papers. I guess we're going to have more professional pictures taken for the paper and another show for the TV. I thought I was going to quit today, but I guess I'll stick it out. I am finding that I really want to be on TV haha. I mean how often do you get to go to another country and be in a national commercial?
As for the motorcycle, I think I'm just going to go to the dealership with a friend of mine who knows how to drive one. I'll buy it and he can drive us both home, and then I can learn how to ride. I found out that I don't need a license after all... I guess my US license is good enough. I know some guys who have bikes and no license who have been pulled over and their licenses were good enough, but I might still get it, just to be extra safe. It'll only cost about 12 bucks.
I heard from a couple of the surfing guys today in a couple emails. I might be able to start doing some more things with them, as far as ministry and things go. They have a video that is ready to be released, and translated into Spanish to spread around Central America. I might be able to help with it's spreading, which would be pretty exciting.
I'm really thrilled to be here, and I'm seeing more and more of God everyday. He's amazing, and His loving presence is so powerful if you just take the time to see it. Here that's pretty easy to do.
I had another meeting today with the HSM group. We decided to change the practice times from four days a week to two, which is much better. We will be getting paid for practice time (the amount is still TBA) and will still be getting free gym access. I said last time that the video was up, but that was when I was in the middle of the upload. It turns out it will take about 8 hours to do, so i don't think it will happen. Sorry. We're still not on the television, or in the papers. I guess we're going to have more professional pictures taken for the paper and another show for the TV. I thought I was going to quit today, but I guess I'll stick it out. I am finding that I really want to be on TV haha. I mean how often do you get to go to another country and be in a national commercial?
As for the motorcycle, I think I'm just going to go to the dealership with a friend of mine who knows how to drive one. I'll buy it and he can drive us both home, and then I can learn how to ride. I found out that I don't need a license after all... I guess my US license is good enough. I know some guys who have bikes and no license who have been pulled over and their licenses were good enough, but I might still get it, just to be extra safe. It'll only cost about 12 bucks.
I heard from a couple of the surfing guys today in a couple emails. I might be able to start doing some more things with them, as far as ministry and things go. They have a video that is ready to be released, and translated into Spanish to spread around Central America. I might be able to help with it's spreading, which would be pretty exciting.
I'm really thrilled to be here, and I'm seeing more and more of God everyday. He's amazing, and His loving presence is so powerful if you just take the time to see it. Here that's pretty easy to do.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Esperando
So I've been trying to get my license now for quite a while. This week I went and got my vision and blood tests done (I'm A+, in both vision and blood) and I was going to go this Wednesday to take my driving test. I was supposed to have two driving lessons, one yesterday and one today, but the guy who was going to teach me had to work, so that didn't happen. Now I guess I'm going to have to wait another week, but that's Nicaragua for you.
I had this past week off from dance class. We got paid on Tuesday, C$1400, which is about $75. It's not much, but here that should cover me for about a month. Speaking of which, my rent changed. There was a miscommunication between the owner of the house and Esmir and myself. Esmir and I thought that the price was $100 a month for both of us, which was correct. However, that price was for both of us in one room, not two. So, last night I moved into the same room as Esmir, and today someone is moving into my room. I can't afford my own room, and neither can Esmir, so it looks like we'll be getting even closer than we already are.
Now back to HSM... Also on Tuesday, after getting paid, we had a meeting about where to go from here. We have no shows until January, so it was decided that we are going to practice four days a week until then. Practice will be from 3-4 in the afternoons, after which we will have the opportunity to go to the gym for two hours for free. That's pretty much the only reason I'm still considering sticking with it. The other reason is that in January we are supposed to go on tour, hahaha. We're to go all over Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Costa Rica. In Costa Rica there will be a competition of sorts, but I got lost when they were explaining what kind of contest it will be and who against. I'll do this week of practice and see how it goes. If I quit, I'll be able to work until 4 o'clock in La Chureca everyday, and then I could play soccer afterwards on a team of some sort, but we'll see. If they pay us decently for our practice time I might be looking at doing the shows in January.
I had this past week off from dance class. We got paid on Tuesday, C$1400, which is about $75. It's not much, but here that should cover me for about a month. Speaking of which, my rent changed. There was a miscommunication between the owner of the house and Esmir and myself. Esmir and I thought that the price was $100 a month for both of us, which was correct. However, that price was for both of us in one room, not two. So, last night I moved into the same room as Esmir, and today someone is moving into my room. I can't afford my own room, and neither can Esmir, so it looks like we'll be getting even closer than we already are.
Now back to HSM... Also on Tuesday, after getting paid, we had a meeting about where to go from here. We have no shows until January, so it was decided that we are going to practice four days a week until then. Practice will be from 3-4 in the afternoons, after which we will have the opportunity to go to the gym for two hours for free. That's pretty much the only reason I'm still considering sticking with it. The other reason is that in January we are supposed to go on tour, hahaha. We're to go all over Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Costa Rica. In Costa Rica there will be a competition of sorts, but I got lost when they were explaining what kind of contest it will be and who against. I'll do this week of practice and see how it goes. If I quit, I'll be able to work until 4 o'clock in La Chureca everyday, and then I could play soccer afterwards on a team of some sort, but we'll see. If they pay us decently for our practice time I might be looking at doing the shows in January.
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