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| Nicaragua Mission Trip November 12-21 If your life has too much monotony in it, it’s your own fault. I used to have that. I remember thinking on a daily basis, “Wow. My life used to be so busy. I long for those days again.” Silly me. Boy did I get more than I bargained for! Since my last (and first) trip to Nicaragua in May, I have been elected to the VOSH-Florida Board of Directors. I have sorted probably close to 15,000 pairs of donated eyeglasses, administered 4 eyeglass cleaning clinics at First Lutheran Church, participated in the first eyeglass clinic at Gainesville Community Ministries for the underprivileged in Gainesville, and been appointed Mission Leader for both the November and January mission trips. As a result, I have put in countless hours to my passion of helping people through the gift of sight. The last 1 ½ months before this trip, I spent over 40 hours a week on the phone and sending emails making final preparations for the trip. It’s a small miracle I was able to get things done at my full-time paying job during the day! I was looking forward to this trip mostly as a break and vacation. I just forgot one thing….I was in charge of everything. Before I even left Gainesville, I knew this mission was going to be different. Max wasn’t able to go on this trip at all due to some health complications after a recent mission to Peru. John was not going to be able to come down until two days later due to a previous commitment back home. This meant I would be traveling to a Third World country on my own, knowing I do not speak their language very well. Now you add in the fact that I was carrying all of the essential equipment for the mission with me in my suitcase and have to try to get through customs without any questions, knowing this stuff would light up the scanner like a Christmas tree. No problem. This seemed like child’s play after losing 2 OD’s (the most recent one two days before I left) before securing a Nicaraguan ophthalmologist at the last minute. Now for the trip…someone was looking out for me. Friends and family think I’m nuts anyway for doing these mission trips let alone traveling down there this time by myself. No problem. I have God on my side which is the only thing that keeps me sane in times like this. I was to fly out Friday afternoon out of Miami. Thursday was a holiday, so I left first thing in the morning for John’s house in Winter Park, two hours away. We spent the evening going over final plans since this was my first trip where I was the leader and neither of my confidants were going to be there for the first clinic day. Several changes in plan later, I was on the road early Friday morning to drive the four hours down to Miami Airport. Once again, my prayers of ‘keep me safe, get me there on time, and let me find where I am supposed to go without getting lost’ were answered. I made it down there in record time, no wrong turns, and at the airport four hours before my flight was scheduled to leave. Relief. It’s always interesting to go to a place in the United States where people speak in Spanish first and English second. I stumbled my way through the lines with my heavy luggage filled with equipment. A few strange looks and an explanation or two later, I was on to security and through in a breeze, just like any other time I travel. I took my time walking to the gate, calling Mom to let her know I’m okay, eat my last salad for a while, and read a USA Today so I know the state of the country when I left it. The airline attendant had told me they would start boarding 1 ½ hours before takeoff time. I kept looking at my watch every 10 minutes or so, wondering what was going on. One hour before, but still no boarding. The plane was there. No announcements. Oh, finally an announcement, but alas, it’s in Spanish. I have no clue what they said. No one moves, so I assume they say something about boarding being delayed. Boy, it seemed quiet in there. Okay, now it’s 45 minutes before takeoff and 30 minutes before takeoff. It was REALLY quiet in there. There is a group of attendants talking in Spanish at the boarding gate. No smiles, but serious talk. What is going on? They had loaded two passengers in wheelchairs, but wait! Here they come! They just took those passengers OFF the plane! I’m thinking, ‘Great! I’ve got a bum plane and we will have to get a new one. I hope Dave and Jim wait for me at the airport and don’t leave me stranded in Managua!’ Wait. There’s an announcement, of course it’s in Spanish. I pick up two words, but not nearly enough to understand what was said. Immediately all the passengers get up, pick up their luggage and start walking. I walk up to an attendant and ask her what they just said. “Oh, I’m sorry. Didn’t they announce it in English too?” Am
I in America? She proceeded to explain that there has been a breach
in security and everyone needs to walk back to the security checkpoint
and there would be further instructions when we get there. Oh GREAT!!
I don’t have a bum plane, there’s a terrorist threat
in Miami Airport, and I’m IN it! I proceed to blend in with
the crowd, making my way to the security checkpoint, a mile away.
No wonder it seemed quiet. We were the last gate to go back to the
checkpoint. Every other gate was already cleared. It was a ghost
town. As I approached the checkpoint, I see Miami-Dade police officers
by the dozen, K-9 dogs, and more airport security than I can count.
The gate through security has been pulled down. NO one is going
through. They instruct us to go to the end of the line…the
line wound through 2 ½ terminals. The line had to be over
a mile long. I ended up in line right behind a tall, surfer-looking
guy with black jeans, black modern shoes, a T-shirt promoting some
small hotel in Costa Rica, a tattoo on each arm, 2 banded silver
bracelets, an earring, and very modern blue-tinted glasses. I like
people who have the confidence to be different so naturally we started
talking. He grew up in Brooklyn (I could tell before he told me)
and has lived in Costa Rica for the last 12 years. He owns the hotel
on his T-shirt. He was visiting family in NY and was headed back
home to his wife and kids. We swap stories and pass the time. Luckily
we only had to wait approximately 15 minutes before the line started
moving. In record time, we were through the line. They had every
security lane open and were cranking people through like a General
Motors assembly line. We wished each other safe flights and went
our separate ways. It turns out the security breach was that a man
tried to go through the line with mace. He was immediately arrested
since it is illegal. Once arrested, the airport authorities realized
all of his family had already made it through security and were
somewhere in the international terminal. Must have gotten them.
I immediately boarded the plane and we took off within 10 minutes.
Only 2 hours behind schedule. Lester explained to us that Dunia (our optometrist), Joel (Peace Corps guy), and Oscar (our new ophthalmologist) had already arrived at Selva Negra several hours beforehand. They were not able to check in to our chalet because it was under Jim’s name. They also had not eaten. It was already 9 p.m. Jim, Dave, Lester, and I loaded up in the truck. We stopped by Lester’s house so he could grab some clothes and headed to Tip Top (Nicaraguan version of Popeye’s) to get a family pack for all of us to eat. We headed up to Selva Negra and found the three essentials to our team sitting outside the restaurant sipping coffee in the cold mountain air. It felt like Michigan in late fall. After our initial hugs and greetings, we sat around eating Tip Top right out of the brown paper bags like savages. None of us had eaten in many hours. Jim checked in and we headed to the chalet for some hopeful warmth and comfort. Selva Negra is a very unique place. It is right outside the city of Matagalpa in the mountains. Because of its altitude, it is VERY cold at night. Not what you would expect for a country so close to the equator. Selva Negra is a self-contained coffee plantation with lodging and a restaurant. By self-contained, I mean that they have their own water system, their own power (electrical) system, all of the people live on-site, they have their own school for the children, health clinic, and other provisions. Nicaragua originally had a lot of German settlers and Selva Negra is a result of that. The entire plantation is like visiting a German village, much like Frankenmuth, Michigan. I kept having moments of déjà vu while I was there, seeing paintings and pictures of things that looked like my hometown. Even the chalets and rooflines were German-looking. We stayed in one of their chalets that sleeps 12 people. There were six bedrooms with 2 ½ bathrooms. There is no heat, but the blankets were heavy so we slept well. There is a beauty to this place that you don’t get to see often. There is a serenity to it that makes you think you are hundreds of miles from the city. The next morning, Saturday, was performance-time! We were going to the Matagalpa Penitentiary to provide glasses to the inmates. We ate breakfast in the restaurant at Selva Negra and then headed in to town to La Ronda, our meeting place. There, we met the other Michiganders, Lester’s father who provided transportation, and a couple of volunteers. It took three vehicles to carry all of our equipment and people. Within minutes we were at the pen and making the arrangements with the doctor of the penitentiary to make sure we were in compliance with their rules and regulations to enter the grounds. The doctor asked to verify that we have only plastic lenses in our glasses. Lester and I look at each other and realize this is something we never thought of. If real glass is given to the inmates, they could very well use it as a weapon. I told Lester to assure the doctor that we had only plastic. I knew we would have to be extra careful in choosing glasses for these people. He also reminded us to keep all knives and sharp objects locked in the trucks. I was surprised to see rows of flowers along a pathway as we entered through the double sets of gates. It reminded me a lot of old forts I had visited on vacations. It was a big square with cinder-block walls. There was barbed wire at the tops of the walls and a post at each corner. There were guards with AK-47’s at each of them. Somehow, with all this corruption surrounding me, I never felt nervous, scared, or even bothered. The yard was relatively empty with only a few people standing around. I could see the buildings where the people lived. They looked like 40x80 pole barns with iron-bared windows. The inmates were hanging out the windows looking at the gringos coming in. They had smiles on their faces and talked amongst themselves quietly. We set up in the computer room. This room was filled with plastic chairs and six computers that had been donated by some Americans. Inmates had to earn privileges to use them. After a few instructions to my crew, we were ready for our first customers. A guard stood at the only door. He let in five inmates at a time. He waited for our signal every time before letting more people in. There were, on average, 10 inmates and 4 guards in the room at a time. As I observed the people coming in, I scanned the inmates. They looked nothing of the sort. They were in plain clothes for the system can not afford uniforms. Some wore sandals, some wore tennis shoes with laces. Some of the ladies had skirts, others wore pants. Men wore baseball caps and women wore make-up and nail polish. These people did not look like convicts. They looked like the average human being. They did not glare, stare, or talk about us. They simply followed through the system of chairs, doing as they were told. They chatted with the doctor and the guards along the way. It appeared like they were a big family. Like any other clinic, we heard thank-you’s and were offered handshakes. We gave them the gift of sight again. We saw 150 inmates and guards. After we were finished, we stood outside one of the buildings and took a group picture with the mission group, doctors, guards, volunteers, and the assistant warden. Before long, we were back to Selva Negra to relax for the evening, tell stories amongst old friends, and make new ones. Sunday was an eventful day. We got up early to start our long day. After breakfast, Jim, Dave, Oscar, Lester, and I headed to La Ronda to pick up equipment to be hauled to Muy Muy, our next clinic destination. We traveled the two hours on rough roads to Muy Muy and checked in at the hotel and dropped luggage and equipment off. We were on the road again, headed to Managua to pick up John. Oscar hitched a ride with us to Boaco, his hometown. He wanted to spend the evening with his family and we would be traveling right through it. He would meet us back at the hotel the next morning for the clinic the following day. It was such a relief to have a little space in the back seat of that truck. I stretched out across the back, laying my legs across Lester’s lap and took a short nap on the way to the airport. John’ s flight was right on time. John had eaten on the plane, but the rest of us were hungry so we stopped for our favorite, Tip Top, before heading back for the one-and-a-half hour ride to Muy Muy. There was a welcome party being given for our entire group from the people of Muy Muy. Little did we know the hospitality we would be shown while we were there. Once we arrived, we soon realized that dinner was going to be provided. This would be the second meal for four of us, and the third meal for John in four hours. It is rude to not eat food served to you in this country, so we all picked at our plates. The chicken, vegetables, rice, and plantains were wonderful. There was an official presentation by Dr. Lilliam Garcia Sancho, the current mayor of Muy Muy, Dr. Uben who is the incoming mayor, and Joel and Dunia. I had to say a few words of thanks as the mission leader. The Muy Muy brigade committee had even had a banner made that hung outside the restaurant the entire week welcoming the Michigan and Florida people from Rotary and VOSH. A group of six teens danced for us and we all enjoyed their performance. After the dinner, we headed back to the hotel. I was pleasantly surprised at the accommodations. The rooms were somewhat spacious and very clean. There was a mosquito net over each of the beds. It is common in Nicaragua to have openings where the roof line meets the walls therefore moths and the occasional mosquito comes in to the room. The net, which reminded me of a canopy bed, kept the bed safe from that annoying buzzing sound in your ear in the middle of the night. In Muy Muy, they have a serious water shortage problem. As a result, they do not always have running water. Thus, the reason for the 50 gallon trash can in the shower filled with water. For times when there isn’t running water, patrons can dip out of the container and do a sponge bath cleaning. I ended up using this method while I was there since there is never any hot water anyway and the thought of standing under a freezing cold shower sounded worse than dipping it one bowl at a time. Monday morning and the first clinic day in Muy Muy. Most of us ride in a school bus to our destination, 20 minutes from town out in the middle of nowhere in a place called Tapasle in El Chaparrel. We set up in the school that suddenly appears out of nowhere and start our clinic. Dr. Uben travels with us to each of our locations over the next three days, assisting in the dispensary and with the doctors as needed. He brought a blood pressure monitor to test people that may have needed it. He ended up being a great asset to our team as well as answering medical questions of the local villagers. Dunia had a patient that believed he had a foreign object in his eye. Dr. Uben was able to assist her in assessing the situation. Oscar had a patient with a prosthetic eye. Dr. Uben assisted him with a procedure. It seems that when you have a prosthetic eye, the eye should be removed and the socket cleaned out, something like how Americans get their teeth cleaned, every six-months to a year. This man hadn’t had it cleaned in seven years and had no feeling in his eye socket. Under very primitive conditions, Oscar and Dr. Uben ‘scrubbed in’ with antibacterial hand sanitizer, put gloves on, and extracted the man’s prosthesis. Oscar proceeded to clean out the man’s socket with sterile gauze pads. Once it was thoroughly cleaned, Oscar put eyewash in the socket, cleaned the prosthesis with the eyewash, and re-inserted it. The man was thankful. We saw multitudes of wonderful people who were as friendly as they were beautiful. That evening, once again, we enjoyed the wonderful cooking of Eduardo, our restaurant host and chef. Afterwards, Dunia, Joel, John, Lester, and I went back to Dunia’s father’s house (Francisco Mendoza) to elaborate on future mission trips and the aspirations of VOSH-Florida. We enjoyed the beautiful evening air out on the porch while discussing our future endeavors together. The following morning was our second day in Muy Muy, this time at the agricultural institute just two kilometers outside of the city called Compasaguas in Baldovino. The institute is a technical school which teaches future farmers how to become more skilled in the common trade. The school was filled with both young men and women, but patients came by the hundreds to see us once again. We gave glasses to a five year-old boy who saw his mother’s face clearly for the first time. Much like I had seen before, when he was being led through the clinic by his mother, his eyes had a tendency to twitch constantly…as if he was trying to focus or see something clearly. When we put his glasses on him, his face beamed immediately. The cute little spaces in-between his baby teeth shone brighter than ever and he quickly turned around to look at his mother and big sister. His mom could easily see that her son’s life had been changed forever. He didn’t have much to say, but he couldn’t stop from smiling and looking all around…first at things far away, and then close…then far, then close. The little boy could see clearly. I took his picture and showed it to him on my camera. I think it was the first time he had seen himself clearly. He smiled shyly. Another patient caught my eye as soon as she walked in to the room. She was wearing a scarf around her head with the point facing down, covering her right eye. I had never seen anyone wear a scarf like that before so I knew she must be hiding something she was ashamed of. When it was her turn to see Oscar, he quickly called me over. He explained that she has a prosthetic in her right eye. The woman believed she had demons living in her eye socket and they took away her sight. She would not let anyone clean her eye socket like it needed to be, and as a result, she had gotten an infection in her tear duct. It was obvious to the naked eye. Looking at the sad face of this woman, it was clear she had an abscess the size of a large acorn following the line of the bags under her worn, tired eye. Immediately I felt like I had a sinus headache with that aching pressure on the side of my nose. Just looking at it seemed painful so I could only imagine the pain she was in. She would dab it every 30 seconds or so, because her eye could not keep from watering. Oscar explained that normally things like this can be extracted with a syringe, but she had let hers go too far. She would have to see a specialized ophthalmologist who could lance this abscess open, clean it, and then suture it back up. Because of the infection and pressure, it would also affect her vision, therefore what she saw that day would most likely be different than her vision after the infection is healed. We arranged for the woman to travel to Matagalpa with Dr. Uben the following week to see Dr. Perez, our ophthalmologist who performs cataract surgeries for us. He has already performed the procedure and it was successful. I can’t wait to see the end result picture. The
third day in Muy Muy was right in town at the high school Instituto
Nacional Autonoma Padre Jose Bartocci. It was a busy day with many
children and older people too. We had another woman with a prosthetic
eye come to the clinic. Much like the others, she had needed her
eye cleaned out also. She was a bit skittish about having it done,
but knew it was for her own health. Dr. Uben was not available for
this procedure, so Lester had to help Oscar. I helped scrub in both
of them with the antibacterial wash and the gloves. Unlike the man
from two days ago, this woman had a lot of sensation in her eye
socket still. Oscar was looking around the classroom for something
to use to extract her eye. He kept motioning to me like a shovel
or spoon. I asked if he was serious. Sure enough he was, but there
was nothing even close to that around. Oscar ended up having to
use a basic pen cap to extract her prosthesis. It was like something
out of a CSI episode. I had to help with this procedure, opening
up the gauze pad packages, and handing them off to Oscar as he needed
them. If I confirmed anything on this trip, it is that I am not
meant to work in the health field. After all was said and done,
the woman walked away with a clean eye and a pair of glasses with
a smile on her face. It was a long day with over 300 patients seen
that day. It was dark by the time we had left, but it was well worth
it. We had seen over 950 patients throughout the week. The following morning, before leaving Muy Muy, Dave, John, Lester, and myself received a tour of the Muy Muy hospital from Joel and Dr. Uben. The hospital was built by Japanese recently, but resembles nothing like the hospital I work in. It reminded me more of a health clinic and I had to keep reminding myself that this hospital services 12,000 people. We saw people waiting to get their children’s inoculations. We saw the file room where all the files fit on five small shelves. Dr. Uben showed us the dental room and the pitiful item they called a dental chair. It was so dilapidated, a patient would literally have to hold on to keep from rolling out of it. It was crooked, the seats were torn, and looked like something that belonged in a museum. Immediately I thought of the dental chair in the cargo container that was on it’s way down to Nicaragua. My church had sent this container down, including a dental chair, but had no specific recipient in mind. Muy Muy is now getting a new chair as I write this. Next, I saw a little girl, no older than three, who was getting a breathing treatment from the only nebulizer in the hospital. Then it was on to the birthing room that resembled a closet. A stainless steel table with a set of stirrups attached and a big bin with a light over it for the baby that reminded me of a fast food restaurant heat lamp is all there was. There wasn’t room for much more. Dr. Uben explained it becomes very complicated when women give birth to twins because there simply is no extra room. Finally, we went in to their pharmacy. It was neat and orderly, but nothing short of pitiful. The only mediations this hospital has is from donations. As you can imagine, it looks like Old Mother Hubbard’s cupboard. I could see more empty shelf space than filled shelf space. It is understandable that since they are at the mercy of donations, there is little to show. It’s just very disheartening to think about how many people must go untreated because the hospital simply does not have the proper medical supplies. I walked away from that tour thinking about the hospital I work in and especially the pharmacy department that I work in. It is filled wall-to-wall with medications of every size, shape, and color. Our pharmacy goes through hundreds of thousands of drugs a week, but yet this hospital is lucky if it has hundreds of medications on its shelf. I left feeling like my hands were tied behind my back. From this morning on our consolidated group of Jim, Dave, John, Lester, and myself traveled together for the rest of the week. We went in one car and Dunia, her son Francisco, Joel, and a driver followed in another vehicle as we made our way to the Tipitapa Penitentiary, only a short drive from Managua. There, Lester had arranged for us to meet with Carlos Sobalvarro Ruiz, the Director General of all eight of the Matagalpa Penitentiaries. Once again, getting in to the prison area was not the most comfortable feeling while we were entering, but quite accommodating and friendly once we were inside. The General’s office was one of the few air-conditioned offices in the Tipitapa Pen which houses 2,000 inmates. I found it interesting to see a Christmas tree decorated and furniture and décor much like you would see in the states inside his office. Our purpose of meeting with him was two-fold. First, to see what he thought of our mission out at the Matagalpa Penitentiary. Secondly, to see if he would like us to work in other prisons around the country, giving us clearance to do so. As could be expected, he was ecstatic for us to work with the prisoners. General Ruiz did not have much time to meet with us due to a meeting with his boss in a different city. Modesto Ramon Rodriguez, the warden of the Tipitapa Penitentiary, took us around the prison for a tour once General Ruiz had to leave. We learned some amazing things about the prison system in Nicaragua while we were given our tour. Nicaragua is a poor country, so you can only imagine what their prison system is like as far as funding goes. Nicaragua has approximately 6 million people in it, and 6,000 people incarcerated. There are eight prisons throughout the entire country, Tipitapa being the largest one. This is also the prison where top governmental officials serve time if they are convicted of something. None of the prisoners wear uniforms because there simply is no money for such things. They wear their own street clothes. Currently, the budgeted amount for prisoner’s meals is 7 cordobas per day. 16.8 cordobas equals one American dollar, so that roughly figures out to 42 cents a day, per prisoner, to feed them. There is no budget for healthcare including medical, dental, or vision care. As we walked through the different rooms of the prison, we saw their pharmacy. Its shelves were very bare, much like at the Muy Muy hospital. The only medications they receive are also through donations. Currently at the Tipitapa penitentiary, there are 32 prisoners with diabetes and they have no medications to give them. Their hospital room, for prisoners too sick to be in the barracks, was filled with 17 men who had just had surgery. The week before a group of doctors came down from the U.S. and performed ulcer surgeries on the men. Most of them had lived with the ulcers for two or more years. The emergency room, the room used for immediate care after medical emergencies or fights, brawls, etc, had one hospital bed in it. The sink area was dilapidated much like the rest of the room. If there is more than one person who needs care, they have to wait out in the hallway. The room looked more like a closet. The prison has put a proposal together to expand this room to fit four beds, but they do not have the funding to do so. It would only cost $1,500 American dollars. The last place we saw there was the barracks themselves. We walked right in to where the elderly men reside. The longest prison term that can be given is 30 years, so the prison population is quite young. The number of prisoners over the age of 50 throughout the country is only 15 percent. Most prisoners are gang members. It was amazing to see how these people live. I have to assume from looking at the rows of bunk beds that if an item is not on your bed, it is up for grabs and you have not claimed ownership. The beds were filled so high with ‘stuff’ that I wondered how these people even sleep in the beds. They only casually looked at us and smiled. Some didn’t even look up to see what was going on. We left the penitentiary feeling enlightened. We promised to come back one day during the scheduled January mission trip and see 250 prisoners in our eyeglass clinic. The Warden and General are very excited about us providing vision care to the prisoners. From there, our two cars full of people went in to downtown Managua to meet with Dunia’s uncle, Dr. Polidecto Correa Reyes. He is an optometrist himself, but also the President of the Optometric Association of Nicaragua. We met with him to see what kind of insight he could give us about continuing our work in Nicaragua. He gave us some valuable information, a tour of his optical office, and even offered to help us on future missions. We left feeling enlightened once again. From there, we all went to the mall close by and ate in the foodcourt before saying our good-byes to Joel, Dunia, Francisco, and the driver. It was a great week working with them and we assured each other we would meet again in less than two months. From there, Jim, Dave, John, Lester, and I went and checked in to Las Mercedes, the Best Western across from the airport, and enjoyed the evening by the pool, swapping stories and solving the world’s problems. We had had a long day of traveling, meetings, and observations. The relaxation did us good because we had another big day ahead of us the next morning. Day eight was here and it was Friday. Once again, we had a full agenda planned. After a continental breakfast at the local Texaco including coffee, mango juice, and Bimbos (Nicaraguan equivalent to the Little Debbie snack cake line), we were ready to go. First, we traveled out to a finca (farm/ranch) on the old road to Leon called World Mission Outreach. The people we were supposed to meet with were in town at the time doing some errands, so we scheduled to come back in the afternoon. Next, we went to Bancentro (Nicaraguan affiliate of Bank of America) and opened a bank account. All of the cordobas that were collected in Muy Muy from our eyeglass clinics were deposited there. We can now withdraw money from this account to give back to the Muy Muy communities like ambulance tires, etc. VOSH had been officially established in Nicaragua, financially, as of this point. It was a good feeling. The next stop was Santa Fe, a great Mexican restaurant in Managua. There, our small group met with Ricardo Arguello and his wife, Georgina from the Lutheran Church of Nicaragua, headquartered in Leon. The purpose of our meeting was two-fold. One was to discuss the scheduled January mission trip. First Lutheran Church in Gainesville hosted an eyeglass clinic in May in Leon and Las Marias through the Lutheran churches. January would be a continuation of serving the people in the Lutheran church, this time in the Matagalpa area. Secondly, First Lutheran Church sent a cargo container filled with medical supplies, clothing, toys, household items, and other things to be distributed through Ricardo just a couple weeks before. Ricardo was in the process of working with customs to receive the container. I helped him clarify the paperwork he had received and also make a request to him. After visiting the Muy Muy clinic, I felt the need to ask Ricardo if the people of Muy Muy could have the dental chair. Thanks to Ricardo’s generosity, Joel and Dr. Uben received the dental chair, a wheelchair for a boy with polio, and ten boxes of medical supplies. We had a great time at lunch discussing our plans and exploring how we can work together in the future. Lunchtime was over and it was time to go back to the World Mission Outreach on the Old Leon Road. This time when we arrived, Kristen, a New York native, was ready to receive us. WMO is a huge complex, fifty acres to be exact. It was founded by a non-denominational American pastor and his wife. After several mission trips down to Nicaragua, they felt moved to permanently move down there and start a place of refuge. Forty-five of the fifty acres is used for agriculture, mostly plantains with a few oranges. The other five acres on the front side is where they are building miracles. This compound can sleep over 300 people at one time in their barrack-style facilities. They have a very large chapel area that they use to host encounters for couples, single men, single women, or whoever wants to use their facilities. They just host the event and provide the sleeping quarters and the food for the groups. There are two huge rooms that are eventually going to be the start of a school for the area. There are rows and rows of bathrooms and wash facilities throughout the complex. We toured a building that is currently a work in progress. A cistern, the size of a semi-truck trailer, was being built. It, along with the current water tower, will help make this location almost completely self-sufficient on water supplies. Past the cistern is a huge area that will be partitioned off to include a medical, dental, and optical clinic. Eventually, they would also like to host a radio station out of there that would broadcast the Word of God. In addition, there is the main house which has endless rooms for sleeping and hosting more people. The entire place is amazing and beautiful at the same time. They even have their own cow that they retrieve milk from. WMO would like to partner with VOSH-Florida to help supply and advise on running their optical clinic inside their facility. We toured the place to get an idea of what they had and how they function. WMO has amazing potential and it is very likely that we will host an eyeglass clinic there in the future. By the time we had left there, we were spent. We traveled back to Las Mercedes and relaxed for the rest of the night. We only had one more day left in Nicaragua and we had one more trip we wanted to get in the next day, which would require traveling cramped in the Toyota truck once again. Saturday morning we again left the hotel early, to have our Bimbo breakfast at the Texaco. A hearty breakfast by Nicaraguan standards. We were off to a small village just two kilometers outside of Sebaco called Chaguitillo, on the way to Matagalpa. Here, Jim and Dave had adopted two different families several years back. They helped build a house for one, and make some improvements on another. They’ve helped make sure the children stay in school, and we were going to stop in and see how they were doing. I couldn’t help but snap pictures all over this village. It was beyond poor. The unemployment rate is so high, most people just hang around their houses during the day. This was a Saturday that we were visiting, but yet I saw children in their school uniforms...the nicest clothes they own, and maybe the only ones they have. The two families we visited were very kind, humble, and hospitable. Their living conditions were far from anything you would see in the states. The one house was one big room, probably 15x15. There was a cement floor in the front half of the house that included a small table for preparing food, and a plastic chair (the kind you get at the dollar store). There was also a hammock hanging in the middle of the room. That meant someone slept there. The back half of the house was separated by black garbage bags that were cut to hang down. That is where the sleeping quarters were that were just as sparse as the front of the house. Outside in the yard, there were two roosters and one hen that were tied to separate small trees with a piece of twine. There was a clothesline strung between two trees and an outdoor faucet. This was right next to the cement table used to wash clothing and other items. Finally, around the back corner of the house there was an outhouse. This completed the entire house and yard that couldn’t be any bigger than 30x30. All of the houses along the street were pretty much in the same format. Dave and Jim gave up all of their extra Rice Krispy Treats and packaged cheese on crackers to the families. The families didn’t know how to thank them enough. It was more food than they had had at one time in a long time. After saying our good-byes with these families, we continued on our travels up to Matagalpa. There we bought some souvenirs, had lunch at a great restaurant, and then went to see the St. Thomas Hotel. This is where the January mission team will be staying and I wanted to check it out. It’s very nice and almost Americanized including spacious rooms, a banquet facility, restaurant, bar, and beautiful sitting areas. After making the reservations for the January team, we made the long two-hour trip back to Managua to the hotel. That night we sat poolside once again, talking about all we had accomplished throughout the week. We ate pizza and Lester and I even danced to the music that was playing for the party next door. We had an amazing trip and a great time seeing old friends and making some new ones once again. Sunday morning we had to be to the airport early so our good-byes were short and sweet. John and I traveled back to Miami together and then started the long drive back. Four-and-a-half hours later we were back to Winter Park where I dropped off John. Back on the road again for another three hours before I made it home by 11:30pm. Someone must have been looking out for me again because I was able to do all the driving and not get sleepy. The next morning I had to report back to work and click back in to the real world like I had never been gone. If
I learned one thing this trip, it’s don’t ever anticipate
the outcome of any mission trip. You’ll be wrong. I am still
busy as ever, planning the next trip in January. It has even taken
me three weeks to get this entire paper written between work, Christmas
festivities, and planning the next trip. I can only promise one
thing to anyone who is thinking about going on a mission trip: you
will never be the same again.
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