Hope Grows in El Limonal
Nine years ago El Limonal was just a dusty cotton field located between the Chinandega city dump and a local cemetery. After Hurricane Mitch in 1998, the land was opened up for people who were looking for a new place to live. Today about 270 families reside in the various houses of wood, corrugated metal and black sheet plastic that line the community's five principal dirt roads. Many children and adults in the community visit the dump daily, risking their health to search among the smoldering trash for things to sell.

Over the years many people have tried to convince the residents of this struggling community to move elsewhere. However, when Pastor Oswaldo, one of the Nehemiah Center's "Agents of Transformation", got involved, he had a different mindset. "We're not going to tell you to leave. We're going to help you improve your community," he said. Pastor Oswaldo began a church in the community and recruited a local young Christian woman, Fatima, to help lead the Community Health Evangelism (CHE) program, a wholistic strategy to addressing physical and spiritual needs in communities.

Fatima and a team of community health promoters worked together to organize the community, visit people in their homes, and provide teaching on basic preventative health principles as well as spiritual encouragement. She also developed a relationship with the local public health officials to bring basic medical services to El Limonal, like rehydration solutions, malaria tests, and basic injections. Meanwhile, teams came through FH to help build latrines and improve basic sanitation in the community.

As a result of the physical changes the community began to see, Pastor Oswaldo's church gained the favor of many people. "Pastor Oswaldo worked very well in the community," says Rosa, one of the women involved with the CHE program. Soon the local church was a thriving group of 80 members with several community outreach activities, including providing lunch three times a week to children, pregnant women, and the elderly in El Limonal. "The church is meeting real needs that exist here," says Fatima.

The church's wholistic vision continues to be led by Pastor Crespin, a young man who has also been a part of the Nehemiah Center's trainings for Agents of Transformation. During the past year, FH staff Mike and Maria Saeli have come alongside Crespin and Fatima to support their ministry in El Limonal by facilitating the development of sustainable organic house gardens, sharing Biblical principles, praying with families, and working to improve the health of the community.

While challenges obviously still confront this community, the women who participate in the CHE program say that there are signs of positive change. Relationships are growing. "We have gotten closer as a group," Socorro says proudly. "We are working together in unity." Unity that has helped leaders like Fatima solve serious community problems, like water cutoffs due to irregular payments by certain people in the community.

"We went door to door to collect funds to pay our debt, and then to the office as a group and stayed there until they agreed to turn the water back on," explained Fatima. "Now they just cut the water off for those who don't pay." Fatima, who was recently elected as the community's official representative to the local government, says her mentality is always the same: "The most important thing is that we help the community. Whether we are official leaders or not."

The wind carries the smell of burning trash toward us as Fatima walks over to examine the squash and tomatoes growing in her now thriving patio garden.

A garden that represents the hope growing in El Limonal.

WHERE

+ Democratic Republic
-- of Congo
+ Ethiopia
+ Kenya
+ Rwanda
+ Uganda

+ FH HISTORY:

After a devastating earthquake in 1972, FH assisted with relief efforts in Nicaragua. FH began long term development work in Nicaragua in 1994. FH was called a "facilitation field" because efforts were focused on the strengthening of locally run institutions, including churches and other non-profit organizations.

In 1999, after a vision conference led by Darrow Miller, FH and the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee and CR World Missions founded the Nehemiah Center (www.nehemiahcenter.net), which is focused on the development of local leaders in all areas of society with a biblical worldview who are then equipped to facilitate the transformational development of their families, churches, businesses, and communities. The Nehemiah Center's strategy is carried out by a small group of Nicaraguan pastors and trainers known as the Ezras team, in conjunction with a growing group of national and international organizational partners.

In 2009, FH added a Child Development Program in the northwest corridor of the country, as a complement to its work through the Nehemiah Center.

+ nicaragua's HISTORY:

Nicaragua is the largest nation in Central America, possessing a series of islands and cays located in the Atlantic Ocean. The country's name is derived from Nicarao, the name of the Nahuatl-speaking tribe which inhabited the shores of Lake Nicaragua before the Spanish conquest of the Americas, and the Spanish word Agua, which means water.

In 1821, Nicaragua gained its independence from Spain along with the rest of its Central American neighbors. During the majority of the 1800s, Nicaragua was characterized by large land owners and an increasing U.S. interest in transportation systems and fruit production. In the early 20th century Nicaragua was invaded several times by U.S marines. Between 1978 and 1979 National Guard brutally killed 30,000 to 50,000 people to suppress the mass insurrections spurred because of injustice and repression. In July 1979, Sandinista National Liberation Front came into power. Sandinistas Government nationalized the commercial pursuits of the Somoza family and conducted an agrarian reform movement and extensive health and literacy campaigns, which earned worldwide acclaim.

Between 1982 to 1989, the Reagan administration terrorized the countryside with the revolutionary movement and imposed great damage to the economy of the country. U.S. embargo contributed to further hardship of the country. Finally in 1990, Sandinistas witnessed electoral defeat due to political ineptness. However the war left a permanent imprint on the economy. Nicaragua is presently identified as one of the poorest countries in the world.

+ FACTS:

+ Nicaragua's main challenge is to overcome inequity and poverty, which affect children and women most severely.

+ One out of every three children has some degree of chronic malnutrition and nine percent suffer from severe malnutrition.

+ The breakdown of income distribution shows that 45% of all income goes to the richest 10% of the population, while only 14% goes to the poorest.

+ Child and adolescent sexual exploitation, drug use and violence are emerging issues of concern.

+ Nicaragua is famous for its dance form, known as 'Palo de Mayo'.

+ Facts From: UNICEF

LINKs

Explore nicaragua Give to nicaragua Change nicaragua nicaragua blog