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Seeking Reconciliation, Promoting JusticeNicaragua Mission 2011 “Will you come back and stay with us again?” Ariel Urbina, host father in El Castillo.“Can Sarah come back to visit on her vacation?” Lily (age 16) from Tabitha’s House orphanage in Bluefields.“We asked communities: should delegations from the United States send money or should they come to Nicaragua? The communities said: Come! It is a joy to have our brothers and sisters come to visit us.” Anita Taylor, Director, CEPAD Nehemias House. Over and over we heard from our Nicaraguan Brothers and Sisters: will you return? Will you remember us? On this trip, we went seeking the Lord’s guidance on how we can make a deeper connection—how we can be true friends in Christ with our fellow Christians in this impoverished country. We went to:Take our commitment in Nicaragua to the next level by exploring a covenant partnership with the mountain village of El Castillo in Nicaragua. Partnerships are intended to facilitate bonds of Christian friendship and solidarity between our communities and cultures; to transform our understanding of the world and our role as the Gospel calls us to justice, peace and reconciliation; and to seek an empowering Christian response to poverty—not simply to provide material resources; Determine how we can assist the work of Pastor Adrian Bobb and Dr. Bernadeth Kelly—missionaries who have developed a children’s feeding program, girl’s orphanage and Christian-inspired medical services. The needs are so great: 120 children from the poorest barrio of Bluefields receive a daily noon-time meal. Sadly there are nearly 100 more hungry children who need this program but there is not enough money. We visited the 5 orphan girls of Tabitha’s House, another ministry run by the Kelly-Bobbs. They are blessed; they have a safe nurturing home. But there is no room for boys; andExpand our Fair Trade work in order to promote economic justice. The average income is less than $2.75 per day in Nicaragua. Artisans who may labor for more than a month to produce beautiful pottery, or coffee growers who pick every bean by hand and carry the harvest off steep slopes on their backs, deserve a fair price for their labors which too often goes to the middlemen. We spent four days in the community of El Castillo, about two hours north of Managua in the beautiful coffee-growing region of Nicaragua. Last year, DRC’s travelers spent a day in this village—the first North American delegation ever to visit the community. At that time, the people had just received electricity in their homes. This year In El Castillo, we were able to visit many local farms and some of the schools. A highlight of the stay was our time with the students and teachers. Alison Kurtessis, Brita Gieryic, and Sharon Schultz taught the teacher and some of the students how to play recorders that we brought with us. We were also treated to special songs and dances, and we returned the favor with an enthusiastic “Itsy Bitsy Spider”. Music and sign language are universal! Also universal are teenage boys with too much time—so Pam Brody engaged a rowdy group in a numbers game similar to “Uno” which they could play without having to know English or Spanish. On Tuesday evening, we joined with leaders from El Castillo to discuss ways we could strengthen our relationship, possibly through a model “partnership” approach that is now used by nineteen other U.S. churches and Nicaraguan communities. Partnerships are not based on material gifts, but emphasize mutual respect, which facilitates long term, sustainable community development. It starts very simply with a commitment to communicate monthly—exchanging prayers, photographs, and newsletters, for example—and grows with exchanges and visits and learning from each other. Then, together, the partners identify deeper needs. El Castillo, for example, is still without clean running water. And the teachers asked us to come back and work with the students again on music and special studies. Before we left, the leaders of El Castillo let us know that they would like to continue developing a partnership with DRC. Keep the Mission Team and Deacons in prayer as we consider our response. At the end of the week, Pastor Dave, Nancy Pierson and Peggy Becker remained behind to visit the mission of Dr. Bernadeth Kelley and Pastor Adrian Bobb in Bluefields on the east coast. Last year, the DRC group was deeply moved by these amazing missionaries and their work. The DRC Sunday School now already supports the noon time meal program. But after seeing the children again, we know God is calling us to “kick this up a notch”. And a new boys’ orphanage is now under construction—but funding for its completion has run out — so our visit was to help us determine what DRC could do. Stay tuned for more on this exciting project. Finally, many of you have already seen the beautiful Fair Trade items that the group brought back to share with the congregation. This year, travelers saw, first hand, some of the ceramic artists at work in their studios in San Juan Oriente. The Mission Team is exploring ways to expand DRC Fair Trade efforts and the possibility of a more direct connection through Ezperanza en Accion (Hope in Action) in Managua. In the meantime, keep buying the beautiful goods, and delicious coffee and chocolate…..Travelers will be planning time to share impressions, stories and photographs in the near future. Watch for a date in the Bulletin and on the website. 2011 Mission Trip Travelers: Liz, Peggy and Sarah Becker; Pam Brody; Tony Calvagno; Pastor Dave and Sue Corlett; Brita Gieryic; Alison Kurtessis; Nancy Pierson; Sharon Schultz. ................
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