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It was a year to be different. The members of this brigade
came from many areas of home and station. Leaders came from Epworth Methodist
and from Church of Open Arms. Members included Catholics and Lutherans. There
were 4 men and 7 women. The plan was to recruit local physicians from Leon and
travel out each day to barrios near Mina el Limon. Amy Lesniewski came from Las
Vegas and Ed Beach (Amy’s brother) ventured from Chicago. We met in Houston,
and went to Managua together. Our home in Managua was Posada de Maria la Gorda.
The next day we purchased the remaining needed medicines and drove to Leon where
we were guests at Hotel Colonial. Leon is an interesting place. It is a
university town replete with history and tradition. Students are everywhere. The
Cathedral was celebrating its 475 year anniversary. Every night there were
parades and fireworks, noise and bands.
Around the town square there is a huge mural stretching a
full block. This mural depicts the history of Nicaragua including indigenous
peoples through military rule to modern (1979) revolution. Statues of heroes and
martyrs are frequent. Symbolism is common. About a block away is the ruins of a
church which was systematically destroyed by cannon fire during the revolution.
The tower bell still today stands as a monument against war. Bullet holes are
everywhere among the remaining walls, huge jagged ghastly reminders of death and
destruction. The strength of human spirit prevails among the hollow walls
echoing voices from the past, cries of longing for freedom and chants of
determination to gain such values.The Medical School Hospital is nearby, and the
classrooms are not far beyond.
Each morning we loaded our stuff into a bus and started the
long trek to our place of work. It was only about 25 miles away, but the trip
took almost 1 hour because of the road. Mina el Limon is a poor community even
though the largest gold mine in Central America is located there. We have
assisted in completion of a clinic and women’s center there. Our first day we
loaded our meds into that space and started seeing patients. During the next 4
days we treated over 1400 people. Most of them had parasites or gastrointestinal
complaints. They all had musculoskeletal complaints. Urinary tract and upper
respiratory infections were also common. Each evening we dragged back to Leon
for good food and a good night’s rest. After 4 such days we drove to a nearby
beach for swimming. The water and beach were not very pleasant with swift
undertow and furious waves. Swimming was possible only for very strong swimmers,
so we returned to Managua for a Carlos Mejia concert.
After shopping to satiety in Managua, we headed south on
Monday. Rivas is a small city in southern Nicaragua in the heart of large,
plantation like farms. We held clinic there in a renovated birthing center.
Different types of illnesses were noted here. Skin infections were common,
usually caused by parasites. We were scheduled to finish by 2 so that we could
visit another beach. Some of us continued to work, but the beach at this
southern location was reported to be much better. The Pacific waters here are
warm. Swimming is a delight if the waves are not too high. Those who went said
it was great. The disparity between the value of the produce and the wealth of
the people producing it is striking here as well as Mina El Limon.
The next day in Managua we visited a barrio that is
particularly important to one of the workers from FUNDECI. Jon has been working
in this barrio for several months and has developed strong relationships with
the people here. He has done great work in teaching them survival skills
including good health habits and good nutrition habits. After seeing a horde of
people in a clinic, we made some house calls to see folks who could not get out
of their house because of illness. One woman had severe congestive heart failure
for which she had already taken large amounts of furosemide. We found some
spironolactone and pulled 30 pounds of fluid from her body over the next couple
of days. Another home bound woman had pneumonia. Most infections here respond
favorably to penicillin or amoxicillin.
While the atmosphere of this brigade was fresh in the hearts
of the participants, they were asked to describe feelings and spirits relative
to this mission. Some of these are presented below:
Reflections of
Nicaragua
Nicaragua -- virgin experience -- exhilarating and scary
Beautiful far beyond expectation / other-worldly in a wonderful transformative
way
--none of the sadness I expected---but a sense of serenity--a different
definition of danger and safety--
collaboration in place of legislation (at least in traffic)
The understanding of community permeates--however, women struggle for
identity, safety, well-being and freedom.
Children are happy and poverty is relative--
Wealth is shiny satin and lace dresses for chicas, sugary sweet cookies and
health.
Color is everywhere.
Art is wallpaper—
Faces are muy bonita y guapo
Nicaragua—my newest addiction.
Jeni Markham-Clewell
The caring and human touch were seen through actions, words,
and silence:
Laura digging and transporting dirt from one place to another
showed the villagers that we care.
Kathy’s kind words allowed the children to know that they are loved.
Dr. Shook’s lending ear and patience touched the lives of the patients we saw.
Even though these three factors differ from one another they
are equally important.
Mickey Phan
Nicaragua wakes me up
Soft air, dazzling colors, smell of diesel, brilliant hot sun, dust,
strange
bird call, roosters, mountains, beautiful children, warm women,
men
with determination……
I am coming to remember my oneness with all that is.
Nicaragua is changing my life.
Kathy McCallie
Just as white light consists of colored rays, so Reverence
for Life contains all the
components of ethics:
Love, kindliness, sympathy, empathy, peacefulness and power to forgive.
I saw happiness, love, and joy in some of the companeros in
Nicaragua in some of
the faces. I felt sadness, depression, and desperation.
It makes me so sad to think or feel that there is nothing I can do to change
things.
Eursey Lenoir
Adios
Goodbye
To
daily care and worry.
Leave it in the U.S.
A Dios
In God
We
trust we will be useful on our journey,
crave
to make difference in a sea of sharing eyes
and
second hand pictures of Tele Tubbies.
Give all you’ve got. Leave with more than you brought.
You can’t give what you haven’t got
But can you receive it?
Adios
A Dios
Peggy Johnson
Strangers came together, separate people with hearts
beating in unison to help. We came together to build
health, hope, and to give love to those
who had only despair.
At times we felt we had nothing to offer, yet,
a child smiled with us;
a little girl no longer fears Americans will eat her;
a school has new balls to play with;
a fatherless child played catch with a gentle man;
a worried father got his daughter’s ankle mended,
in his pride he gave us avocados.
The language barrier was broken with smiles.
In a place where poverty and hunger abound,
God’s love flowed through it all.
Mama’s children will be well soon,
men hugged, families have photos,
children saw their own image.
Pride came in a plate of food, a hug, a thank you.
Home didn’t seem so very far away.
We will never whine again.
Thank you, God!
Laura Choate
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The group assembles in
front of our hotel in Managua. Preparations for travel to Leon were almost
complete. Some broke off to tour downtown Managua while medicines were
purchased. Anxiety is especially high for first timers who wonder what it
will be like. |
| Ed and Mary visit with
children near a clinic. The children were like children everywhere.
Curiosity about us and about our reason for being here were common. Ed did
a great job of speaking and explaining Spanish. Mary was wonderful with
the children. They ganged around her and thoroughly enjoyed her spirit.
She must be a good school teacher. |
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Here Boyd el Gordo meets
Maria la Gorda. Somehow it must seem appropriate to place "Fat
Boyd" in a hotel named for "Fat Mary" for this tour. The
accommodations were very nice. The people who worked there were kind and
helpful to our brigade.. |
| This story needs more
telling and will have such in another section soon. This is a mural inside
a church in a community known as Bataola. This mural depicts heroes and
martyrs from the Revolution, the struggle for freedom. Each of the people
shown in this mural was killed in some part of the struggle against the
dictatorship of Somoza. Some are babies, some are warriors. |
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My favorite nurse seems
pleased with her payment for services. She cared for a child and we were
rewarded for that assistance with a large aguacate (avocado). Actually we
were paid well in human terms with hugs, thanks, and gratitude from the
patients for whom we worked. The bonus payment of an aguacate was
unexpected and delightful. Nicaragua has a huge supply of fruit which is
served from the tree. Thus the taste is much richer and more rewarding
than if it were purchased in a store after being shipped across the world.
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| Two Eds at rest. Edward
Beach meets Eduardo Casteneda. Eduardo was our driver. He has been
studying English and is hoping to visit the United States soon. He has
been driving a bus for many years. He seems to know every small road and
each village in Nicaragua. His driving skills are legendary. He is also a
heart throb for our women. |
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Here we group around a
mural of people grouping around a city. The effect is to make us become a
huge army of workers. Oh, well! At least we tried. |
| Eduardo listens
carefully while Peggy sings about Bobby McGee and other entertaining and
uplifting songs. Her guitar was quite popular and demands to 'play one
more!' became standard talk. She also did a very nice rendition of
"Guantanemera" that pulled each of us into the singing. |
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It looks as if they knew
Peggy was visiting. The large guitar mural was especially painted for her
visit. Mural painting in Nicaragua is so very popular that almost every
idea in the world is painted somewhere. |
| Jerry, Mary, and Eursey
admired this mural and captured the idea and the colors. There was a time
when mural painting was encouraged by the government of Nicaragua, and
murals were on every fence and/or wall. Recently, some of them were
painted over, because there was a message underlying that this sort of
expression might encourage sedition..... |
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Ed and Chris explain a
set of orders to a Spanish speaking patient. Most of our patients are much
younger than this woman, but we do treat variety. Since the median age is
Nicaragua is 15 or so, the elderly are in minority status. |
| Eursey is in front of a
mural depicting the award of a Nobel Prize in 1992 to a woman from Bataola.
Her famous statement " a city with hunger is a city without
peace" was appreciated by our brigade as we met people who were
hungry. |
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All sorts of things are
happening here. Kathy is taking pictures of children and giving them the
prints. It looks as if a clinic has been set up on the table near the bus.
Laura is coaching and helping Kathy with the photography effort. Mary is
also interacting somehow with children in the background. |
| Looks as if thoughts of
Syd and Sam have crept into Amy's world. Her pensive look suggests that
even she became homesick at least once for her children. Maybe she is
trying to calculate a way to see all of the people who are lined up
outside of the clinic. Or maybe she is asking how in the world she got
conned into making this trip where bottled water is necessary to survival.
Or maybe she is trying to figure a way to turn the aguacate above into
guacamole for lunch. |
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A positive plus for this
brigade was meeting Chris, who is a medical student from San Francisco.
Chris was wonderful to help us in any way we asked so that our experience
would be satisfactory. Here he is playing ball with children in one of the
barrios served. He related well and quickly with the children wherever we
went. |
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