Caimito, Nicaragua
Communities Flourish and Lives are Saved
As prayer coordinator for the Luke Society, I have had opportunities over the past twelve years to travel to many Luke Society ministry locations. The chance to visit the ministries makes my call to rally prayer amazingly easy because I am able to walk in the footsteps of our ministry partners, see the faces of those they serve, and witness the challenges surrounding them.
In August, I had the unique opportunity to visit two places I had never been – Nicaragua and Ecuador. Everything I have ever learned from reports, emails, stories, and pictures leaped to life in 3D on my mind’s cinematic screen. The only thing missing was the smell of hot buttered popcorn. Instead, I can rewind and revel in the aromas of interesting, authentic foods prepared for us in the communities.
When we arrived in Nicaragua, two Luke Society Directors, Drs. Francisco Moraga and his wife Reyna Sanchez, met us with an impressively organized three-day itinerary in hand. The doctors led the way to seven of the nine communities they serve in the Corazo district, which is one of the poorest municipal areas in Nicaragua. The well-trained leaders in each of the villages were in the forefront of each community. The evidence of the work of Fundación San Lucas in the organization, commitment, and hard work put forth by these leaders really impressed me. Drs. Francisco and Reyna did not simply plant seeds, build latrines, and teach community health. Instead, they had helped reconstruct the villagers way of thinking to help them become people who were not looking for a handout but for a hand up over the wall of poverty to improve their health, families, and communities.
While in Nicaragua, I heard the following two stories of people who have been touched by Jesus through the influence of the Fundación San Lucas.
Health Promoter Saves Elmo
Check again!” insisted the health promoter, Gilberto Lopez. After three trips to the local health clinic, Gilberto had become exasperated when a young boy from one of the village ministries did not receive adequate care.
He told the unconcerned government doctor who was supposed to be treating the boy, “If you don’t take this boy to the hospital now, I will tell everyone you refused to help him!”
Trained by the Fundación San Lucas as a community health worker, Gilberto was quick to learn and put into practice the community health training he received. On several trips to the village of Caimito to visit the home of Juan Lopez and Maria Luisa, he noticed their little boy, Elmo, holding his head. Elmo, more often known as “Elmito,” complained of bad headaches. These headaches soon developed into seizures. Gilberto did not waste any time in taking Elmito and his parents to the health center. On two visits to the clinic, the doctor assured them that Elmito simply had a cold and would soon be fine. On the third visit to the clinic, Gilberto’s concern rattled the doctor enough to force him to admit Elmito to the hospital.
The doctors at the hospital ran a number of tests. The result: cancer in the brain. The startling news was not what Elmito’s parents wanted or expected to hear. The test results were especially haunting in light of a dream Elmito had before surgery. He told his parents that in his dream he was in heaven with Jesus and he did not have a headache. He did not feel any pain. He felt good. Their hearts filled with sadness, and they took his dream as a sign that their little boy was going to die. They began to pray more earnestly and asked friends, relatives, and church members to join them in their prayers. But they inwardly tried to gain the resolve to release him to heaven before the first surgery.
Indeed, without Gilberto’s aggressive attention to the issue, the boy would have died within a very short time. Instead, after two surgeries and chemotherapy treatment, Elmito’s cancer is now in remission. The family is rejoicing as they watch him run around the farm playing and helping with chores. Though the treatments left him slightly cross-eyed and threw off his equilibrium, Elmito is feeling better and is cheerfully helping the family.
The Lopez family has plenty to keep Elmito busy. They are one of many families in the nine communities in Nicaragua that the Fundación San Lucas is helping. Francisco and Reyna, along with their staff, are working to improve health and nutrition by offering microloans to families. These loans allow families to raise turkeys for breeding, install water filters and systems (wells and rain storage), plant fruit trees, develop methane gas production with biodigestors, and build small businesses.
The Lopez family used their microloan to purchase one male and three female turkeys. In addition to the microloan, Fundación San Lucas provided materials for the turkey pen.
“Turkeys are better to raise than hens,” Mr. Lopez said. “They give better meat and they bring in more money. It takes about six months from birth to the market and we can get about $20 to $30 dollars for one turkey,” he explained.
The family plans to give the first fruits of the project back to the ministry, he said. Drs. Francisco and Reyna have been pleased to see the effectiveness of the microloans as they manifest themselves in positive changes taking place in the Lopez family. The Fundación San Lucas also provided the family with a water tank and storage for rain water with a pipe leading to the water filter. Their water is regularly analyzed and is now free of bacteria.
Mrs. Lopez said, “Elmito used to get diarrhea from the water but in the six years we have been using the water filter system he has not had that trouble.” The ministry also planted fruit trees on the Lopez farm, giving them a more diverse diet and better nutrition.
With funding from an additional loan, the Lopez family purchased pigs for breeding and selling. One of these pigs has been set aside – this pig has a purpose. In December, the pig will be the main entrée for a special celebration of thanksgiving to God for His goodness and mercy in preserving Elmito’s life. Not unlike a different Elmo, the superstar furry fire-engine red dynamo with the positive attitude and infectious giggle of Sesame Street, this little guy keeps his family and neighbors smiling. I could not help wishing I had packed along the infamous Elmo doll as a little surprise to widen Elmito’s smile even more. Instead, as only God foreknew, I was the one to be blessed by Elmito of Caimito who was the surprise to widen my own smile.
The Soya Ladies of Nance
Finally, I get to meet the Soya Ladies. While reading about these women, I had conjured up images of the Keebler elves musically working deep in the forest and making life sweeter for everyone around them. The rollercoaster ride through the mountain road lined on both sides with towering fruit and flower trees only heightened my expectation. With each new bump and turn ahead, my imagination was going wild with the smell of candies, cookies, cakes, and pies.
When we arrived, the ladies stood in front of me – adorned with white hats and purple aprons – they were ready to show me their assembly line of soy products. The ladies worked like a human conveyor as they moved the fresh supply of raw soy to the pots on the stove at the other end of the line. But I noticed one part of this image that looked odd. The “mother’s group” I had been reading about apparently had added two men to the group. These men, Nestor and Pedro, had earned their white hats by helping the ladies with the heavy lifting. They hope to be an example to other men in the community to get involved in the work for the community.
After a couple years of experience in preparing soy products, the group has now developed enough recipes for a cookbook. Originally, these women were trained to prepare just three dishes – but now they have created 100 diverse dishes. They have also expanded their product line to make soaps and lotions. The women are full of ideas and are bursting to share those ideas with others. The Soya Ladies were trained as health promoters by the Fundación San Lucas team a few years ago when malnutrition was rampant in the community of Nance. Children were underweight and sickly from lack of protein in their diet.
“Tortillas used to be all calories and no protein,” health promoter Ramona Cruz said.
When Ramona and the other women learned from the Luke Society team that using soy in their food could make a difference in the health of their children – and in the health of the elderly – she said, “There [was] no excuse not to do it!”
The ladies were motivated to improve health and change history. “We all need to improve our nutrition. If we know how to work with soy, then we should work with it,” Ramona said.
A microloan from the Fundación San Lucas covered half the cost of the soy. The women raised enough funds to cover the rest of the cost and began work on the soy project. Immediately, they invested in the project from their own meager earnings, which fostered a greater sense of ownership. Their commitment and zeal quickly reaped rewards. With the new soy foods that had been introduced into their diet, children began to gain weight and become healthier. The community has become a marketplace for soy. In the beginning, the men were not interested in working with the ministry. However, thanks to Nestor, Pedro, and the remarkable evidence of healthier children, the men are now more willing to work for the community.
Drs. Francisco and Reyna, along with their team, are gratified to see their training efforts result in tremendous growth within a community. They do not see the community developing a dependent attitude. Instead, they see the community’s ambition to reach beyond what it has already been empowered to accomplish. The group of soy producers has a vision to build a training center to teach other communities ways to improve their health and living conditions. The group would like to build a large dining room to feed the children in the community and host training sessions.
“This is not a business,” Ramona said. “We are not doing this to make money for ourselves. We want to give to others what has been given to us. We want to see this multiplied in other communities.”
While the soy program has been successfully making a difference, Drs. Francisco and Reyna have also initiated a relationship with the CRWRC to introduce an experimental pilot project in the planting and harvesting of amaranth. The plant was used in the diets of pre-Columbian Aztecs but became nearly extinct when the Spanish conquistadors outlawed it because of its use in religious ceremonies involving human sacrifice. Amaranth thrived, however, in remote areas of the Andes and Mexico. In both Mexico and Peru, the amaranth leaves are used as vegetables that may be boiled or fried. The amaranth plant produces a grain similar to wheat. The ministry has already given the Soya Ladies proper training and they are eager to expand their recipe collection with amaranth based products.
“We are so glad for this chance to grow amaranth because it has even more protein than soy,” Ramona said.
Thus, the work of the Soya Ladies continues – someday I hope to see their soaps, candles, lotions, and food products in my own local grocery store.
Nicaragua is the poorest country in Central America and is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Drs. Francisco and Reyna are truly making a difference, not by doing the work themselves, but by teaching and training community leaders and instilling in them the confidence to make their lives and communities better and healthier. With a jumpstart on resources, training, and microloans, the people have bought into the program and are experiencing the satisfaction of seeing their efforts bring positive changes in their families, health, and living conditions. Each new level reached fuels them to go to another level and they want to pass their knowledge on to their families and neighboring communities.
Bridget Smith