Next year I am going to part of Latin Link's Stride programme, partnering with Latin American Christians to serve a local community in Nicaragua. Latin Link really are that - a link between churches in the UK and Europe to Latin American churches and organisations. From September/October time I will be heading off for Nicaragua to work with a Christian medical NGO called The Luke Society. Here is a quote from their website explaining what they do:
The Luke Society supports indigenous Christian health professionals dedicated to medical missions. The Luke Society works with those who have a vision to reach their own people. They know the language and culture of their people and have ideas for solving their own problems. The Luke Society helps provide the resources to bring their God-given visions to fruition.
The project in Nicaragua is based in Jinotepe (not too far from Managua, the capital) with the focus being on community health and sanitation. Different types of infrastructure are designed and implemented; filters, wells, latrines, water storage tanks etc. At the same time there is a process of education for families to promote healthy personal habits in order that families and the community can change their living conditions.
My main involvement would be to help the engineer already working with the organisation with the design and construction of a new health centre and a centre to demonstrate some of the sanitation technologies that are already in use, as well as trying improve them. There are also many possibilities to get involved with health training workshops, recreational activities for with young people, teaching English, teaching knitting...
For the moment I'm just trying to pull Spanish from the back of my memory, raise some support and prepare myself by reading up and just mentally getting to grips with the certain challenge that lies ahead. This summer I'm going to spend some time volunteering on a small family farm in Spain; language practice, getting my hands dirty, cultural exchange...I'll let you know how it goes!
