Una brigada: sharing the vision

This year San Lucas will be visited by various brigadas; groups of volunteers who come for a few days to share in some of the work that we are involved in. In general this has a very practical component - the teams are ready and willing to get their hands dirty and contribute to building work, medical provision or agriculture. Last week the group, from a seminary in Canada, that we hosted at the land bank project (Banco de Tierra) had the tasks of...

...planting trees...

...and harvesting maize.

But, the hope is always that through this practical work there is also the opportunity to share in San Lucas' vision for the rural communities around Jinotepe in Nicaragua and to get alongside the people with whom we work; understanding more of their lives, their difficulties and the solutions we are jointly implementing. We hope to communicate the need for auto-sufficiency and sustainability, the desire for transforming change, the need to empower the powerless, to stand up for the rights of the most opressed and to help communities to understand and protect themselves from the risks they face.

It is also great to be able to share as Christians; San Lucas, Christians in the communities and visting groups together. To pray, to worship and to encourage each other, seeking God's will for our work and seeking his heart for the people we serve.

Postscript: the tortilla making process. San Lucas in the kitchen.

Gabriella refining milled maize

Juan Carlos pressing out a tortilla

my tortilla on the fire...not the best of efforts as it wasn't flat...

Costa Rica...the beach, a hot shower and plenty of fruit juice

It is quite easy to be in Nicaragua for 3 months without any problem but after that time is up you have to leave the country and re-enter to get more time on you "visa". So...with this excuse Kat, Eli, Eva (other girls working with Latin Link in Nicaragua) and I headed to the beach in Costa Rica for a few days holiday. It was a good time to relax, get some sun (although that is never generally a problem), swim in the sea, chat (four girls sharing a cabina...plenty of chatting), read and generally prepare for the return to work in January.

Costa Rica is a much wealthier country than Nicaragua and as we spent time mainly in the city and at touristy beaches it really showed. Buses are large and run to well known timetables, supermarkets stock everything you could possibly want to buy, the majority of veihicles on the road are well kept, shiny pickups or metered taxis. However, this does mean everything is pricier than we have become accustomed to and twenty dollar notes seemed not to last very long.

It was also interesting to get the Costa Rican perspective on the situation in Nicaragua and on some of the recent news stories in the region. Ticos (Costa Ricans) often look down on their poorer neighbours, from where much of the lowest level of their workforce comes. Many Nicas go over the border to find jobs labouring on building sites or working in hotels or as domestics in wealthy homes. They are generally willing to work for lower wages than a Tico would accept and Nicas would argue that they work harder and more diligently than any Tico. Nicaragua and Costa Rica are at the moment in the middle of an "argument" over the river that separates the two countries. Nica news is full of how the Ticos are stealing the river water and want to invade and take land that they covet on the Nica side. Costa Rican news is more focused on the fact that Nicaragua is cutting a canal through protected rainforest on the Tico side of the river. Indeed an international ruling has already reprimanded Nicaraga for this though they fail to recognise it. There is more to the case for both sides, not helped by the upcoming elections in Nicaragua making things even more political, but I feel I at least now hold a more balanced view.

Oh, and yes, that is Bethlehem cheese in a bag.

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

Apologies for not having posted anything for such a tlong time now. Firstly I got ill with dengue (the classic, not the fatal variety for anyone wishing to look it up) and then holidays have meant less access to the internet.
Many people have asked my how we celebrated Christmas here. We pretty much didn't. There was a moderate amount of the familiar Christmassy advertising, the comercialed, westernised kind on television and to a certain extent in shops and market stalls in the city centre but compared to the UK almost nothing. My church does not celebrate Christmas, as Christ was clearly not born in December and because most of the Christmas traditions that are well known have become disconnected with the nativity story, they feel it is not appropriate to participate. My Nica family had a sort of special dinner on the night of the 24th and my sisters gave me a gift of (expensive) apples but I did miss Christmas at home a wee bit!

New Year however was much more exciting! At church we had special services thanking God for the year that has pst and looking forward to the new. Every group I am part of had a "despedida" or goodbye at the end of December so I have eaten many shared meals, barbequed meat, tortillas and ice cream! On the 31st my family held a sort of midnight fireworks party including burning a straw man representative of the old year which we had dressed up and sat outside our house earlier in the day. There was a lot of explosives...and the young men seenmm to have no fear in throwing exploding things around in the street as the women squeal and run away but it was great fun. I was quite relieved to have celebrated well as I think itf both Christmas and New Year had passed unoticed I would have been sad. There was also time whilst waiting for midnight for some Scottich country dancing, a good taste of home, and highly amusing for everyone involved.

El muñeco del año viejo
The end of the muñeco and my cousin Josef with fireworks...
Dancing with tío Cesar

New Year's day - to a river to swim and sun ourselves.