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Nicaragua, A Snapshot…...By Toni Armstrong Sample
It is quite probable that last night you slept in a comfortable bed, took a hot shower, put your breakfast dishes in the dishwasher and donned clothes washed and dried in an automatic washer and dryer. This week someone in your house ran the power sweeper and mowed the lawn with a self-propelled or riding mower. You drove your car to the store, to activities and to church.
Imagine your life with none of those things. It was so different for the fourteen others and me from WPC and the eight that joined us from New Kirk Presbyterian Church in Columbia to live for even a few days without those things we take for granted. Like our new Nicaraguan friends, we showered in ice cold mountain water, slept on beds that were wooden boards with a one-inch pad on top and enjoyed beans and rice at every meal. We watched as lawns were mowed with machetes and clothes were washed on washboards and all of us took our turn washing dishes at multiple stations of clean cold water.
Most of us have indoor bathrooms. Imagine, in the middle of the night, slipping on your flip-flops, putting on your raincoat, climbing down stairs akin to a ladder, trekking down a road to outside bathrooms. Arriving you prayed the light would work and that you would not step on a tarantula or meet “Kermit” who was about twice the size of any bullfrog I had ever seen. While you’re there you might as well stand outside in the rain with your bottled water and brush your teeth. We take so much for granted.
Our paint crew painted the dormitories with seriously diluted paint to stretch it as far as possible and the paintbrushes we used, we would have thrown away but amazingly, we painted with them and did a good job. Walter headed the paint crew. Like all the Nicaraguans we met, he was proud and respectful of taking good care of what they had. You cannot afford not to keep what you have clean and in good repair.
Everything in Nicaragua is used and reused many times. The yard crew, joined by 70 year old, Santiago, used lots of muscle power to dig concrete embedded poles out of hard mountain clay. All the outside jobs, including fertilizing the coffee plants growing on the side of the mountain, were done in the pouring rain. A flower garden of wild ferns, ginger plants and orchids was lovingly dug up and transplanted in a new location to make room to build a patio for the children.
With gasoline at $4.25 a gallon and the average daily wage at $3.00, most people walk or ride bicycles and few people have automobiles. Often one person goes to the market for the entire neighborhood.
Nicaragua sits on numerous fault lines resulting in repeated earthquakes and is dotted with active volcanoes that erupt at will. Dogs don’t bark, cows don’t moo and horses don’t whiney -- because most are too ill from parasites. It is highly doubtful that anyone will come to this country to provide life-improving opportunities. The country is too uncertain, it is too unstable not just in its environmental conditions but also from the Sandinestan el Presidente who touts “Vive la Revolutione” from billboards lining the roads.
With all these things working against the citizens of Nicaragua, what is the source of their hope, their joy, and their happiness. We concern ourselves about our stock portfolio and national health while Nicaraguans worry about providing a home and food for their children. These people asked for nothing from us but to work beside them and to love them. They witnessed constantly to us showing us that they are indeed “Crazy For Christ”. All of us left Nicaragua, as my friend Mac Myers shared with us one night during devotions, jealous of the “Nica’s” passion and zeal, not for this life but for what they are absolutely sure lies ahead in the next one. Their goal is so simple, it’s to help others. To give encouragement to the young people of their country. To make a life of desperation become a life of hope. If you would like to help the young people in Nicaragua, you can send a donation to: Young Life X306, P. O. Box 520, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80903.
Gallo Pinto (Beans and Rice)
Gallo Pinto is Nicaragua's most popular dish, eaten at any time of the day.
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 lrg onions – thinly sliced
2 cups cooked red beans
¼ cup water
1 cup cooked white rice
Beans: cook 1 cup of dry red beans with 6 crushed cloves of garlic and water in a pressure cooker for 15 to 20 minutes. Sauté the onion in a pot. Add in the cooked beans and water. Cook for 5 minutes at a low heat whilst stirring. The beans must remain whole. Now add the cooked rice and simmer for a further 10 minutes, still stirring. Enjoy. Like macaroni and cheese is to the South -- Gallo Pinto is to Nicaragua.
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