Arsenic News & Thoughts on Doing Good Well

A few years ago the ministry of health discovered that wells in some rural villages near where we work had high levels of arsenic. 

Drinking water with high levels of arsenic over a number of years can lead to serious illnesses like skin cancer and kidney disease.  There is a good background article on arsenic on the NE website.

Nuevas Esperanzas was asked to help find a solution because of our history in the area and our co-worker Andrew's specialization in hydogeology.  He's posted two news articles giving updates about the work: an article about discovering that a large area is affected by this problem and an article about the health study done with the villagers who've been drinking the contaminated water.

Not having a background in chemistry, geology or dermatology, reading the articles reminded how fortunate we are to have the help of specialists like Andrew and Dr. Gomez, especially in situations where the stakes are high and those most affected are the poor.  Our friend Scott from Food for the Hungry in Nicaragua makes a similar point, but more memorably that I could, in his blog post about Christian compassion and professionalism.  

The Importance of Yamil

We believe that if a project is going to work in the long-term, the community must own it.  This means, in part, that the community contributes to the project as it’s able.  Most often the community contributes its labor:  mixing cement, hauling materials, cooking meals, digging holes, planting trees, etc.  Yamil is the one on the Nuevas Esperanzas team who organizes the work groups. 

That may sound trivial, but work groups are actually where much of community transformation happens.  Work groups are where people decide to cooperate for the common good, or don’t.  They are where people buy into the project, or don’t.  Work groups are where we find out what people are willing to share.  Work groups are where we find out what kind of change people really want. 

Yamil’s job is not just having people count off and telling them what day to show up.  He’s a mediator, negotiator and motivational speaker.  He needs to be able to read people and have a knack for building relationships, which is why Yamil being Nicaraguan is such an important asset.

My job is to manage projects, monitor results and report to donors.  I orchestrate opportunities for Yamil to work.  Yamil, in some ways, is more of an artist.  He creates opportunities for change.

In the rain

Photo captions:

1 - 2. The boys join the throngs of bubble lovers.  

3.  Unfortunately, after this incident, we ran out and their stubborn mama refuses to to buy more as she does not know much about the ethics of bubble manufacturers and vows to make her own.

4.  Family photo.

5.  The anonymous tropical storm begins - we received rain for more than week.

6.  We are cold.  Some of us are not accustomed to wearing much clothing.  Smile.

7.  The rain has caused to be creative in thinking of other things to do.

8.  Augusto.  Note: he has grown more accustomed to long-sleeves.

9.  A Nicaragaun bird-feeder.

Children of Corn

In August I wrote a work update about the bean harvest.  Our friend Rachel just wrote a good blog post about the importance of corn in Nicaragua in honor of World Food Day.  Corn is the other main staple grown by the farmers we work with, and the corn harvest is one of the most important events of the year for a poor subsistence farmer.  For many of us from the Midwest, corn on the cob is a seasonal tradition.  In Nicaragua most people eat corn in some form almost every day.  It has deep roots in their food culture and a vocabulary all of its own.  We really enjoy that Nicaraguans have such an intimate relationship with their food, and that it is celebrated as the gift that it is.

Donate 1 Day

From the comfort of your office chair, work for others in Nicaragua.  
Donate 1 day's salary to Nuevas Esperanzas' work.

Donate 1 Day

Nicaragua Loves Marching Bands (and vice versa)

On September 15, 1821 Central America declared independence from Spain after three centuries of colonial rule.  Every year in León, marching bands from almost every school parade through the streets to celebrate.

I found this interesting: when Nicaragua originally declared independence, it was as one of five states that made up the Federal Republic of Central America, following the model of government that had recently been established by the United States of America.  This fragile republic broke apart less than two decades later, and Nicaragua declared itself an independent nation in 1838.

September 14 is celebrated as a second day of independence.  In the early 1850s, a civil war broke out Nicaragua's two largest cities, León and Granda.  León contracted the services of US mercenaries, led by William Walker, who gained military control over the country, and subsequently declared himself president.  Nicaragua united, and with the help of its Central American allies, achieved a decisive victory over the mercinaries at the Battle of San Jacinto on September 14, 1856.  Walker was ultimately expelled from Nicaragua the following year.  

From the Pekruls with Amor: Birthdays & Beans

Merry Afternoons Like These

Solo had his first birthday on the 4^th of August, and Luke had his twenty-ninth birthday on the 9^th.  We all partied together, along with some friends.  Steph made us all some Sesame Street party hats.  There was steak and dirt-cake.  Luke and Dave had a cigar and jicaro brandy while we all played a game of homemade shuffle-board with washers and some paddles cobbled together from old wood we had laying around the house. 

Merry afternoons like these have a special richness for us.  Besides being a celebration for a year of life, there is the quiet satisfaction of deepening roots: celebrating life that has budded in this place, on this ground, from which a home has grown with every happy, warm afternoon, each uniquely good because it was given to us here. 

Beans Are Life

August is one of the quietest months at work because at the end of July the rain stops and the red bean harvest starts.  Nuevas Esperanzas rarely works without community participation, and once the harvest begins there is little time for anything besides the harvest, because beans are life.  One of the main sources of sustenance for the people living in the hillside communities where we work are the beans they grow.  The sale of surplus beans is their biggest source of income. 

For a good bean harvest one needs just the right amount of rain, and the right amount of sun, at the right time.  The rains start in May, and the farmers plant their first crop of red beans.  About two months later the rains stop for a month, just as the beans are ready to be harvested.  The bean plants are torn up by their roots, tied in bundles and left to dry in the sun.  Once they have dried, the plants are gathered in piles and threshed by hand, that is, they are beaten with sticks until the beans fall out of the pods.  (Here’s a video of what manual bean threshing looks like.) The beans are collected, cleaned, put out to dry again in the sun for three days, and then put in 100 pound sacks for sale or storage.

The sun is key for a good harvest.  If the harvested bean plants don’t dry sufficiently, the beans will stick to their pods, and can’t be threshed.  Most will rot in the field.  If they are threshed but can’t be dried in the sun for three full days, too much moister will remain in the bean and many will be ruined by mold in storage.  This is why, when we asked teenage boys in the community what they worry and pray about the most, the weather was one of the things at the top of their list.  So while August may mean a pause for some our projects, there are still important things to pray for, like the sun.    

Glimpses of the Pekruls, Nuevas Esperanzas and Nicaragua

From This one's for you.

From the Pekruls with Amor: Boys, Visits & Bees

I won’t spend any more time than this apologizing for my latest failure at regular reports. This update from June and July is the latest attempt to get back on the horse.

The Boys

Even to us, it feels like the boys’ personalities have been evolving quickly over the last couple of months. Solo started picking up some of the baby signs that Steph has been teaching him, and seems to be learning how to pout and throw tantrums, although August still has a lot of work to do with him.

August is becoming more aware of life around him, living more in the present than Steph and I are it often seems. He points out the birds and reminds us to look at the moon. Last week, while we were driving in the city, Steph noticed him looking intently out the window and asked him what he was thinking. “About trees,” he said. A few minutes later she asked him again what he was thinking. In a quite voice he said, “Still trees.”

Two Big Visits

We had two big visits in June. Our board of directors came down in the first half of June. We were able to visit the communities together and have very productive and timely conversations about Nuevas Esperanzas’ vision and the way forward as we continue to grow. All of them are also friends, and their advice and words of encouragement left us feeling both nurtured and more confident. It will give us fuel for a few years.Two more friends came down the week after our board’s visit. Grandma Peg and Grandpa Bill’s annual visit has become something of a holiday for us. The holiday traditions haven’t been fully established yet, but dominoes and Bloody Marys are looking like strong candidates. Living in a country where family is at the core of social life for most people, being able to see them twice a year makes life feel healthier and more balanced.

Great Engagement in Beekeeping

Over the last month I’ve been happy to be in the field regularly. My highlight from last month was seeing the level of engagement for the beekeeping project. Up until recently, New Hope Llantwitt Major has been funding the purchase of all the hive boxes, since it would be a significant risk for the farmers to invest so much in a new venture. But recently, a few of the participants independently copied the design and began building boxes themselves. They told me that they wanted to respect Nuevas Esperanzas’ contribution to their families by putting in as much as they could.It’s exciting for me when participants start innovating like this in projects that have been brought into their communities because it shows two things: first, they feel like the project is their own, and not ours, and second, that they feel confident it’s worth the investment of their time and resources. Both of these things are critical for the long-term success of the project, so it’s great to see such positive signs at a relatively early stage.

Solocat and Augdog as of late.

A lesson learned inside my head.

Months ago, now, we invited several families to our home to celebrate a birthday party.

A young boy was eating cookies, finished, then threw his garbage in my just manicured lawn.

I noted it and labeled him as 'careless' - attempting to comprehend growing up with so little respect for maintaining a clean environment.

Later, the guests swept through the garage where the piñata was smashed. Each piece of candy carefully was stuffed into pockets.

I followed the guests, cleaning after them - my pockets full of empty candy wrappers and my hands full of a mangled piñata.

A young boy was eating candy, finished, then coiled up the overlooked rope that had held the piñata. He neatly hung it on a nail.

He had noted it and possibly labeled me as 'careless' - possibly attempting to comprehend growing up with so little respect for maintaining a clean environment.

Although, I doubt he was so judgmental.

A video thank you from Nuevas Esperanzas

From the Pekruls with Amor

Dear all,

A friend suggested that, even though the people who’ve been encouraging and supporting

us in our work in Nicaragua do have an interest in what we’ve been doing, they may also be

interested in how we’ve been doing. So based on his gentle suggestion, we’ve decided to try

and take on the discipline of writing a regular family update every couple of months. It doesn’t

feel very natural, I must admit, so we may need a bit of encouragement. I would suggest that

periodic updates from you in return may be just the encouragement we would need, as tacky as it probably is to ask for personal replies to a mass email.

We’ve just gotten back to León after seeing some of you in the States over the holidays, although

not as many of you as we would have liked. It was good to be back to celebrate Jesus with our

families. During Christmas in particular, it is a special gift not only remember God coming, but

to also experience His coming in the love of those around us. It was deeply satisfying that our

boys got to see so much of God this Christmas.

Arriving back in León has felt like coming home from home. Something about returning to

Nicaragua from vacation, rather than Nicaragua being the vacation, was quite settling. And

what’s more, now that the vacation is over, we plan to start looking for homes to buy. Given

what homes cost here and what we pay in rent it seems to make financial sense, but it also

feels good to make another sort of commitment to this place. We’ve never owned a home, so

I suppose that we’re finding out what most home owners know: that buying a home makes one

look a place differently, and ask new questions about one’s relationship to the community. That

process has been fun for us.

We’ve been able to talk through some of the home ownership conversations with a missionary

couple and their two girls who have been sharing our home for a couple weeks while they look

for a place to rent. Although one might expect that we would not be looking forward to sharing

a house with another family again after doing it for the last two months, we’ve found we quite

like “community” living. It’s nice to see August play with other kids (especially since most

of his interaction with Salo recently has been learning to “give to the hand, not to the face”),

have others to chat with over breakfast, have another pair of eyes on the kids, etc. So we would

encourage any who are thinking they might like a tropical vacation to feel free to impose; we like

it. It makes life feel a bit more balanced.

Anyway, we’ll leave it there for now. We hope these updates help make our life here easier

to relate to, and so make our other conversations with you richer, and keep our relationships

healthy, even over the distance.

Mucho Amor,

Luke, Steph, Aug dog, and Salo