Prior to leaving for Esteli this morning we went through our trip orientation. The presentation was an eye opening look at the extreme poverty level and need for homes there is here in Nicaragua. It is the 2nd poorest country in Latin America and 79% of the people live on less than $2 per day, while 43% live on less than $1 per day. Many homes have inadequate roofs and 45% have dirt floors. This is a look into a world that is quite unfamiliar to most of us. Living in a world without the comforts of modern technology can almost seem incomprehensible. It certainly makes me feel humbled and truly blessed for all the things I daily take for granted, such as indoor plumbing and clean, accessible drinking water.
The presentation was also eye opening in a good way. We were given a small overview of the family whose building project we will be contributing to. The current Habitat project in Esteli, which we will be a part of, consists of 17 different entrepreneurial women who have been chosen by Habitat to receive a core home. Giaconda Ruiz is the woman whose home we will be working on. She has her own tortilla making business, as well as making and selling frozen juice. Jointly, Giaconda and her husband have a monthly income of $192. They also have two sons who are 12 and 15. We are beyond excited to meet Giaconda and her family!
The final portion of our orientation focused on the actual work to be done. We will definitely have some hard work ahead of us, but the reward of helping this family upward surely outweighs any pains of labor. We do not know exactly what to expect, but flexibility will be the name of our game!
Following our orientation we left Managua for Esteli. We were blessed to experience a beautiful drive through the Nicaraguan countryside. Arriving in Esteli is quite exciting because we are one step closer to the main purpose of our trip, to help build a home! This evening we were able to attend Spanish church service in the city. It was quite unlike our more traditional services in America.Though most of the service was in Spanish we did understand the main message of the service was forgiveness. This is most certainly a message we should always be reminded of. Just as God has forgiven us for the countless times we sin against Him, so should we forgive others in this earthly life. What a great message to be reminded of, especially in this setting of Nicaragua, where we realize how much we take for granted and how God has richly blessed us despite the fact that we are sinners. Even between the vast differences in culture we can see how God blesses all of His people. The best part of this is we all share His greatest blessing, the promise of eternal life with Him.
Colossians 3:13-14
"Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as The Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which bonds them all together in perfect unity."
-Ashley
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