 Nicaragua has gone through tremendous changes in the past two decades. Once the “Bread Basket’ of Central America, the country has become the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere due to political and natural devastation.
Matagalpa is in the mountainous North Central region of Nicaragua. The area is populated by small villages that work the coffee and banana plantations and the city of Matagalpa has a population of 350,000. The average wage is 2 dollars a day. Malnutrition, despair and related health issues abound.
Grace Chapel became involved in Nicaragua in 1999, with a high school mission joining with Missionary Ventures International. The team spent most of their time in Managua, the nation’s capital. They did go for a day to visit The Re-nutrition Center in Matagalpa.
Brenda Rose is a Missionary Venture Missionary assigned to Matagalpa. She started there in the late 1990’s. A nurse by trade, she established the Re-nutrition Center. Partnering with pastors from the neighboring villages, she would go into the villages and take the children with the severest mal-nutrition and bring them to The Center.
Along with the mal-nutrition are occasionally abuse issues. There the children would spend months recovering to health. Once healthy, the children would return to their families or be adopted. Brenda also had begun several Feeding Centers at four other villages. There children are feed three meals a week for free. For some these are their only meals. The feeding centers are a direct partnership with a church.
Brenda had a vision of building a hospital outside of Matagalpa that would be accessible for those living in the mountains. She also wanted to move The Re-nutrition Center to be close to the hospital and closer to the families whose children were at the Center.
Another team, mostly high school ages, returned in 2000. This trip began to establish a relationship with Brenda. A team went in 2001 and began to work at the hospital site. The only building was a guard shack that served as the home for one of the workers at the Re-nutrition Center and her family.
Each year teams have gone back. In 2002 the hospital site had just been graded, so work was done doing repairs and small construction at the Re-nutrition Center. Some went out to the Feeding Centers and did programs for the children and helped feed them. From this trip Grace met Pastor Humberto from San Dionisio.
In subsequent years Grace has sent teams back and worked on the hospital site, continued in work at the Re-nutrition Center, and Feeding Centers. In working with Pastor Humberto, Grace learned more about his ministry. He mentors up to 40 other pastors from the surrounding mountain villages, and runs the Feeding Center from his home in San Dionisio. His home is next to his church on a large property that serves the community at large with outdoor shower and outhouse. His large family lives in the small house.
Pastor Humberto had a vision to build a new church, and move his family into the old church, which though small, was larger and better than this house. Then have his house used only for the Feeding Center.
In 2005, circumstances prevented a team from going to Nicaragua, so the money donated from a generous family to support that years’ team went instead to Pastor Humberto’s church construction.
In 2006 the team held a pastor seminar for Pastor Humberto’s pastors in the new church. A large and open and modern building, it is one of the best churches in the region. Pastor Humberto’s ministry grew and he needed the old church as well. So he remains living in a large shack of a home with his family. The feeding center still uses his house to cook from. Pastor Humberto shared with the team his desire to build a covered eating area he could use for the Feeding Center. When the team returned, this was shared with the GO Team and money was sent down to build this shelter. In 2007, a team conducted a leader’s seminar in San Dionisio using both the new church and the shelter.
Also in 2006, Brenda’s Hospital was nearing completion, but still in need of financial help. The Grace body raised $40,000, to send down to complete the second floor of the hospital.
Brenda’s desire to move The Re-Nutrition Center was put into motion earlier than she had planned, due to a flood in October 2007. Construction will begin this year at the hospital site! Grace has already given money to support this effort.
Through all of these years, it has been exciting to partner with Missionary Ventures, Brenda Rose and Pastor Humberto, to watch God work in Nicaragua. Grace has made friends and impacted lives for Jesus Christ of people. Some we have come to know and love, most who we will not ever know this side of heaven. The lives of team members and donors from Grace have also been impacted and changed from this partnership.
For more information about going to Nicaragua please email Tom McGranahan - t.mcgranahan@verizon.net |