dias de cinco

Another good day here in nicaragua. This morning, we went to Nueva Vida (new life), which is a refugee camp turned into this feeding center now. My team served over 180 kids lunch for the day, and the sad thing is, that is their one meal for the day. Definitely a culture shock, and it makes you realize how good we actually have it. Afterwards, we met up with the orphans from El Canyon at this awesome pool. We played with them for a solid two or three hours and then came back to Hotel Ticomo. Luca spoke tonight at porch time, and he did a great job. Doing big things tomorrow. That is all for tonight. -RW GUS


A feeding center
Pool time with the orphans
Can't believe my joy

I'm sure it's getting old to say, and I'm definitely getting tired of writing it, but it was an amazing day. We weren't just exposed to extreme poverty, we were immersed in it. A mother who couldn't take her sick baby to the doctor because she had no money. Malnurished kids getting their one meal of the day. For a while it was hard not to just curl up in a corner and cry. No one would expect to find happiness in a place like that, but the smiles on everyones faces proved that as long as you're loved, you can be happy. Looking foward to tomorrow. - Luca Gus

AT here ... No haiku for me today ... i'm too tired to think haha. Nueva Vida was a great experience. Even though I'd been there before I've never actually been back into the refugee camp. It is the home to about 15,000 people who were displaced after Hurricane Mitch hit Nicaragua in 1998 and raised the water level of Lake Nicaragua 18 feet and flooded many parts of the city of Grenada. The government literally gave a block of land to the people who were displaced and in the last 12 years they've pretty much created a city of their own with houses made of trash. It really is depressing but the churches in the camp have taken hold of the situation and are working with American churches to feed the kids there. The 5 feeding centers at Nueva Vida feed 1,100 kids one meal a day, six days a week, which is really incredible. The area is very poor, but it was nice hanging otu ith the minister of one of the churches. He was very poor and the church is very makeshift but he was proud of his family and and took me around and introduced me to all of his children and showed me around the church. When we were leaving he pulled me close and said "god bless you" ... the only english words he spoke to me all day ... and it really left an impact on me after leaving.

The pool was great. I swam with Leyla and the guys all made a massive pyramid in the water which im sure will be posted on facebook at somepoint by many different people from the trip haha. Anyways, that was a great experience. Luca's speech tonight in front of the 90+ from Vatech and JMU was great and he made us all proud. He should consider going into public speaking cause he's got the skills! Anyways, tomorrow Angel's family is going to the El Canyon orphanage and we will be able to give them the food we bought for them. We have about 2-3 months worth of food, and an exxtra $150 left over to go toward building them a house or providing his family enough food for another 2-3 months! It will be great knowing that months after we've returned to the US Angel and his family will be eating and not concerned about where they will get their next meal! I think a bunch of us are going to do fundraising back at school to try and raise about 2-3,000 dollars to help Angel's family build a house (right now it is made of trash and aluminum). If anyone is interested in helping, let us know!
That's all for now! Goodnight all! - AT GUS

So each day this place is getting more intense and today was no exception to the fact. I and four others were thrown into a refugee camp in order to help a small family serve food to 120 children on only 5 picnic tables. The place was so impovershed that it was truly hard to believe conditions were sanitary enough to live. This people had virtually nothing and yet they were so gracious and welcoming towards us. So many mixed emotions hit me today that I'm exhausted. Tomorrow should be another mind blowing experience. Look to hear from us all shortly.
-DH GUS