Dear: Friends
Greetings again from Nicaragua!
As most of ya’ll probably know, my parents are in the States for a few weeks for my oldest brother’s wedding, and us four youngest stayed back, and are staying in Puerto Cabazas, at Verbo Ministries.
We have quite a bit of free time on our hands and I figured I could use this opportunity maybe to write a few short stories of our life in KrinKrin. Some of our daily experiences, challenges, and praises.
I hope trough these stories you will be able to catch a glimpse of a few ways God is working here. Because without him all that we do is in vain.
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On this particular morning, I was awakened by the 5:30 community bell as usual, Getting out of my hammock, making breakfast or going for a quick early morning bath in the Wanki (Rio Coco).
This morning seemed no different then any other until half an hour later, the bell rang again, this time in a code. Us being new in the community, we didn’t understand all the codes of the bell yet, so we asked a good friend, and he explained to us that this code meant that someone in the community had died.
My first thought went to sweet baby Lecha, only seven month old, who had been sick with a fever and diarrhea for the past few days. Her mother the morning before had made the 2 ½ hour trek through jungle and rough mud trails to the closest village with a clinic, in hopes of getting help for her baby. When she returned that afternoon, I assumed that the baby was doing better. But my hopes were wrong. We soon heard that it had been the precious baby who had passed away that morning at 3:00.
That day nobody went out to their fields to work. Mostly just hanging around the family’s home. My Dad and Chris also pitched in and helped with the building of the tiny coffin. Us ladies helped with the preparing of the food for the crowd that gathered there.
Standing outside baking bread over an open fire, waling could plainly be heard coming from the inside of the house. Where Mother, Grandmother, and Aunt, along with friends and neighbors, dealt with the sudden death of their precious little baby.
All throughout the night friends and neighbors gathered around the family attempting to maybe bring a little bit of comfort.
The following morning as I stood watching a few of the young men of the community, dig the tiny grave, my heart went out, not to the baby, knowing she was now a beautiful little angel in the arms of Jesus, but rather to the family that had lost their baby, and for their aching hearts. Knowing this death could most likely have been prevented with a little bit of proper care and medication. We figure most likely not the sickness itself, but dehydration had been the reason for the death of little Lecha.
A few days after the death of baby Lecha, on a Sunday afternoon, a desperate Mama (our friend Connie) came over to our house nearly in a panic. Her 9 or 10 month old baby boy was sick with the exact same symptoms as little angel Lecha had.
My heart hurt for this mother knowing the fear that must grip her heart for her little boy.
We dug into our limited medical supply and gave her some medicine for the baby’s stomach and diarrhea. But most importantly, realizing that baby Lecha had most likely not died from the sickness itself but dehydration, we gave her a few bottles of clean water and a few packets of hydration drinks.
After a week of prayers, trips up the hill to her house once or twice a day to check on baby Danel, washing the family’s laundry so Connie could stay with the baby, a little proper medicine and care, and baby Danel was once again a happy healthy little boy.
The gratitude in this family is totally amazing to see. They are constantly sending fresh vegetables down to the house, and thanking us for our help. All the glory to God!
The last day before we made the trip down river she and her family sat in our house not necessarily making a lot of words but their attitudes expressed a deep gratitude.
By the grace of God and your help many more lives can be saved. Medical care is a desperate need here.
One thing that never ceases to amaze me, is how welcoming the people of KrinKrin are. Rarely ever a day goes by that not someone brings a bowl of fruit of some kind, sugar cane, Yucca, or meat by the house, just as a gift. We have been so overwhelmed sometimes even having trouble getting everything eaten before it spoils.
There are two small Ventas (small shops) in KrinKrin that have a few things to sell, as far as flour, sugar, oil, and laundry soap. Due to limited amount of money they have to wait till they make enough money (which is after they have sold about everything) then they send to Waspam by boat for more supplies, then wait till their order arrives. As you can imagine, there are many times that the Venta is out of certain things.
As in the past week before we left, the whole community was out of laundry soap except for our family.
Due to the fact that we were planning on coming down to Puerto Cabazas, we were able to trade our extra laundry soap for beans. Right now is bean harvest time so everyone has beans but not everyone has money.
Once the word got around that we were willing to trade, there were a lot of people who came by wanting to trade beans for soap. Thankfully we had quite a lot of extra soap and we traded our last bar the evening before we left.
Connecting with the people of KrinKrin has been an amazing adventure.
Something I have tried to make a habit of doing is going and visiting at least one family in the community every day. This has served to be a great experience, and I have many new friends I would not have otherwise.
Another way that has seemed to be a great way to connect with the other girls and women of the community, is doing laundry.
Doing laundry means putting your laundry in a big tub, along with you wash board and soap, and going down to the river to scrub them.
It isn’t always the easiest job but can be quite enjoyable.
There are always other ladies from the community there as well, so it serves as a great time to connect.
After a few hours of scrubbing laundry, a cool swim is always very welcoming and fun.
KrinKrin has quickly become home, and the people of KrinKrin hold a special place in my heart and are quickly becoming family.
The last day before we left was a busy day and also a sad day. Although packing consumed a lot of our time (packing all our processions into a small room that we can lock), much of our time was consumed with our many friends that stopped in to say goodbye. It was hard saying goodbye to my new friends and neighbors, and seeing the tears in their eyes.
It was amazing to see so many of our new friends come out on the bank of the river and wave us goodbye as we left that morning.
I have enjoyed my time here in Puerto Cabazas with my other friends, and I’m sure that the ones in the states are also enjoying their time there.
It was a huge blessing for me to get to watch my brother and new sister get married, live on Skype, and then afterward get to see a lot of my friends I haven’t seen in a long time.
This time has been really enjoyable, but I can hardly wait to go back to KrinKrin, to go back home.
Check out this slide I put together http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP27B6o1mRw
I know this is really long and I hope I didn’t bore you.
Wishing ya’ll God’s blessings.
Much Love, Sarah Lee
