Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Holding Out For A Bribe

Picture this: you've just finished groceries and a nice lunch at a local cafe with your wife. You pull out of the parking lot and head back to work. Not more than 100 meters down the road a police officer stands in the middle of the road signalling you to pull over. At the exact moment you see him you realize you have left your wallet, containing your licence, in your desk at work. If you need to change your pants after imagining that then you understand how I felt this afternoon.

At around 2:30pm today I was pulled over for a routine check only to have it exposed that I was driving without a licence on me. Not only did I not have my Canadian licence I did not have any identification, such as a passport. There were five police officers at this certain checkpoint, and nothing seemed out of sorts at first. The officer was not happy to find that I was without identification but he neither seemed all that upset. He asked where I was from and seemed interested and intrigued that I was from Canada and lived close to Toronto. It wasn't until he called over another officer, the English speaking one (well he spoke English as much as I speak Spanish), that I was asked to pull the car completely off the road, turn it off, and accompany the officer into the road-side station. I can officially say that this is when the old knees started clacking together.

All the while April has a small grin on her face thinking this will be a good experience to blog about – a real run in with the law, not just being pulled over because you crossed a line that was there 2 years ago. This was going to be a good one.

The room which I was brought into was small and contained only an old desk and a chair which had cardboard for cushions. I was asked if I spoke any Spanish, to which I answered, “si, pero solo un poco”, to which the officer said he would then try to continue in English. It was there in that little office at that moment when I heard him say “We are going to have to bring you downtown, where you will wait in prison. Your car will be held until you can be properly charged for driving without a licence, to which you will have to also pay the fine of 1000 cordobas” ($50.00 american dollars). Okay, so the knees were shaking before and now came the cold sweats – this is something when it’s a blasting 35 degrees Celsius outside. I tried to plead my case, playing all the cards at my disposal – the tourist, the first time offender, the volunteer, the missionary, everything!

Meanwhile, April is outside sitting in the car watching other cars and trucks being pulled over (by now she had turned the car back on so she could have a/c in the blasting sunshine). She is calling Steve to tell him what is happening and if he could find Kevin’s wallet.

He looked at me and smiled a little, but said that he couldn't just let me go, there needed to be something done. I asked if there were any other options to avoid being hauled away in handcuffs. Someone could bring my licence...he could have my wife’s licence...my boss could come and reason with him in Spanish. The inevitable answer came back that I could “pay” $20 for the ticket right there on the spot, he would let me go and this whole fiasco would disappear. The officer said it was the only way he could help me out. (In case you didn't pick it out – this cop was asking for a bribe. A very, very, very common experience with Nicaraguan police.)

Now, I knew to pay the bribe was the easiest way out and I admit it crossed my mind as I was starting pondering how nice those cells would be in the downtown station. I wasn't sure what to say back to him so I told him “I don't have any money officer, let me go talk to my wife”. He agreed and outside I went. April, to my surprise was actually laughing about the whole matter, not helping things for me (I do smile about it now though). She told me to stall as she had phoned Steve at the Nehemiah Centre, and he was coming along with someone to try and help out. Apparently, the police could in fact haul me to the downtown station and they could impound the car until I paid the fine.

So we stalled and I went back in to explain that my wife didn't have any money either. The officer was not happy to that news, but said we could go to the bank up the road to get money if we wanted. I said that we had no bank card and asked what else could be done. By now he had enough of the small talk and started to fill out the paper work needed to document what had happened. As soon as he started to write my name down in came Iskra (Nehemiah Centre employee and friend).

It was a big relief to see her, yet we weren't out of the woods yet. The officer now seemed embarrassed that he was being tested by another person. He put up quite the fuss with Iskra as she tried to persuade him to drop the pending charges. Because she was a Nica and could communicate with him in Spanish, more options became available to me. It wasn't until the final attempt (after about 5 minutes – felt like forever) that the officer agreed to lessen the charge and fine. Truly a blessing from God; and to quote Iskra, “Only by God's Grace”. I still received a fine for a whopping 100 cordobas ($5.00 American), to which I still have no idea what the charge was for.

Eagerly I jumped into Steve’s car and he drove me to the bank while Iskra and April waited with the car. I went inside to pay the ticket (as all tickets and bills in Nicaragua are paid at the bank) and walked back the short way to the road-side police building. It was a good feeling to show the officer the receipt! He gave me back the ownership for the car and I quickly walked out to get moving. Although the knees were still knocking from the experience, April made me drive the short distance to the Nehemiah Center.

I still can't believe it all happened, but that is how I almost ended up in a Nicaraguan jail!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Should We Stay or Should We Go Now?

Our time in Costa Rica was good for a couple things. First of all we needed to leave the country to have our visa renewed. That was an event like none that we had experienced before. We took a coach bus of sorts across the border into Costa Rica to spend a couple days in the capitol city of San Jose. At the border we handed over our passports and money, got off the bus and then waited an hour or so until we could board the bus again to only be let off at the customs area a short distance later. Again, there for over an hour, we stood in a line wrapped around the building outside in the blazing sun, and then about 45 minutes waiting for our baggage to be searched. It felt like something out of a movie.

The second reason that trip was good for was to get away from everything that is familiar to us to think and pray and talk. We needed to make a decision about our future. Do we stay here for another 3 years to serve God in a country we have grown to love or do we head back home to Burlington and serve Him in the country we grew up in? We sensed that both doors were open – much different than the decision to move to Nicaragua. We know that in “Whatever [we] do, [we need to] work at it with all [our] heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since [we] know that [we] will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ [we] are serving.” (Colossians 3: 23-24) So, even though we feel connected to life in Nicaragua and have loved our time here we have decided to return back to Burlington.

We still have 3 months here and are looking forward to soaking up every possible moment, living each day to the fullest. There is a church team here from Denver, Colorado that has a sort of “partnership” with a couple CRC churches in Nicaragua. They have been coming for the past 10 years so I am excited to spend time with them and with the CRC churches in Nagarote and El Tamarindo. Kevin is working on writing up a grant proposal with Mark and doing something with the grading of the parking lot. Before we know it Semana Santa (Holy Week) will be here and we will be attending the Latin America CRC retreat with all the CRWM and CRWRC missionaries working in Latin America.

We know that many of you have prayed along with us in this decision making time and we want to thank you for bringing this before our Lord with us. Thank you for your encouragement and support!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Faith Team Chronicles 3

We were so sad to say good bye to the team and our wonderful friends. After a relaxing and enjoyable day on Friday and a fun evening together we brought the team to the airport Saturday morning. We made Willie promise Kevin and I that he would cook us dinner when we come home in the summer... We also look forward to getting together with the whole group to reminisce and play Bang.

Here is a slideshow of our time with the team. You can also access the set via the photo album on the right sidebar.


Thursday, March 12, 2009

Faith Team Chronicles 2

It would take many words to describe the time that we had with the village of San Joaquin (pronounced Sahn Wa-KEEN) and even then it would be hard to express the emotions, the reality of life there and the time shared with the people. But I will attempt to give a general idea of what the team experienced.

We left the Nehemiah Center early Tuesday morning and drove the 4 hour drive up to the Department of Matagalpa, through small towns and off onto one lane rocky roads through valleys and to the tops of mountains with glorious views. We arrived in San Joaquin in the early afternoon after meeting up with the workers from Accion Medica Christiana (AMC) who brought us into the community.

The community of 150 families has been working with AMC for over 10 years, since Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Many of the people living there have not traveled outside the Department of Matagalpa, but through the training and support of AMC have been able to build stable homes, create sustainable incomes and involve the whole community in development.

The men went right to work digging and making squares for the foundation of a community center while the women went over to the school building to hang out with the children. Anna did a fabulous in hyping the children up and then with Alma in the mix the room ended up in absolute chaos!! The children were very responsive to Anna’s stories and loved learning new songs.

The community has a big river close to it where the women and children dig sand for concrete and bring it up to the community center in small feed bags. They have integrated this job into the school curriculum so that the kids take part in the future of the community and learn responsibility for their future.

It is apparent that AMC has cultivated a hope in the people of San Joaquin. There is joy, but there is also awareness of other realities. For example, the teachers and community leaders realize that the children should graduate from high school and encourage that with the kids and their parents at every opportunity.

The last bit of our time there was spent down by the river to wash up and soak in the gorgeous sights of a hanging bridge, Congo monkeys dangling in the trees and a river with high banks. The AMC workers did an informal debriefing with us, asking to hear our feedback on our experience and we ended with a time of prayer for each other. We felt like there was good closure to the event and appreciated how thorough the workers were with their work.

Exhausted from heat, hard work and heart stretching, the team ventured back out of the mountains to a busy Managua, looking forward to showers and a hot meal. The four hour drive gave some the time to sleep and others the time to talk and process the experience of their time with the mountain community.

AMC is a Nicaraguan non government organization that CRWRC works closely with. Mark VanderWees visits with the San Joaquin community about 4-6 times per year.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Faith Team Chronicles 1

On Wednesday evening we were excited to welcome the team from our home church, Faith Burlington, to spend 10 days with us. We are especially blessed to have Erik, our bro-in-law, here. Can’t even begin to say how happy we are to have so many familiar and warm faces here...it’s like home came here and now we have the best of both worlds!

For those of you who have loved ones here we’ll give you a little update on them. Thursday and Friday they were introduced to the work of the Nehemiah Center through a few different presentations and also how they fit into that work. A majority of the group spent some of their time on making a sidewalk which also acts as a water barrier while the others organized the bodega (tools “shed”) and painted.

A chunk of our time on Saturday was spent on cultural learning and contemplating over what poverty means and how these discussions might change our worldview. It was an eye opener for us all. We then proceeded to walk through the market for some time and tried to experience the culture by bartering, observing, and striking up conversations.

Today was far better than we could have expected. We went to worship with a church in Leon, ate incredibly delicious fish and sat in a circle to have a conversation with two churches from that community. The team shared about Faith church and the other two churches shared with us about themselves. It was such a beautiful display of sharing of lives across cultural and denominational boundaries yet having our Lord as the common denominator pulling us together.

We are getting to know each other quite well and enjoying everyone’s personalities! Willie makes washing his laundry priority every day, Wendy is a very laid back doctor but definitely not someone you would want to mess with, John has an incredible gift for one-liners, Erik is gracious in offering his gift in fixing mechanical stuff, Ron loves to sing and dance to YMCA, Anna gets a big kick out of bartering and always needs to win, Ken drinks all the coffee much to Kevin’s chagrin and Elizabeth might be quiet and small but she can definitely hack it with the guys.

We are heading to the mountains early Tuesday morning so we will let you know when we return how everyone manages!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

La Moto Taxi Rush

We are about to give you a glimpse into the experience of a moto taxi. We hope you enjoy the adrenaline rush!