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.