BEAUTY AND ASHES

PUERTO CABEZAS, NICARAGUA

A place of beauty and ashes...

We have posted again and again about Capacity Building around the globe - being in many lands with different issues and needs.  

Everything depends on fishing.

Serving 11 childen in a village along the sea.

Our partners school for children.

The village.

The village.

We see beauty and we see ashes - our hearts move from awe and wonder to pain and being overwhelmed...

Here, again we are taken aback as we see the realities of the people living here along the beautiful Carribean Sea.  This land of beauty, with white sand beaches, banana, mango and palm trees swaying from the gentle breezes of the sea.

Yet there are other not so beautiful sites, places where struggles are obvious where children and their families never know from day to day what  provisions they will have or not have.  Here in this amazingly beautiful area of Nicaragua, the unemployment rate is at 75%.  Lobster fishing is their main industry.  The dependence on the lobster season is shared with stories of how the village comes to life during this time - restaurants have patrons, markets have buyers for their fruits and vegetables and children even enjoy the amazing little frozen treats that are sold during this time of harvest.

But the harvest only lasts for a short time and the lean months arrive - about 5-6 in  total, when the village is not permitted to harvest the lobster.

And there is no PLAN B.  Many turn to selling/running drugs and some never return to fish again.  The village suffers from this cycle again and again.  But the suffering of the village is only one of the devastating facts left in the wake of this cycle. The children suffer, families suffer, marriages suffer, and darkness enters.  We heard the stories, the hurts and the pain.  It can overwhelm you quickly and it is only one village story - there are many others along this Easter Coast of Nicaragua.

The nearby Rio Coco River carries yet another part of this story - where the jungles along the river tell another part of the story.  Darkness abounds.  The area along the Rio Coco River is known as the "Frontier" due to its extreme remoteness and way of life.  Second only to the Amazon, the Rio Coco River region is the second largest rain forest in the hemisphere with an annual average rainfall of nine to ten feet.  This is home to the Miskito Indians, where dugout canoes and push poles are still the primary means of transportation.  And Voodoo abounds.

All lead to children being victims - and help desperately needed.  In this area there are those who have come to serve.  They work tirelessly and sacrifice much.  We have been honored to be a small part of their work.  Training those who are serving, living and working in this area of Nicaragua has been our focus for the past weeks.  We bring a small package - it is a package of hope that is being delivered in the wrappings of training.   Helping the servants understand Psychological Trauma and its impact, how to look and act differently to become a healing caregiver.  How to serve the children who are displaced, abandoned and traumatized by the environmental, cultural and abusive realities in which they live.

We did what we were sent to do and felt it was far too little - we left humbled ready to return to bring more hope packaged in training - five months from now.   We pray and ask you to pray - for the country of Nicaragua and for the unselfish servants who love and cherish every child they care for.

The sea.

A home along the sea shore.

One group in training.

A goup in training.

Our servants in Puerto Cabezsas, Nicaragua.

The village.

thank you sponsors

your generous hearts are impacting many

The LAMb Team

NICARAGUA - TRANSFER OF LEARNING - TALK ABOUT COMMITMENT

SO AMAZED 

AT THE 

TRANSFER OF LEARNING

Johanna processing the role play of the group that demonstrated how to develop a
contract with an adolescent.

Ended the first five days with a celebration from our coordinators.  A beautiful Thank You cake
that says, Trauma, 2016.

Our coordinating team and translator.  Peggy an amazing volunteer for ORPHANetwork, Alfred
our very talented interpreter and Eddie the dedicated and passionate Executive Director in Nicaragua for ON.

ORPHANetwork is an amazing organization that serves six orphanages in Nicaragua.  We have been honored to serve them and develop a three-year training plan with them!

Last year we presented the LIFE SKILL training of trainers and are now in the process of completing two weeks of Trauma Informed Care and Adolescents With Psychological Trauma.  We have had reports from all the six orphanages of their transfer of the LIFE SKILL work - and it has been amazing!  Check this out:

• Young people now training others in what they have learned in the life skills
• Starting a parent group to teach parents life skills
• An assessment tool they now use to check the ongoing life skill learning post the lessons
• New trainers being taught by those trained by us last year

And so much more.   

Just reminded again and again that training is a catalyst to change!

Next stop for Nicaragua - Puerto Cabesas - we fly out tomorrow 

for the next five days of training.