It is easy to share success stories with you…and there are certainly plenty of them. It is more awkward, however, to be transparent and acknowledge that for every story of transformation, there are many stories where things did not go as hoped.
This is the reality we live in: Community transformation is not a process carried out in a laboratory. Instead ‘real’ life often has influences that we cannot anticipate or that are beyond our control. Allow me to share the stories of two families who have both been a part of a “land bank” project for the last couple of years but have had two very different outcomes.
Eliberto and Flor’s story is a classic story of ‘transformation,’ something we wish to see take place with every family and in every community where we work. It is a story of how, in three years, this young couple moved from living in poverty to living on a plot of land that they can now call their own. The first house they constructed was built using sorghum stalks and banana leaves, but they have since replaced it with one built with concrete blocks and corrugated steel roofing. After months of hauling water in pails from a stream, they participated in a community water project that now pipes water directly to their house. They proudly gave me a tour of the fruit trees and flowers they planted and showed off the new crops they are experimenting with. Just a few months ago, their first child was born. In their own words they claim to be living a dream, thanking God for the unbelievable turn of events in their lives that they never had imagined possible.
Their immediate neighbors also qualified for a plot of land. Oscar and Rosa and their four children were living with Rosa’s mother in a one-room clapboard house, and they jumped at the chance to move out of their situation. Their initial efforts were commendable – they began to clean up their land and plant a crop of beans and corn. I recall the day when they moved the pieces of their old house by ox cart to their new land and began to re-construct it. Six months later, however, nothing much had changed. Their house remained unfinished. Alcoholism was a factor in their family, and after numerous “second chances,” the tough decision was made to remove them from the program. Oscar and Rosa’s family returned to her mother’s house and the house was dismantled. The cycle of poverty continues, or at least that’s how it seems from our earthly perspective.
These are two stories with two very different outcomes. We thank you for your unconditional support for the work in Nicaragua.
Prayer requests:
- Pray for discernment as we design programs that lead people out of poverty and transform communities.
- Pray for those that are “left behind,” people like Oscar and Rosa, who are obliged to live with the consequences of unfortunate decisions.
- In my last newsletter, I shared with you that we were in the process of renewing the funding for an agriculture program with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB). The proposal was approved and will guarantee funding for four more years and open the program to 38 more indigenous communities with 2,335 farmers on the Atlantic coast!
Merry Christmas!
Mark VanderWees
World Renew Nicaragua
