Today was truly spectacular... We made 200 meals and stowed them in a cooler which we placed in the back of the 4X4. We then set off down what seemed like deserted and long forgotten jungle "roads" seeking the huts of Nicaragua's poorest of the poor. What we found we will never forget.
Below we will all relate our experiences...
Katie:
I can hardly find the words to express how much today's experience touched my heart. After driving down a dirt road for miles, we made our first stop in a community of one room huts. The sight of seeing starving children running with their empty bowls for food was unlike anything I have ever experienced. It was difficult for me to hold back my tears while we served the many hungry people. I have learned to count my blessings and to take more opportunities to reach out to people in need. I will take the memory of today and hold it in my heart forever to be a reminder to spread love to all.
Cody:
Today has been a bittersweet day for me. It is my last full day here in Nicaragua. The last couple days I have been feeling under the weather so I haven't been doing much more then sleeping and reading in my bed. But today, I was not going to be kept down. We got up to continue painting the walls we started yesterday, and I took short breaks all the way through so that I could go to the different english classes I had been going to, so that I could get a picture with all the kids. These kids are the bittersweetness of Nicaragua. They are so beautiful and sweet, I wish that I could come back every month just to see these kids grow up. I'm truly going to miss them. A part of my heart will be here with the kids.
When we left to go to the feedings, I really didn't know what to expect. Maybe go into a shabby neighborhood and hand out some food to poor people. I was blown away by what I actually saw today. There was a level of poverty that I had never seen, and will probably never really understand. It really puts life into perspective. I wish i could be here longer so that I could help more. I do hope, that other people are inspired and would like to go do something like this. We really do have so much in America. These people have very little. Being around these people and being able to help them breaks your heart and then fills it up all at the same time. I can't wait to be home to see friends and family, but I will miss this place.
Ashley:
What a day!! These last two weeks have been such a blessing to be able to spend time with the children in the school, but for the first time today to be able to go into the villages was something that touched my heart in a way I could never have imagined and will never forget.
For what was for some of these children the only meal they have had all week, they children were so grateful! I wish I could put into words how they're appreciation and joy touched my heart, but I couldn't begin to do it justice.
Life is so precious - if I take nothing else back from this experience thus far, it is to truly appreciate the love and relationships I have in my life. It's not about what we say we are going to do tomorrow, or what we can say we did yesterday that matters - but it is what we make of the moment we are living in that matters. Sometimes all it takes to effect and change the lives of those around us with nothing more than a smile.
Miss you all so much! God bless!
Courtney:
Putting today's experience into words is so hard to do. It was heartbreaking to drive through the jungle where children from the villages ran up starving and shoeless. We asked the first village if they had eaten anything today and they said no. When we asked another village they responded the same way. No food. They hadn't all week. Could you imagine not eating for an entire week? We take it for granted that we get to eat a nice meal everyday. After eating at the Children's Home for almost two weeks we were beginning to complain about eating fried rice and beans for every meal. Those kids in the villages would love the opportunity THREE times in ONE day, no matter what meal was. We eat more in one day than most of those people eat in a week. How insane is that?!
At the last village we visited we had to walk up a little slippery trail to get to the grandparents house. They told us it's nearly impossible to walk down the trail during the rain because they'd fall, yet these elderly people made the trek daily. The couple welcomed us into their home where we saw a tiny banana in their kitchen. They said that was all the food they had in their house/hut. One banana in the entire house! It was so hard to hold back my tears when the little boys told us they had been praying God would provide food for them.
Today was definitely the most eye-opening day I've had all week. I am so thankful I was able to come help out here and see how these people live. They truly are out of sight and out of mind here. I hope I don't forget the feeling I had today so I can continue to make a difference. God bless the people of Nicaragua!
Bryan:
As many of you know, I was here for two months last summer. I saw this kind of poverty many times a week. Yet it seems that during the long school year, while immersed in the UofA culture, I almost forgot exactly what I had seen here. I almost lost control today when we reached the huts of a family who literally had not had any food for 10 days because their crops had failed. When word got out that we were giving out food people literally started running to the truck. The kids that arrived had bloated stomaches... a clear sign of starvation.
After seeing what I witnessed here today, I don't know how I could ever complain about anything ever again without a guilty conscience. God help these people.
