Day Five: February 6th, 2012

Dear Internet,

The view from the bus!

Day Five was the most emotional and life changing day of the whole trip.

We had breakfast at 7AM (instead of the usual 8AM) and left the Team Center around 7:30AM. I was a little nervous because this was the day we were going to the feeding center! The older kids from Casa came with us too.

Our plan for the morning was to pick up the "Nueva Vida kids" and bring them to the pool. We would go swimming and then go to the feeding center. What I didn't realize was that the kids we were picking up go to the feeding center for their one meal a day. I didn't realize that Nueva Vida is a refugee camp.

The landscape around
the pool grounds.

The bus ride was long, as Nueva Vida and the pool are on the other side of Managua. We got stuck in stop and go traffic, which is annoying in the USA and in Managua it could be an Olympic sport. Needless to say we had ample opportunity to enjoy our surroundings. The closer we got to the pool, the more rural the landscape became. Buildings gave way to fields, and then fields gave way to mountain views.

We had two buses on this adventure as well. The other bus stopped at Nueva Vida (which was about ten minutes away from the pool) to pick up the kids and met us there. I had envisioned the pool we were going to as a run-down municipal pool. I thought there would be lots of other people besides our group there. Boy, was I wrong!

We pulled into the driveway and I was so amazed at the landscape around us! It was very rural, with lots of grass and palm trees. In the distance you could see the mountains! The driveway was kind of long. We could see goats just roaming around, eating grass! We pulled up to a building and parked. We all piled off the bus and were in for yet another surprise.

Walking to the pool.
I'm in the pink hat.

The pool was huge and lined in palm trees! We all walked down the hill to the pool and went into the "pavilion" to drop off our stuff. The team members gathered around a picnic table and applied sunscreen. Someone asked me if the kids needed sunscreen and I told them that God already gave them some. :) Jose or someone gave the kids an overview of the pool rules and turned them loose.

It was so fun to hear all of the laughter! The kids (all of them, from Nueva Vida and from Casa) had a blast. Christina had told us that most of the Nueva Vida kids had never been in a pool before, so it wasn't a surprise to us that most of them had a death grip around our necks. But that didn't stop them from having fun! A few of the Nueva Vida kids had swim suits, but the majority either wore clothes in the pool or just went in their underwear.

I don't remember her name. :(

I swam with three different girls from Nueva Vida. Two of the girls looked like they could have been sisters, and I got them confused quite a bit. :) They LOVED to jump from the side of the pool into my arms. (my arms were SO sore the next day!) There names were Emilina and something that started with Sarah.

This is the girlie that I
kept confusing with
Emilina :)

I eventually decided that it was annoying to not be able to see anyone (I didn't have my glasses on), and got out of the pool. The girl I had been playing with followed me. :) We went back towards the pool and I started to take some pictures.

Soon, our time was up and we headed back to the bus. They had bathrooms there for us to change in.

Emilina

We then went to the feeding center. Nueva Vida has at least two feeding centers, if not more. Nueva Vida was created as a refuge camp after Hurricane Mitch in the 90s and has grown into a sizable community. The feeding center is funded by ORPHANetwork and is run by a local church.

The feeding center area is surrounded with a concrete brick wall. There are steps leading up to the gate and into the center. This is also where they have church services. There are three small "buildings" inside the walls, and I do mean small! One is the pastor's home, the second is a bathroom, and I never learned the purpose of the third building. The pastor's home is divided into two rooms, a kitchen (where they cook the food for the center) and their living area.

One of the Casa girls

I walked into the center and was overwhelmed by the number of kids. The center serves about 150 kids. They offer one meal a day. There were rows of picnic tables for the kids to sit in. Most of the kids were sitting down already. They each had a plate and a cup.

The routine goes like this:
1. The kids wash their hands
2. They all sit down at the tables. A worker (that would be us) comes and takes their plate and cup.
3. We then wait in line to get to the kitchen. The food that they used while we were there was from Stop Hunger Now. The cooks put food on the plate and someone fills up the cup. I asked about what was in the drink, and they said that it was a mix of vitamins and good stuff like that.
4. They eat. :) If they don't finish what they are served, they bring it back home.

Looking out towards the street.

The Casa kids helped wash the Nueva Vida kids' hands. I was standing near them trying to figure out what I should be doing. I was feeling very overwhelmed and needed some direction. Christina walked past and asked me to photograph the Casa kids helping out. My direction! I told Emily later that I felt like I "hid" behind my camera while I was there.

Jaci and her cousins!

One little girl (she was no more than seven years old) came thru after getting her hands washed with her little brother. I held up my camera and asked her if I could take her photo. She nodded and smiled for me and I took her picture. She then told me to wait, and grabbed two more kids (all of whom look just like her). My heart dropped. These were her siblings. She was the one to make sure that all of them ate. Because there were three of them and only one of her, she couldn't even hold all of their hands to make sure they went in the right direction! I watched them as they ate and she made sure that they all got food before she took one bite of hers. She really stole my heart. (I learned the next day that her name is Jaci and the three younger kids aren't her siblings. They are her cousins.)

At one point, a bunch of my team members and I wound up standing along one of the walls. One of the boys came and would point to some one's shirt. If the person looked down, he'd tap their nose. He went down the whole row of us doing this! :) He got to me and pointed to my shirt, but instead of looking down I tweeked his nose. He laughed and gave me a huge smile.

After the kids ate, we had planned a few VBS-type activities. Shelli had a short message about being a friend, and then we had different stations the kids could go to. I wound up at the face painting station. I have never had so many kids trying to get my attention in my entire life! We had about five people painting and we could have used five more! I was so excited when Jaci and her little ones came over to me! As I expected, she made sure that all of them got two things painted before she even got one.

Someone came around and told us that we were leaving soon. I have to admit that I was relieved. :) I was starting to feel claustrophobic! We all said our goodbyes and got back onto the bus.

The bus ride back was long and emotional. We didn't have much planned for the evening which was good. We were all tired. I took a shower when we got back, and it felt heavenly even tho it was cold. :)

I started to print the pictures from the photo booth that afternoon. It was a big project and I'm glad I started when I did. A few of the kids were in and out of the Team Center, so they saw me printing them. They thought the printer was so cool! Emilio and Jemima (the cooking staff's kids) spent a lot of time in the Team Center. They loved watching the photos print. They were such sweet kids!

Porch Time was very emotional. We all had "remember when" stories. I talked about Jaci. Instead of her usual "and where did y'all see Jesus today," Christina smiled and said "and where DIDN'T you see Jesus today?" We chuckled at her joke, because we all felt like we saw Jesus everywhere.

Nueva Vida

The day before, Jose had said something kind of funny and at porch time someone teased him about it. He smiled and said "You guys aren't going to let me forget that, are you?" A few people said no way. So, I piped in and said "No way, Jose!" :) A few people laughed and Jose rolled his eyes. He said "Thanks, Laura, I've never heard that one before." I was laughing so hard! There was kind of a pause and someone, I think Shawn, said that I was vibrating I was laughing so hard!



In Christ,
Laura