My latest in PRISM Magazine: “A Home for Life”
A boy looks in the window at Semillas Biblioteca, a library in Diriamba, Nicaragua
During my first two visits to Costa Rica, both of which were way too brief, I became really curious about Costa Rica's neighbor to the north, Nicaragua. The two countries share a big border, and since CR is comparatively wealthy and Nicaragua is comparatively poor, this creates a bit of tension between the two, as you can imagine (not that we in the US know anything about tensions with a poor neighboring country).
So when I went back to Costa Rica last year to spend two months with my friends at the Association for Development through Education, I was sure to schedule a bus trip to Nicaragua. I lined up visits and interviews for three potential magazine story ideas, not sure which, if any, would ever be published.
Pastor Francisco outside his church
One was a visit to La Chureca in the capital city of Managua, the largest garbage dump in Central America. There, a pastor who was a friend of a friend of a friend walked me through a labyrinth of plastic and sheet metal and introduced me to men and women who were part of a church he pastored until recently.
On another day I caught a minibus to the nearby town of Diriamba, where some friends of a friend had started that town's first public library to nurture an appreciation for learning and reading and to provide young people with a safe place to grow up. The visits to both La Chureca and Diriamba were humbling and encouraging, as I witnessed Christians serving those in need and doing so faithfully, without a whole lot of fanfare.
But for various reasons the magazine idea that in fact came to fruition was a visit to Hogar Belén, a home for disabled and abandoned children just outside Managua, and part of a nonprofit called Mustard Seed Communities. It has been published in the May/June edition of PRISM, and the PDF is available here.
A boy at the clinic at Hogar Belén
I'm glad this story came together because I think it demonstrates a striking contrast between prevailing views of what is considered success -- even in church and ministry among the poor -- and what Jesus has to say about serving "the least of these" with mustard seed-like faith.
The disabled, abandoned children of Hogar Belén don't need any more of the CEO-type leaders that our evangelical culture is intent on churning out. And they certainly don't need any more egotistical political leaders who put up year-round Christmas Trees to remind citizens of all they have to celebrate because of him. My hunch (or hypothesis) is that what the children of Hogar Belén have found is in fact what Christ calls each of us uniquely and all of us collectively to be. But you'll need to read the article to see what that is. Then I'd really love to hear your thoughts.
Fighting hunger in the coffeelands
A lot of coffee is grown in Mexico and Central America, and coffee farmers and their families also tend to experience a lot of hunger. There's an excellent new short film about it, called After the Harvest: Fighting Hunger in the Coffeelands. From the film's blog:
In a recent survey of small-scale coffee farmers in Mexico, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, over 67% indicated they were unable to maintain their normal diet for 3-8 months of the year. These are "Los Meses Flacos," or the thin months, when families make ends meet by eating less, eating less expensive foods, or borrowing against their future earnings from coffee. While incredibly complex, recent work suggests it is not unsolvable.
"After the Harvest: Fighting Hunger in the Coffeelands" is a film that brings the day-to-day challenges of the thin months to life in the voices of coffee farmers themselves, and shares the successes of creative projects that have been established to eliminate this annual period of food insecurity.
Fortunately, the 20-minute film is available for free online, and is embedded here. It's definitely worth checking out.
Libya and Latin American autocracy
Over the past several weeks, it’s been interesting to watch officials from around the world trying to make sense of the unrest sweeping the Middle East, while also trying to figure out how to position themselves and their countries most advantageously and least dangerously. While democratic countries claim to be in favor of democracy elsewhere, it’s obviously not always that straight-forward (Nick Kristof reflected on this troubling inconsistency in a recent op-ed). Egypt’s Mubarak, of course, was both anti-democracy and pro-U.S., so U.S. officials had to tread lightly so as not to appear to abandon their ally, while also not alienating those who would one day take his place, most likely, through democratic means.
In the case of Libya and Gadhafi (or is it Qaddafi or Kaddafi or Khaddafy?), it’s simply a bit easier for most countries to denounce him as a tyrant and a loon. Case in point: he seems to genuinely believe the Libyan people are for him and that Osama bin Laden and hallucinogenic drugs are to blame for protests.
In Latin America, responses to the Libyan situation have been quite fascinating, especially considering the recent emergence of left-leaning presidents in the region. However, it’s clear that these leaders do not form a cohesive bloc and they can’t be understood according to an outdated Cold War paradigm. Cuba’s Castro, Nicaragua’s Ortega and Venezuela’s Chavez have all voiced support for Gadhafi. Castro’s support comes as no surprise, as Libya and Cuba have fairly close ties, and Cuba’s regime is clearly an autocratic one. In Venezuela and Nicaragua, however, both leaders were elected (at least somewhat) democratically, though both have pushed anti-democratic measures since. The UN Security Council, with left-leaning Brazil currently at the helm, voted unanomously to impose sanctions and investigate war crimes. Peru, meanwhile, stood out when it became the first country in the world to cut off diplomatic ties with Libya.
The Economist has a new survey asking if the toppling of dictators in the Middle East is bad news for Latin America’s three most autocratic governments. In the spirit of democracy, you can cast your vote here.
[Photo credit: AFP/Getty via TIME]
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