We returned to our host agency, hot, and tired, and dirty after leaving Managua yesterday morning. We first traveled to a sesame plant outside of Managua that JHC began leasing in February after the bank foreclosed on the property when the previous owners defaulted on loans. The plant was in disrepair, but is up and running for the most part, allowing workers new employment opportunities as they take organic raw sesame seeds through a multistep process of being separated from chaff, de-husked, washed, dried, and packaged. Our job was to help clean two very dirty warehouses and lay pallets where we would later unload raw peanuts for storage.
However, at lunch time one of our members unfortunately stumbled on an uneven sidewalk and fell, breaking her nose. She and her husband, along with Dr. Stechschulte traveled to a private hospital back in Managua and received excellent care. The couple have been moved from our dorm to a small cottage on the property of JHC so that our injured volunteer can recuperate more comfortable with air-conditioning, peace and quiet.
The remaining volunteers continued work at the plant yesterday, moving about 7,500 ponds of peanuts in sacks weighing 85 - 90 pounds each. This included the women, Jamie and Kim, our 14 year-old participants. However, Ed and Cody, the macho men of our delegation, together moved about 5,000 pounds between the two of them. We were helped by some hard-working, patient, and hot Nica young men, who smiled when the women asked them to be "suave," (soft) when slinging the heavy sacks on onto our backs, or shoulders, or in our arms.
Dusty and sore, we then traveled to a remote village on an isolated mountain where 52 households are joined in the cooperative effort of growing coffee. El Porvenir, is a special place, with no running water or electricity that requires a 4-wheel drive vehicle to access over steep, rutted roads. Unfortunately, the cooperative only has one vehicle which is a tractor at least 4 decades old, but the tractor did the job of carrying most of the volunteers to the top of the mountain in an ox cart pulled behind it. Others rode up in the old JHC Land Rover. We sometimes had to wait for horses or pigs or cattle to share the road with us, but when we finally arrived we were provided with a home-cooked meal and a lamplight talk by Rene, one of the board of directors of the coop. He shared the history of the operation and discussed some of the challenges the group has faced.
Our merry band was eager to sleep in hammocks or cots on a covered porch in the fresh mountain air. However, we discovered that remote villages may be peaceful, but are not always quiet, especially when an Evangelical preacher is admonishing against sin using an amplifier and loud speaker until 10 pm, and also when at least a dozen roosters decide to start a round robin game of who can crow the loudest at 3 am. Nonetheless, our group was delighted to see a bright sunrise cut through the haze as we looked down into a magnificent valley bordered by mountains and volcanoes. Our day was spent learning about life in El Povenir, the importance of organic crops such as coffee, avacado, and cacao - the stuff that makes the food of the gods, chocolate. I'll allow your friends or family to fill you in. Here are some photos from the day.
Juan Pareles showing the first blooms on a coffee plant which appear 8 days after the first rain.
A ripe avacado at El Porvenir coop
Sunrise from the porch of the storeroom
Mama's doing laundry, we're posing.
View from the lookout.
We will post more tomorrow, our last work day at the health clinic in Nueva Vida.
for the group, Janice Butler
Go Cody! Sorry to hear of the broken nose. Ouch! Hope it is mending.
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