Dengue Fever

7 November 2013.  Nicaragua, including our own city of Leon, is currently suffering from an alarmingly high incidence of dengue fever.  This mosquito-born illness is very serious, so mosquito control is a high priority in Leon these days.  Here is a picture of our street taken just as the insecticide fogger was finishing the treatment of our house.  The fog coming out of our front door was so intense it stopped traffic in the street!

Casas de Justicia

The World Renew evaluation team visited the CCDH (Christian Center for Human Rights) local office in Matagalpa.  Each of the CCDH local offices is called a Casa de Justicia (House of Justice).

I stopped to take this picture of the sign at the office door and noticed that a final "A" is missing from the end of Matagalpa.  "There wasn't money in the budget for another A" they explained.

Then we visited the Casa de Justicia in La Dalia.

Followed by a visit to remote El Cua, where the CCDH office was jammed with clients and justice promoters. 

And finally we visited all the Casas de Justicia (there are 3!) in Jinotega.  These women are the lawyers who do all the legal work and guide the non-lawyer promoters. 

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Volcan Masaya -- Be Careful Where You Park!

On October 27 we visited Volcan Masaya with Sue Carlson and Luke Theule.  They had come to Nicaragua to assist in World Renew's triennial evaluation of CCDH (Christian Center for Human Rights).

Volcan Masaya is very active.

It is constantly emitting steam and sulfurous gases.

You can drive right up to it in your car.

Just a couple years ago it burped out some boulders that crushed a car in the parking lot, so we can no longer park at the caldera's edge.  Instead we have to back in about 50 meters away so we can be ready for a fast get away.

I was sad to have to return the hard hat at the end of the visit