A Walk Through La Limonada

March 21, 2014.

The Nicaraguan Cohort of Missioners has been working together through the book Geography of Grace.  A central point of the book is that the grace of God pools up—is most evident—in the lowest, most needy places.  Today we and the Cohort visited one of those places.  La Limonada is a barrio, some would say slum, in Guatemala City.  At the outskirts of La Limonada we were met by Tita who would spend the next few hours walking through the barrio with us. 

Once a wooded ravine, green and natural, it is now gray and dense with the poorest of the poor of the city.  Over a period of many years the ravine was occupied by squatters seeking refuge from war and displacement, and now it is a labyrinth of simple cinder block homes, built wherever one could find space.  The shape of the home is dictated by the shapes of the homes that surround it.  Now the only open spaces in the ravine are the pathways that wind in labyrinth fashion among the tiny homes.  Often so narrow that a motorcycle and a pedestrian cannot pass side by side, the “streets” twist and turn erratically, passing by the doors of homes and workshops every few meters, ultimately ending at the front door of the last home on the street. 

La Limonada is home to thousands of people.  It is also home to much crime and violence.  As we walked by one tiny church, Tita pointed out the bullet holes from some distant gang fight, still evident in the front wall.  We visited and prayed at one home where a young man lay in his bed, still suffering from a bullet wound he received 5 years ago. Violence, like the shortage of physical resources, is a fact of life in La Limonada.

But more about Tita, our guide for the day.  She is a Guatemalan with a heart as big as all of La Limonada.  She focuses not on what La Limonada doesn’t have, but rather on what La Limonada does have.  Walking with her in La Limonada is like walking with a rock star, only better.  Children ran up to her on the street shouting “Mama Tita! Mama Tita!”  She had a hug for everyone, and even “cool” teenagers let down their guard for a moment to give her a hug.  People would greet her in their doorways, and within moments Tita would be inside their homes, encouraging them and praying with them and for their problems.  We walked into homes where residents were making shopping bags or teaching others to make beautiful slippers, all to sell in the market.  It is so obvious that she loves the people of La Limonada, and they love her in return. 

A movie was made in 2010 about the work of Tita and others in La Limomada.  It is called Reparando and available for rent or purchase here: http://www.amazon.com/Reparando-Scott-Owen-Moore/dp/B00EWGYL8A.  Walking through the barrio today, the people we once saw only in the movie came became very real to us.  We had our picture taken with a smiling Guis, the once solitary man whose life, through the love of Tita and others, has undergone profound changes.  We stood and prayed in his room with Vitalino, the old bed-ridden man, cared for by his neighbors for 7 years now, whose birthday party was shown in the film.  It was humbling to walk and pray side-by-side with those who have poured out so much love into La Limonada.  Today we saw that the grace of God does indeed pool up in the lowest places, bringing change and hope to what was once considered hopeless and unchangeable.  

Travels of a T-Shirt

We north Americans seem to have a thing about T-shirts.  Most of us have several, some of us have dozens.  And they aren’t just white undershirts—they make statements!  Over time you can learn a lot about a guy just by noticing what his T-shirts say. 

But who would have thought the actual life history of a T-shirt would be so interesting?  I just finished reading a book that my son gave me for Christmas:  Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An Economist Examines the Markets, Power and Politics of the World Trade by Pietra Rivoli.  I loved this book.  By examining in detail the story of the humble cotton T-shirt, this book told me everything I didn’t know about the global economy—and I really didn’t know much, it turns out.  I learned about cotton seeds and ginning, about slavery, about Texas cotton research, about price supports, about the global race to produce the cheapest cotton shirts in the world, about world markets, and about the incredibly, arcanely, highly regulated “free trade” import of T-shirts into the U.S. from China, Burma, Nicaragua and just about anywhere.  I learned that those imported T-shirts are made from the same raw cotton that had been exported from the U.S. just months before. 

This book is about the process of making money in the cotton industry, but it’s also about poverty.  It’s about incredibly hard work for long hours in underpaid sweatshops, but work that also provides a path off the rural farms and out of desperate poverty for thousands upon thousands around the world and over the centuries.  To think of the sweatshop as a gateway out of poverty was a mind-bender.

Before I started reading the book I told my son I hoped it would include a discussion about the sales of used T-shirts in Africa, a phenomenon I personally witnessed in Tanzania. I was not disappointed. To me this was perhaps the most interesting part of the T-shirts’ travels—how barely used T-shirts make it from suburban closets to the open air markets of Africa and all the steps in between. When I was in Tanzania, I thought “what a shame, the sale of used clothing from America has driven all the textile makers of Tanzania (if not all of Africa) out of business.” That’s what I thought then. But after reading the book it’s not so clear. There are many factors that “drove” the textile business out of Tanzania, not the least of which would certainly include (to mention just a few reasons) the lack of cheap and reliable electricity, corruption at all levels, and, very significantly, U.S. trade laws and policies governing the import of cotton clothing. Did you know that as recently as 5 or 10 years ago there were regulations about where the cotton came from that was sewn into the pockets of men’s pants imported into the U.S.? But the import of really cheap used U.S. (and European) clothing has had a positive effect in Africa—villagers who once had nothing but rags to wear (because local suppliers couldn't meet demand at low prices) can now wear colorful, quality clothing bought at very inexpensive prices. And while there aren't many cotton growers or textile factory workers left in Tanzania, there is a whole new crowd of entrepreneur merchants in the clothing business.

Travels of a T-Shirt is not an economics tome, nor does it “preach” about the evils of the T-shirt industry.  It just tries to tell the story and let the reader draw his or her own conclusions about global trade.  It will inform, and it will make you think.  It is eminently readable.  If you want to learn a lot about globalization and its effect on poverty, read Travels of a T-Shirt.  

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

Caught Between a Cow and .... WATCH OUT!

3 October 2013. On Monday Peggy and I were driving back from Managua to León after a day in classes with the Dordt College students.  Two Nicaraguan passengers were in the car with us. We were going up a long and winding grade on the two-lane road.  Ahead was a tractor trailer rig going about 65 kph, slow but not crawling as is often the case.  Behind us was another tractor trailer rig who clearly wanted to go much faster than 65.  I was sure of that because I could read his Honduran license plate in my rear view mirror.

As our tight little pack came around a blind curve I instantly knew there was going to be trouble.  A cow was walking into our lane from the right shoulder.  The truck ahead of me braked quickly and pulled to the left.  I braked and looked in my rear view mirror.  Clearly I was not going to hit the cow, but it wasn’t clear that the massive truck behind wouldn’t roll right over us.  In the mirror I saw billows of smoke coming up from his tractor tires as he braked really hard and veered to the left.  WE were the biggest obstacle in his path.  I saw an opening -- I accelerated and jerked to the right, escaping onto the shoulder.  Thank God there was a safe shoulder right there, because more often than not there isn’t on these roads.  The truck in front continued on.  We zipped around the cow and back onto the road without even stopping.  The tractor trailer behind us had the most difficulty of all recovering from his evasive maneuver and still dealing with the cow who continued in his direction.  Well, we all survived – even the cow. As soon as the road and traffic allowed I passed the slow truck ahead of us and sped on, hoping to never see that Honduran plate in the rear-view again.

Gracias a Dios.

Students, Cohorts and ... Professors?

3 September 2013. We’ve been really busy the last few days.  You wouldn’t know it from reading this blog, of course.  From the blog it looks like we’ve been totally absent for a couple months—which we were.  For 8 weeks we visited family, friends and our church in North America and generally took some time off.  In that time we studied no Spanish, breaking our self-made promises to do so.  But, so I told myself, I was letting all that Spanish I had learned earlier sink in.  And that turned out to be quite true, as much of it has sunk so deep that I can no longer dig it up.

Anyway, now we are back in Leon.  This past weekend 7 Dordt students arrived.  They are taking a semester abroad to study in Nicaragua.  They’ll be living in Leon, and we’ll be somewhat involved in their program. Part of our volunteer responsibilities is to offer them a place to drop in from time-to-time (like the 3 sitting in our living room now), some mentoring, and a weekly time of pizza and spiritual discussion using Geography of Grace by Rocke and Van Dyke (a recommended read, for sure).  But more than that, we (both Peggy and I) are going to be attending their History and Culture of Nicaragua class and assisting Professor Joel Huyser as discussion leaders.  The plan is that we will take over full responsibility for the class next year.  This is going to push us a bit. 

For the last few days the students have been involved in orientation and moving into their new Nicaraguan host family homes.  Now they are finally settled in and starting classes today.

At the same time, a Missioner Cohort arrived and is settling in to her host family home.  This young woman is Nicaraguan, but has been living in Costa Rica with her mother for the last 6 or 7 years.  Our other Missioner Cohort is a young man from Michigan.  He arrived earlier and has been studying Spanish since June.  

You must be asking, What is a Missioner Cohort?  This is a year-long volunteer position offered by the Christian Reformed Church to folks who want to live in an intentional community of spiritual study, prayer, work and play to support the community of Christians in León as they (the Leones) seek to better engage their neighbors. The Missioner Cohort opportunity is brand new, and we are charged with helping to make it work well.  It’s a good chance for folks of all ages to experience what cross-cultural ministry is like in a developing world context while growing in spiritual discernment. You can find out more about it here:  http://www2.crcna.org/pages/servicelink_intNIC_cohort.cfm

So our formal Spanish study has ended, and now we are feeling our way forward not only in our Spanish language and Nicaraguan culture adventures, but also in this new multi-faceted role of walking alongside these 9 students and missioners.  We are excited about the prospects and not a little intimidated about the challenges, especially this future “professorship” of Nicaraguan History and Culture.  But, we have already started reading.  It’s like going back to school ourselves, but with a much different perspective.