diplomatic encounters

Last night I had the unusual opportunity to attend a townhall meeting (more like a welcome party, to be honest) at the U.S. Embassy here in Managua. The reason for the party? Well, there's a new ambassador in town named Robert Callahan, and it appears he was very interested in getting to know the ex-pat community here. So, I and 150 of my fellow citizens packed the new embassy for some short remarks by Callahan and some other embassy personnel on how we are all ambassadors, the importance of certain safety/security precautions, and to enjoy some free food and other goodies.

Callahan has a long history of diplomatic service all over the world, including stints in Italy, Iraq, and Honduras. And that's where the most interesting part of the story lies. You see, Callahan was the press attache to the U.S. ambassador to Honduras at the time of the Contra war against the Sandinista government in the 1980s. And Honduras was the site where the Contra troops trained and strategized (with the implicit and explicit approval of my government).

Of course, a welcome party is no time to ask your new ambassador whether he thinks his historical baggage will play any role in his ability to make good relationships with the Nicaraguan government (currently headed by the very man the U.S. funded Contras sought to undermine). (But it's certainly something being discussed in the press and in some ex-pat circles here.) So when I shook his hand and spoke with him briefly during the reception, I just asked him how Central America now compared to what he remembered from two decades ago. He answered with the vague diplomatic air I would expect from the State department--that poverty here appears to have increased, etc, etc, but the country is beautiful, etc etc.

I also spoke briefly with his wife, who seems like a lovely woman, genuinely interested in what I was doing here in Nicaragua, with all the graces one would expect of someone who has spent their life in the public eye.

There were countless other people at this event who I had never seen before--the ex-pat community in Nicaragua is quite large, ranging from retired people to NGO workers to missionaries (there were even some conservative Mennonites present in their traditional attire--I wish they had allowed cameras in so I could have taken pictures for you, A!).

It took quite a lot of emotional energy to enter into a social situation like this, so common in the States, and so removed from my daily life here. But I was glad to have as my companion a new friend Kirstin who is a Rotary ambassador (I'm sensing a theme here) with a heart of gold...she is also connected to some of the projects we are doing in the community of El Ojoche. Kirstin is based in Leon and came back into town with me after my class with the Dordt students--and spent the night at our house afterwards. She's only got a few weeks left in the country, but I am glad our paths crossed.

In the spirit of the evening of diplomatic encounters, my prayer tonight is for peace for the millions of people in our world living in places of violence, pain, struggle, or heartache. La paz de Cristo sea con todos que la necesiten.