48 hours later

[In which I translate live on Baptist radio, ride in the back of an open pick up truck, traipse through creeks, help share Bible stories, learn a new Spanish song, get chocolate frosting on me, and finally decide to buy new shoes.]

And that's just the highlights. Wednesday morning I took off for Somotillo/El Ojoche with the New Song team from southern California who were going to be spending the week up there building relationships, sharing God's love and preventative health lessons, assisting in the construction of two water retention tanks (one of which is almost all done thanks to a high level of commitment from the community itself), and learning about the families' daily lives through visits to see their patio gardens and getting pottery making lessons (I keep missing that last part--next time!).

Somotillo is about 4 hours northwest of Managua, on a fairly decent highway that turns pothole-y about 3/4 of the way there. It is the last real "town" before the border with Honduras, and it's where the team's (our) hospedaje (digs) are. After settling in a bit, we took off for El Ojoche, with the esperanza that even though it had been raining for a week straight, we would be able to somehow get through on the dirt-turned-to-mud road. Unfortunately, it was not to be. About 1/2 way there we ran into an enormous muddy mess that had even derailed some buses--and we realized we were not getting through--and we were still too far to walk (even for the teens in the group). So we turned around and headed for the Baptist church, which also has a radio station--and we attempted to send a message via radio up to the community (hoping someone was listening--of course, we found out later that the power had gone off up there, so no one heard it--but it was my first time to translate live on Nicaraguan radio!)

Thursday we tried again--and although we had a Plan B (take another FH co-worker's vehicle across and shuttle people up), it actually wound up being "Plan G" (for God) because even the 4-wheel drive Land Cruiser wasn't getting through. Instead, there were two pick up trucks there which we contracted to take us and all our supplies the 6 or so kilometers up to El Ojoche. It was certainly bumpier--but a lot more scenic--and the carsickness-prone folks in the group held up a lot better.

After a round of introductions and a big community meeting, the team and a group of Ojoche residents set off on a community clean-up, which involved these neat home-made brooms, walking around (or in some cases, through) a creek that divides the community), and up a giant hill to the endpoint (the school).
My 3-year old sneakers were in pretty bad shape already (the soles are separating from the shoe), so I was extra careful to not step in water--just mud and stones--with the help of several ladies who laughed with me as I jutted from one "safe spot" to another.

At the top of the hill, we all paused to rest, and I saw this cow standing all by itself on the hill and decided to get a closer look. Meanwhile, the ladies in the community all shouted at me to be careful because she was "brava". But I survived the encounter unscathed. :-)

While we were up at the school, I also spent some time talking to my new friend Licha, one of the founding members of the Community Health Evangelism committee in the community.It’s amazing to me that even though I have only been up here like 5 times in the last 2 years, so many people remembered who I was and greeted me with great warmth and enthusiasm. One of the other ladies, Concha, who I have written about before, saw me, and said, “I thought you were not going to come greet me.” I told her I hadn’t seen her at first, but that I was so glad she was there. (The last time I was in the community, she had invited me to her house to watch her make pottery.)
After a delicious lunch, some weather issues changed the original plan for the afternoon and the team wound up hanging out with the kids (balloons are good for hours of fun, they discovered)…and I spent my time translating the conversations between them, and answering various questions about Nicaragua and the community.

Friday started similarly, with a bumpy pick up ride, followed by a morning chock-full of excitement. First the team split up into 3 rotations to teach brief lessons on hand-washing, dental hygiene, and do a craft. I was with the hand-washing group, which used chocolate frosting to illustrate the way germs can be passed if we aren’t careful. The kids thought this was extremely funny and giggled the whole time as we all proceeded to pretend to get sick from the chocolate.

The second set of rotations was sharing bible stories, and I was with the “Fall” group, and helped Sue, one of the team members, translate. The team had brought down these felt blankets and cardboard cut outs to visually represent the story, which the kids also really liked. And I got to put on my drama hat, which was really fun. I also learned a cool new Spanish song called ‘Rey de la Jungla’ which I may share with you one day.

In the afternoon, the teens and some of the adults went to play soccer while I stayed back with some of the others who weren’t up for that and we hung out with some of the younger girls who were fascinated by braiding hair and singing “Eres todopoderoso”.

Each night I also participated in the team’s devotionals, which was really special. They are an awesome group of people, and I am glad I got to be part of their experience in Nicaragua, even just for a couple of days.

This morning I left them in Somotillo (they’ll be there ‘til Tuesday)—I left at 7:30am from the border, and got back into Managua around 11, where the first order of business was to upload pictures — and the second, to buy new sneakers. And third, to share all of this with you.