ELCA Communicators Assist Again in Rebuilding Following 'Mitch'

PACORA, NICARAGUA (ELCA) -- Shovels and pickaxes became ministry tools for 16 members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) who traveled to Nicaragua on a work trip.
The Lutherans were in Nicaragua Feb. 17-24 to demonstrate solidarity with those who lost homes and livelihoods in the devastation left behind by Hurricane Mitch in 1998.
"Nicaraguans are people who know how to struggle and people who know how to survive," said Aynn Setwright, a U.S. expatriate who led ELCA members in an orientation in Managua, Nicaragua's capital.
The Rev. Eric C. Shafer, director of the ELCA Department for Communication, Chicago, organized the trip, as well as a similar 1999 venture to Honduras. Both trips included ELCA communicators, their friends and families.
In Nicaragua, ELCA members partnered with CEPAD, the Council of Evangelical Churches of Nicaragua. Formed in 1972 to provide disaster relief from an earthquake, CEPAD receives support from Lutheran World Relief (LWR) and Church World Service, the fund-raising arm of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. (NCC). LWR is an overseas development and relief ministry of the ELCA and Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod; the ELCA is an NCC member.
More than 5,000 Nicaraguans died in landslides and flash floods that accompanied Hurricane Mitch. Deforestation had already damaged much of the land in the country roughly the size of New York state, and the nation still suffers under huge debt.
The 1980s conflict between the Nicaraguan Sandinistas and their U.S.-funded opposition, the Contras, also contributed to the nation's poverty. The average monthly household income is about $40. Unemployment is as high as 70 percent in many areas, said the Rev. Hilberto Aguirre, CEPAD executive director.
Mitch "ripped the mask off the poverty of Nicaragua," Setwright said. "People didn't really know how bad off Nicaragua was."
Some 400,000 families still need homes, Aguirre said. After Mitch struck, CEPAD provided emergency relief and now focuses on community development. Staff identify community leaders, then work with villagers to meet community goals.
ELCA members worked in Pacora, a village about 75 kilometers from Managua. Here CEPAD is helping villagers build more than 30 cement block homes. Each home measures 20 feet by 20 feet and consists of 1,200 cement blocks, which are made by hand. Roofs are made from boards covered with tin.
Community members who receive a home must pay half the cost of materials, or about $1,500. The homeowner has five years to pay for the supplies, with an initial one-year grace period. With this system, more people can receive homes than if CEPAD provided all houses for free.
"Sometimes we need to share blessings," said Esterbin Gutierrez, a CEPAD staff member who accompanied the Lutherans in Pacora.
Gutierrez said when Nicaraguans work on their own homes they develop a sense of ownership and learn valuable skills.
"We don't want to give them fish, we want to teach them how to catch the fish," Gutierrez said.
ELCA members helped work on four houses. They also delivered lumber for more than 20 homes and helped Nicaraguans dig two latrines. Team members lived in one of the cement block homes in the village. Each day, community members prepared meals of rice, beans or pasta for the Lutherans. Pacora has no electricity or running water.
While the purpose of the trip was to labor with the people, it was also a show of solidarity and to give Nicaraguans hope, the Lutherans said.
"Perhaps the hope didn't come from what we did, but through the grace and love of God. God provided the hope that we couldn't provide and didn't understand," said the Rev. Ronald W. McCallum, an ELCA pastor from Cornelius, Ore.
"I didn't expect to develop such a bond with the people of Pacora in such a short time," said Mary Harp-Jirschele, vice president of communication and facilities, Aid Association for Lutherans, a fraternal benefits organization based in Appleton, Wis.
Harp-Jirschele brought her mother, Barb Harp of North Fort Myers, Fla., and sister Marcia Voss of Neenah, Wis., on the trip. When they weren't working, the three women played "Yahtzee" and card games with village teenagers.
"Not only did we all get a good lesson in Spanish, but they got a good lesson in arithmetic and English," Harp-Jirschele said.
Trip participants admired the work ethic of the Nicaraguans. "I admired the people for their spirit, strength and endurance, and I empathized with their ambition and endless desires," said Kris Collett, communicator for the ELCA Greater Milwaukee Synod.
Group members learned first-hand how Hurricane Mitch ravaged the land. Community leaders Gregorio and Mercedes Ordonez told the Lutherans about the storm that destroyed their home, scattered their possessions and killed their livestock.
"Those days were rainy, rainy and rainy," said Gregorio Ordonez. "There was so much rain that even the roosters were quiet."
Ordonez said he went to the banks of the Pacora River to look for his cattle and nearly got swept away in flood waters. He saved himself by hanging onto the tail of one animal as it swam to safety.
Now, 16 months later, the Ordonez family has a new house farther from the river and helps other villagers construct their own homes. The work is difficult, he said, but community is important.
"We are very involved in the place where we live. Even when we have a struggle, we have love for the place where we are," Ordonez said.
At the end of the visit, leaving the village was an emotional experience for ELCA members and villagers.
"Even though you are going very far from this community you will still be here. This is your home and will always be open to you," said Mercedes Ordonez.
The Nicaraguans dressed in Sunday attire and sent the ELCA members away with a closing program, words of thanks and embraces.
"It was very difficult to leave. There is so much to do, and we only scratched the surface," said Harp-Jirschele.
"Our work seemed like a drop in the bucket, but as one of my colleagues on the trip said, 'At least it went into the bucket,'" McCallum said.
Nicaragua work trip participants included Harp; McCallum; Harp- Jirschele; Shafer; Voss; Dennis and Madelyn Busse, Denver; Kris Collett, Milwaukee; Nancy Curtis, Kane, Pa..; Mark Holman, Minneapolis; Tammy Jackson, Chicago; Kathy Lemmerbrock, Findlay, Ohio; Marge Mayes, Phoenix; Kris Shafer, Chicago; Lisa Smith, Waterloo, Iowa; and Ana Zantedesch Bolingbrook, Ill.

*Lisa Smith is a journalist for the Waterloo (Iowa) Courier and worked with the group in Nicaragua. She is also a former intern with ELCA News & Information.

Photos from the trip are at http://www.elca.ORG/co/news/images.nicaragua.html on the ELCA News & Information news photos Web page.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html