300 lbs of supplies

Packing Day

The troops have gathered to pack up the school supplies that were purchased with proceeds from our fundraising efforts.

Project Update as of 2-4-12

Our ever evolving work and project is summarized below:

Be on the look out for "real time" pictures while we are down in Nicaragua

Purchase and install: pump/cover for well; make/install compressed earth blocks and add/replace new bamboo siding around the well and “comedor” (kitchen) area.

 

 

 

  

Sand, scrape, prep and re-paint and install new swings for existing swing set

 

 

 

 

 

Paint inside of school trim and entire exterior of pre-school

 

 

 

 

 

Purchase and plant fruit trees in the school yard - mangos, tangerines, oranges, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

Build and install some eco stoves with help and coordination from Sister City

Most Nicaraguan women cook over open fires, which means they (and the children who follow them around all day) are breathing smoke all day. Newton’s Sister City EcoStove solves that problem. It’s a brick and cement cooking box up on legs: you put the wood in one end; there are two holes in the top for your favorite pots, and at the far end a chimney made of cement tubes that carries the smoke right up through the roof and away from the house. We call it the EcoStove because it uses half the wood of an open fire, which means less cutting of trees in the surrounding watershed, which in turn means more water absorbed during the rainy season and wells less likely to go dry in March, April and May, before the rains arrive

 

To see a slideshow about replacing open fires with EcoStoves, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/gringopinolero/sets/72157623468722556/
To see folks making their own EcoStove components, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/gringopinolero/sets/72157625867200710/

Summary of Project at Andres Castro

1. Comedor: Repair comedor by making new compressed earth blocks but use already made ones to erect  ½ lower wall around comedor and construct new upper wall with bamboo siding. Replace existing rotted posts with new.
2. Pump: Purchase and install new pump and repair well top made of wood. “We always need to put the “Agua” in Nicaragua.
3. School Paint: Prep and paint interior school trim and entire new pre-school
4. Swingset:  Scape and re-paint existing swingset and purchase and install new swings.
5. Fruit Trees:  Purchase and install new fruit trees.
6. Eco-Stoves:  Build some eco-stoves at Fidels factory and install others at work site
7. School Sign: Repair and beautify school sign

Other off site projects/activities:

• Factory Visit: View and work at previously built bio-sand filter factory which was re-tooled for eco-stoves
• Past Projects Visit: Visit and deliver school supplies to Ojochal and Blue and White School and also visit Barrio Holman and Amanocer
• Provide School Supplies: Visit and deliver school supplies to Kathy Knight’s Pre-school in El Oro (30 kids)
• Womens Shelter: Visit and deliver shoes and donation to womens shelter
• Mobil Book Library Donation of Books: Visit and deliver books to Mobil Book Library and enjoy reception
• Mobil Book Library Participation: Part of Group - Go out on Mobil Book Library and “work” at remote library
• Anciano’s Event: Sponsor, set up and work at Brugger Foundation’s “Anciano’s Event” (Thursday)
• Scout Future Projects and Ideas: Visit Eco Latrines - The one in Cebadilla is working so well.
• Engage Community: Hopes and Dreams conversation with locals leaders?

A Look Back before we look ahead...

Our Journey: 10 Years and counting at the Union Church

What do these trips mean to people? See what people say...

Impact – Meaning – Connectedness – Support –Warmth –Our Brothers and Sisters

“I felt connected to the people of Nicaragua, they are warm and friendly” Traveler 2008

“We value them and they value us” Traveler 2008

“Everyone had special talents and gifts that had time to shine” Traveler 2006





“We felt appreciated, accepted, happy, it was very satisfying” Traveler 2004

“Community spirit with the group and the locals. We felt welcomed” Traveler 2010




Past Projects:La Escuela Azul y Blanco (The Blue and White School)Feb 2010  

see our trip video with the link below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd8iiLNxk_8

The group rehabbed The Blue and White School. Installing a much need fence, repairing the outhouse, painting the entire school and putting in a pump and water storage area at the on-site well. We provided school supplies, food trees and some rope swings.

Feb 2008 Ojochal

see our trip video at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL8I47bfbXE

Feb 2006 Water Filter Factory
We constructed a factory that produced water bio-sand filters to provide clean drinking water for many communities.




Feb 2004 Barrio Nuevo AmanacerOn the final day of the first project we were asked to attend a community meeting in a more distant Barrio “Nuevo Amanecer” (New Dawn). We were met by a group of at least 50 villagers who requested that we help them bring clean water to their community.  The project they outlined involved hundreds of homes and what looked like miles of hard trench digging work. It seemed unrealistic for our church. However we were so overwhelmed by the need and the community spirit that we did not refuse immediately. Over the year, with planning and encouragement to the community to begin much of the manual labor before we arrived, the projects took shape and with a tremendous community effort when we arrived over 150 homes were connected to the municipal water supply. Also, as we carried out the water project Sue Reed, who traveled with us, set up a health clinic in the community center and saw scores of children and an adults who had no other access to basic health care.

On visits back to both Holman and Nuevo Amanecer the impact of the water projects was evident. With access to clean water both communities developed economically, new homes were built and the people recall with gratitude their partnership with the Union Church

Feb 2002 Bario Carlos HolmanIn 2002, the Union Church embarked on its first mission trip to San Juan del Sur Nicaragua. The 14 member delegation from the Union Church volunteered to plan, resource and complete the first clean water project in a neighborhood outside of central San Juan del Sur known as Barrio Carlos Holman. At that time Barrio Holman was a small developing village of about 25 families. The community leader was “Pastor Rivas” who founded an evangelical church group in Barrio Holman. The “church “in the center of the community was an open air dirt floor shack.
The first project involved digging the trenches, laying pipe and connecting 12 to 14 homes in the barrio to the municipal water supply. Approximately 800 meters of pipes were put down after digging the waist deep trenches along three avenues in Holman. The soil was dry and rock hard. The Union Church group worked from 7 till noon each day with Nicaraguan men and women digging along side and continuing the work into the hot afternoons. The church contributed over $2000 PVC piping, supplies and water permits to complete the project.  By the end of the week 12 homes had clean potable running water in their homes and the whole community celebrated with a rocking church service attended by all in the Barrio.

Some partners and friends:

Jean Brugger Foundation
www.fundacionajbrugger.org

Newton Sister City
www.sanjuandelsursistercityproject.wordpress.com


Mobil Book Library
www.sjdsbiblioteca.org


Community Connect
www.comunidadconnect.org

Photo from 2011

Great photo from the 2010 trip.

Fall 2011 - Thinking about the trip

One of our desires is to think carefully about the meaning of missionary work. Missionary work can be referred to as the faith-inspired, intentional crossing of boundaries for the purpose of loving and serving others. Our mission work can start now before we ever set foot in Nicaragua. It can start with the thoughtful planning and working together to make this a meaningful trip.

In the past, these mission trips have been a wonderful experience for those of us who have gone.  We have had the opportunity to really do something practical and hands on to help others in great need as part of our mission outreach program.  It has given us adults and youth the chance to develop as individuals through the mission experience. It has given many of us a chance to connect, grow closer and enhance our relationships with other Church members as well as new friends in Nicaragua.

When I first thought of Mission work I thought about the word “give”. How can we help others and what can we give them to help. But what I found was that I, personally, have received tenfold in return to what was given. The positive personal relationships which have developed as a result of these trips is immeasurable. (In the planning and during the trip)



San Juan Del Sur is a small and tranquil fishing village nestled at the head of a horseshoe-shaped bay on the Pacific coast of southern Nicaragua.  Despite the picturesque setting this is a desperately poor part of Nicaragua, particularly in the outlying villages.

Hopes for trip ourselves and each other:

Together we have the following hope for ourselves and each other:  participating in monthly gatherings as we get ready to go; engaging with an open heart, mind and hands while we are on the trip in our service work, recreational activity and daily devotional time; treating each other and those we encounter with love and respect; participating in the NICA service upon return and sharing our growth and learning with the entire congregation and wider community so all may be enriched by what we have experienced as so enriching.


What to expect during the trip week:
Our primary focus will be on completing the main project. Mornings we usually meet about 8AM to re-group, say a prayer and then head to site and return around lunch. In the afternoons we will do many group activities some of which we will all do and some that will be optional. We will also gather late in the day before or after dinner for some group meetings. During meetings we will check in to see how everybody is doing, do some spiritual work or maybe head down for some ice cream!! We may be wary and need to lift one another up.

In choosing the project there are considerations:

• intentional in seeking out a project and service work that includes collaboration amongst ourselves, our friends in San Juan del Sur, and those Nicaraguans who will be affected and benefited by the project
• every effort be made to include, involve, and enlist the San Juan del Sur community to achieve the service project’s goals
• the project should be one that tries to keeps the idea of sustainability as one of the goals, that is, one in which our work continues to sustain and improve the community after we have returned home
• the trip shall work to hold up all that is precious and positive about being mission based and mission minded
• that each of us takes the time and makes the effort to look to this trip and endeavor as one where our own spiritual needs may be nurtured and may we hope indeed flourish
• there is a hope that the trip fosters good and true engagement and learning with ourselves and the San Juan del Sur community
• the trip encourages and inspires intergenerational relationships both in our community and in San Juan del Sur

Flexibility and Patience in Nicaragua?

A theme that will continue as we prepare for our mission trip and that will serve us well while we complete our project.

Welcome

Welcome to the Union Church in Waban's 2011 Nicaragua Trip blog.