DAY 2 (December 30,2006) of Nicaraguan Mission Trip by Julliet Martinez

On the second day of our mission trip experience, all missionaries at Hogar Belen were awakened by a herd of animals serenading us outside the crusty windows. First came the roosters next door with their classic good morning song…then the dogs…then...the cow?!!...and then the men heard (or claim to have heard- not that we can trust them fully on this) an animal that would cry out “GAZEBO!” in the early dawn. Needless to say, this was not the only strange occurrence of the day. After breakfast- which we were told was to be at seven every morning- one group was selected to clean up while the rest of us meandered outside while waiting for our daily chores.

Hogar Belen has such a carefree system, which could be very much influenced by the tropical breezes wafting the scent of ripe papaya and coconuts to us. Or the fact that the ladies in charge are of Jamaican descent and stick with the motto “No worries!”. So when we finally did get our jobs assigned to us, it was close to noon and most of us had already been exhausted by the over-enthused children. There were basically only two jobs that needed to be started on right away. One was the repainting of the play area, which was in desperate need of a colorful touch up and some friendly designs. So a handful of talented young artists volunteered to begin that. We started off with a nice new coat of baby blue- rolled on to freshen up the crumbling stone. A trim of yellow was then added to the border and some sketches were created for the mural. Most of these sketches were based on characters from the children’s coloring books and then copied onto the wall with chalk.

While that project was well underway, the second group was collecting supplies for their chore. This group had offered to pave the room of an autistic sixteen year old boy by the name of Omar. Omar had been living by himself in a room set apart from the rest of the children, spending most of his time half naked on the dirt floor. Materials were bought for the cement mixture and the group began. Halfway through their job however, the teens were told that the method they were using was not the one that was going to get the job done. So the men started again, this time guided by a native Nicaraguan. When Omar was brought out of his room he fiercely seized the nearest teen, before moving on to the next. This left a lot of us frightened and uncomfortable but some teens have really come out of their comfort zone in order to get to know him.

The task of helping these Nicaraguan kids with the things they needed the most was such an awesome experience. By the end of the day, all of us were way beyond exhausted but nobody complained- we were all so glad to have been a part of it.

-Julliet M.