My Tale: Jinotepe

Back on the mainland, we had several projects that we had to complete. We stayed at the old orphanage that our church supported called Los Niños Del Rey. After the current president took over, he shut down places like this and sent the orphans back to any possible family that they had, even if it was a horrible situation. Thankfully, we have been able to find several of them and keep in contact. Several are doing well and are even going to a university, but unfortunately there are a few exceptions who got caught up with gangs.

We got to meet with several of the kids, and we even got to take one family to a pupusa factory. Pupusas are created by using Rice flour to make the dough, and they are usually stuffed with chopped pork, cheese, beans, zucchini, and other vegetables. The Pupusa factory was super cheap. You could feed nine people for $27.

A traditional plate of gallo pint (rice and beans), a cheese pupusa, and a Madura (fried plantain) from the pupusa factory. (photo by author)

The greatest opportunity to make an impact on someone's life happened at a village outside Jinotepe. It was by far the poorest place we visited. The houses are made of cinderblocks and tin. They have dirt floors, and their community bathroom is held p by tarps and rope. Livestock roams around freely, and most of them are underfed. For the village, we got to provide a meal for all of them. There was a grandmother there who had several grandchildren that she had to take care of. We took her to a store to get her the things that she needed. Some of the girls decided to buy a bunch of clothes and toys for for the kids back at the village. The most satisfying moment of the trip was seeing the kid's faces when they realized that we had got the toys for them, and their laughter was pure joy. One of my best memories will be getting to blow bubbles for them. They taught me that the Spanish word for bubbles was "burbujas."



Blowing Burbujas for los ninos (Photo by author)

The saddest project that we were involved in was visiting the children’s’ hospital there. Most of the kids there have cancer or some other illness. I was not prepared for the fact that they do not have the money or resources to properly treat the children. If this hospital was in the U.S. it would be shut down in less than five minutes. It was hot in all of the rooms, and it didn’t seem very comfortable. It is a sad fact that most of the children go there to die. Nonetheless, the parents rarely leave their child’s side.

We brought the kids handmade pillow cases, bags filled with hygiene products and things for entertainment such as crayons and a stuffed animal. For a special item there were capes for the boys and headbands for the girls. Furthermore, we passed out Bibles and storybooks in Spanish for most of the kids. We were able to reach about fifty kids. While we were visiting, we would sing to them in Spanish and pray with them. Sometimes you could look back in their room five minutes after visiting them, and they were still smiling over their things.

We had plans of visiting someone, but they ended up having tuberculosis. Despite this, an opportunity presented itself to us. We got to visit a family of kids who were orphaned. We brought them food and tried to encourage them the best we could. Three of them were trying to go to a university, even though their struggles. It was inspiring to meet them. We got to see a church that was being built there. It had walls that were halfway built and half dirt floors. However, there are about forty active members attending there, despite the conditions. It’s amazing how Nicaraguans can be so happy and joyful in any condition that they find themselves in.

Providing food for the family at Jinotepe (photo by author)

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:11