Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to be in Nicaragua for 5 days doing a similar exercise related to my work with AMG as I had done in Colombia. Again this trip was sponsored by Woord en Daad Holland and it was a worth while trip. I spent those 5 days learning about our partner organization in Nicaragua called INDEF. I learned a lot since I was able to get a better idea what INDEF does and how their programs run. This information is useful since it allows us to implement new ideas in our own organization. It is also interesting to learn from each other: the things that work, the difficulties and challenges, and the failures. I really enjoyed my time there and the hospitality provided by the people from INDEF.
I flew to Nicaragua early Monday morning and I had the privilege of getting a free upgrade to business class. This was only the second time that I have flown business class, the first time being 12 years ago when I had to fly back to Canada for Lia's dad's funeral. After an hour flight I arrived in Managua at 8:15 in the morning and was welcomed by the humidity and heat. I was picked up by one of the INDEF staff who drove me to the head office where the meeting had already started. I did not miss much since they had just started the devotional time. We spent the rest of the morning going over several studies that where done last year (similar studies had been done in Colombia and Guatemala) and it was interesting to discuss the results and also critique the study tool. It was interesting to see that although the countries are different the context is quite similar. In the afternoon we had a short seminar on the meaning of PMEL and how to implement it in the organization. The next 3 mornings were spent doing a PMEL strengthening exercise which help evaluate the organization with regards to how they plan, monitor, evaluate, and learn. This tool, although lengthy, is quite helpful and gives an good idea as to where the strengths and weaknesses are with regards to PMEL. Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon was spent visiting different projects that INDEF have. We first visited a Club that they operate in a school around 2 hours south of Managua. This Club is a cooperation between INDEF, the local school and local government. INDEF operates a computer lab and a beauty school out of this school and they also provide Biblical teaching. It seems to work quite well. The second project we visited was a beauty school in a place called Tipitapa. I thought Managua was hot, but Tipitapa which was only 30 minutes away was scorching. Although the heat was almost unbearable, we had a good and interesting visit as we met with local staff and students and alumni of the beauty school. This school empowers women to make something of their lives by cutting hair, doing manicures, and pedicures. Many of the women spoke of how they recovered their identity through the program. Nicaragua, like a lot of Latin American countries is plagued by the problem of "machismo" and "marianismo". This creates a culture where many men are not responsible in how they are as husbands and fathers and so you find many broken homes, infidelity, and abuse. Interestingly enough, although it is a problem with men, women are largely to blame since they often are the ones that instill "machismo" in their sons instead of teaching their sons to be different. It is important that through Biblical teaching people understand what the roles of men and women are and that "machismo" is not Biblical, but is destructive.
Thursday afternoon was spent doing a few other exercises and Friday we spent doing some sightseeing. Initially we were supposed to do some exercises on Friday with another organization but that fell through. I tried to change my flight but it would cost too much so I decided to spend the day looking around. We visited a number of tourist attractions around Managua. We had a few closeups of the volcanoes that are active near the city. These volcanoes are interesting since they are quite small in size, but are very active.
Saturday morning I flew back home to Guatemala and again I was given a free upgrade to business class. Sadly the flight was so short that I could not enjoy it that much.
I am grateful for this opportunity I had and for the hospitality of the people of INDEF. Please pray for Nicaragua. It is a country that is quite underdeveloped where wages are low, but cost of living is quite high due to high fuel costs and import taxes.
Several weeks ago I had the privilege to do a short day trip to the aldea of Pichal. One of the things I miss now that we do not live in Cubulco are the treks to the aldean churches (or at least I think I do). The treks, although often difficult and tiring, always had an upside which was enjoying God's creation. The hike to Pichal is the shortest one as it takes 45 minutes by truck, a short boat crossing as the bridge is no longer there, and an hour hike. I had been invited to attend an outreach service there and was accompanied by a family from the central church, Pastor Xicara, a medical student from the States Ben Bloxham, and my twins Nico and Ellen. We left in the afternoon and arrived in Pichal a half an hour before the service was supposed to start. Special services hardly ever start on time, and this was no exception. We first had to eat supper so that postponed the service for a while and then it poured for a good hour which also delayed everything since you could not hear a thing. Also it was supposed to be an outdoor service since it was the dry season and no rain was expected. But rain it did and everyone scrambled to move everything inside the church. After an hour delay we started the service. The service was "lively" and loud which is typical for many churches in the aldeas although my ears would appreciate it being done with less volume. 2.5 hours later the first part of the service ended and we left to go back to Cubulco. We walked for an hour back to the river, where someone was supposed to be waiting for us to take us across. They also had left us a phone number to call them in case they were not there. We called and no answer and after waiting in for a half an hour someone finally came to take us across. It was around 10:30 PM by that time and from there we drove the 45 minutes back to Cubulco. 
