We are in Jinotega and are staying at the orphanage. We worked in a rural neighborhood today. The road was quite rutted and bad. In fact the road from Managua to here was full of potholes since they have had a lot of rain. Last year the trip took us four hours. This year it took six hours. The scenery is so beautiful and the company was good so it did not seem that long.
The children have grown so much since we were here a year ago. Harold and Julio are no longer living at the orphanage. One is living with his brother and one is living with a minister. Walter is a newcomer. He is 6 and was the only survivor of a mud slide . He climbed in some kind of metal container and survived. The rest of his family died. He is so cute and he and Ricardo look like brothers. The kids have a huge new climbing apparatus in the back. It is like what we see on Playgrounds on school grounds at home. The back porch has been tiled and is screened in. We are painting and hanging new doors at the orphanage and the guys put up new shower heads so we have warm water for showers. A blessing! Ken Blythe is a blessing in the construction work as well as Piltz. The kids have grown! They still love doing crafts, but are in school until 12:45 so our time with them is limited.
Tomorrow I am going to school with Mary Ann Newcomb (her father is one of the doctors with us and he and his wife Celeste and 4 years old son William and 6 year old daughter Mary Ann are with us) and the orphanage kids. The Newcomb kids have been so good and are right at home here with all the children at the orphanage. I am looking forward to the experience. Just wish my Spanish were better. Celeste Newcomb, Mary Ann's Mom is going on another medical clinic in another rural area.
Tonight we celebrated birthdays for Brian, Elias and Jim. The girls did a dance and all the kids did a little drama of Jesus death and journey to the cross. The team is awesome. Even though we do not have a music leader this week, we have been singing our hearts out.
Yesterday we saw 200 patients in a downtown Jinotega clinic. The doctors have been on strike as they only make $100 a month. However, they were back at work and we shared the clinic with them. Today we saw another 200 in three school classrooms, similar to those in the dump, but in a neighborhood up in the mountains.
Tomorrow they will go to a similar area. We travel to Managua on Thursday. We feel so at home here. It will be hard to leave the kids we all love so much. The new house mothers, Joy and LeAnn have new rules and run a tight ship. We think they are doing a great job. Two cats have been added as pets and they are good mousers as there was a mice problem. Juanita is cooking up a storm. We have two new interpreters. All is well.
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
