wfn.org | Missionary Accompanies Mudslide Survivors Back to Disaster Site

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

28-May-1999 9 
99209 
 
    PC(USA) Missionary Accompanies Nicaragua 
    Mudslide Survivors Back to Disaster Site 
 
    by David P. Gist 
    Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Mission Co-worker in Nicaragua 
 
MANAGUA, Nicaragua - I finally was able to visit the Posoltega area, where 
a mudslide triggered by Hurricane Mitch killed more than 2,000 people last 
October. 
 
    An organization called the Interchurch Center for Theological and 
Social Studies (CIEETS) has been working in grief counseling with 
survivors. The CIEETS team organized a worship service and ceremony to 
commemorate the six-month anniversary of the disaster (one week late 
because of a transportation strike). The CIEETS team includes friends and 
fellow Presbyterian missionaries Kim and Ken Brown, who invited me to 
accompany the team. 
 
    We first drove northwest to the city of Leon and met with the local 
CIEETS staff there, then headed out to a settlement area of 200 refugee 
families from the mudslide who are now living in makeshift houses of 
plastic sheeting. We took as many people as we could fit (which wasn't 
enough) in the two vehicles we had and drove to the site where most of the 
people with us that day had lost their homes, families, and neighbors. The 
lost community we visited fell within the greater municipality of Posoltega 
and was named Rolando Rodriguez, after a young man martyred by Somoza's 
National Guard back in the 1970s. 
 
    The drive to the mudslide was unnerving, even for Kim and Ken, as they 
had not taken this particular route before, and especially now that the 
rainy season has begun.  We entered an enormous canyon with cliff walls so 
high that much of the canyon was in shadows.  The canyon was new, having 
been created by the mudslide, and though we drove at top speed it still 
took us 20 minutes to pass through it. The canyon was several hundred 
meters wide at most points, and it was obvious to all of us how impossible 
escape must have been for those who had lived on the land there. A pastor 
in our vehicle pointed to spots where he remembered the Gomez family or the 
Mairena family, all of whom were lost. 
 
    When we reached the site of Rolando Rodriguez, which lay just at the 
foot of the volcano where the mudslide had begun, we looked for a shady 
spot where we could hold the worship service.  We stopped in front of a 
thatched hut near a large tree, but the women in the truck refused to get 
out because underneath the tree lay several plastic bags filled with bones 
from bodies that had been recovered and burned.  The women didn't want to 
go near these bags, which emitted a distinct though not strong odor. 
 
    Unfortunately, the men in the group didn't really listen to the women's 
concerns, though Ken did listen and tried to mediate. We ended up beginning 
the worship service under the thatched roof with an agreement to continue 
the service at various sites where houses and people had been lost. 
 
    The proximity of the plastic bags and the return to the old community 
made for a very powerful and emotional worship service, which unfortunately 
was interrupted by some opportunistic journalists who were visiting the 
area. 
 
    Upon seeing women crying and collapsing as we gathered together, the 
photographers and video operators rushed over to film close-ups of these 
women. We convinced them to leave us two different times, but apparently 
they got what they wanted as the next day we saw on the front page of "La 
Prensa" (the leading national newspaper) a photo of a woman crying over the 
plastic bags. 
 
    After worship, the CIEETS team decided to encourage those present to 
break into smaller groups and to visit their old homes, where people prayed 
and planted wooden crosses and small trees purchased from a nursery. 
 
    The CIEETS team discussed how the empty crosses reminded us of the 
resurrected Christ and of those who had gone on to eternal life, but for 
those uncomfortable with using crosses in this way, the trees were 
available to plant, also a symbolic act. 
 
    I accompanied three women, a mother and two daughters who lived in 
three separate houses.  We wandered across the mud plains until one of the 
women would say that this was where her home had been. Then she would step 
back and the others would dig a hole and plant the crosses and trees for 
her. 
 
    Celia Vargas, a young woman of 17, had lived with her grandfather and 
nephew, both of whom died in the mudslide. We were unable to reach the site 
of Celia's home as it was down in a canyon, so we stopped along the edge of 
the canyon, and I dug a hole for her as she sat silently on the ground. 
When we had the cross and tree together in the ground, she stood up and 
took the shovel from me and hammered the top of the cross deep into the 
ground. No one felt the need to speak. 
 
    At the site where the third young woman had lived, articles of clothing 
were strewn about, and the young women found a damaged photograph in the 
mud. We also came across a cross that was already planted there, and Susana 
(the mother) explained that her own mother was buried there.  Susana last 
saw her mother when she saw the house collapse upon her on the site where 
we stood. 
 
    The women described a wave of mud so high that it could be said to be a 
tidal wave, higher than many of the trees. Most of those who survived did 
so because they had taken refuge on hilltops during the rain, but were 
unable to convince all of their families to come with them. Others were 
caught in the mud but somehow survived. One man lost 80 relatives - from 
his own and his wife's family - in one day. 
 
    A couple of houses in town somehow still stood, and I was surprised to 
see how nice and well constructed these houses had been. I had expected 
shacks of wood and plastic, not unlike where these refugees now live, but 
the women informed me that many houses in town were quite nice. They also 
told me about the children's feeding program, the health promoters, and the 
many signs that this had been more than a town but a thriving community in 
the best sense of that word. 
 
    And now it was gone. 
 
Editor's note: Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is still accepting 
contributions for Hurricane Mitch relief, primarily in Nicaragua and 
Honduras. Contributions should be made through regular church channels, 
with checks marked for "Hurricane Mitch Relief," account #9-2000139. 
    - Jerry L. Van Marter. 

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