wfn.org | ELCA Communicators Assist Again in Rebuilding Following 'Mitch'

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

March 29, 2001

ELCA COMMUNICATORS ASSIST AGAIN IN REBUILDING FOLLOWING 'MITCH'
01-069-LS*

     PACORA, NICARAGUA (ELCA) -- Shovels and pickaxes became ministry
tools for 16 members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) who traveled to Nicaragua on a work trip.
     The Lutherans were in Nicaragua Feb. 17-24 to demonstrate
solidarity with those who lost homes and livelihoods in the devastation
left behind by Hurricane Mitch in 1998.
     "Nicaraguans are people who know how to struggle and people who
know how to survive," said Aynn Setwright, a U.S. expatriate who led
ELCA members in an orientation in Managua, Nicaragua's capital.
     The Rev. Eric C. Shafer, director of the ELCA Department for
Communication, Chicago, organized the trip, as well as a similar 1999
venture to Honduras.  Both trips included ELCA communicators, their
friends and families.
     In Nicaragua, ELCA members partnered with CEPAD, the Council of
Evangelical
Churches of Nicaragua.  Formed in 1972 to provide disaster relief from
an earthquake, CEPAD receives support from Lutheran World Relief (LWR)
and Church World Service, the fund-raising arm of the National Council
of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. (NCC).  LWR is an overseas
development and relief ministry of the ELCA and Lutheran Church-Missouri
Synod; the ELCA is an NCC member.
     More than 5,000 Nicaraguans died in landslides and flash floods
that accompanied Hurricane Mitch.  Deforestation had already damaged
much of the land in the country roughly the size of New York state, and
the nation still suffers under huge debt.
     The 1980s conflict between the Nicaraguan Sandinistas and their
U.S.-funded opposition, the Contras, also contributed to the nation's
poverty.  The average monthly household income is about $40.
Unemployment is as high as 70 percent in many areas, said the Rev.
Hilberto Aguirre, CEPAD executive director.
     Mitch "ripped the mask off the poverty of Nicaragua," Setwright
said.  "People didn't really know how bad off Nicaragua was."
     Some 400,000 families still need homes, Aguirre said.  After Mitch
struck, CEPAD provided emergency relief and now focuses on community
development.  Staff identify community leaders, then work with villagers
to meet community goals.
     ELCA members worked in Pacora, a village about 75 kilometers from
Managua.  Here CEPAD is helping villagers build more than 30 cement
block homes.  Each home measures 20 feet by 20 feet and consists of
1,200 cement blocks, which are made by hand.  Roofs are made from boards
covered with tin.
     Community members who receive a home must pay half the cost of
materials, or about $1,500.  The homeowner has five years to pay for the
supplies, with an initial one-year grace period.  With this system, more
people can receive homes than if CEPAD provided all houses for free.
     "Sometimes we need to share blessings," said Esterbin Gutierrez, a
CEPAD staff member who accompanied the Lutherans in Pacora.
     Gutierrez said when Nicaraguans work on their own homes they
develop a sense of ownership and learn valuable skills.
     "We don't want to give them fish, we want to teach them how to
catch the fish," Gutierrez said.
     ELCA members helped work on four houses.  They also delivered
lumber for more than 20 homes and helped Nicaraguans dig two latrines.
Team members lived in one of the cement block homes in the village.
Each day, community members prepared meals of rice, beans or pasta for
the Lutherans.  Pacora has no electricity or running water.
     While the purpose of the trip was to labor with the people, it was
also a show of solidarity and to give Nicaraguans hope, the Lutherans
said.
     "Perhaps the hope didn't come from what we did, but through the
grace and love of God. God provided the hope that we couldn't provide
and didn't understand," said the Rev. Ronald W. McCallum, an ELCA pastor
from Cornelius, Ore.
     "I didn't expect to develop such a bond with the people of Pacora
in such a short time," said Mary Harp-Jirschele, vice president of
communication and facilities, Aid Association for Lutherans, a fraternal
benefits organization based in Appleton, Wis.
     Harp-Jirschele brought her mother, Barb Harp of North Fort Myers,
Fla., and sister Marcia Voss of Neenah, Wis., on the trip.  When they
weren't working, the three women played "Yahtzee" and card games with
village teenagers.
     "Not only did we all get a good lesson in Spanish, but they got a
good lesson in arithmetic and English," Harp-Jirschele said.
     Trip participants admired the work ethic of the Nicaraguans.  "I
admired the people for their spirit, strength and endurance, and I
empathized with their ambition and endless desires," said Kris Collett,
communicator for the ELCA Greater Milwaukee Synod.
     Group members learned first-hand how Hurricane Mitch ravaged the
land. Community leaders Gregorio and Mercedes Ordonez told the Lutherans
about the storm that destroyed their home, scattered their possessions
and killed their livestock.
     "Those days were rainy, rainy and rainy," said Gregorio Ordonez.
"There was so much rain that even the roosters were quiet."
     Ordonez said he went to the banks of the Pacora River to look for
his cattle and nearly got swept away in flood waters.  He saved himself
by hanging onto the tail of one animal as it swam to safety.
     Now, 16 months later, the Ordonez family has a new house farther
from the river and helps other villagers construct their own homes.  The
work is difficult, he said, but community is important.
     "We are very involved in the place where we live.  Even when we
have a struggle, we have love for the place where we are," Ordonez said.
     At the end of the visit, leaving the village was an emotional
experience for ELCA members and villagers.
     "Even though you are going very far from this community you will
still be here.  This is your home and will always be open to you," said
Mercedes Ordonez.
     The Nicaraguans dressed in Sunday attire and sent the ELCA members
away with a closing program, words of thanks and embraces.
     "It was very difficult to leave. There is so much to do, and we
only scratched the surface," said Harp-Jirschele.
     "Our work seemed like a drop in the bucket, but as one of my
colleagues on the trip said, 'At least it went into the bucket,'"
McCallum said.
     Nicaragua work trip participants included Harp; McCallum; Harp-
Jirschele; Shafer; Voss; Dennis and Madelyn Busse, Denver; Kris Collett,
Milwaukee; Nancy Curtis, Kane, Pa..; Mark Holman, Minneapolis; Tammy
Jackson, Chicago; Kathy Lemmerbrock, Findlay, Ohio; Marge Mayes,
Phoenix; Kris Shafer, Chicago; Lisa Smith, Waterloo, Iowa; and Ana
Zantedesch Bolingbrook, Ill.

     *Lisa Smith is a journalist for the Waterloo (Iowa) Courier and
worked with the group in Nicaragua.  She is also a former intern with
ELCA News & Information.

     Photos from the trip are at
http://www.elca.org/co/images.nicaragua.html on the ELCA News &
Information news photos Web page.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html