Under the Mango Tree
By Tim Groves for Nica Companions
Note: This column will be a monthly sharing of stories from our sister church community, Dulce Nombre de Jesus, in northwest Nicaragua.
In the aftermath of what we have learned here in Boston of the impact on our sister community of Hurricane Iota in mid-November, our Nicaragua Companions Group asked our facilitators in Entre Culturas when they visited in late November/early December to ask Dulce Nombre what accompaniment support they may request from Church of the Covenant.
All four Team members of Entre Culturas arranged to meet via Zoom with our Nica Companions group on December 9 after this visit. Eleven of Covenant's Nica Companions joined the Zoom call along with Eduardo, Luis, Memo and Amanda of Entre Culturas. This report is what they brought Covenant.
Entre Culturas team members visited on Wednesday, December 2. Eduardo and Luis found the area roads damaged but passable. They gathered in the church with 24 community members.
- People have been very frightened and affected by the 2 hurricanes.
- In Dulce Nombre the houses are all good, without hurricane damage. No people were harmed.
- Most of the crops from their second and major harvest have been lost. Current estimates are that between 80-85% of the harvest was lost. Corn and sesame have been most affected. Before Hurricane Iota, Dulce Nombre was expecting a very strong harvest; these losses are particularly painful.
- The Community has now celebrated Purisima(annual celebration of the Immaculate Concepcion of the Virgin Mary). This year, as a precaution against Covid-19, members celebrated in three sectors of the village. The centers of each sector were: 1) Gloria Beltran's home; 2) Maximino's home; 3) Downtown (Ruber/ Mariana's; Mildren; Sayda; etc.). This year's Purisima theme has been "the Virgin's Pilgrimage." There have been no reports of Covid in the village. They have been giving thanks for what they have received during the past year; they have celebrated hope. This is a time of parties/celebrations throughout Nicaragua. Some of the particular ones in Dulce Nombre have included Concepción's birthday, 86th birthday of Migdalia's mother-in-law, Dec. 11 elementary school graduation, the 8th anniversary of Mariana's mother, Doña Jesus's, death.
- Because of the relative cold and the damp, there have been outbreaks of dengue fever and leptospirosis in the Somotillo region; there has been some dengue in Dulce Nombre, although not leptospirosis. Public health workers have been actively treating many cases of "el grippe"(flu) in Dulce Nombre. Government support in Somotillo region has prioritized good public health and fumigation and prevention against mosquitos. Public Hurricane Alerts have been effective.
As for carrying messages to Church of the Covenant, our sisters and brothers in Dulce Nombre de Jesus wanted first and foremost to thank us for our accompaniment. They said that it makes a big difference knowing that Covenant is truly concerned with Dulce Nombre's situation.
- Food aid is the highest priority. The corn is devastated, and the sesame will not be available this year as the cash crop.
- Because of lack of cash income, buying clothes and supplies for school opening in February will be a problem.
- The village has sufficient food to feed itself during this month of December. They will be running out of food for January. The next time when they will be harvesting crops will be in August if there is a good first harvest. They also have some debts from borrowing to plant this past harvest; usually they have the sale of sesame to help pay those debts; this season some will not be able to pay these debts.
- The National Supply of food is not so severe right now because there are parts of Nicaragua that had a good harvest; as a result, prices for food will not be as high as they were last summer.
- They are still receiving about 75% of the remittances that come to the village to families that have family members working abroad; some community members have lost work in Costa Rica and are back living in the village (at least five members).
In summary, Dulce Nombre would like to request food aid from Covenant in January.
On this Zoom call, we asked Entre Culturas (EC)for their advice about best ways to provide food support. Eduardo and Luis responded that they think it is too hard to arrange logistics unless you can speak face to face. Eduardo said that EC is able to visit Dulce Nombre in January and that they can plan to have the conversation face to face with those in the community to decide on arrangements.
Nica Companions members replied that Covenant would like Entre Culturas to ask what the costs would be for two months of sufficient food support. We asked them to tell the village that we hope to be able to send that amount in January. We shared that resources in our church have already been identified. [For example, this month our Mission & Advocacy Committee has already identified $350 for village food support, if needed; Rev. Rob has assured Nica Companions that Discretionary Funding from Covenant will be available as part of our ongoing witness for Climate Justice.]
The Nicaragua Companions group has asked Entre Culturas to communicate, and our members have already communicated through our WhatsApp Conversation, a commitment to send some support and then see what will be possible going forward.
Nicaragua Companions commits to informing our whole Covenant Community what needs remain and to determine together how we may respond.
