Rotary Club's Mission to
Nicaragua Helps The Poor
By CJ Hines,
WCFCedar.com
Imagine being so poor
that everyday living
doesn't produce any
garbage.
That was the reality
that Eulaila Young and
her companions observed
when visiting Nicaragua
last month.
Young joined several
others from the Cedar
Valley the week after
Thanksgiving to
distribute supplies to
children, pregnant women
and new mothers as part
of the Waterloo Downtown
Rotary Club's annual
mission trip to
Nicaragua.
For the past three
years, Young has worked
year-round to obtain
supplies, but this was
her first trip to the
Central American
country.
"There are so many
things we take for
granted, we use way too
much, plastics and
different things that
are thrown away. There
just isn't that much
there. We saw people
living in extreme
poverty; there was a
homeless city along the
main thoroughfare.
People would use large
garbage bags strung over
these ropes to make a
shelter, there were a
lot of them," said
Young, a retired
teacher. "In San Carlos,
it was a real
eye-opener. There was
hardly any garbage ---
people were too poor to
create garbage, but they
are very happy people."
Sam Buck also made the
trip for the first time.
"I wanted to see
firsthand what (Dad) had
been talking about,"
said Sam, whose father,
Dave Buck, co-founded
the mission project six
years ago with Steve
Thorpe. "You see
something in a National
Geographic and you don't
comprehend the poverty
until you see it
yourself. Sixty percent
of the people live under
the poverty line."
Since 2002, the Waterloo
Downtown Rotary Club and
community members have
traveled to Nicaragua.
The club became involved
in the project when
Thorpe attended a
convention and heard
speakers Father Marco
Dessy, an Italian
missionary, and Frank
Huezo, a native
Nicaraguan living in
Houston and member of
the Rotary Club there.
They spoke of the plight
of the people in
Chinandega, a town in
the northeastern corner
of Nicaragua, which
borders Honduras and the
Pacific Ocean. A civil
war and Hurricane Mitch
in 1998 left 2,000
people homeless,
scavenging for food in
the town dump. Dessy
built a school next to
the dump and recruited
children to attend,
promising them a solid
meal.
That was enough for
Thorpe, of rural Denver,
and Buck to organize the
Shoebox Project.
Rotarians from Iowa and
other states
volunteered, filling
boxes with toys,
clothing, toiletries and
other items for needy
children.
"The first trip, there
were seven people from
Iowa and three from the
Rotary Club in Texas.
This year there were 40
of us, 20 from the Cedar
Valley," said Thorpe.
"Since 2002, Rotarians
from Iowa and other
states have since
shipped about 190 tons
of items to Nicaragua.
This year we also
provided 600 layettes
for pregnant and new
mothers in the women's
shelter. About 900 women
a year go through the
shelter. These women
have nothing; many come
from 200 to 300 miles
away."
Each layette includes a
dozen cloth diapers,
washcloths, towels,
shampoo, baby oil,
receiving blankets and a
number of other baby
items.
The first year, Young
made 500 receiving
blankets. This year she
also sewed 100 dozen
diapers, maternity
clothes for the women's
shelter and obtained
eight refurbished sewing
machines to take to the
village.
"We've already been
promised several more.
Kurt Dralle from Dralle
Brothers has been
wonderful; he is very
community conscious. He
refurbishes them, and
they are really in good
working order," Young
said. "It's everybody
working together and
doing a little bit at a
time. Everybody is so
appreciative and uses
everything we give them.
We're trying to enrich
their lives and help
them to do better in
life. It's very
gratifying."
Patty Achey Cutts of
Cedar Falls, also a
first-timer, said the
experience was
"life-changing."
"It's hard to talk
about; to see such
poverty and come from a
country of such wealth.
Here, to see our
Christmas trees all
decorated and then go
down there, with the
sparseness. It was a
humbling experience,"
said Achey Cutts, who
traveled to Nicaragua
with her husband, Ken
Cutts, whose first trip
was in 2006.
Achey Cutts and her
husband were so touched
by the experience that
they're funding a
Nicaraguan boy's college
education.
The response from the
Cedar Valley has been
tremendous. Along with
the nearly 3,000 shoe
boxes, contributions
included 60 bikes from
Rotarians, Regions Bank
and friends; two
wheelchairs and walkers;
a 25-horse outboard
motor from Ken Cutts;
two tons of fabric and
3,000 shorts and tops
from Dodger Industries
of Eldora; hundreds of
hand tools from
Rotarians and 3,000
packets of dehydrated
food from Kids Against
Hunger.
Drs. Craig Driver and
Jim Raecker both donated
dental chairs. Donating
semis and transportation
were Warren Transport,
Bertch Cabinet
Manufacturing, Gray
Transport and Nathem
Transport.
Providing the supplies
is an important aspect
of the project, but
mission trips are
critical to the
project's success.
"We do the trips to
expose more people to
the plight of these
people. Nicaragua is the
second poorest country
in the world. This year
we partnered with Self
Help International,
whose philosophy is
similar to Habitat for
Humanity, to help people
help themselves," Buck
said.
Self-Help International,
based in Waverly, began
a program to assist
farmers in growing
quality protein maize,
QPM, which has twice as
much protein as regular
corn. The first year,
only 17 Nicaraguan
farmers were growing QPM,
today 14,000 farmers
are.
"Self Help has done so
much to better their
lives and show them how
to plant crops so that
the children benefit. I
saw 'before' pictures of
so malnourished
(children). One of the
people took a picture in
January of a boy who
wasn't expected to live.
He was at one of the
feeding centers. When I
saw him he was still
small, but he looks like
a little boy," said
Young. "They have two
feeding centers;
children up to 5 can eat
there. It's made such a
difference."
Other partners included
the Rotary Foundation of
Rotary International,
The Chinandega 2001
Foundation, The American
Nicaraguan Foundation
and Hope and Relief
International
Foundation. |
