|
 Hope
Grows in El Limonal
Nine years ago El
Limonal was just a dusty cotton field located
between the Chinandega city dump and a local
cemetery. After Hurricane Mitch in 1998, the land
was opened up for people who were looking for a new
place to live. Today about 270 families reside in
the various houses of wood, corrugated metal and
black sheet plastic that line the community’s 5
principal dirt roads. Many children and adults in
the community visit the dump daily, risking their
health to search among the smoldering trash for
things to sell.
Over the years many people have tried to convince
the residents of this struggling community to move
elsewhere. However, when Pastor Oswaldo, one of the
Nehemiah
Center’s “Agents of Transformation”, got
involved, he had a different mindset. “We’re not
going to tell you to leave. We’re going to help you
improve your community,” he said. Pastor Oswaldo
began a church in the community and recruited a
local young Christian woman, Fatima, to help lead
the Community Health Evangelism (CHE) program, a
wholistic strategy to addressing physical and
spiritual needs in communities.
 Fatima
and a team of community health promoters worked
together to organize the community, visit people in
their homes, and provide teaching on basic
preventative health principles as well as spiritual
encouragement. She also developed a relationship
with the local public health officials to bring
basic medical services to El Limonal, like
rehydration solutions, malaria tests, and basic
injections. Meanwhile, teams came through FH to help
build latrines and improve basic sanitation in the
community.
As
a result of the physical changes the community began
to see, Pastor Oswaldo’s church gained the favor of
many people. “Pastor Oswaldo worked very well in the
community,” says Rosa, one of the women involved
with the CHE program. Soon the local church was a
thriving group of 80 members with several community
outreach activities, including providing lunch 3
times a week to children, pregnant women, and the
elderly in El Limonal. “The church is meeting real
needs that exist here,” says Fatima.
The church’s wholistic vision continues to be led by
Pastor Crespin, a young man who has also been a part
of the Nehemiah Center’s trainings for Agents of
Transformation. During the past year, FH staff
Mike and Maria Saeli have come alongside Crespin
and Fatima to support their ministry in El Limonal
by facilitating the development of sustainable
organic house gardens, sharing Biblical principles,
praying with families, and working to improve the
health of the community.
While trash still burns in the nearby dump, today
there is a thriving vegetable garden in Fatima’s
patio.
A garden that represents the hope growing in
El Limonal.
Above:
Fatima and Socorro admire the growing vegetables in
their garden. |
