“The opposite of poverty isn’t wealth, the opposite of poverty is justice.” -Bryan Stevenson. This being said, today’s theme was poverty. Through today’s activities, we were made aware of the extreme differences between the poverty here in Nicaragua and in the United States.

Today began at 6:30 AM. We had breakfast at the hostel, and headed straight to the dump. Upon arriving at the dump we were greeted with an overwhelming stench, mountains upon mountains of trash, and sunlight was covered by the vultures in the air. Jesse Romero, a Christian missionary, was the speaker. Jesse was born in Managua, but moved to Los Angeles at a young age. While in Los Angeles, he began to think he could find happiness in money and status; this resulted in him joining a local gang. Because of this he got into trouble with the law and was forced to move back to Nicaragua. While in Nicaragua he was sent to prison where he met three missionaries who shared the Lord with him. He explained to us how these people moved him to participate in The Pearl Foundation, a missionary organization that receives support from a church in South Carolina. From this it led him to visit the dump two times a week to not only preach, but provide food to the workers as well. We were also fortunate enough to serve the workers today.

Additionally, we got to meet the people who work at the dump nearly every day of the week. The people are forced to work tirelessly under extreme conditions to make ends meet. For a huge bag of trash that took 2 weeks to sort through and pick up, they only receive less than 3 USD per bag. We realized that they are stuck in an unbreakable cycle of poverty, and children are born into this “job”. It was inspiring to see their positive attitude despite their difficulties. A few people had worked at the dump for 40+ years since they were at the young age of 9. It is practically impossible for them to afford to send their children off to school. Most of the workers there had begun to work at the dump as a child with their parents, and are forced to follow their parents’ footsteps.

After coming back from the dump we had a group discussion on the Community Action Project on a local library, Puedo Leer. We decided upon a few ideas to present to Ana Elizabeth on Saturday, eg. building a bookshelf, painting a mural on recycling, designing a mobile library and donating recycling bins for the community.

In the evening, we returned to Colegio Diocesano for our English tutoring. It’s safe to say that all the Glimpsers found it an interesting experience. Many couldn’t stop talking about their adorable students (as some of us have young students) after class. We believe that we learn a lot from the students while we teach them English.

Faith:

Being Lider Del Dia (LDD) today was different. I was able to take charge of a group and facilitate the activities planned for the day. Learning and seeing how poverty is so different than in the U.S was eye-opening and hard to handle. I wasn’t expecting to see these workers, but also I wasn’t expecting to hear the Lord today. It woke me up and made realize how important God is to me, and how God and hope is all many of the workers have. Today, I feel that through this experience I want to grow more with my relationship with Christ. I also know that I want to appreciate more of what is given to me because I know many people in this world do not have even the opportunities to change their life around. This day was very much needed for me and I’m sure many other Glimpsers needed this day as well.

Doris:

I was anxious to become the LDD yesterday, but today went pretty smoothly. Like the previous LDDs, I was very grateful for the level of energy that the Glimpsers kept up throughout the day, despite it being a mentally draining and emotional day. It kept my spirits up and allowed me to try my best as one of their leaders. Going to the dump really drove home the concept of the poverty cycle, and made me realize that only education and help from either the government or a program can offer the people a chance to break this cycle and improve their lives. I am even more aware of the privileges I have. Listening to the past three speakers has really inspired me to make my own effort to make a positive impact on people’s lives. I realized that everybody has to start out small, but a small thing can bloom into something larger that can change many people’s lives.

Overall it was a very emotional and jam packed day but we got a lot of valuable insight and we will definitely take this experience and knowledge with us.

 

Faith and Dorris off, see you soon.