Projects Nicaragua A Trip to Dakura
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A Trip to Dakura Print E-mail
Monday, 06 April 2009 14:45
Rebuilding after Hurricane Felix: By Corney Les

We woke up to the usual crowing of the rooster. It was just after 4:30 am in Puerto Cabezas on the east coast of Nicaragua along the Caribbean Sea. Any remaining traces of sleepiness are removed by an unfortunately cold shower. The friendly motel staff served us a breakfast in the motel kitchen of eggs, rice, bread, fruit and coffee.

Rick Postma of Word & Deed; John Langendoen, a businessman from Hamilton, Ontario; Rev. Eric Pennings, Professor at Miami International Seminary; and I were in Puerto Cabezas to see first-hand the progress made by relief projects supported by Word & Deed Ministries.

The day before, we had visited Maranatha School and saw that the work funded by an auction fund-raiser in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is well underway. Damaged classrooms have been substantially repaired and two new classrooms are being built. We also visited some in-land communities that still need substantial assistance to rebuild homes, schools, and churches destroyed by Hurricane Felix.

From left to right: Home owner, Corney Les and Pastor Santiago Lubuo, Pastor Joseph Lacayo and Carlos Coffin

On the morning in question, the Caribbean seas were too rough to travel by boat to Dakura – the preferred means of travel. Dakura is the remote village that the Chilliwack Word & Deed Business Group supported after Hurricane Felix destroyed it in September, 2007. We wanted to see this village of more than 450 families, so Pastor Eric Pennings went to arrange an alternate means of transportation.

We hired the same truck and driver that we had the day before when we visited the inland villages. After two hours on dirt roads to Krikura, we had to find a boat and pilot. This man then had to find someone else who had a 40 hp outboard since his 15 hp motor was not big enough. Finally, we were on our way upriver.

From left to right: Rick Postma, School Director, Pastor Eric Pennings, Pastor Santiago Lubuo, Pastor Hector Williams, Pastor Joseph Lacayo, Carlos Coffin, John Langendoen

We travelled through narrow winding channels and into a bay. The wind was against us and the sea was quite rough, so we got soaked with salt water spray every time the boat came down on another wave – with regular, unerring frequency. At least the water and the air were warm. In what seemed the middle of nowhere, we dropped off a local pastor who had hitched a ride; he would have a lengthy hike to reach his church. Then we went up the bay as far as the boat could go. The land was fairly flat, but marshes dotted the area and we were often knee deep in water. The entire hike was just under two hours, including a picnic lunch break.

The people in Dakura were expecting us, as our coming had been announced on the public radio that they listen to for information.

After the hurricane last year, Word & Deed, together with Carlos Coffin of Palabra & Hecho in Nicaragua, Pastor Santiago Lubuo, Pastor Joseph Lacayo and Director Hector Williams, assisted in efforts to rebuild many of the Dakura homes. The wells were cleaned to provide safe drinking water and the school rebuilt, but the Moravian church is still meeting under a tarp roof. Even the concrete block front of the church building is severely damaged and needs rebuilding.

A number of homes still house two families. They do not have all of the materials needed to build houses since all the wood from the downed trees has been used. The Chilliwack Word & Deed Business Group helped sponsor the rebuilding efforts by providing chain saws, which the pastors on the local Word & Deed team used to cut the downed trees into planks. The planks were then given to families in the village so they could rebuild their homes.

A family with five children, along with some neighbor children, stands in front of their home.

We met with a large group of Dakura residents at the Moravian Church to give our greetings and encouragement. Rick spoke on our behalf: "Word & Deed is delighted to help you with your food, water and shelter needs. We trust that the evening Bible studies provided by Santiago and Joseph serve to communicate our concern for your spiritual welfare as well. The Lord Jesus fed and healed the people but He also referred to Himself as the Bread of Life and as Living Water. We pray that through the ministry of this project you have been strengthened in your faith and that unbelievers, by God's grace, may come to know the Lord Jesus as their Savior."

Several of the men expressed appreciation on behalf of the community for Word & Deed. This was very interesting since the primary language here is Miskitu. Our English was translated into Spanish and then into Miskitu and when they responded or commented in Miskitu it was translated into Spanish and then into English again! They asked that we tell everyone how grateful they are for the support of the various churches and individuals and how much they appreciate the help of Word & Deed.

One of our priorities is helping develop an economy so that these people can become self-sufficient. There were quite a few cows and calves grazing in the area which appeared to be in better health than what we had seen in the interior villages. We discussed how to develop the use of these cattle into a dependable resource. This village submitted applications for several projects, and we later discussed the merits of each one.

Pastor Eric Pennings of MINTS

Around 4:30 pm we left Dakura for the walk back to where our boat was waiting. A mother and her daughter came with us. One of her sons was in the hospital in Puerto Cabezas as a result of a fight at school and she wanted to visit him. We had a one-and-a-half hour walk, and it was soon dark, so we followed the trail to the boat using flashlights.

The boat ride back in the dark ended up being three hours long. The water was a lot calmer on the return trip and we did not get wet. However we had to watch out for fishing nets. When we found a net we had to lift the boat motor so that we were able to cross it without damaging the motor or the net. We saw several fishermen working the nets in the dark and the boat operator and guide called to them in Miskito. Once we were across the bay we had to find the right narrow channel through which to pass – by flashlight, of course. We made it safely back to Krikura and then rode back to Puerto Cabezas in the pick-up truck that had waited for us all afternoon. After we dropped everyone off, we made it back to the motel by 9:30 p.m. The showers had been fixed (sort of) and we were able to enjoy some lukewarm refreshment.

Corney Les is a member of the Chilliwack, British Colombia, business group in support of Word & Deed projects.
 
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