The Women's Center - The mat lying on the floor and others like it
would be our beds for the next few nights. There are no window panes, just
metal grates for windows. I know the floors don't look very
comfortable but unlike some of the nearby homes, these floors
are made of concrete instead of packed down dirt.
This is the kitchen just off of the main room. Pay close attention to the stove.
One of the health issues in some of the communities has to do with
the prolonged breathing in of the smoke from these types of stoves.
Wood for the stove. Parts of the visit gave me a small deja vu feeling
of my grandmother's home way back when I was just a kid.
Our bathrooms.
Another view of the main room. Notice the object up near the corner of the roof.
Although none of us are allergic, it wouldn't have mattered... they didn't bother us
and we didn't bother them.
This a banner hanging across the ceiling at the center. Though some of its letter are missing,
Carl told me it basically says "Stop the silence now." It helps show how CEPAD is teaching the
abused women in some of these communities to speak up and be heard; not to continue to
live in fear and silence as so many had used to do.
Some of the signs hanging on the wall at the center. I'll tell you a little story about the last one...
As I was looking over some of the signs trying to figure out what they said, Melvin began explaining them to me. Melvin is Yelba's cousin who lives in Nicaragua and he volunteered to spend time with us on our visit so he could practice his English. As he started explaining the signs to me he also started giving me a lesson on the Spanish alphabet and the Spanish names for the colors. Later on as we prepared to turn in for the night, he brought out his English language workbook he had and I started going over some things in it to help him out. After a few minutes of this, he got very quite, lowered his head, and said "When I was younger I was a bad boy, very bad. I was vulgar. Vulgar! But God has changed me. God has changed my heart. God has given me my family, my son, my church, my home... God has been good to me. God is my everything. Everything!"
I know we have brothers and sisters in Christ in other parts of the world, but to hear one of their personal testimonies was a very heart warming experience. A Nicaraguan brother trying to teach an American brother Spanish; an American brother trying to teach a Nicaraguan brother English; and both able to say in so many words the universal Christian proclamation "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind but now I see." As I would find throughout our stay, God and faith are very important in the Matasano community.
Que dios te bendiga (just bendiga or Dios bendiga for short I think) - God bless you
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