It’s been awhile…

As I lay in my (very) warm room in Nicaragua I feel speechless.  Countless times I’ve written a sentence, only to replace it with blank space, blinking cursor and then a new thought.  Repeat process…

I have a years worth of emotion inside me and I feel as though my lips (or fingers) can only speak in seconds, letting out little bits of feeling at a time, not nearly enough to feel like I’ve accomplished letting go of all I want to say.   At this point writing anything down is just a start, and I lean toward being dissatisfied with “just a start.”  Then again, starting is forward motion, and that’s been my motto since I woke up Thursday morning, kissed my family goodbye, and flew to Nicaragua.

Joined by two magnificent and talented friends, Elizabeth Fischer and Marianne Bach, I’m helping document some of the amazing work that Forward Edge is doing both in the capital city of Nicaragua and on the Atlantic Coast of the Nation.

In looking back over the last 5 years, I’ve been blessed to travel to 13 different countries and during those visits, I’ve happened to see people living through extremely difficult and sometimes dangerous circumstances.  Those circumstances can take a toll on your heart and when dwelled on, can suffocate you with a sense of hopelessness.  It started to happen to me, and then something happened…

Last Spring I was walking by our kitchen table and noticed something by our coatrack.  With children, you never really know what you’re going to find when you go “looking” so I nearly chose to not see what I was looking at.  After a brief tussle with my conscience, I bent down by the coat rack and just above the trim piece above the floor was a leaf “stuck” to the wall.  This didn’t surprise me at first, I find all sorts of things from outside on the inside, but what did surprise me is that this leaf was alive, thriving and attached to a stem that ran through the trim.   My first response was that this wasn’t a good thing, ivy can destroy trees and houses and I didn’t like the idea of not knowing where it would pop up next.   Then a beautiful thought crossed my mind…

Somehow this ivy branch was smothered in darkness  by our house and through a great effort and journey through cracks (I don’t want to know are there) it broke through the caulking and trim and found the light it desperately needed.

Though I have seen people in circumstances that can leave us all feeling overwhelmed by great darkness, I have seen something greater… A light.  Light in the form of a man risking his life everyday in the Congo for his countrymen, a 60 year old woman in Rwanda dedicated to caring for hundreds of orphaned children, men who travel the dangerous inferno like roads of the Sudan to help women and children have their next meal, a teacher who goes without pay because his love for the children is too great to leave them, a man who shares his knowledge with those in his field, a mother who gives all she has everyday to ensure her children are loved and cared for, a pastor who walks for miles day in and out to care for those in need, and more recently, a woman who for 8 years has visited the local garbage dump, home to thousands,  in hopes of rescuing young women from being prostituted, just so their family can have access to better garbage.  The light in these people shine so much greater than the darkness around them. They aren’t fooled into thinking they must “go” and do, they just simply do.

Where there is light, life will find a way.

La Chureca, landfill to Managua, Nicaragua and home to thousands.  Shrinking everyday due to local policy changes, however, locals are unsure where or if they will be relocated.

At the same time, Forward Edge International (based out of Vancouver, Wa) helps keep the doors of Villa Esperanza open to the roughly 30 young women who inhabit it’s park-like setting, a setting in stark contrast to LaChureca.

I’m in awe of the staff at the Villa, as well as the work that Forward Edge is doing.  Myself and the team are truly grateful to see so much light in this place and look forward to the rest of our week.

Be blessed friends, and please remember, you’ve been given a gift that can change the world.  There’s no need to wait, no reason to fear and most of the time no plane ride to take.  Just shine your light.

Up first, some images from day one at La Chureca.  In the coming days, I hope to post more images of the Villa.

Rock on.

This is what happens when you frame a shot from inside a moving Land Cruiser...

The girls at the Villa performed a beautiful dance for us...

Once a citizen of the dump, this young woman who now lives at the Villa looks out at her former back yard.