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Six Hours and Another World Away, West Tennesseans Benefit the Children of Middle America  

 

Public school children in Nicaragua listen as American doctors Tim Hutchison and Rolando Toyos tell about their professions. The classroom was provided by missionaries from Tennessee. More than 50 students attend each class. The classroom, like most homes, has a dirt floor and the public restroom is an outhouse.

"It's enough to make a grown man cry," he says. "Nicaraguan children learn life's lessons the hard way. More than a million school-age children don't attend classes because they're either hawking their wares of chewing gum or candy on a street corner, begging for a penance of money to maintain their meager existence, or rummaging through garbage at the city dump to find food. Many have been abandoned by parents who are, themselves, often teenagers, too young and too poor to care for them. Most Americans can't fathom the pain and misery of these children," he continues, "that is, not until they have a first-hand experience."

Nicaragua's plight was not always so dire. Mark Twain, following his Nicaraguan voyage of late 1866 and '67 (shortly after America's Civil War) penned, "Out of the midst of beautiful Lake Nicaragua, spring two magnificent pyramids. Clad in the softest and richest green, all flecked with shadow and sunshine, whose summits pierce the billowy clouds, they look so isolated from the world and its turmoil, so tranquil, so dreamy, so sleeped in the slumber and eternal repose. What a home one might make among their shady forest, their sunny slopes, their breezy dells, after he had grown weary of the toil, anxiety and unrest of the bustling driving world."  

Joel Washburn, Dr. Tim Hutchison and Dr. Rolando Toyos at a volcano in Nicaragua. 

A little over a hundred years later, Nicaragua became embroiled in a civil war of its own, a coup that made "Sandinista" synonymous with "Nicaragua" until, after a decade of fighting, free elections removed the Marxists from power.

Then, ten years into rebuilding their economy, Hurricane Mitch arrived in 1998 to wreak havoc in the region, along with other natural disasters like earthquakes and volcanoes, plus a former government leader who stole the country's money, taking a cumulative toll on the country now known as the second poorest in the Western Hemisphere.

Omar R. Alvarado, a 28-year-old ministerial student at a Baptist seminary in Managua, Nicaragua said the toll of the civil war and Hurricane Mitch set the country back by 40 years. Alvarado was studying international business before the revolution, when his family fled to the United States. Alvarado had to be "smuggled" through Mexico to join them. The young, bilingual man received a ministerial calling after returning to Nicaragua where his ability to speak two languages has aided his ministry.

Encompassing 46,431 square miles, Nicaragua is close enough to Tennessee's 41,217 square miles for a healthy comparison, with Nicaragua's neighbor to the north, Honduras, coming even closer to a match at 43,202 square miles.

Of the some five million people that call Nicaragua home (about 6 1/2 million people in Honduras), over 50 percent of the population is less than 18 years old, with even more dismal numbers for Honduras. By contrast, only 24.6% of Tennessee's 5,740,021 population is under the age of 18.

Teenage pregnancy is a problem of mammoth proportion, and 60 percent of the population is unemployed or underemployed with the average pay only $1 or $2 per day.

Joel teamed up to make the trip with a small group of West Tennesseans who determined to change the destiny of some of these children by building an orphanage, school, and medical clinic in one of the poorest areas of the city of Leon.

"From the ashes has sprung a phoenix known as El Ayudante, a Spanish term meaning "The Helper"," explains Joel. "In the past two years, the group has purchased 31 acres of land and has constructed a 'team house' for visiting mission teams and a host house for the on-site host missionaries who donate their services."  

The "El Ayudante" mission house where visiting missionaries are housed in Leon, Nicaragua.

Also under construction is the first of two child protection centers to house 64 orphaned children. The orphanage is 10,800 square feet with an estimated construction cost of $165,000. The mission house is 4,600 square feet and cost $65,000 to build.

This small oasis joins Raparto Reben Dario, a community where thousands reside in tiny block houses complete with metal bars over the windows but no screens to keep out the prolific numbers of bugs and mosquitoes that inhabit the area. Small fenced yards delineate property lines between neighbors. Food is often cooked outside over an open fire and any water used for cleaning is tossed onto the dirt streets to diminish the dust. Outhouses are commonplace since no indoor plumbing is available. Livestock - chickens, pigs, horses, and sheep - take advantage of the open grazing policy, moving unhindered through streets and fields to feed.

"Alarm clocks aren't needed at El Ayudante," Joel relates, "since nearby roosters perform their traditional role of crowing at daybreak."

And while the environment within the town are unsightly, the distant view observed by Twain still exists to provide a welcome contrast. Both active and inactive volcanoes remain upon the vista, rising plumes of steam from one a constant reminder of its dynamic presence.

Joel joined Dr. Tim Hutchison, a doctor of anesthesia from Jackson and a 1976 graduate of McKenzie High School, and Dr. Rolando Toyos, an ophthalmologist from Jackson who practices his art at McKenzie Regional Hospital one day a week, on the August trip to assess the unfilled medical needs of the people of Leon. Washburn's task was to document the trip in photos, videos, and writings to present to churches, civic clubs, and the general public.

The trio, along with translator Jose Almendarez, traveled to two medical clinics and the city's hospital to study the possibility of medical mission teams traveling to Leon to contribute their unique skills to the needs to the populace. Two medical practitioners in Leon were asked to refer a small number of patients to be assessed during this trip. When the people of Leon heard that American doctors were in the neighborhood, the number of patients quickly grew. Toyos said many of the eye problems could quickly be treated with lasers in the States. One young man is certain to go blind without treatment for congenital cataracts.

While the doctors were working about town, a group from Georgia was conducting Bible schools for area children and ministering to the children and adults at the garbage dump. The group brought toy musical instruments, and baseball gloves and balls for the children.

Dr. Hutchison is working to assemble a team of doctors and interns to meet the medical needs of the poor while Dr. Toyos plans to return to perform laser eye surgery. In a land where technology is far less advanced than that enjoyed by citizens of the United States, it is not surprising that his proposal was met with resistance by the hospital's chief ophthalmologist, who remains, thus far, resistant to modern laser eye surgery techniques. Dr. Toyos, fluent in both English and Spanish, was able to benefit several patients who received eyeglasses previously used by residents of West Tennessee, whose prescriptions were matched to the Nicaraguan patients' needs.

The doctors also presented video and slide presentations to students at a neighborhood public school where the teacher-student ratio is about one teacher to every 50 to 60 students, compared with one to 16 in Tennessee schools. Older students study in afternoon classes where no textbooks are available; instead, students copy their lessons from the chalkboard. Younger students attend classes in the morning. The doctors, attired in their surgical scrubs, explained that the surgical clothes were manufactured in Nicaragua.

One classroom was nothing more than a pavilion with a roof made of tin and a tarpaulin.  Another had four walls, but no doors or protection from outside elements. Large pieces of cardboard helped block light entering through the window openings. An outhouse served as the children's restroom and two outdoor water spigots provided drinking water.

Bill Cox of Jackson, one of the founders of El Ayudante, an interdenominational, nonprofit ministry based in Brownsville, discusses the hardships of the children of Nicaragua with obvious emotion; although he has told the story of the mission's origins many times, his compassion for the impoverished children - and his passion for meeting their needs - never wanes. Cox took a month's leave of absence from his job as a mail carrier in Jackson so he and his wife Teresa and two daughters could spend August in Leon.

It is God's will, says Cox, who knows the construction of the mission in one of the poorest places in all of the northern hemisphere was ordained by Him.

Cox and Allen Watts of Bells, also a founding father of the mission, traveled to Nicaragua after several years of work in Honduras, where El Ayudante was already working. In that visit, they discovered Mike Hartgrove, a fellow Tennessean who has resided in the country for ten months of the years since receiving a similar calling, leaving his construction business in Tennessee to help the people of Nicaragua.

Seeming coincidences continued to take on the aura of miracles. When Cox's high school-aged son researched his family lineage for a school project, he discovered his father had long-lost cousins in Nicaragua who had developed strong ties to the Nicaraguan government: John Alexander Downing, the brother of Cox's great-great grandmother Jennie Valiant Downing, had accompanied Mark Twain in his long-ago journey to Nicaragua. Though Twain returned to the "bustling, driving world" of his beloved South, Downing remained to marry and raise his family among the shady, Amazon forests that so inspired his friend.

El Ayudante is "committed to making a difference in the lives of the people of Leon," says Daphne Moses, Coordinator of Teams for the mission. Moses schedules mission teams from all over the United States to travel to Leon, Nicaragua, stay in the mission house, and minister to the physical and spiritual needs of the people there. As the mission progresses and as new challenges come the way of El Ayundante, God connects the leaders of El Ayundante with experts in that particular field. "It's incredible," said Moses.

Many of the mission teams that have made a difference in the lives of those they have served and in their own lives, enriched with experience, have come from Brownsville, Alamo, Covington, Jackson, Bells, Bradford, and Skullbone in Tennessee plus several other states. Crystal Drewry of McKenzie plans to travel to El Ayundante in December.

One mission team helped build a small home for a family, another group built a classroom for students at the public school, and many others have committed their funds to build the orphanage. Fifty thousand dollars has been pledged for the future construction of a medical clinic on site.

"God is using us to get this done," says Moses, who praises God for the generous work of the teams and the many financial contributions provided to the mission.

Because the trustees of the mission personally pay all administrative expenses, donors are assured that 100 percent of every gift is used according to the donors' wishes.

"We do not owe a dime," says Mrs. Moses concerning the finances of the non-profit mission.

To find out how you can help, write El Ayudante, Inc., HCN Fund, P.O. Box 152, Brownsville, Tn 38012 or contact Daphne Moses at 11 Valleyview Cove, Jackson 38305, (731) 772-0365 (work) or (731) 668-9057, e-mail dmoses@pchnet.com; or Bill Cox at 26 Wood Duck Cove, Jackson 38305, (731) 660-4985, e-mail billcox@bellsouth.net.

Honduras

When members of the McKenzie Church of Christ participated in a mission trip to the Honduras recently, they returned with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

Everything else they gave away, says Glynn Mebane, who left his tennis shoes and clothes behind as well as a piece of his heart.

Glynn was one of 19 local missionaries who made the annual trip, this year joined by 13 other selfless souls from Paducah, Kentucky on the mission that met three needs: medical and dental care, housing construction and the distribution of food and clothing to families and children whose poverty is striking.

"We took over 2,000 pounds of food, clothing and medicine that people here donated," says David Johnson, another member of the team. Once in Honduras, 2,000 more pounds of bulk rice, beans, and coffee beans were purchased and separated into family-sized bags, a chore that kept the benevolence crew busy for two days before distributing the goods among 210 families.

The trip itself was a family affair, with eight families working together within the larger church family to experience the rewards of being a good neighbor to people in need.

The McKenzie group included David and Brenda Johnson; Randy and Judy McCadams; Jimmy and Tenia King and children Amber and David; Glynn, Joan and Kaci Mebane; father and son Keith and Brice Priestly; Harold and Mary Kee, Bobby Pate and Gloria Kee, Jarrod Bailey, and Dr. Dan Sumrok who was joined by children Whitney, Julia, and Emily.

Although this was the fifth year the Church has sent a group to the Honduran mission field, it was the first year they struck out on their own, having previously joined a team from Jackson.

Mebane credits the change to three leaders in the group: Jimmy King, co-owner of Diversified Contractors Inc. in McKenzie, Randy McCadams, a full-time National Guardsman, and David Johnson, a Christian counselor and director of the renowned David Johnson Chorus.

Gloria was the only nurse among three physicians on the trip, she acknowledges, drooping in memory of the record she helped break when 222 patients were treated in one day at the James Moody Clinic, which is associated with Baxter Institute Bible College in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

The challenge was undaunting to Gloria, who along with Jimmy are the only members of the crew who have made the trip all five years.

David explains one of the biggest causes of the devastation of the agriculture-based economy is Hurricane Mitch which five years ago killed some 5,600 people and caused nearly  $1 billion in damage.  

19 missionaries from the McKenzie Church of Christ recently voyaged to Honduras where they served in three capacities: building two houses, providing urgently needed medical care, and providing 4,000 pounds of food plus clothing and other humanitarian needs. Right, an older dwelling is torn down to make room for the new building, below, that was constructed by the McKenzie crew plus friends from a Paducah, Kentucky church. While construction is underway, Vacation Bible School takes place on the steps alongside the building.

"It took the soil, it took farms," declares David, who says the government has nevertheless been stable and the people friendly toward those who come to help.

Glynn smiles warmly as he recalls one reason for the good turnout at the clinic was the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that were served along with Kool-aid.

David explains the people generally have two meals per day, one of which consists solely of tortillas. The female head of household for whom the workers built a house during their trip earns 100 limpura per week - about six U.S. dollars - selling tortillas.

A good day's wage for some citizens is $5.00, he says.

Joan recalls a story told by a Honduran woman who discovered the extent of her family's poverty only when she was about 16 years old.

She had never understood the hunger she and her brothers and sisters experienced, nor had she understood her mother's anger when they were told to "go to bed and go to sleep!" with long-empty stomachs. Later she learned there was simply no food to be had. It was that knowledge that spurred her to study and escape the poverty of her ancestors.

Men on the mission field find they are "shadowed" by young males hungry for strong male role models, since they are often turned out into the streets to fend for themselves by the time they are ten years old.

Because boys are the ones most often left to fend for themselves, Gloria explains, Orphanage Jovenes, a home for orphaned boys, will become a reality in September thanks to Christian missions. Again, she describes the beauty of the locale's natural surroundings, with beautiful vistas visible through every window of the orphanage, in stark contrast to the dinginess of poverty in the region.

Caring for the children is a critical need in the nation where it is estimated that 50% of the population is under 15. Despite the prevalence of youth, David says he can't recall ever seeing a child with an indigenous toy. A checkerboard drawn in the dirt elicited cries of amazement, he recalls, while Glynn recounts the fun of sharing Matchbox cars, bubbles, stuffed animals and dolls with the children from donations provided by Fred's and Dollar General stores.

And, whether it is food or toys, David says, children always run to share with their brothers and sisters rather than keeping their good fortune for themselves.

So inspired is Randy that he doesn't wait for the yearly trip, his friends declare, sharing that he has journeyed several times to the mission field on ten-day to two-week mini-missions, taking beans, rice, toothbrushes or Bibles.

"What's good about this is anybody can share a smile or a hug," David says sincerely, "No matter where we're from we all want the same thing - a gentle touch and kind smile. There's something for everybody here; one person is not any more important than others in what they do."

Even so, there is one person all agree made the trip more fruitful as well as more enjoyable: Josefina, the group's translator who attends Harding University. Jimmy and Tenia plan to fly her in from Arkansas for Thanksgiving and a welcome "homecoming".

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