On a Mission From God...

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It's been a number of days since I last wrote you, I realize. That said, if I have nothing worthwhile to say it doesn't make much sense to just ramble on pointlessly...I can do that often enough without my helping that cause...

So...with that out of the way, I think I do have some to write about and share with you. I have returned to Granada in the country of Nicaragua. As far as sites to see, I am not sure there's much new to see. To be honest, in these closing days I am losing some desire to do a whole lot more exploring. Yes...if I haven't said to you all before (I forget what I write in my personal journal and what I've shared on the blog), I'm ready to be home. Who would have thought I would say THAT, huh? I actually miss seeing some of you! I kid, of course, I'll confess I miss everyone and even miss that city of Minneapolis I call home. Four months ago, I was ready to just be away from Minneapolis and seeing new things. Today, what's old is new again and are new things I look forward to seeing. That Minneapolis skyline sounds good to see, restaurants open all hours of the night, driving in my own car when and where I want with street signs and signs I can fully read without having to think about each word...yeah, I'm a little homesick.

However, there seems to be one more reason (at least) that I needed to be in Granada. Yes, there is some last business I want to confirm with my new contacts here, but when I sent an email to Padre Sergio of La Merced Church asking if he had any ideas on how I might arrange "better world" tours to Nicaragua (that may not be the final name of the tour, but something along the lines of mission trips or bringing groups looking to do some good while on their vacation) he insisted on seeing me and telling me about the Corpus Christi Foundation that he works with through the church. So that was my work and sites to see yesterday.

I meet Mauricio, my new acquaintance here in Granada and good contact for future work as it relates to Granada, with the father at La Merced. Now, Mauricio lived in the U.S. for a number of years so he has a good grasp of the English language and has done some translating for me. Padre Sergio, however, also speaks better English than he lets on (at least in my opinion!). We all sat down and Padre Sergio told me about his foundation. The church and foundation was given some properties at some point in the past. The main one is pretty much right in town just a few blocks from the main cathedral. In Padre's vision for this building, it would be rehabbed from its current state to be used much as a community center for the students that the Padre works with. Padre Sergio would like to make a center where students could come to have a place to study, have internet access, receive medical and dental attention, and even have a small guesthouse the foundation could use for some ongoing income. He would like to use this place, along with the other places the foundation was given for not only these purposes but also to help offer meals to the hungry youth in the town. Ultimately, Padre Sergio wants to help with the education of the children he works with so that education will not only generally educate the students but also open opportunities for them to learn about the world outside of Nicaragua and how to support themselves. My understanding from Padre Sergio was that many of the children he works with have problems in obtaining books, quiet places to study with proper lighting, lack internet access, and tutoring time, and without those items are unable to learn about how to make opportunities for themselves in the world beyond the town of Granada, which unfortunately may not have much opportunity for them at home. The words I remember from Padre Sergio is that many of the children live in "closed society", which in this case means little opportunity to help themselves out of poverty.

Now, while the foundation may own these three properties, the reality is the foundation has little to no money to rehab these buildings to anything close to what is needed to offer these services. The parish at La Merced, unfortunately, is also unable to offer much income to help the foundation thus it quickly becomes a dire situation. Not only were the properties already dilapidated but the elements of heavy rains do little to help the situation. After talking some of Padre Sergio's vision, we took a tour of the properties. The first one, which is the main house, has the offices for the foundation. It is a corner lot with the building on the front part of the corner. On the front, you can see plenty of signs of sagging floors, water damage, concrete falling down, railings in disrepair. On the porch areas, however, there was what appeared to be some vendors using space to sell their wares. We walked inside and saw the offices, which were basic but more or less functional. There was a large meeting room and basic offices, which was certainly part of what you need to take care of business if you hope to achieve more work. We then took a look at some of the space behind the offices. Mostly, there was open space that could be additional building space but currently is just open to the sky. Along the edge of the property on the block is where the "building" was located, in something of an "L" shape to the corner. The building is in serious disrepair behind the front. Padre Sergio actually expressed concern of when stairs or floors may not any longer hold up. That said, we walked up those stairs to look at some of the rooms. The rooms were mostly large but open shells of rooms. Electricity and plumbing were not even yet a consideration as pigeons were still flying around, windows were boarded, you could see where water could make it in during storms, and more - at least in these spaces hoped to one day be community center type rooms. While the rooms, if rehabbed could be a good space for items such as studying, internet use, lessons, and more right now have a long ways to go. Railings on stairways is also not yet a consideration. Indeed, for the great visions there remains much work ahead of time.

We also walked some on the first floor, where there are additional rooms. Padre and Mauricio explained how at one time these were rooms for people to live in, and you could see the occasional non-functioning toilet, it was probably long since past the point of offering much shelter. On the first floor, we were able to see a little bit of work that had been done. Obviously, some money had come the way of the foundation to at least start work as there was obviously new wood installed and some of the roof was obviously newer. That said, while it is good to have this work the rooms stay pretty much unusable waiting for another day.

Padre Sergio mentioned that they did have some blueprint plans for at least getting the basics done to make the place functional and the estimated amount needed was about $400,000 USD. Now, this was for the basics and speaks nothing to the further vision of Padre Sergio to build additional spaces for guesthouse to derive income, offer medical care, build a kitchen in the building, and other needs. I could easily see the amount increase to near $1 million if you went beyond the bare bones basics, at that was just this building.

Following this, we went to look at another building the foundation was given and also in need of serious work. This one was more in the neighborhoods of Granada as opposed to the central parque area. This one had open spaces, with the vision of one day offering a place to not only be able to play soccer but also build a bandshell that students could use for performances. Today, while having some space for quiet study and a small chapel, there is a small area the foundation uses for offering children meals - when the foundation can get donations of food which is hit-and-miss. The area I was shown seemed very small to put the 50 children they mentioned they would feed, but obviously you make do with what you can. There was also a very small kitchen that boggled my mind how you would make 50+ meals in such a small area, not to mention the heat that would build up in that area with stoves running. Finally, we did also look at the small radio station Padre Sergio created about 10 years ago for the diocese. It was functioning and a gentleman was broadcasting when we walked by. As far as money needed to rehab this area, here again I could see and easy $500,000+ needed in my best guess.

We finally looked at one last space...this was mostly one large house/room. Apparently, some missionaries from New Orleans came in the past and helped build it. The neighborhood was dodgy even by Nicaraguan standards. It was mentioned, in short, one doesn't come to this neighborhood at night. However, the building itself didn't seem so bad. The roof and walls appeared to be in relatively decent shape. The downside is the missionaries didn't finish the work beyond the basic building so there's not a lot that can be done with it. In this building, Padre Sergio mentioned he would like to work on a gynecology center for the young women in the neighborhood, along with educational opportunities in general, as prostitution remains a problem for the women of the area. Given little other opportunity, that sadly doesn't surprise me.

We then headed back to town and I met independently with Mauricio for the remainder of the day. However, the thought that went through my mind was how can I run a business but one that does good. If we want to believe I was brought here for a reason and these thoughts were put into my head above and beyond my own brilliance (or at least brilliance I might sometimes be arrogant and think I have...), here is the opportunity. To be honest, in these end days of this journey there are days where my drive to do sometime big and ambitious wanes some. However, with this mission from God, there now are people who are putting their prayers and hopes in what I can do back home - not only in my business plans but in how I can make for a better tomorrow for La Merced and the Corpus Christi Foundation.

So, while yes there are some ideas rolling around in my head if you know of opportunities in churches or other good people who can help raise $2 million and or some contributed labor to make some hope for people to reach new opportunities and self sufficiency, let me know. I'd be happy to arrange a "mejor mundo" (better world) tour for you...

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Photos

Padre Sergio at the Entrance
Here is Padre Sergio at the entrance of the offices to the foundation.

From the Balcony...
This was a shot from the second floor balcony outside of one of the rooms. Probably at best unstable and needing serious work.

On a stairway "inside"
To the right is the "L" shaped building on the street with the rooms. To the left is the open space inside waiting for additional building. The poles holding up the floors in this picture do not inspire great confidence in its stability.

Stairway...
Here is basically an open hole for the stairs back down. Railings are not yet a consideration.

View from the outside...
Here is a view of the main building waiting for renovation.

The Logo...
Here is the logo of the foundation.

Water damage...
Just a shot of the water damage throughout...

It will be a bandshell...
A picture from the second stop. Padre Sergio wants this to be the area for performances by the students, and therefore a reason to practice.

50 meals plus...
It's small, dark, and not really set up for feeding 50 kids, when you manage to get the food. However, when the kids are hungry "neccessity is the mother of invention".