A letter from Carlos Cardenas Martinez in Nicaragua
June 2012
An unexpected visit to Regalo de Dios Community in El Salvador:
transformation goals reached but challenges still remain.
…But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 10: 6-7).
Act Alliance Nicaragua visitors to the community of Regalo de Dios El Salvador. Left to right, Aydalina Moraga (Development and Environment Program, CEPAD), Jorge Hernández, member of the community leadership committee Regalo de Dios, Carlos Cardenas (PDA), Rev. Amalia Bell (ADSIM, Moravian Church of Nicaragua), Jorge Frederick (pastor, Moravian Church of Nicaragua), and Dr. Josefina Murillo (Director of Psychology of the Group of Professionals for Emotional Support, PAE) Photo: Carlos Silva
An unexpected visit after many years can surprise the visitor just as much as the visited. First of all, because all of a sudden there is an increase of expectations on both sides. We are both tuned in to hearing and confirming hopeful news, profound changes that indicate great leaps in the life of the people until we can confirm absolute transformation in a positive direction. The truth is that it is very human to want to escape from bad news, that is to say, reality.
I remember having shared challenges with families trying to overcome scarcity, pain and loss after two consecutive earthquakes that devastated this tiny country in 2001. At that time I was assigned by Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) to San Salvador to direct a community development and housing program with families who were living in shelters, on the verge of becoming what are called “forgotten emergencies”—those who end up creating swaths of misery in many cities of Latin America, usually after a disaster occurs.
In those terrible days when everything was a priority, everything was lacking in the shelters, I felt that in sharing the day-to-day limitations and poverty I was able to make connections with the entire community. I came to understand that if they didn’t triumph collectively it would be a huge step backwards for me, someone who believed in his vocation of service in order to transform lives. I was worried that I accepted a task without being prepared, but God uses such instruments for good.
It was because of that that when I left I took with me a burden of doubts and fear: What if the houses fall down the month after I leave? What if the community committee collapses without the technical support and accompaniment of the church? Did they really learn from us the ABCs of community work? What if the violence and the gang struggles reseed terror in this community? Will they be capable of finishing pending tasks like piping water to all the homes, making sure the sewage treatment plant was functioning, internal streets, electricity, reforestation, appropriate management of the school center, etc., etc.…
Professor Eduardo Fuentes and children in the school in Regalo de Dios de Soyapango, El Salvador, receiving Carlos Cardenas of PDA Nicaragua Photo Carlos Silva
But now, 10 years after the earthquake and 7 years after the Regalo de Dios project ended I was there again with a noisy group of ACT Alliance colleagues from other countries who were curious to see how PDA assures “Out of Chaos, Hope.”
Interestingly enough, I didn’t have to answer any of their questions. The project spoke for itself. Their questions were answered by the testimonies of the people who had made for themselves a new life. Their questions were also answered by the wise words and reflections that we heard. I felt very serene because I’ve always thought that I shouldn’t be the one to say how I see God working in mission. God is manifest and we are invaded by God’s grace in the hearing of testimonies of those who were touched or saved.
Our visit was really just a courtesy, for PDA in Nicaragua had received the pleasing news that the community committee of Regalo de Dios had been receiving visits from groups from all over the country and from outside, wanting to learn from their experience, not how to build houses but how to restore a community identity that been lost to the earthquakes. How to transform lives living the daily struggle against extreme poverty, barely surviving in the midst of misery.
The earthquakes took almost everything but their strength, their will, their faith, and their courage to begin anew, building hope in the minds and hearts of the people. Today in Regalo de Dios the sadness of those days has left, to make space for joy and the celebration of life.
This was affirmed by our unplanned visit, seeing the people organized in groups dedicated to community work such as cleanup, reforestation and minor repairs, just like when it began with the PC(USA), the local Salvadoran government, and earthquake survivors working together to promote volunteerism and community work.
Rev. Amalia Bell of the Moravian Church of Nicaragua and Carlos Silva, Projects Officer of CEPAD Nicaragua, greeting members of the Community Committee of Regalo de Dios El Salvador during a break from their community work of cleanup and reforestation Photo: Carlos Cardenas
Our meeting with the Community Committee of the Regalo de Dios neighborhood was brief and was run by the same men and women who together with their children, mothers and fathers, wives and husbands, worked shoulder to shoulder building a new community as they had dreamed it, with values and principle, with guidelines that respect and promote justice, equity and tolerance.
Our small meeting with Maritza Hernandez and Otir Carolina Gamez Calles, Don Oscar and other leaders took place in the Community Center, which also serves as a church, shared by a group of Catholic brothers and sisters, evangelical Pentecostals, and Reformed Christians, in addition to beng a vocational center for training and teaching youth and women from the community.
My colleagues were visibly impacted by the corroboration they heard from two women talking about how task after pending task was completed after PDA pulled out. They also shared about how they took on new initiatives and processes that have continued to transform lives, all stemming from that initial contribution made by U.S. Presbyterians through the One Great Hour of Sharing.
We, five unexpected visitors, said good-bye to our still surprised hosts with big hugs and promises to return as well as to connect via social networks.
The following day at the Central America ACT Alliance Forum they spoke with much respect and gratitude about the success and results from the work that the community and PDA, together with the local government of Soyapango, had achieved, which not only saved lives but also transformed their fate in a small and unknown community of El Salvador.
Carlos Cárdenas M.
Skype Carlos.Cardenas2374
Mobile (505)88834753
The 2012 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 11
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