Journal: My Blog Page

A lot has been going on the last two months. I have been staying very busy as I am working at finishing up two major projects: silos and potable water.

Water, as I have already mentioned in previous newsletters, some of my recent work has been helping to organize and carry out a water project that will help 200 persons in the community where I live, El Bramadero. Lately we have been digging ditches, and not with a mechanical trencher but by hand, over two miles of trenches dug with hard earned sweat and calloused hands.

We then installed the tubes for the water grid. Water from the well is pumped using 9, 140 watt solar panels to two tanks 1 kilometer away with a 400 feet vertical rise above the well. From the tank the water is carried by gravity to each of the 40 houses in the community. Women have suffered for years carrying water on their heads for over 2 kilometers, now have water in their house. What a true blessing!

MCC along with another local organization decided at the last minute to buy roughly four acres of land surrounding the well which will allow the community to help keep the well clean and will also permit them to reforest the land, preserving and ensuring the future of the productivity of the well. We are still looking for private donations to complete paying for the land, if you would have interest in helping out with a part of the $1000 need, please contact my father, Steve Steiner. (steve@steiner7.com)

The project of 320 silos that we are building is nearing completion. It was a headache getting the material to the communities due to heavy rains, and slippery roads but eventually I was able to get the supplies to each of the communities. The workers have finished 200 silos and are on schedule to have the other 120 done by the end of December.

This project has been a true blessing for many who sold their harvest at a low price due to the fact that they had no storage for their corn or beans. These steel silos help keep the silos safe from rats, weevil, chickens, etc. There is such a great demand that the 320 silos will not be enough to meet the demand.

A major highlight for the month of October was having Herman Meyers and Jay Lehman visit me. I always enjoy visitors, its fun to show them where I live and what I do. Despite the bumpy roads, ants and other animals they were good “sports.” We had a great time laughing and sharing together about our different life stories. I especially enjoyed the times when Herman and Jay shared their wisdom and advice from their journey of life, which was especially stimulating in light of my youthful idealistic ways.

Since I am the senior member of the MCC team here in Nicaragua, I have been delegated a number of miscellaneous jobs such as looking for a motorcycle and truck for the growing MCC team. I have also been doing a lot of running around, picking up new MCCers at the airport, helping them get situated and comfortable to this new place they will call home.

Swedish visitors: In the month of November I hosted two persons from Sweden. They stayed with me in my house and helped finish up the water project. It has been fun dialoging with them, hearing their perspective on life, and seeing how they work with the locals

School: I just finished up a long distance learning course that I took through Eastern Mennonite Seminary, I surprised myself by doing very well in the class, but more importantly it feels great to be studying again. Beginning in January, I will start another class through EMS called “Leadership and Administration in the church.”

As I mentioned in a previous letter my MCC term is coming to an end, I officially end my term January 15. After I end my term I will do some traveling with some friends from the States and then on February 10 I will be getting married. Rebeca and I plan to live in Nicaragua until July, which will give her enough time to finish her University studies then we plan to move back to Ohio.

God Bless,

Lydell Steiner

Two years ago I came to Nicaragua as an MCC agricultural developmental volunteer to work in the remote village of El Bramadero. While I came with many expectations, plans, and preconceived ideas of what my work would involve, I had no idea that I would find myself in the middle of a complex and troubling bus problem that was affecting hundreds of people.

It all started with a simple decision that I had to make when I first came to Nicaragua. Would I use the motorcycle that MCC had for me to ride in my daily tasks? After some thought, I told the director, Mark Epp, that I would do without it—although I knew that using the bike would make my life easier. I learned quickly that it was even harder then I had expected to do my work without the motorcycle. There was a bus that sometimes arrived at our little village-- a 1978 yellow school bus owned by the local mayor of the municipality. Even though he was a businessman with five other bus routes, for some reason he seemed to forget, or not care about our villagers.

The bus-- dubbed “Cockroach” for obvious reasons—had no consistency in its service.
It would come one day, break down the next, skip three days, and then come for two days. The driver was often drunk, and the helper many times stole from the passengers. It was truly a difficult situation for the villagers.

Because of the bus route inconsistency the shop owners had a hard time stocking products to sell in their stores, the farmers often could not sell their beans and corn when they needed to, teachers were sometimes late for classes, and it was even difficult for sick people to travel to the hospital. My travels were also much more difficult due to the irregularities. When I had to attend a meeting, or run any kind of errand, it usually involved getting up at four in the morning to begin the two-hour walk to the next road where there was reliable bus service. And returning was worse, as I had to trudge uphill in the hot afternoon sun, along with many other community members.

Since I had already told MCC to sell the motorcycle, I could see only two options-- spend the rest of my MCC term walking the two hours needed to get to the nearest reliable bus, or I could work to improve the local bus service, not just for me, but for those who lived around me and needed safe, reliable and consistent transportation.

I opted for the second choice—partly because I was just plain tired of walking! At first I did not realize what I was getting myself into. I was a new, naïve, 21-year-old MCCer who thought that with a few letters and visits to the government branch of public transportation we could have the problem solved within a month or two. How wrong I was!

A visit to the owner of the bus seemed a logical first step. I asked him politely if he would be in position to replace the bus, or at least maintain the current bus better. He became very angry and told me to go back where I came from. He said I should not be involved in these issues—problems that I saw as injustice and corruption.

Since the bus owner would not listen to us, the community and I decided to take our dilemma to the government branch of public transportation. We started this process in December 2006 with a petition of six hundred signatures from the eight communities that were affected by the bus problems.

For the next six months, several members from the communities and I continued the slow, frustrating battle against corruption, bureaucracy, and discrimination. We felt that it was not a fair fight. We did not have the funds for daily trips to the city; we had no inside connections with key decision makers; and most importantly, we did not really understand the laws and political processes that comprise the inner workings of the government.

At first we made no progress. We heard many false promises, and government officials were evidently paid-off to discourage us and run us through fruitless hoops. Finally we decided to change our strategy. Since government officials would not help us in private meetings, we went to the national radio and television stations with our story. There, with an audience of thousands, we were able to tell the country about the transportation problems of El Bramadero!

After what he saw as public humiliation, the bus owner/mayor threatened to put several of the community members in prison, and even said he would have me deported. Since we had done nothing illegal, we were undaunted by his threats.

Eventually the mayor became so frustrated with our continuing efforts that he offered to sell the route to one of the community members, Jose Artola, whose very dream it was to run the bus route and offer reliable bus service to his neighbors.

Now, a few months later, Jose has done an excellent job. Our community enjoys regular, daily bus service that is safe and provides a sense of dignity for everyone riding the bus. I have seen an increase in travel among the local villages, and several more small businesses have opened. The villagers seem pleased to reap the benefits of their hard work.

And as for “Cockroach”—the old bus-- it broke down in the middle of the road, and it still sits there, a visible reminder of the past and the injustices that many Nicaraguans face daily. But it also serves as a symbol of what is possible if people work together and persevere in their struggles.

There is a popular phrase in our North American culture, “time flies when you’re having fun.” To many narrowly focused businessman this may have a bad connotation, I mean how can you be productive and have fun? On the contrary, I believe, to be productive, a person needs to enjoy what they do, or at least have some alternate motivating factor.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I came to Nicaragua nearly two and a half years ago. I had a lot of concerns about what I was going to find when I arrived. To be honest I was even a little scared. Nicaragua wasn’t really that far from Ohio, just a six hour plane ride away. The commitment of living for three years in a different country and all the uncertainty was disconcerting. Would I be accepted… would I get home sick… would I dislike my work, or get bored with it?

To my surprise what I found was support, community and enjoyable work. A foreign language became a little less foreign to me, I learned to like food that I had previously hated. Strangers became friends. And, of course, the very best one is Rebeca, my wonderful fiancé.

Just like when an artist first begins to paint. The canvas is blank; but slowly colors are added, shapes begin to form and eventually the masterpiece is completed. And so it has been with my time in Nicaragua. I feel almost as if God sat down at His easel and began painting, adding detail, color, and more. He allowed me to enjoy meaningful and fulfilling work, and helped me to accept this new culture with unbiased love and hope. It has been an incredible chapter of my life. Such experiences can’t be described by words or even pictures, but can only be felt in the heart.

Though my culinary skills are limited, I have been experimenting with various ingredients in a recipe that has been important for me during my MCC term.

Mix:
-Willingness to learn, listen and understand: I had to first learn from their stories and experiences before trying to help them.
-Eagerness to try new things: like planting corn with a stick or harvesting beans by hand. I thought only my grandpa did things like that.
-Humility: so much easier to mention, but often difficult to put into practice especially when working with adults who are illiterate.
-Hard Work: My time here is not just an extended vacation, it is an opportunity to share my gifts and abilities with those around me and work hard.
-Lots and lots of beans, I mean really it just wouldn’t be the same without beans.

Bake under Nicaragua’s hot burning sun for three years
Afterwards enjoy,
-Friendships with so many wonderful people -A rich book of memories -Nuggets of wisdom learned from many persons meet along the way
-Positive spiritual, economic and social change in folks and communities

Now let me wrap this poetic story up with a little something to bring us back to earth. Nothing great comes without a cost and no journey is without its bumps and bruises, and so it has been with my MCC term. I managed to learn Spanish after spending many long hours sitting with a native speaker or in a classroom with a horrible headache. Going and doing in Nicaragua has resulted in getting soaked to the bone by treacherous rains, bumming my knee in a motorcycle accident, walking hundreds of miles under the hot burning sun, sleeping in flee infested beds, and bumping around on top of old yellow school buses. What a terrific community I have lived in; however, I have had to give up the luxury of electricity, running water, and my mom’s scrumptious Mennonite cooking. Most days my diet consists of a simple tortilla with beans for breakfast, lunch and supper.

I share this because it has been a life changing time. I share this to encourage you not to be afraid to take risks. It may not seem very smart by our world’s standards. Many friends were concerned that I was making a mistake… that I would get behind in life. “Behind in what?” I asked. And as it turns out the risk was well worth my time, I have found a way of serving many Nicaraguans through my work, and they in turn found ways of sharing with me.

So my challenge is what is God calling you to do? What risk is He prompting you to take…forge more of a relationship with someone from a different background or with a different belief system… quit a job, go to seminary… work with a development or mission agency? I am only 23 years old. As I ponder the “risk” I took in coming to Nicaragua, I must say that it has enriched and added a lot of meaning to life. And so I say to you jump out of that boat, take your eyes off of those horrible waves that are looming like mountains in front of you, fix them on Christ and TAKE A WALK!

These four words may seem fairly insignificant, but they are meant to represent a timeline for the following story. The setting is rural Nicaragua nearly a year ago. The characters are simple campesinos (farmers). Their income is generated from that same rocky soil that they plant into year after year.

April 2006: Farmers begin preparing the land for the first rains that come in the first part of May. With much joy the rains came strong and hard leaving many farmers confidant to plant all their seeds. The rains continued through the first part of June and then stopped. Farmers were concerned; but not without hope. The remainder of June and July was a sporadic sprinkle. There was enough rain to allow the wilted bean and corn plants to flower, pollinate and produce enough seeds for the next planting season that would start in August. Yet, there was no income to pay back pending debts and buy other necessary household supplies.

August 2006: Many farmers work hard to prepare the ground for the second growing season. They plant what they can. Not nearly what they had hoped to plant before the drought which hit them hard only 2 months earlier. The planting began with a silent hope that things would change for the better. Just as before the rains came, the seeds germinated, and even grew. Again, the rains stopped. The plants began to shrivel up, wither and die. Hundreds of families were without sufficient income to cover their basic needs and pay debts.

2006 was considered a drought year here in Nicaragua. Rainfall fell drastically below annual averages. Thousands of poor campesinos invested all their capital into the planting. Some invested even more taking out loans from banks and small credit Unions. The end of the story is…. they were left with almost nothing. With loans to repay and hungry families; they are left with few choices. One option was getting work outside the community for the remaining five months of the dry season. Most of the men and some of the woman from these drought stricken regions left for Costa Rica or the nearest city in search of work. The additional income would enable them to pay off their debts, buy food for their families and save for the purchase of seeds in the next planting season.

The local Mennonite pastors, who lost their crops just like their church members, began searching for help to resolve the distress and pressing needs in their communities. They orchestrated a census in the areas where their churches were located. The needs were presented to MCC and a local Anabaptist Emergency Commission (CAE) who did an assessment of the drought stricken area.
May 2008: The formulated plan to address needs is solidified. MCC approved CAEs budget of nearly $40,000 dollars. This money was used to purchase bean and corn seeds for the new planting season. Nearly 2,000 families from 50 communities would receive 50 pounds of bean seed and 25 pounds of seed corn to plant.

The project was successful. Many families were able to plant that wouldn’t have had the means otherwise. Hundreds of acres of corn and beans can now be seen on the horizon. When you ask folk how they are, they are quick to point out their MCC corn. The project helped to unite communities. It also improved relationships and communication between the Catholic and Mennonite churches. Amidst my visits to families I am whisked into their homes and proved with an ear of corn from their harvest.

One family I know planted 50 pounds of black beans. They harvested 1000 pounds and from the earnings bought a young steer. Another family sold their harvest to pay off pending debts. From the earnings, others bought small silos which will be used to store the corn. For hundreds of people this simple gift was a huge blessing that helped them recover from the economic devastation of last year’s drought.

This type of relief project is central to MCC’s mission, and goes back to their origins of helping the Russian Mennonites in a time of need. Relief work can also be a controversial issue. Fear of dependency weighs heavily on the minds of those who work at trying to increase sustainability. I, also, struggle with finding the line between relief, dependency, and development. Is it possible to incorporate relief in a sustainable way that doesn’t build dependency on foreign handouts? At first I was very resistant to the idea of providing relief to these communities. I could clearly see that there was a need, but then again I was so concerned about the dependency that it could possibly create on MCC. In the end I feared it would negatively affect MCCs development work in the region. I was so focused on development and my self-interest that I almost missed the opportunity to care about the real and urgent needs of my neighbors.

And so it goes with MCC, the workers and constituency, as we try to find a balance in the way that we respond to the “poorest of the poor.” To what point do we provide relief? How do we provide it in such a way that it motivates folks to invest their initiative and meager resources to improve their situation instead of staying dependant on handouts?

God bless you as you continue to give and make these life giving projects become a reality.

Lydell Steiner

Nearly three months have passed since I sent you an update concerning my work here in Nicaragua, and I believe I owe it to you my friends, family, and church to keep you informed. I have been very busy planning new projects, visiting old ones, and helping with an emergency relief project

Drought: Last year was a drought year and many farmers close to where I live lost most or all of their crops. This put many families in a difficult place, so for this planting season MCC decided to help the affected families by giving them seeds to plant again. I had the opportunity to work with and help organize the distribution of these seeds to nearly 2,000 farmers. Next month I plan to write a story detailing this work.

Water: In a previous update I shared with you about the dire water situation in my village, Bramadero, where I live. There is new hope for a better tomorrow for the persons who live in Bramadero! One month ago a well was drilled near the community and it turned out to be a productive well which was a true blessing since the previous 4 wells that were drilled turned out to be unproductive. MCC is working in coordination with another local organization to install a series of solar panels which would power a pump to carry the water directly to each house in the community.

We are all excited about this new blessing. I am looking forward to working on this project by helping the community organize themselves in a manner that would be beneficial to everyone.

Silo project: Starting this month I, along with several community leaders, will begin to organize a silo project. We are going to build between 300 and 400 silos in a total of 15 different communities. The silos storage capacities range from 400 pounds to 1.5 tons depending on the farmers needs and desires. These silos are used to store dry grain such as corn, millet, or red beans and help to keep the grains free from rodents, insects, and other animals around the house.

Last year I helped organize a similar project but on a much smaller scale. We built 50 silos in two communities selling them to interested farmers. However, this year we are going to subsidize the price of each silo making it more affordable for the average farmer to buy the much needed silos. Graciously, a member of the Kidron Mennonite Church is making this work possible by donating the funds needed to get the project going.

The benefits of these silos are numerous. Many small farmers currently have silos to help store part of their basic grains, but not everyone. These silos increase the farmers profits in various ways. Besides preserving the grain from animals and insects they also allow the farmers to store their grains for longer period of time. This allows them to sell their (often meager) crop at a higher price. The bottom line is these silos help facilitate food security in communities where food is often a scarce commodity.

Church work: Working with the local Mennonite churches sometimes requires more patience and love then I am used to giving on a daily basis. Often there are conflicts within the churches. Sometimes there is mismanagement of funds and other resources. I am saddened by this. It helps me to respond compassionately as I remind myself that each and every person has their weaknesses and often money is a trap.

Just last week I had the opportunity to preach in a local church. I was able to touch on a theme easily understood by all, but many times difficult to put into practice. The sermon title was “Counsel me, show me the way, but please don’t criticize or judge me.” Many times we fall into the trap of criticizing one another or gossiping. The bible clearly calls us not to criticize or gossip, but rather to counsel and restore one another lovingly back to our faith walk.

Trip to Honduras: In the first part of June MCC held a retreat in Honduras. All of the MCC workers from Central America participated in this conference. We discussed the theme of migration and what MCCs response should be to this difficult issue. Of course the topic is so complex and big. It was hard to come to a general consensus.

MCC team: Our Nicaraguan team is continuing to change. Currently our team is made up of four persons. The same number of persons when I arrived two and a half years ago. However, this number will change considerably over the next several months and by November we will have 14 persons on the team.

I am looking forward to the next several months. I will be busy with meaningful projects in the communities as I continue to build friendships with the Nicaraguan people. Another highlight is my upcoming long distance learning class that I will be taking with Eastern Mennonite Seminary. I am excited about continuing my University studies while here in Nicaragua. The class is “The Church in Mission” taught by Linford Stutzman.

God Bless each of you as you go about your daily activities. I ask that you keep me in your prayers for wisdom, patience and discernment in the decisions that I will be making in coming months.

Lydell Steiner

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Luke 6: 37-38