Future Fridays: Two Hurricanes in Two Weeks

Rescue workers search for survivors in mudslide in Peñas Blancas where 9 were killed.
Photo: Radio la Primerisima 

Nicaragua has been battered by two hurricanes in two weeks. On November 3rd, Hurricane Eta hit as a Category 4, then on November 16^th Hurricane Iota, the strongest storm ever to hit Nicaragua, made landfall as a Category 5 just a few miles from where Eta had made landfall. While Eta was a strong storm with lots of wind and rain, it moved westward across the country more slowly, dropping its rain over several days before heading northward through Honduras and Guatemala, then east to Cuba and Florida. In Nicaragua, two miners were killed in a landslide just before Eta hit, but there were more than 20 deaths in Honduras and more than 150 in Guatemala.

Hurricane Iota came much faster, sustaining 160 mph winds well into Nicaraguan territory and dropping 12 inches of rain over 24 hours in some areas. It quickly headed northwest over Honduras and El Salvador before continuing out over the Pacific Ocean. Although it lasted a shorter time, Iota caused much more damage and caused it all over the country – its winds were stronger, and more rain fell in a shorter time, but also rivers that had not yet gone back down in level flooded quickly, already saturated ground caused many deadly landslides and caused trees to fall in every community in the country. Our own Center and Clinic had several trees fall – just behind our office a large tree fell and damaged a big portion of our security fence.

Lucas analyzing downed tree - just missed the office building!

This tiny country has been dealt a catastrophic blow with these hurricanes: Iota caused 18 deaths, many of them babies and children. Eta damaged 10,000 homes, and we don’t yet have the count of homes damaged from Iota. Eighty-one health centers have been damaged, three bridges have been completely destroyed and there are hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to infrastructure. Devastatingly, not only cash crops but also food crops have been lost around the country, threatening Nicaragua’s hard-won food security.

Authorities evacuated 71,000 people in anticipation of Hurricane Iota.         Photo: JP+

There is good news, too: the Nicaraguan government has responded swiftly to these storms to save lives. Throughout the country 103,200 first-responders were mobilized and worked well before the hurricanes even made landfall to evacuate people in vulnerable areas. In total, 160,000 people were evacuated to 3,700 emergency shelters where they were fed and given medical care. As many of these people begin to return home, there is a huge ongoing need for food, clothing, hygiene supplies, and household supplies. Although the will of the government is to help victims as quickly as they can – they had already sent roofing materials for 14,000 homes to affected areas before Iota hit – the rebuilding task ahead of the county is monumental, and the government’s small budget won’t stretch to accommodate all the urgent needs.

A call for climate justice: on November 15^th as the region was preparing for Hurricane Iota, the Central American Presidents met virtually, demanding that developed countries not only drastically reduce their emissions but also pay reparations to countries who are suffering the consequences of the climate crisis for which they are the least responsible. Nicaragua’s carbon emissions are just 0.02% of the world total, yet this small country is bearing the brunt of the climate crisis right now. It is clear that these storms are a result of climate change – warming oceans create conditions for more storms forming, Iota was the record-breaking 30^th such storm this year, and there are two more possible storms forming right now. For more than a decade Nicaragua – which now produces 74% of its electricity renewably – has been advocating for climate justice, emphasizing that climate financing must take into account not only funding  for mitigation and adaptation but also reparations.

How are folks we work with faring? All our staff and their families are fine. Nueva Vida Clinic operations have continued as usual.  Trees down and roof leaks are the norm. Paul and Becca had to hike into their home because of trees down on the only entrance "road".  All of your emails and messages of concern are greatly appreciated.  Please share this update with others, as we may not manage to reply to everyone individually.

Organic farming families with COPROEXNIC are fine; so far their sesame in the fields is fine. Rogelio reports that some of the co-op’s 140 acres of sesame near our Center is leaning over, but not bent or broken – phew! It should recover just fine.  Peanut farmers are still worried about their crop molding, because too much rain can be very bad for peanuts.

The El Porvenir coffee cooperative reports that everyone is okay. Many of the 56 families’ houses lost their roofs with Iota, but they are able to repair with materials they have. The roof came off the coffee processing building, which will have to be repaired quickly before the machinery is damaged. All of their bean crop for food has been lost, as has their small organic sesame cash crop. Their organic coffee, nearly ready for harvest, has been partially damaged but so far the harvest is still looking okay. For those with fond memories of it, Inés also reports that the latrine that our groups always use when we visit the co-op was blown over.

What are we doing? In the immediate term, we are sending donated clothing to folks in emergency shelters – Monday we are tying sacks of it onto the roof of a bus going to the Caribbean coast - 18 hours overland to Bilwi, crossing the River Wawa in dugout canoes. Our local Rotary Club is raising funds for farmers to re-plant beans in areas where it's possible to still harvest a 90 day crop. We are working with other folks to see not only what is most urgently needed, but what support will be needed in the coming months and years, and will channel hurricane relief donations into those areas.

Please keep Nicaragua in your hearts. If you can help, send your donations here, designating as you wish: https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/jhc-cdca

- Becca

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Assembly of PIGS: Living Love

 In Nicaragua, so much of their society is gracious and kind.  It took me some training to learn some basic courtesies like...

• If someone comes into your house, get ready for a visit... offer them a chair and something to drink.
• Always greet people when you first see them and ask how they are.
• Always say por favor (please) and gracias (thank you).
• When someone says con permiso (with permission or excuse me) always respond with suyo (it's yours) or pase (please pass).

And yet there is also a mentality that our Daniel has labeled "the pinata mindset"... In traffic, grab whatever space you think you can grab and the biggest and loudest pushes everyone else out of the way.  It is "me first" and "my agenda is more important than yours".

You can find this "me first" mindset in so many societies.  "MY freedom" trumps yours.  My not wearing a mask is more important than your health or the health of your loved ones.  My owning any type of gun out there is way more important than YOUR safety or the safety of your family.  My desire to drive whatever vehicle I want is more important than future generations' air.

This attitude of "me, my, mine" has even moved into "Love your neighbor as you love yourself".  I have heard sermons on, and read devotionals on "you have to love yourself before you can love others".  It is just another version of focusing on one's self instead of others.

I do recognize that for broken people loving others is hard, but I have known homeless vets suffering from PTSD reaching out and having the backs of other broken homeless people.

I knew a woman with multiple personalities due to intense, excessive child abuse, who showed me love and care.

I have known people suffering from schizophrenia to reach down and lift someone up.

Bossman holding Coury

The word "love" in the gospels is mostly used as a verb.  And no matter how broken we might be, we can always choose to love.

What is "love"?

Love is patient and kind.  Love is thinking of others' needs, not your own wants or agendas.

You've heard "there is no I in team".... Well there is no I or Me in love.

In the gospels the moral of the story of the Good Samaritan was "do unto others as you would have them do unto you.". And what was done?  A beaten, robbed man was left bleeding by "good"  people, while an outcast bandaged him, paid for his housing and food, so the injured man could mend. And then the helper checked in on him later, ensuring that he did indeed heal.  Society's outcast put his own needs, his own agenda, his own time aside for the abused.

The Good Samaritan had the injured man's back.

That is love.

- Kathleen

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From Headache to COVID Test: My Journey through the Nicaraguan Public Health System

Hospitalito Ciudad Sandino before COVID Photo by Jolien Nolmans

In early October I got a headache that wouldn’t go away…and it put me right inside the debate over Nicaragua’s response to COVID-19. Despite being the poorest country in the region, since the coronavirus pandemic hit Central America earlier this year, Nicaragua has consistently had fewer cases, fewer deaths and more successful recoveries per capita than any other country in the isthmus. Our organization, the Center for Development in Central America runs a health clinic in Ciudad Sandino, just outside Managua. Since July we’ve been hearing criticisms that the government is hiding a second wave, but that hasn’t come about yet – folks have been cautiously going about their business, gradually returning to normal life, albeit with masks and hygiene protocols. Still, when I got a headache that wouldn’t go away followed by body aches and fatigue, I was cautious.

Because I work with folks over 60 who have compromised immune systems and chronic conditions, I stayed holed up at home. Uncertain what to do when I still wasn’t feeling 100% a few days later, I called the free 24-hour COVID hotline that the Nicaraguan Health Ministry (MINSA) set up in April. The operator answered on the first ring, no waiting, no hold music. I explained that I wanted to know whether or not I should be quarantining. My husband and I had been sending our 8th and 9th grade daughters to their public school where masks are required, but we were unsure whether or not to keep sending them since I wasn’t feeling well. The operator asked for my name, address, ID number, age, and asked if I had any pre-existing conditions. He went through a list of symptoms with me, then he told me a doctor would give me a callback. Less than five minutes later, a second operator called to re-check symptoms with me. Another three minutes went by, then I got a call back from the doctor. She went through my symptoms and medical history with me and advised me that while I probably didn’t have COVID, I should go in to see a doctor about the headaches.

Two days later when my headaches weren’t better, I’d had a blood test showing a virus so I called the hotline again. As soon as the operator picked up and introduced herself she said, “Is this doña Rebecca? You called us a few days ago because you’d been having headaches? How are you feeling now?” They had my number registered and all my information popped right up. The operator went through the symptom checklist with me again and when I told her about the test result she said, “You should really go in to your health center, your assigned center is the Hospitalito in Ciudad Sandino in front of the police station. I always see that it’s empty there, the attention should be fast. It’s best if you go in.” When I got a call back from the doctor, I asked if they would test me for COVID and he told me that would be up to the doctor who examined me; if I wanted to ensure I got the test, I could go to the central MINSA offices in Managua and pay $150 to get tested.

I found myself hesitating to go in. When the first coronavirus cases were reported in Nicaragua, opposition groups flooded social media with stories of hospital systems collapsing, overrun with the virus. On WhatsApp I was forwarded lists of “recommended” medicines to buy in case my family members got sick. Near my office the lines at the pharmacies to buy these medicines went around the corner and my coworkers were charged $6 for an aspirin tablet. Meanwhile the Health Ministry used TV and radio jingles to counteract bad information: as soon as you get sick, go to your local health center to have a doctor examine you and give you medicine appropriate for your medical history and current condition, all free of charge.

Hospitalito Ciudad Sandino before COVID Photo by Jolien Nolmans

Unfortunately, in May and June many people were too afraid to go to the doctor and the opposition’s lies were paid for in lives lost. Recently I talked with a friend whose family story shows the consequences of misinformation: her sister listened to government advice and as soon as she had a persistent headache she went right in to the public clinic. She was given medicine and quarantined at home where she recovered from a mild case. A second, wealthier sister refused to go to a doctor. When she got sicker she paid a small fortune at a private hospital, but kept getting worse. Finally she went to the public hospital where she was hospitalized and eventually recovered from a severe case of coronavirus. The third family member, a cousin, was too scared to seek care in the public system and too poor to go to the private hospital. He waited at home until he could no longer breathe, and by the time he went to the public hospital he died before they could intubate him.

It was with those lessons in mind that I decided to go to the public hospital in Ciudad Sandino, reasoning I’d rather overreact to a headache than be hospitalized later. I went after 5 o’clock, thinking it would be quieter with the normal outpatient services closed. I was shown to a separate building where I sat outside on a bench to wait with one other patient. After a short wait a nurse checked my temperature, blood pressure and blood oxygen levels. I was then ushered into the exam room where the doctor sat behind a desk 12 feet away. She asked questions about my symptoms and looked at my lab results. The doctor then examined me, looking in my throat, listening to my lungs. She told me that based on clinical exam and my lab tests, they couldn’t conclusively say whether I had COVID or not, so she gave me an appointment to get a COVID test the following morning. The doctor explained that because the COVID tests require full PPE and room disinfection, they schedule all the patients at one time to simplify the process. She told me that they do six COVID tests per day at the hospital, and that at 6:30 PM I was only the sixth possible case that day that had warranted a test.

The following day I went back to get my test at 8 AM. Three other patients and I waited two hours for the final two patients scheduled – they never showed up. As I was waiting, I thought about how the best epidemiological plan still has to contend with human nature. For example, the two missing patients had a chance to find out – for free! – if they had coronavirus. Maybe they didn’t want to wait, maybe they were scared, maybe they felt better, but whatever the reason, they didn’t show up. As anyone who works in public health around the world can attest, getting people to change habits is difficult. Providing them with access services, however, is something that the current government has been able to do – and for patients in Ciudad Sandino over the past 14 years, it has changed their lives dramatically.

It’s called the “Little Hospital” because the Hospitalito – which serves a city of 180,000 – was technically a health center until just a few years ago. During 16 years of neoliberal governments, one building was designated for outpatient services and the second building sat empty. Our CDCA health clinic employed doctors who also worked at the Hospitalito, and they told us that they didn’t even have gloves to examine patients. Every time I went down the street outside the Hospitalito I was stopped by people begging for taxi fare to take their family members into a hospital seven miles away in Managua because there was nothing to be done for them at the Hospitalito and there was no ambulance.

Now the Hospitalito has full emergency services and two ambulances. When I walked through the gate at 8 AM there were over 100 patients waiting to be seen by Operation Miracle, where Cuban-trained ophthalmologists perform more than 10,000 cataract removal surgeries for free annually. I watched families coming in with food and packages for mothers who had recently given birth there – before, women had to go all the way into Managua to give birth; I drove one neighbor who had patiently waited until morning to ask me for a ride and then gave birth just 10 minutes after I dropped her off! Now expectant mothers don’t have to travel while in labor – they were there watching the morning bustle from the porch of the maternity waiting home where they wait out the last two weeks of their pregnancy, resting and being closely monitored by doctors. I walked through the full outpatient areas – gynecology, psychology, pediatrics, and general medicine. As I stood waiting, I could see the constantly moving lines at the pharmacy to pick up free meds and at the laboratory to get free exams. I watched one of the two ambulances get loaded up with tables, chairs, vaccines and medical students and head out to a community health fair. A mototaxi with the MINSA logo emblazoned on it came and went constantly, taking personnel and provisions to the six related health centers open daily and even two rural health centers that are staffed once a week.

And in the midst of all that bustle sat four lonely patients with possible COVID. At 10 AM when I was called in, the doctor in full PPE had me sit down and explained the procedure to me. He stuck a probe way up each of my nostrils and explained that I would be called within two days if my test was positive. If my test was negative, I wouldn’t get a call. I asked if they’d only been doing six tests a day throughout the pandemic. He said no, they had been doing more, but now many days they don’t even have six patients to test, so they randomly test staff to fill their quota. He told me that patients who are clinically shown to have COVID with physical exam are treated as COVID cases, given medicine and counted in the official coronavirus numbers reported weekly at a national level. Anyone who cannot be clinically shown to have COVID is scheduled for the test, and those patients who test positive are also reported in the weekly COVID numbers.

As I went home to await results, I realized that while we don’t yet know why Nicaragua’s COVID numbers are so much lower than their neighbors – maybe experts will be able to determine whether policies such as not ordering a lockdown played a part in its lower caseload – it is clear that Nicaragua’s public health policy set the country up to successfully battle a pandemic by creating a healthier country overall. Although my COVID test was negative this time, I found myself relieved to know that if I feel sick again, I can count on quality care from MINSA.

- Becca Mohally Renk

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Hurricane Eta Update: How are those we work with faring?

 

Evacuations Thursday, Prinzapolka River, Nicaraguan Caribbean coast

Although Hurricane Eta has left Central America, it’s still raining and continuing rain is forecasted for the next 10 days. How are we faring?

CDCA - Ciudad Sandino: All our staff and their families are fine. Nueva Vida Clinic operations have continued as usual. We did not get much wind in Ciudad Sandino and since the rains are steady but not torrential, there have not been many homes affected here (except everyone now knows exactly where their roof is leaking!)

Agriculture co-op: Organic farming families with COPROEXNIC are fine; so far their sesame in the fields is fine. This morning Rogelio went out to check on the co-op's 140 acres of sesame near our Center and reports that it still looks good. The amount of continuing rain will matter a lot.  All the peanut farmers are worried about their crop because too much rain can be very bad for peanuts. Many of the farmers' food crops of beans and corn are at risk.

Destruction of houses, Commuity of Wawa, RCCN, Caribbean coast

Coffee families: René called from the El Porvenir coffee co-op this morning to report that everyone is fine, but their community is now entirely cut off, as two of the ramps on their only access road washed out completely. They have been watching their bean crops closely and are hoping to get a chance to harvest some this week, but they have already lost nearly half of their beans, which is their community’s main food for the year. Part of the 20 acres of sesame they had planted has been lost. The coffee harvest was supposed to begin this week, but of course with the rain it can’t start. All the rains accelerate maturity in the coffee beans, so the beans are ripening, swelling, splitting and falling off the plants. If this continues, it could be very bad for this year’s crop.

Central America: On a broader scale, Central America has been hard hit, with 3 million people affected in the region. On Nicaragua's east coast, two miners died in a mudslide; other countries have had more casualties: In Guatemala there are 150 dead and more than 100 still missing, in Honduras more than 20 dead, in Panama six dead, in Costa Rica three dead, and in El Salvador two dead.

Nicaragua: In Nicaragua the hardest hit areas were in the North Caribbean Autonomous Region and Jinotega, which got heavy winds and rains, and Rivas, which also got a lot of flooding from rivers and streams. Countrywide, more than 47,000 people were evacuated to emergency shelters where they've been receiving food, supplies and health care. As of Friday there were 1,200 homes reported to be destroyed or partially damaged around the country, with that count continuing as authorities get access to affected areas. Over the weekend government emergency services sent a convoy with roofing kits for 2,000 homes to Bilwi, the hardest hit town on the east coast, to begin reconstruction. Although most roads are now open, five highways were affected and nine bridges.

Feeding evacuees at emergency shelter, Alamikamba, Northern Caribbean Autonomous Region

Water & disease: As some people begin to return to their homes where flooding has abated, potable water is an issue. Access to clean water has been restored in Bilwi, cleaning of wells and restoration of clean water distribution is in process in other places. Electricity was out in much of the north of the country, but is beginning to be restored. Flooding can also spread disease; the Ministry of Health has administered 50,500 doses of prophylactic medication against the spread of leptospirosis.

Food: There is much concern around the country for the loss of food crops which could create scarcity and drive up prices. Already the price of potatoes has gone up; other crops will be sure to follow as rains continue this week. 

Please keep Nicaragua, El Porvenir, the farmers around the country, and our work in your thoughts. 

– Becca

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Assembly of PIGS: U.S. Presidential Election

In the Assembly of People Into Giving a S**t, we reflect on the United States presidential election…because we care about the poor.

It is Saturday and CNN has called the presidential election for Biden…and here is how I feel…

• Happy that there will be a woman as vice-president
• Happy that she is a woman of color 
• Happy that she is a child of immigrants
• Happy that the First Lady will be an educator 
• Happy that the husband of the vice-president is Jewish 
• Happy to have someone who will lead us wearing a mask and listening to scientists
• Happy to have someone who will reunite immigrant children and parents
• Happy that there will be a president who will not be so mean
• Happy that the discourse might become nicer…never thought I would crave “nice” as I do now 
• Fearful that Biden will be even harder on Nicaragua as he has promised to be
• Fearful that Biden will not address climate change as rapidly as it needs to be 
• Fearful that the militant white supremacists will start shooting 
• And mostly fearful that people will relax and go back to “normal” 

Shutterstock licensed photo

La lucha es larga (the struggle is long) as they say in Nicaragua. As happy as many are and I see them celebrating in the streets on television, Pres. Elect Biden is no radical. We must remember he will keep the mainstream the mainstream…and that mainstream has gone further and further to the side that ignores the poor while poverty grows and grows not only in the States but worldwide and the rich get richer and richer.

The mainstream does not address the extinction level of climate change, but continues the dependency on carbon fuels and increases fracking and drilling.

The mainstream does not address the systematic infestation of racism in all the seats of power.

The mainstream does not address the ever-increasing level of classism that pits the working class against the poor and sets the rich apart and untouchable.

The mainstream thinks that the U.S. State Department and CIA can interfere in other nations’ elections, governments, and economic systems…just not theirs.

The mainstream doesn’t mind the collection of data of people’s privacy.

I remember when Barack Obama was elected, for whom we voted, because we felt strongly that the U.S. needed a person of color in the White House…Mike said to some volunteers who asked if we saw this election as a pathway to hope, “Just remember he will still be the talking head of the empire.”

And he was. Droning increased. Drilling increased. Fracking increased. US-sponsored coups happened in Latin America.

The only way that real change is going to come is if we fight for it.

Celebrate for a nicer administration now…go for it, but remember Biden and Harris are mainstream and that stream is drowning the poor worldwide, sweeping humanity to extinction, and causing pain and suffering within the U.S. and globally.

La lucha es larga…the struggle is long. We cannot stop fighting, if we love our neighbors…The Divine’s children…our brothers and sisters. We just can’t.

-Kathleen

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