New Life Dawns at the Cultural Center of Batahola Norte

Thursday, June 5th, 2014

Many arose early (as the sun does at this latitude) to be greeted to a delightful breakfast during our first morning at Casa San Juan.

The day began with a drive to the Cultural Center of Batahola Norte, where were first greeted by our gracious host, Joe Connelly, who serves as the International Communications Coordinator.

Just as we were arriving at the Center in the morning, so too were school bus loads of young children in school uniforms who were gathering from local schools for a celebration of the International Day of the Child.

We had the opportunity to meet the Friends of Batahola Volunteers, Kelsey and Erika, who have also provided us with a warm welcome and assistance with translation and finding our way around the Center.
Each member of the Center's administrative team--Jennifer, Ileana, Candida, Josepha, and Sonia--all took the time to offer a hospitable welcome, and to bestow each of us with a handmade wooden cross.

Joe provided us with a tour of the Cultural Center, sharing the story of its founding and speaking of how the work of Sister Margie ("Margarita") Navarro, a graduate of St. Joseph Academy--now McNicholas High School--and a former principal at Immaculate Heart of Mary School continues to inspire hope among the children and families served by the Center.

Knowing of the ways so many of us have been impacted by time with our friend Gerardo Hernandez Arias during recent months, Joe was intentional in pointing out both the murals to which Gerardo contributed as a child...

Look closely and you'll see Gerardo's name in the lower righthand corner.

...as well as the most recent mural he's painted at the Center with which he inspires the children who spend time at the Center.

We then headed out for the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, which is more commonly referred to as La Nueva Catedral.

All had the chance to enjoy quiet prayer in the towering sanctuary or in the Blessed Sacrament chapel, and participants had the opportunity to join those present in the morning to pray the Rosary or to light a votive candle.

During the afternoon, we were able to hear a presentation on Nicaraguan history, geography, and culture by Joe Connelly.  His knowledge, his passion, and his enthusiasm for understanding Nicaraguan culture served as both an inspiration and a challenge to us.

At lunchtime, we were received into various homes where we got to enjoy some fantastic food while also getting to know our "host families."  Lunch was capped off with helados from Doña Cony, a great way to cool off on a hot Managua afternoon.

When we returned to the Center, all members of our group took part in an icebreaker which allowed us to our introduce ourselves prior to the craft activity.

During the late afternoon, many joined in a pick-up game of soccer with some of the young people from the Batahola Norte barrio.  For many, this was first chance to encounter Kelsey Overly, an IHM and McNicholas alumna who had traveled to the Cultural Center in recent years, and who is volunteering the CCBN for a month.

Our day came to a close with a lovely dinner back at Casa San Juan, where we were viby three kind and compassionate Jesuit Volunteer International: Eva, Emily, and Cynthia...

Day One in Managua

Wednesday, June 4th, 2014
Despite the torrential rains that rumbled through the Cincinnati area on Wednesday, our brief flight to Atlanta departed on time and went very smoothly.  A vibrant sunset finally gave way as we  approached our destination, with some of us recognizing the bright lights of Managaua alongside the darkness of Lake Managua and many of us anxious to land in a city and a nation we'd be visiting for the first time.  Our driver, Domingo, did not hesitate to ask for directions as we made our way to Casa San Juan, which will be our home-away-from-home until Monday morning.

From Managua to Cusmapa

We have now settled in here in the town of San José de Cusmapa, and it is, por supuesto, lovely here.  It was a long haul to get here yesterday, but we are all loving the beauty of this small rural town of about 3,000 people.  After driving north on the Pan-American highway and stopping briefly at the Fabretto Center in the mid-sized city of Esteli, we began to snake our way up, up, up and into the mountains that rise up at the Honduran border. 

It was really breezy and overcast when we first walked out to El Mano del Diablo (the first of two amazing scenic views we've experienced already here in Cusmapa).  It began to rain just as we were walking back up the hill to the hostel where we're staying.  We visited the small chapel from which Father Rafael Maria Fabretto's work originated and in which he is buried today.

The dinner that our hostess Nora prepared last night was outstanding--homemade tortillas, of course, with refritos, carne, queso, crema, salsa, y guacamole fresco.  After our evening reflection, we hiked up the hill behind our lodging to El Divisadero, for a view of the stars with no light pollution at an elevation of about 3,500 feet from sea level (we were 30 feet from sea level in Managua).  We enjoyed 30 minutes of silent prayer and mediation with a profound awareness of what God has blessed us with, and with a deepening sense of clarity about what God is calling us to after encountering such honest beauty and authentic community alongside extremes of poverty that we do not enounter in the United States.

Today, we are spending time with children in an English language class here at the Fabretto Center in Cusmapa, and working in small groups on a project around the Center.  After lunch today, we will be visiting a local basket-making cooperative, and spending time learning to make tortillas with Nora's mother, Maria.

We will begin our return to Managua early tomorrow, and will then spend the afternoon visiting the Masaya market, and relaxing at Lago Apoyo after what has been both a lovely and intense week prior to our return trip to Cincinnati (via Atlanta once again).  Much love to all of our families and to our communities for the prayers and support you have offered during this time.  It has been a profound experience to witness global solidarity in action as we encounter the amazing work that the generosity of our communities helps to support. 
The opportunities that are being afforded as a result of the twinning relationship between Immaculate Heart of Mary parish and the Cultural Center of Batahola Norte are providing hope and inspiration to so many children and their families.  Each of us are humbled by this witness to the power and beauty of Christian community.  We are soaking up the remainder of our time here and also counting down the time until we're back with you all!  

¡Que paz de Cristo esté con todos ustedes siempre!

Day Two...7 June 2013

For those who thought day one was a full day, day two most defininetly takes the cake so far for a day replete with depth and meaning and interaction. 

Our day at the Center began with shared prayer and reflection with the entire staff of the Cultural Center of Batahola Norte. 



John Norman, along with McNicholas students Megan Mottola, Kristen Rehl, and Tommy Wegener, led the reflection on the theme of Care for God's Creation. The morning involved a viewing of this video, lectio divina, small group prayer and reflection, and the creation of individual works of art that were joined to create a beautiful arco iris [rainbow] that now adorns a hallway here at the Center.  With the help our best efforts to speak Spanish, and the willingness of bilingual translators, we were able to bridge the language gap and communicate the ways our Catholic faith and our concern for all that God has created are intimately linked, both in word and in art.

We then participated in an English language class that takes place Mondays through Thursdays, and which is taught by Friends of Bathola volunteer Sam Estes.  We gathered in small groups to speak in both English and Spanish to share our names, ages, basic information about our families, as well as the things we are most proud of and some of the dreams and aspirations that each of us carries.  It was a profound opportunity to cross the boundaries of nationality and language to connect so deeply with people that we had only just met.

After enjoying another delightful lunch with our host families, we were privileged to be visited by McNicholas Spanish teacher Senora Carla Wessels, along with her mother, who are presently visiting their coutnry of origin.  We spent an hour with Jesuit priest Father Ernesto Cardenal, who was insturmental in leading one of the most effective literacy campaigns in human history during the early 1980s.  He challenged each of us to consider what sort of responsibility we have to the world and how we might each find our own sense of lasting fulillment in discerning God's will for our lives as we seek to serve others.

We then visited the neighborhood known as Jorge Dmitrov, a community that is characterized by extreme poverty and which has an intimate knowledge of the sort of domestic violence that results from a culture of machismo mixed with the sort of despair accompanying the rates of unemployment that are common there.  We witnessed the initiative of the CCBN staff to faciliate groups of women to value their own sense of dignity, to seek to have their rights as persons respected, and ot seek to denounce and transform the sorts of cycles of violence that so many of them and their children have come to see as normal.  We played games, danced, listened to a story, reflected together, and produced symbolic works of art to communicate the sorts of healthy family relationships we desire.

Our day then closed with an exquisitie musical and artistic performance by many of the children who live in the Batahola Norte community and enjoy the sort of hope and joy that the Center has to offer.  The community‐wide celebration served as both a commemoration of International Children's Day, which is celebrated almost universally throughout the world at the beginning of June, and as an official welcome to our delegation of visitors from Cincinnati.  We enjoyed a privileged seat among the hundreds who were gathered in the chapel at CCBN, watching various groups of children sing, play flutes, guitars, and marimbas.  We also were able to enjoy the beautiful dances that preserve the legacy of traditional Nicaraguan culture through the efforts ot    While the temperature was, of course, sweltering, we were smiling from ear to ear through the duration of the presentation, and we joined the proud applause of parents and grandparents.


We went to bed very tired and yet full of inspiration as a result of the meaningful time we spend with our Nicaraguan brothers and sisters in Christ!

Day One...Continued

Upon arrival at the Cultural Center of Batahola Norte, we were treated to an orientation to the community and to the Center itself by CCBN staffer Amanda Otero and Friends of Batahola volunteer Amanda Kraybill.  Our tour included a detailed description of the many colorful murals that adorn the walls of the Center.


After settling in, our driver Roberto took our whole group to La Catedral Nueva de Managua, where we spent time visiting and in prayer.  We arrived just as the community gathered there was beginning to pray the Rosary, and some joined in the prayer that was taking place in the side chapels also.  Many members of our group spoke later that night of they inspiration they experienced in witnessing the devotion of so many that had carved time out of their day to pray in the cathedral.

Then, after a delightful lunch in small groups with our very gracious host families on Thursday, we assisted several dozen children in creating tortugitas from plastic bottles.  Our efforts to paint the faces of the children that followed drew many takers.  The children asked for butterflies, ladybugs, spiders, sharks, spiderman and batman designs, as well as dinosaurs and a variety of scary faces.

Our first full day was packed with activity and would be a foreshadowing of the days ahead.  We close with our evening reflection around a very long dinner table back at Casa San Juan, considering the people in whom we had encountered the face of Christ throughout the day.

2013 Trip--Day One

After being grounded on the tarmac in Atlanta during a torrential downpour and the lightning that came with it, our group arrived in Managua shortly after midnight local time.  We settled in to Casa San Juan, which will be our home away from home for the next serveral days during our stay in Managua.  A later than expected arrival meant only a short wait through customs, and it meant very quiet streets for our bus driver, Roberto.
We were welcomed upon arrival with gracious hospitality and a light meal of gallo pinto with homemade torillas, fresh pineapple and papaya, and jugo de tamarinda. 

Today has been a whirlwind for our entire group, acclimating ourselves to heat and humidity that has even the locals proclaiming, "¡Hace mucho calor!"  We began our day with a warm and official welcome from the staff of the Cultural Center of Batahola Norte.  We were each given a small wooden cross, made by a local artisan, as CCBN Executive Director Jenifer Marshall stated, "These are a gift from us as a sign of the one faith that binds us together as one people and as one Church." 

the mountains

monday through wednesday

On Monday morning we loaded up and headed for the hills... we had no idea of the beauty that was waiting there.  Our bus moved slowly for the last 25 miles as master driver Julio navigated the obstacles of the unpaved road.  When we climbed out for a late lunch at the top of the mountains we were greeted by refreshing cool winds and fabulous vistas.  Nora whipped up some great pasta before our hike to one of the most fabulous spots on the planet, La mano de Dios/Diablo, the hand of God/Devil.

As with our time at Batahola Norte where we were introduced to the work of Father Angel and Sister Margie, here in the mountains we saw first hand the legacy of Father Rafael Fabretto, a Salesian missionary from Venice, Italy.  We spent time visiting the Frabretto Center here in Cusmapa, we helped to cook food for the 300 school children who come to the center each day for lunch and additional schooling as the public schools operate for only half a day.  Like Father Fabretto years ago, we too were taken with the children, struck by the poverty that exist in this remote community, and completely inspired yet again by the people who are laboring here and bringing about God's kingdom on earth.

Tonight we gathered before leaving to reflect, to share, to figure out how the changes that are happening within us will translate into action and renewel as we travel home.  Indeed each of us has changed, each in our own way.  The Nicaraguan people have taught us about joy, and hope, and determination, and transparency, and injustice.  Now we begin our journey home, hoping not to lose sight of all that we have seen, hoping that the transformation within translates into a transformation of our life and work in Cincinnati.

Buenos noches y hasta manana!