Managua is a bustling city. On one street you may find paved roads, street lights, stores, and international hotel chains. One block in any other direction is an entirely different story. Nicaragua's socioeconomic status can hardly be described in gradations but rather in polar opposites. There appears to be very little middle class as we might describe it in the states. Instead, the upper class is composed of foreign investors and other immigrants to the country and the Nicaraguan elite who have family legacies of impressive and excessive wealth. On the other side of the spectrum are people who live in cardboard and scrap metal homes, some only surviving on $1 a day.

In a corner of the city is the Managua City dump. Donned the name 'La Chureca' from the Spanish verb 'to scavenge,' La Chureca is home to some 1,000 families. Each day (except Sunday) about 200 trash trucks pour into the dump. Piles upon piles of trash surround these people. Men, women, and children have been born here, raise families here, and will die here. It is their home.

Poverty is a simple word to describe this place. Imagine their situation for one moment: malnourished and naked children run through streets of dirt and trash, while their fathers are off separating and sifting through the trash in search of recyclables (plastics and especially scrap metal) to be sold, and mothers care for and make homes for their family out of the rubble that they can find. In order to make money, people can take the recyclables to be sold outside of the dump. The men are the first to jump on the back of the truck on its drive in, to call dibs on the trash as women climb into the cab of the truck on the way out to prostitute themselves off and make a buck. This is a hellish place to make one's home. Literarly, fires can be found every few yards as the Nicaraguan heat causes the trash to spontaneously combust.

Could you live here? Could you even imagine human beings living amongst the disgusting trash, animal carcassas, and voltures? Would mankind ever deserve such torture?

One could visit La Chureca again and again, but the sight would still always hit hard. The shock and disgust may subside, however, the pain remains.

Despite it all there is some hope.

Within La Chureca, there are 2 schools, a few feeding programs, and a clinic. In fact, the clinic is in need of help right now to get through the year running at full capacity. They need $4,000 a month and could use all the help they can get. See this short video on the Manna Project website for more information.

Each of these three facilities serve the community of La Chureca through education, nourishment, and health...all crucial aspects of surviving the difficult reality in which these people live.

For the coming month, I hope to return to La Chureca each week to help with an English class and aid in Child Sponsorship which includes keeping in touch with families of malnourished children who have entered a program to get milk, oatmeal, and vitamens to bring them back to a more nourished state.

Written by Cassandra Maximous - Summer volunteer (June session)

First Impressions

I didn't understand what Vilma was saying, although it was obvious she was complaining about a lack of participation from the other women in whatever task it was that she had completed, not unlike my own mom chastising my dad for never attending PTA meetings. As we kept walking Christina explained that it was about a clean-up of their section of the neighborhood, mandated by the clinic's nurse, for which some of the other moms had not shown up. Although I had heard Vilma say the word "limpiar," I couldn't quite believe that the view I was seeing of this part of Chureca was post- cleaning. Her little daughter Gabriela emerged from beneath the piles of dirty plastic water bottles and other scraps, eager to be tickled and held by another volunteer and myself, even though we had only just met and it was our first time visiting homes here with Child Sponsorship. Since I arrived in Nicaragua I've learned that the word here for "to hold" is "chinear." It always makes me think of a chin, and holding a child right up to your face to be as close to them as possible.
We kept on walking through the mud, dust and trash. Christina seemed to know everyone: teenage moms with more kids on the way, husbands who spend all day digging through the burning piles of trash, one enterprising woman starting her own tortilla-making business inside the dump (she sold out of all 800 yesterday!) and little children falling in the mud and running naked (better than wet clothes now that the rainy season is beginning). But Christina's familiarity with this place sent me into an emotional spiral. I am saddened, disgusted and scared knowing that real people live like this because this was the lot dealt them. At the same time, there is so much life here: businesses starting, children going to school, and even organizations founded by Nicaraguans from the dump themselves to provide safe places for kids to learn and play. I'm not sure yet what my role in La Chureca will be for the month I am here, except that there will certainly be lots of "chineando."

-Written by Emily Batt, summer volunteer (June session)

I had seen videos of La Chureca and heard stories from those who had been there, but I realized that I did not have even the slightest understanding of it until I had smelt the smells, stepped on the trash, and spoke to the people who call it home. La Chureca is by no means a place that anyone should ever have to call home, and although my heart ached for those people before I had ever met them, it now bleeds. After holding Esteven (my sponsored child) and seeing his tiny body, as well as talking with his sweet mother, I wish I could have just lifted them out of their environment forever. It is a hard concept for me grapple with that such wonderful people must live their lives surrounded by conditions not suitable for animals. I am not able to take them out of Chureca, but I am able to make some of their burdens a little light through my support young Esteven and his family with a simple 20 dollars a month, money that my life will remain the same without, but will greatly enhance Esteven's life. The smiles, tears, faces, and warm hearts of the Churecans are forever engraved on my heart, and I feel honored to have met them.

-written by Morgan Davis, summer volunteer (May session)

May has proved to be another wonderful month in Nicaragua. The temperatures are very hot but the beginning of the rainy season brings welcomed afternoon storms. However, the welcomed rain also brings a fear of flooding and sickness for the people in La Chureca.

One special event to report from my time here is that we had the pleasure of celebrating Mother’s Day with the women and children in La Chureca. Mother’s Day is one of the largest holidays in Nicaragua, and it was a joy to be a part of it with the families in our Child Sponsorship program. We invited them to join us for a day trip to the lake where the women and children enjoyed swimming, bag lunches, and a day off from life in La Chureca. We also had the opportunity to throw a Mother’s Day party for the women in our program. The piñata was a success, as always here in Nicaragua, and the women and children were given individual gifts such as shoes, jewelry, school supplies, and kitchen supplies as well.

Milk day was also an incredible success this month. Every child in our program was given milk, oatmeal, and vitamins to fit their specific needs. It was such a joy to see the gratitude on the smiling faces of the mothers and children in our program. Because of our wonderful sponsors and other people like them, over 60 children in the community of La Chureca receive basic needs: schooling, confidence, and so much more. Thanks to all our sponsors for allowing us to experience the joy of milk day every month!

We also are pleased to announce that we have entered 3 new children into the program and are in the process of entering more. It is always great to meet new children and families and open our hearts to them as we have done with so many during our time in La Chureca.

-Written by Sarah Lynn McKinney, summer volunteer (May session)