"I just got back from spending 10 days in Nicaragua and it was amazing.  We had a group of 16 people, mostly from the health committee. We  divided into three work groups: One to paint the Health Center. (We  also replaced all the ceiling tiles in the Health Center, but we paid  to have that done.) One to work in the library. We brought down about 1,000 books - including some little children's books and that group stamped and catalogued the books and put them on the shelves. The third group, made up of public health people from Massachusetts, began administering surveys to health providers, patients and family members to try to get to the root of why so many people in Quezalguaque have  been dying of renal failure in the past few years.

 

Meanwhile, our representative from the Brookline Rotary and myself were out spending money like water,  buying paint and ceiling materials, arranging to have a floor put in and getting all kinds of estimates the Rotary International requires for the money they're giving us.

 

We probably got more work done than any one-week delegation ever has,  but we had time to play too. Some of us went down on Friday and spent a day  hiking at the Volcán Masaya National Park and then most of us spent our last day  on a lovely beach in Poneloya.

 

Our visit, of course, also coincided with the festival celebrating the town's patron saint Nuestra Señora de Los Remedios (it always does) and this year, in addition to the processions, the crowds, the food, the  vendors  and the yearly baptisms,first communions and confirmations,  there was also the dedication of a new statue of the Virgin at the  empalme - the crossroads where the road to Quezalguaque meets the main  road. A national newspaper did an article on it, so if you want to check it out, the website is listed below"

 

Maxine Shaw