August 27, 2007

The success story that failed

Recently I sat with Edy Perez and translated as he told the story of the organization he helped to start and still works for. It is a story of hard work, determination, desire to help those most in need, and great success. However, it is also the story of a country so overwhelming that it turns even great success into failure.

Managua's dump, La Chureca, is home to many families. Underground methane fires burn constantly. Photo by Dick Fuller.

Edy and his friends were university students 15 years ago when they began to work with the 80 families who live in La Chureca, Managua’s garbage dump. Every day thousands of tons of garbage arrive in La Chureca, and the families who live there paw through it looking for anything that will help them survive—aluminium cans, glass bottles, scraps of steel, anything that can be recycled. Once in a while a lucky person finds a scrap of plywood or corrugated roofing that can be used to reinforce the shacks they call home. The methane fires deep underground never stop burning, so the smoke is always thick and heavy as the garbage, including plastics and other carcinogens, burns.

I’ve watched people scrape vegetable scraps from the inside of garbage bags and eat them, sometimes having to be wary of the vultures that want the same food. I’ve watched barefoot children pull a small rake through piles of fresh garbage looking for anything that might help keep the family together. La Chureca is the home of the poorest of the poor.

When Edy and his friends saw the plight of those 80 families they decided that no one should have to live like that. Believing that education was the key to getting out of this situation, they decided to build a program to reach the children where they were, help them get ready for school, help them throughout their school years, and help them learn a trade. It was an ambitious program that required many people, help from groups from many nations, and long-term dedication. They named their organization “Dos Generaciones,” thinking that in two generations they could move people out of the dump.

God has worked through Edy and his friends and they have done a wonderful job! Dos Generaciones is a great group! With their help, hundreds of children have grown up and left the dump and are now working in jobs where they can live in safer, healthier areas. They have gathered support from all over the world. The story of the horrible life in La Chureca has been told on television in Nicaragua, Europe, and the United States. Money has come in from individuals and groups in several countries. Money has been used well, and Dos Generaciones has built a system that stretched from pre-school to finding scholarships for job training for older youth.

However, they have failed to solve the problem of people living in the degrading squalor of La Chureca. When they began, there were about 80 families. Now there are about 350 families living in La Chureca!

The economic situation continues to devastate Nicaragua. If you look at the so-called “average income” figure, you would think that the situation is improving. Over the last 15 years average income (adjusted for inflation) has risen somewhat. However, this is a very misleading figure. This represents the total amount of money earned, divided by the number of people—a simple mathematical average. This method of measuring the economy hides information about the distribution of this income. The fact is that some very rich people in Nicaragua, are getting richer daily at a fantastic rate. The increase in the income of these rich people obscures the decrease in the buying power (and thus the quality of life) for the majority of Nicaraguans. Even those who have managed to stay at the same salary have lost buying power because of inflation, which changes the value of the córdoba every week. (When I moved to Nicaragua three years ago, we got 15.6 córdobas per dollar. Now we get 18.2.)

For 16 years the Nicaraguan economy has followed the advice of the international lending agencies: the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the Inter-American Development Bank.  Following this advice has raised the average income, but it has sunk many Nicaraguans deeper into poverty.

When people in the countryside can’t find work, they go to the city. Arriving here, they find no place to live and no jobs. Eventually, many end up in La Chureca with a life of grubbing through garbage, living in a cardboard shack, breathing carcinogenic smoke, and living short lives of malnutrition and disease. Poverty drives their children into the program of Dos Generaciones, where Edy and his friends continue their struggle against overwhelming odds. They have succeeded with so many children, but they have failed to end the degradation of families living in La Chureca.

I will be returning to the United States this fall for back surgery. I expect to return to Nicaragua in January, ready to go back to work. Your kind thoughts and prayers will be most welcome.

Thanks!

Doug Orbaker

The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 58