We Arrived Safe and Sound to Nicaragua

We think we made the right choice last night by going to the hotel to get a few hours sleep. We probably didn't get to bed till 2 and had to be up by 5:30 but at least we got a few hours of sounds sleep. The flight to Nica was uneventful but longer than I remember from last year.

We met Ernesto without a problem and immediately went out to lunch at a lovely cafe.

Missed our Flight to Nica

Our flight from SFO was delayed for several hours and so we missed our connecting flight in Houston for Nicaragua. So we decided to go to the hotel and get a few hours of sleep before catching our flight this morning to Managua. Here we are in the van on the way to the hotel... still smiling so we must be having fun.

Caption Contest

Our flight to Houston has been delayed and we will probably miss our connecting flight to Managua. But the time has not been entirely wasted as some students catch up on their beauty sleep as they from finals. And the students aren't alone as Tom recovers from an all-nighter he had working on an article. But we thought this picture provided an opportunity to offer a caption contest to the readers of this blog, similar to The New Yorker. So please leave your suggestions in a comment.

Waiting for our Delayed Flight to Houston

Our flight to Houston has been delayed. We hope it won't be delayed any further because we have a very short layover in Houston before catching our flight to Managua. If we are going to be delayed, there are certainly worse places than SFO.

In another note, as we were preparing to go through security, Moses and Geoff were directed to go through the TSA pre check, which is the fast lane through security. As it turned out, Moses and Geoff were the only white males in our small group. The women and student of color among us were routed through regular security. Moses and Geoff are reconsidering their reservations about the problems with white male privilege after this experience.

The Value of Practical on the Ground Experience

After being in Nicaragua for only a few hours, I quickly noticed that one learns so much more through practical experience rather than through books. After we met with our first church based community—San Pablo Apostol, I felt as if I finally understood the true meaning of liberation theology. I no longer knew the definition alone, now I could put faces to it. Talking to people about their experiences painted a completely new image of this ideology for me. It deepened my understanding and my appreciation for it grew. As mentioned in Brown’s Liberation Theology: An introductory Guide, the church based communities where inspired by “a conviction that the world should not be this way, a rediscovery of the biblical notion of the preferential option for the poor, a new accent on hope and a possibility of liberation…” (Brown 71). I find this interpretation of the church extremely inspiring. To believe that change is mandated by the gospel and to challenge the institutions, especially the hierarchical church, and tailor ideologies to fit one's needs is a liberating experience. One of the members of this church based community shared that when they were building their church the military showed up and attempted to stop them. She said that to prevent them from derailing their project, the church members sat on the foundation rocks of the building for hours to show that they weren’t going anywhere. I was so blown away by their bravery and dedication. Listening to their experiences was incredibly inspiring and I would have loved to talk to them longer.

Linda Madrid

2015 Delegation

Seeking a better life for her children

Among the more moving experiences in Nicaragua was a discussion with Melisa, a prostitute, on the last night in Córdoba. She told me about being a mother of two, not wanting or choosing that life, but selling herself only to try and to gain a better future for her children. The stoicism she displayed trumped that of Marcus Aurelius, her defiance matched that of Allende, and her empathy validates Christ’s admonishment to the haughty: "Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.” …

It was the concept of structural sin that brought me to liberation theology, having long since distanced myself from any consideration of personal sin in a religious sense. The abject bastardization of Christ’s message in the hands of moralists and reactionaries has alienated many of us from the core of the Gospel. In being thus alienated, I lost the critical key: the Kingdom is within us. True, the Kingdom also demands quite a few drastic structural adjustments upstairs, but ultimately the impetus and the longing for absolute liberation for humanity has a personal existence, inseparable from some fundamental component of humanity: the desire to be free.

Malachi Dray

2015 Delegation