Nicaragua has some of the most beautiful children in the world! They, like their parents, warm to strangers with an openness that is seldom seen elsewhere. Their smiles are enough to lift your spirits, and assure you that, despite the financial poverty they live in, they live with joyfulness! We have 180 children who we sponsor, and they are the poorest of the poor in our 9 rural villages. The $90 paid by the sponsors provides two school uniforms, a solid pair of leather shoes, underwear socks, backpacks and school supplies. For many of these children these are the only new clothes they have ever received. We also provide extra classes on Saturdays for those falling behind, many because their parents are also illiterate and cannot help with homework.

Each year I take pictures of my students to solicit support for those children in need. One of the things that has struck me over the years, is how they will avoid smiling for pictures. They are smiling most of the time, but when pictures are taken, they often have difficulty smiling. It took me awhile to realize that this not a cultural thing, but instead that they don’t want to have their teeth show for pictures. The adults as well tend to avoid smiles in which their teeth show. In Nicaragua, dental care is pretty much limited to pulling teeth, and the majority of the adults have lost their front teeth by the age of thirty. When we have activities they smile freely, but when you get out a camera, it is rare that you will get a smile showing their teeth. The majority of young children have rampant cavities, many loosing adult teeth long before they have reached adolescence.

We are in the process of starting a dental clinic here which will give them access to dental care that involves more than just pulling teeth, and the education to help them maintain their teeth through adulthood. I have 4 high school students who have lost their front teeth entirely, and many on the way. In Nicaragua sugar is a calorie source that is readily available and inexpensive. It is an important supplement to their caloric intake. Education will be a huge part of helping turn that around, but that needs to be combined with access to basic dental care. It is our hope to be able to bring more smiles to our villages in Nicaragua, and we hope we can partner with you to do so.

Nicaragua is a beautiful country, and there are parts of it that take your breath away. This past week I was helping with transport for the annual vaccination drive. It is a time of the year when the medical and nursing staff of the public health system go into the areas that are less accessible to give vaccinations to the people. They often send me to the regions that are the furthest, and most difficult to reach, which makes sense as I use my truck and gas.

This week they sent me to a place called Salvia which is in the department of Chinandega, and the municipality of El Viejo. It is on the peninsula that Volcano Cosiguina is on. I can’t find it on any map, but it is about one hour West, and another hour south of Potosi. The volcano is about 835 meters, and has a blue green crater lake inside. I climbed it a few years back, probably not the smartest thing for an overweight woman in her 60s, but it was worth the near death experience!  You can sit on the edge of the crater, (or in my case, lay), hear and see wildlife of all different sorts. I wasn’t able to see a scarlet Macaw, but I was able to hear them, and see the monkeys in the trees, and what appeared to be a large cat. I learned at the national zoo that there were at one time Bengal Tigers in Nicaragua in the area of volcano Cosiguina, but the last sighting was over 8 years ago, and are thought to be extinct in Nicaragua now. When I first arrived in Nicaragua, in 1999, they were selling Ocelots, parrots, and Scarlet Macaws, on the street corners! Well, Salvia might be a bit out of the way, but the wildlife is incredible. I didn’t get to see them but the great cats of Nicaragua are there including pumas, jaguars, jaguarondi, margays and ocelots. I did get to see some bird life, including beautiful parrots, and at least 10 flocks of chcoyos, which are bright green parakeets, with 50 or so in each group. They have a distinctive sound you learn to hear quickly. They have wild groups of scarlet macaws here, and I got to visit with the family of a man who is a photographer, and works to protect them. I stood in the yard and watched for them with his brother. He said most days they show up around now. I didn’t get to see them, but I am coming back! I did see a collared peccary, a form of wild pig. I was served deer for lunch.

 There is no electricity here, no bus you can bring food in with. The only transport is by boat, (in which case the nearest medical care is in El Salvador on the other side of the bay of Fonseca, that connects with Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador), or in a four wheel drive vehicle, or motor cycle. I have had the privilege of seeing the humpback whales that come down the pacific mostly from the San Diego area to give birth in our warm waters in February.  I was able to go out with a local fisherman off the shores of La Salvia to visit with the dolphins, and in November to see the breeding giant sea turtles, and newly hatched baby turtles, where they are less molested. The area has no infrastructure, no hotels, or restaurants, but it is an outstanding place to see nature, and I felt blessed to be there!