Nicaragua — Children of the Garbage Dump

While we live in comparitive comfort and luxury here at home, hundreds of thousands of children throughout the world are starving — they hunger not only for physical sustainance, but for the true Bread of Life and for love. The longing in their hearts goes deeper than we can even imagine…

Every Tuesday and Friday mornings, my healthy teenage sons wake up, get dressed and take the trash cans from our garage and place them on the side of the street. Later that morning, a truck comes by and picks up the garbage and we never see it again.

In Managua, Nicaragua, every Tuesday, Friday and every other day of the week, malnourished and diseased children wake up not to take out the trash, but to rummage through it to find food enough to survive. The mountains of stench, refuse and putrid waste of Managua’s city garbage dump are being dumped in a place these children are forced to call home.

More than 5,000 men, women, teenagers, children and newborn babies face the horrid realities of living in this garbage dump. Babies are born here, and young children eat and sleep and try to play here. Whole families try to collect enough rubbish just to exist on. They wake up hoping to find a few trinkets to sell at the market, prayerfully longing to find a bit of food to quell the ache in their stomachs.

Every weekday my little daughter gets dressed to go off to school. She refuses to leave, however, until she gives me a big hug and kiss and tells me she loves me.

Every day at Managua’s city garbage dump, a precious little girl wakes up for school after a difficult night of sleeping on a damp dirt floor. I think of little girls like Gabriella, whom I met a short walking distance from the city dump where she and her family live. Gabriella is seven years old, and though she lives in unimaginable horror, she is still able to smile and even laugh. She takes hold of my hand as if she has known me forever, and she clings to it not wanting to let go.

Gabriella is hungry not only for food but for love. The moment I walked into her school, she dashed confidently up to me and began giving me a tour, taking extra time to show me the garden out back. She loves it there. And her teachers love her, providing her with healthy meals and showing her the love of Christ. Although Gabriella doesn’t fully understand it yet, those teachers are providing a way for her to have a future beyond her present circumstances.

If my sons and daughter had to suffer life in a place like Managua’s city dump, I would want them to have all the help I could get. I would do almost anything to find a better life for them. The children living in this garbage dump are God’s children, and their Father is doing something very special for them. He is using people such as a missionary family here and a local church to help minister to these children and their families.

You and I are a part of God’s plan in Managua’s city dump as well. World Challenge has partnered with Hosanna Church in Nicaragua to help provide food and education for Gabriella and hundreds of precious little ones just like her.

She now has food and clean clothes, and she’s learning to read and write. All the while, she is being filled with hope, love and a growing relationship with Jesus.

Our ministry is working together with this church, school and community to provide greater care, to improve the school, and to develop long-lasting solutions to the problems of these poorest of Managua’s children. Much work is yet to be done, and there are devoted men and women of God living and working in the midst of the great needs here. With God’s love, we are linking with them to make a difference in the life of Gabriella, her family and the families of this area.

Please continue to pray with us for the nation of Nicaragua. God is on the move in this area of the world and we are priviledged to partner with him and with you in fulfilling his plans. And please, whenever it crosses your mind, please say a prayer for little Gabriella.