Justice and Human Rights Nicaragua Project #28192

Improve the Rights of Disabled Adults in Nicaragua

by Fundacion Cristiana Comunitaria para Personas con Discapacidad Ruach

Project Report | Dec 3, 2020
Ruach, COVID-19 and Nicaragua: an update

By Astrid Delleman | coordinator

visit to the swimmingpool

Since the start of the coronavirus, the midst of march, we agreed for a voluntary lockdown and enforced self-isolation, because the government did nothing to take care of the people. The government ignored the gravity of the situacion and the numbers they gave about the infected and died people was a insignifiant amount, in relationship wtith the amount the indepent medical organisations publicated.

The Government ignores advice from independent bodies onhow to avoid infections, but the situation was getting more severe in june and july, and people take their own measures. Very few corona tests are carried out; there is no clarity about what happened to a shipment of 26,000 fast-test kits donated by the Banco Centroamericano de Integracion Economica (BCIE).The Ministry of Health explains the increase in number of deaths simply as an outbreak of pheumonia or a flu which are not treated properly. The President himself occasionally makes ‘reassuring’ statements, such as that pandemics have been in the world since time immemorial, implying that nothing unusual is happening.

Very few Nicaraguans take comfort from official statistics or official reassurances. Many Nicaraguans have relatives living abroad, especially in Spain, the USA and in Italy, and they tell a different story.

What did/didnot we:

- We have not been able to go out into society, as much as we would have wanted to, during the last months, as creating goodwill through our outreach work is such a vital part of our ‘mission’.And we didnot go to the local televison channel, once a week, to talk about our work.

-We didnot invited visitors to know the community house and our work, and of course had less donations in money or products.

- Also we didnot pass along the little group of montly godfathers to receive their support.

-We closed the work shops in june, when the coronavirus started to become really heavy in Nicaragua

In the past months there has been relative peace and quiet on the corona front in Nicaragua. There are few new cases of corona infections. The number of deaths up till now is,according to medical staff,around 7,500; the Government says there are about 150 deaths.

For us this means that in October, after a six months’postponement:

-We were able to restart our weekly exercises in the swimming pool of a restaurant with the core members of our community. We go there by private transport early in the morning when there are no other people are in the pool. Everyone enjoyed it, although some needed more time than others to get used to water again!

'During the swimming pool off-period we introduced dancing in the Community Home as an alternative. This has proved to be so popular that it is now a permanent feature in our weekly program. They swing particularlywell to the tunes of Shakira and Dimension Costeña.

-The workshop was opened again, only with members of the communityhouse and a participant who lives near by. A firts step, waiting we can go to the second step: opening for all our a participants.

So far we are keeping the virus atbay, but we remain very alert for the possibility of a second wave.

The country at large is not doing so well. Poverty is on the rise because of higher unemployment, more taxes and rising prices. The general mood in the country is ‘down’ because of a higher degree of oppression of political dissent, and censorship. To the extent that the US and the European Union approve more sanctions against Nicaragua for alleged human right violations.

And in one month two hurricans , ETA and IOTA passed over the same area of Nicaragua. Juigalpa was not touched but a lot of people were affected.

Life seems some as a night, dark. We believe in bringing little spark of light in this society, by our work. Especially in this time of Diciembre, Christmas. Together we can make a difference. Can we count on you in 2021?

workshop funcioning

Links:

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Aug 25, 2020
Invitation: Celebrate with us!

By Astrid Delleman | coordindator

Jul 28, 2020
Health (and ill-health) at Ruach

By Astrid Delleman | Coordinator

I’m delighted to share with you a chapter of my six-monthly report (January-June 2020) to Ruach’s mother foundation Vivir Juntos (Leiden, Netherlands) about health issues among core members and the staff of our community. The past 6 months have been a time full of surprises and challenges

Resident core members
During these last 6 months we have occasionally visited a holistic doctor with some of our core members. Our view is that illness or ailments indicate that the body is out of balance and it needs support to strengthen its immunity. Whenever possible we prefer avoiding the use of medicines. Jonathan and I visit this doctor once a month for treatment of his epilepsy and irritability. For him these visits are an outing! Generally speaking the core members are in good health. Loyda’s health has improved and she rarely gets diarrhoea anymore, which is a fantastic achievement to which our care, her body and the visits to this doctor have contributed. Loyda now rarely needs a special diet!

In February Loyda, Daniel and Jonathan had their teeth cleaned under local anaesthetic by a dentist-friend of ours and his friend who is an anaesthetist. Because of the corona virus we opted not to contact a medical friend who works in a health centre, but consulted a private doctor who offered favourable terms for his services. He also visited Ruach to check up on Rommel when he joined us recently as a new core member.

Personnel
Mary, one of our home assistants, had an operation in March after which she was given two months of medical leave, a period which was extended till 1^st July. Fortunately we met Sayra, who replaces Mary during her absence. Sayra is God-sent as she very obviously has experience in working with disabled people and fits in well with our team.

Ana, our home care assistant who lives at Ruach, (the community needs at least two carers at the home every night) was given medical leave in June because of the risk of a spontaneous abortion. Her condition is not yet stabilized and her absence is sorely felt.
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In June COVID-19 infections in Nicaragua were on the rise. Several employees (one assistant and the cleaner/cook) started feeling poorly and showed symptoms consistent with COVID-19. As it is not easy here to be tested for COVID-19, we decided to ‘be safe rather than sorry’ and recommended that the affected staff recover from their illness at home. Fortunately the other members of the team (two assistants) were very positive and understanding and helped each other to cope with the increased work load. However, the staff situation was truly minimal and I also was not able to take my usual holidays. At this time we also engaged the one reserve assistant who can be called upon in emergencies like this. We’ve now started trying to recruit a second emergency worker to help out if the situation were to get worse. It is not easy to find such a person, because few have the required experience to work with intellectually disabled adults; being of good will is not enough.

Physiotherapy and massage
The physiotherapist who gave monthly treatments to Loyda, Daniel en Maria Elenea left Juigalpa. We have found a replacement who, because of COVID-19 restrictions, has not yet been able to start work with our core members. In the meantime we try to keep the latest physio- exercises going (with slight modifications) by using our own common sense and ‘wisdom’. Likewise, the massages which Daniel and Maria Elena received weekly from a volunteer had to stop because of the quarantine regulations.

Conclusion
The past six months have been full of surprises: not only at home, but also in Nicaragua and in the world. I think we can be proud of the way we have addressed the challenges we had to face. We’ve become a stronger community and have met our development targets for each of our core members reasonably well. Our team has grown in its ability to learn from facing difficult situations, and it is thanks to them that we have taken concrete steps forwards in realizing our dreams for a better life for adult people with intellectual disabilities.

I’m very grateful for all support, financial and otherwise, received from so many people in Juigalpa, England, Netherlands and other countries.

I experience God’s hand in our work which gives us courage and confidence to continue. I’m very grateful for the support of the Vivir Juntos Board, our pillar of strength, and for their financial support.

There is power in unity! We all play our part for a better society in which people with intellectual disabilities are treated more positively. It feels very good to be part of this process.

Links:

website in Spanish and a bit in English

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