Improve the Rights of Disabled Adults in Nicaragua

Introduccion

In our plans we have made provision to accommodate six adults with an intellectual disability in our community home. Regularly  we have sought contact with families who according to neighbours have family members with an intellectual disability who are not well looked after at home.

However, if the family does not admit to not being able to care for their family member, there is nothing that we can do. Since some time we are in contact with doña Anita and her brother Napoleon, who asked for our help.  Don Napoleon, father of two children with a handicap (the mother has died)  lived in a village far away in the mountains. So I had to made a visit  to investigate their situacion. In short an up date of the trip and the results.

Manuel and Maria Helena

Everything is going our way. When aunt Anita and I get off the boat from San Carlos in Saballos it is only 2 pm. And the bus is waiting to take us on the next leg of our journey, a one hour journey to a hamlet, Monico, somewhere in the middle of nowhere.

When we get off the bus don Napoleon and his young son are already waiting for us with his horses to accompany us on the last part of the journey. We are on horseback, with the men walking beside the horses. They know every pothole and mud patch of the track up and down through the hills. Part of the track is fairly passable, other parts are so muddy that the horses sink into the mud up to the chest. Fortunately I took my rain gear as there is a shower every now and then. The sun is setting at 6 pm as we arrive at don Napeoleon’s home, tired but satisfied.

Aunt Anita
I made this long journey because about a year ago we met aunt Anita at our home. Anita was trying to find sheltered living for her nephew and niece who lived in the deep interior of Rio San Juan. The Ruach policy is that, space in our home permitting, we are open to any person with an intellectual disability who comes our way. We always visit a potential new resident in their home context, to get to know the family and to assess the urgency of a possible move. But this was for us the first time we had got a request from so far away. So when I met with aunt Anita a year ago she agreed to sending us a letter from a local doctor or church pastor to support her request and justify my embarking on such a long journey.

Then aunt Anita went off our radar till about two months ago when we had a sequence of phone calls, with the result that about a month ago Anita came to visit us with her brother Napoleon, the father of Helena and Manuel. They brought with them the letters of recommendation from doctor and pastor and in a meeting with the president of the Ruach Board we agreed that I would visit the family. It was going to be a three day journey: a day and a half to get there, and the remainder of the time to be there and make the return journey. Aunt Anita was going to be my travelling companion.

Hospitality
In this part of Nicaragua you imagine yourself to be in a different world: many hills, lots of vegetation, few signs of human habitation, but then there is the occasional hamlet. Their home was very simple, made of wood, in a beautiful setting. The views are spectacular. The home itself is not well-equipped. The living room has one couch and one table and one ceiling lamp. There is no television, only a small radio. There are two bedrooms with one bed. The kitchen is the best equipped room in the house: pans, mugs, plates, cutlery and a wood fire. That’s about it. No toilet. No bathroom. No guest room. So aunt Anita and I spent the night in the double bed vacated by don Napoleon and his current wife. One has got to be flexible on trips like this, and fortunately I have had sterner tests in the past! We were very warmly welcomed and it was a real pleasure to be their guest for a short time.

Helena and Manuel
The outcome of this visit is that Manuel and Helena, both around their 30s, came this week as the new core members of our Ruach community. It is going to be a real challenge for them and for us to get used to each other in the shortest possible time. But we are up for the challenge.

Dear supporter of our work

Some of you received our English 5^th Newsletter. If not, and you are interested, please write a mail to:ruachjuigalpa@ gmail.com

In our Ruach newsletter we informed you about the connections we have with the international L’Arche organisation, hoping to be part of that family one day. And about the social political situacion of represion in Nicaragua that is very worrying.

We were also very lucky to inform you about two campaigns planned, to help us raise money. To support the activities we are doing for and with people with an intellectual disability. Because without money raising we are not able to do what we are doing!

• We ask all our friends, contacts and people who want to support us to make a donation on the GlobalGiving page the 27th of November, joining the Thanks Giving Tuesday campaign! See details below.
• A friend, Eric, will organise a sponsor-run for our Fundación the 10th of November! So please, sponser Eric and our work. See details below.

 10th of November:

Eric Jager, our Dutch-English translator and unoffical Ruach ambassador in the UK, is organising a second sponsored run to raise money for the Ruach Foundation. This time supported by team mates from SPFit, the most social running club in Dorset UK, which he recently joined.

Eric writes: “I trust it will be a good event. Start and finish are from our home. Last time (2016) I ran solo 26.2 km, so I’ll raise the bar higher this year. My aim is 32 km this time. Being two years older at 62 it won’t be easy. Please sponsor me IF I beat the 2016 distance of 26.2 km. Via Vivir Juntos in € (www.vivirjuntos.org) or via GlobalGiving in $.

The 27th of November is another great moment to support us!

 GlobalGiving has designated November 27 as #GivingTuesday, a global day that kicks off a charitable season for ‘giving back’ on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving (in the U.S.) and after the widely recognized shopping events Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

WHEN + WHERE:

GlobalGiving’s 2018 #GivingTuesday Campaign will begin Nov. 27, 2018, at 00:00:00 ET and end at 23:59:59 ET on Nov. 27, 2018 (in £, $).

Matching funds and bonus prizes will be displayed on the #GivingTuesday leaderboard.

GlobalGiving has pledged to add up to 50% of your gift to Ruach if received on 27th of November.

We would like to buy some computers for the Activities Centre, which would expand the scope of the centre, and help the participants to learn more and progress in their development. Every desk top computer will cost about $ 600,- US.

So, if you are inclined to financially support us, please give a donation via GlobalGiving that day, helping us to give a better life to intellectually disabled people who are still not valued for who they are and for what they offer to our society here in Juigalpa!

Can we count on you to buy one, maybe two computers? Every penny we raise will contribute to improve the activities of the people with an intellectual disability in the activity club in Juigalpa!

Donating is possible https://www.globalgiving.org/ projects/ fundacionruach (Human rights   Nicaragua   # 28192)

 Remember:

'If you think you are too small to make  a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito'        Dalai Lama