La Chureca Landfill

It's been a while since I first set foot on that landfill. One of the largest landfills in Nicaragua. The moment I entered, my world was transformed and awareness never left my side again. It was on that day that I witnessed true abandonment, despair and poverty inconceivable to many.A vivid canvas of humans, animals and trash became engraved into my heart where despite living under deplorable circumstances, the human spirit still remained. And if you ever doubt there is a hell, La Chureca could serve as a model: the stentch of putrefaction, hills of trash towering to the sky, burning trash and human consumed decomposed fodder.

It is now Christmas and I only wish for the despair of these people to end someday and for the world to become more frugal and conscious of the fragility of life. Value each day as if it was your last and keep the less fortunate in mind.

A Pedal Away

Great news my friends. My short story "A Pedal Away," has been published. After returning to my homeland Nicaragua twenty-one years after exile, I met a special boy. At that time the boy was one of the many homeless children that lived in one of the largest landfills, La Chureca. The day I entered the landfill of eternal despair, my life changed and I made a promise. "Tourists come and go, take my pictures and say they will tell the world about me, but I know they don't," the boy said while telling me his story. My throat knotted at the impotency of sitting next to him and not being able to relieve his hunger, fear and overall sense of abandonment. It was then that I made a promise. " I will write your story for the world to know," I said to the boy not knowing if I would be able to keep it--the publishing part that is. Now my story is out in Spain and I will soon receive my copy to share with all of you. A life well-lived is one where our hearts reach out to others without expecting a return.

The courage to tell a story!

My life and that of my family have been guided by courage and perhaps a destiny to tell a story. I must now shower with courage in an effort to tell an untold story. The type that burns within but refuses to come out. I know the courage will come, for only then will I be able to smile and say "I did it." I did what I could to help save whatever is left of our precious rain forests. Only then, would I have kept the promise I made to a starving child, who lived under less than human conditions in one of the biggest landfills of my native country of Nicaragua. "Every one tells me they're going to help, but all I really want is for people to know that I exist."

With this blog, I take the first step of courage and begin to walk without turning back towards a world unknown to many but dearly engraved within my soul.

Haiti

Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Americas, second to Haiti. These two countries share an unfortunate fate of poverty and now earthquake tragedies. Nicaragua's 1972 earthquake, along with war, greed and corruption left the country devastated and with a heart-shattering calamity. For instance, how can we explain innocent children living in landfills like "La Chureca?" It is my honest belief that as one family that share Mother Earth, we must help each other overcome the perils of misfortune. A single gesture of affection, care and solidarity goes a long way in countries that at times, seem to be forgotten by the rest of the world. As we can see, nothing remains the same, for today we might be on top of the tallest peak and tomorrow we might find ourselves in the abyss of the sea.