This is my first blog post. My name is Jason and I am a current intern in the Waves of Hope program located in Manzano #1 in Chinandega, Nicaragua. Waves of Hope is a Canadian based non profit organization founded by Jamie Collum and Ben Orton and Earl Cahill, that aims at eliminating poverty, creating sustainable jobs, and equipping community members with resources to better their living. I would like to thank every one of you that helped me get here to serve in this community. I love you all! OK, here we go, Dali!
It has been almost a month exactly since I landed in Managua, Nicaragua on May 30 2012. The date today is July 4, 2012. Although Nicaragua has had a tumultuous past, the country lacks nothing in environmental beauty. Hundreds of miles of beautiful beaches line the eastern and western coasts, thriving farms and <em>ranchos </em>populate the countryside’s all throughout the country, and rugged jungle volcano’s rise into the sky from the midlands, sea, and her lakes. It is a country flowing with ascetic beauty. It is also the second poorest country in the southern hemisphere with many families living at or below the poverty line.
I traveled here with a game in my heart. Baseball is that game. The children in Manzano #1 needed no introduction to rules of this game all they needed was a few balls a bat and some gloves and the games took care of themselves. Two days a week we gather up the boys and girls, jump in the truck and head to our home field in Manzanillo. The ride through our farming community as we pick up our boys cant be any different than if we were in some small town in central Texas. Loud and rowdy in the bed of a Mitsubishi is how I describe our 8 – 15’s. We are a sight to behold.
– “A beautiful athlete, forged and tested, too familiar with hardship, yet eyes set, gazing at greatness” –