Children in the Oasis of Hope
by Gonzalo Ibarra, UBS Fundraising Consultant, Americas Area

Children living on the street
You see them by the traffic lights on the corners of the capital’s bustling main streets. Aged anywhere from five to 14, they are usually selling sweets, water or newspapers. Some offer to clean your car windscreen, shine your shoes or clear up the rubbish. Others simply give you an imploring stare and hold out their hands for money.
    According to government estimates, there are about 94,000 children on the streets of Managua. Some are forced to work from an early age by their parents to support their large families; others have left their families for good, preferring to take their chance on the streets rather than suffer physical abuse at home.
    These little children do not know what it means to be surrounded by the protection of a loving family, and as a result they are constantly exposed to the dangers of alcohol, drugs, sexual abuse, glue sniffing, petty crime, gangs and prostitution. In the face of this need, the Bible Society of Nicaragua wants to reach them with the message of the Bible, and together with the churches, to help them understand that they can find hope and assurance in God.

NICARAGUA — One morning in September, I set out from the Bible Society of Nicaragua’s offices in Managua with General Secretary Freddy Fonseca and a dozen staff for the district called Hugo Chavez, in the suburbs of the capital, to see how one of their projects was developing. This is the Bible Society of Nicaragua project that has moved me most.

It wasn’t the misery I saw there – there are other places where the situation is far worse. Nor was it the lack of resources in the school which young Señora Rosa runs on the earthen-floored patio of her house, looking after more than 100 children single-handed. The scene that greeted us there was amazing: children were crowded chaotically on tables and chairs, with no exercise books or pencils, and seemingly with a complete lack of any of the basic resources which would enable them to receive a decent education – in spite of the enormous effort and love which Señora Rosa was showing them, for which she receives the handsome salary of US $30.00 per month!

What I found so moving that day was the children’s affection, and their faces full of hope and joy as they welcomed us and we unpacked the Scriptures, toys and school materials which the Bible Society had brought them. This was what made it into such a precious experience, one for which I will be forever thankful to God – and to Freddy Fonseca for asking me to come and see this Oasis of Hope for myself.

Among all the children that day, there was one in particular who stole my heart and affection. His name was Alvaro, a little boy of barely two, who, together with his little sister Kaire, came to the school in Hugo Chavez to get the gifts which the Bible Society brought. It was very exciting to see in little Alvaro’s expression how his impatient eyes opened wide and shone as he opened the only present, perhaps, that he has ever received in his life…

That day those children discovered that God loves them and that he makes himself known through the incredible work that the Bible Society has now been doing among them for more than six years. So far more than 42 per cent of the children have attended continuously and more than 20 can testify to their lives having been changed thanks to the Bible and the Bible Society’s work.

As we said goodbye to the children, it was with the prayer that this program might win more financial support, and the hope in my heart that some day I will see little Alvaro become a man whose life was changed… thanks to the Oasis of Hope.

This story refers to project 83200. (WR 406/11 - 11.06)