The First Apple

I know there are lots of blogs... but I'm out to make something that can really help people. There are lots of things that I've seen and been through, and I feel like if someone were to hear about it, that maybe some of the gears inside of their head would start to move. Then maybe they'd do something in their life a little differently, start talking about the problems in the world that people might not know about. My friends looooove to come to me for advice, and I feel like I give some pretty good advice. I have a weird taste in music... I listen to almost every style, and my iPod (Celeste) is stocked with almost 10,000 songs. There's so much of me to come, but to start off, I'd really like to talk about a cause that has become very dear to my heart.

Last summer, I went to Nicaragua on a mission trip with my youth group. I had never really heard about Nicaragua before, and when they told us about the dump in Managua, where people live, I thought... well that sucks. That's awful. I would hate to live there. They also told us about the project where we'd be working - Project Chacocente (www.outofthedump.org). They take families out of the dump and give them a place to live, land to work on, and a place for the children to learn. They are taught how to make a living so that once they leave, they can support themselves.

Any amount of money you are willing to donate, please do. Their cause is so unique, and it makes an impact that goes beyond paying for food. This organization teaches them how to live in a beneficial way to themselves and their community. After spending a week with the families of Chacocente and painting their houses, I realized how completely selfish the people of America can be. I completely took my hot shower and all of those things that I feel like I can hardly live without, like my cell phone and computer, for granted. They have virtually nothing... yet they never stop smiling! They emit such happiness that we couldn't help but smile too.

When the day came when we would drive through the dump, I knew it would smell bad and it would be sad... but I didn't expect to be so emotionally overwhelmed. Driving closer to the dump, I saw people digging through the trash, sometimes eating what they found. Many adults were sniffing glue under a handkerchief. Trash was combusting everywhere. The stench floated in with flies, and made our eyes water... the smell so bad that we had to cover our noses and mouths. Seeing all of this, and realizing how drastically different this way of life was to mine... moved me to tears that didn't stop for hours.

When I got home, I felt so incredibly guilty that I started to not use some of my modern advantages. Instead of a hot shower, I took a cold one. I didn't touch my computer, TV, or cell phone for weeks. I felt like there was sooo much to be done, and maybe if I began to make changes, other people would too. I'm going back to Nicaragua in February. There's so much that needs to be done, and Project Chacocente is already starting to make that happen. That's just some of my experience from Nicaragua, and I hope that maybe you'll give a little bit of yourself to help people who really need your love and if that means giving them some of your old toys or old clothes, please send them.

Peace and Love,
yourgotogirl