Harmony Bible Church goes to Nicaragua

A 16 member team from Harmony Bible Church, Danville, IA, traveled to Nicaragua February 6-14th, to address water needs.

The first leg of the trip took the team to Ometepe Island. This island is known for beautiful landscapes, hospitality & two volcanoes rising out of Lake Nicaragua. Amid all of this beauty however, is a dark reality. Raw sewage, 32 tons or 70,000 pounds are being released into the lake daily! This is the very water the islanders use to bathe, launder, cook with, fish in & drink!

The team was successful in installing 2 water systems, produced by International Water Management Systems out of Washington, IA. These chlorine producing units & filtration systems are now providing clean drinking water at a school in Las Pilas & a rural medical clinic located in La Corazol, on the island.

The team finished out their time serving in Nicaragua at a city dump located outside the capital city of Managua. The area known as La Chureca is where 1,000 people who wear, eat and live in trash. Children spend up to 12 hours a day foraging through piles of tires, cardboard and dead animals. In the center of the dump there is a school named La Esperanza. A place where the children can retreat from the harsh reality of their daily lives. The team was able to place another water system at the school and spent time loving on the children who endure unimaginable suffering. We are hopeful that the simple provision of clean drinking water will provide an improvement in the children's health.

Making a difference one drop at a time....is the desire of the foundation, Pure Water for All, set up by IWMS. Dr Sandra, who runs medical clinics on the island testified to the difference the water systems are making. See testimony below:

"My name is Dr Sandra Villagra and I work in Ometepe Island for six years with Seed International Fund Trust (SIFT). I have known Todd & Marcia Baldridge for one year, working to clean water. There are 2 clinics that I over see that have water systems in place.

In the clinis I see 34 patients a week. After the systems were installed, I treated fewer people for parasites and diarrhea. The health of the Island peoples has improved. I prescribed a lot of Immodium and Flagyl before the systems. The people of the island are very grateful to Marcia & Todd for their big hearts and big love for us. Thank God for them & their church. Now, we have two new systems for the Corazol/Las Pilas people.

Sincerely, Dr Sandra Villagra; Central America"

Together, we truly can make a difference...

Mission team leaders to Nicaragua February 2009

Todd & Marcia Baldridge

Event Note: There will be a Team Nicaragua Presentation this Sunday, March 29th at Harmony Bible Church at 6PM