| Situation in Nicaragua gave me a new view of the world  BY MARY E. KRAUS Eleven members of Dumbarton UMC in Georgetown recently returned from a mission immersion in Latin America with a very different view of the world. We went as Volunteers in Mission to help paint a primary school in San Juan de Limay, which was built a decade ago with the help of St. Johns UMC in Baltimore. We also helped paint the recently completed community center in El Calero and planted trees in this relocated community, which was built after Hurricane Mitch destroyed all the homes on the previous site. The team was composed of adults and youth, the latter all bilingual. We worked with volunteers from the communities, but we also spent time reflecting with the people of these communities, along with leaders from various non-governmental organizations and others steeped in the Christian Base Community movement begun following Vatican II. Two things had a strong effect on us. One was the current economic reality, which is staggering. The daily newspaper, El Nuevo Diario, printed these statistics: 84 percent of Nicaraguans live on $1 per day or less, 92 percent live on $2 per day or less. School teachers are paid about $60 a month, less than half of what it takes to support basic necessities. As we experienced the reality of those statistics in the lives of those with whom we painted and planted trees, we were faced with yet another reality. Our countries economic policies continue to contribute to this grave situation. High interest rates charged on loans multiply external debt. Free trade agreements, such as NAFTA and CAFTA work to economically enslave a people struggling to gather sufficient resources to simply sustain life. Most of us dont understand these agreements very well. I strongly encourage you to spend a little time reading about them and critically reflecting on who these agreements really benefit. Time is critical as the U.S. Congress hopes to pass the Central American Free Trade Agreement before the end of 2003. The second thing that affected us centered on our reflections on the Nicaragua economic crisis. A compesino trained as a Delegate of the Word within the Roman Catholic Church, began one of our sessions with the story of God calling Moses. It didnt take long for us to jump in with our own stories as one participant said, I ask myself, Where is God calling me? And I invite you to ask the same question for surely God has brought you here for a reason. As is often the case, such biblical reflection can make us see things we would rather not see. It becomes painfully clear from the Nicaraguan experience that the United States looks very much like the pharaoh that Moses had to confront. The United States has the power to enslave others rather than liberate. It often makes decisions based on greed and self-interest. It assumes the right to dominate smaller countries as it continues to use more than its share of the worlds resources. Admitting that my country is greedy and cruel to the people of other countries is hard to do. But day after day, our team heard stories of innocent people who suffer from our power. Every family we met had not only lost relatives in the war that overthrew the Samoza regime in the 1980s, but now had someone seeking work either in the United States or Costa Rica or another Latin American country because no jobs that can sustain life are available in Nicaragua. I ask myself, where is the hope? Where is the face of God in this crisis? And what I see is you, you who are reading this and who believe that Jesus came to bring Gods love to all of Gods people. I see you, you who are willing to hear and respond to Gods call even when you start out sounding just like Moses and list all the reasons why God must have gotten this one wrong so couldnt be calling you. What the Nicaraguan people reminded us was that God hasnt gotten it wrong. But we do have to listen; not only for Gods call but to all the reasons we give for not responding. What gives me hope is that Moses apparently managed to do that in the face of great political power, which enabled him to answer Gods call. I believe we can too. The Rev. Mary Kraus is pastor of Dumbarton UMC in Georgetown. She is on sabbatical leave until Nov. 30. | 
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