In Managua, Nicaragua, lies La Chureca (Spanish for "The Dump), a 100 acre landfill that is home to 1,500 people and new garbage every day.  Parents and children scavenge the heaps of garbage to collect what they can sell, and in return live off of what most Americans would consider pocket change.  Their homes are made from garbage scraps, which are often left with holes and breaking roofs, leaving them vulnerable to the hard rain that occur in winter.  Young boys are removed from childhood to work, and girls as young as 9 are encouraged to prostitute themselves to garbage truck drivers for money or even just a better garbage selection.  It is poverty and injustice beyond anything that can be communicated by word or image.

Forward Edge International (a non-profit organization in Vancouver, Washington) decided to do something about the injustice.  They bought a 2-acre plot of land about 10 minutes outside La Chureca and begun building homes for young, as risk girls within the dump.  A total of 32 girls have since arrived in the homes, named Villa Esperanza (Spanish for “Village of Hope”) .  This is where I will be working.  Villa Esperanza provides the girls with tutoring, mentorship, psychological counseling, teaching of trades, spiritual development, food, clothing, and more basic essentials that every child deserves.  What’s more though, Villa Esperanza  provides each of these girls with a hope - this hope will break the generational poverty that seems inescapable in La Chureca.

This trip’s total expenses accumulate to $2,100, and if you are unable to support me financially, that is fine.  I need prayer more than anything.  However, if I would be blessed enough to receive your funding, I would be grateful beyond words.  Also, if you have any questions about the trip, please do not hesitate to ask.  Few things give me as much joy as talking about the revival of justice in Managua, Nicaragua.  Thank you, and God bless!

In His Grace,

Isaac Livingston