Our time in Nicaragua’s capital city of Managua recently came to a close, and we have started our new work in Leon. While the work in Leon is exciting, difficult and exhilarating, the three of us are nonetheless missing the four girls at the Nicoya Mission orphanage who stole our hearts.
The three weeks we spent in Managua was centered upon researching the Nicaraguan system for dealing with children victimized by sexual abuse. In the entire country, there is only one orphanage that solely treats children who have been sexually abused; all other orphanages mix such victims with other children. Nicoya Mission, a private organization funded strictly by donations, provides the four girls living there with a psychologist three days a week, alongside an extensively trained staff and an around-the-clock security guard.
While we spent our mornings meeting with professionals in the field of youth services, our afternoons were dedicated to Ligia, Francisca, Damaris, and Jaqueline. Jenny had the wonderful idea that we write and perform a play with the girls. Our first day at Nicoya, we gathered the girls to discuss different ideas for the play. All four of them were so timid; we could barely get a word out of them! Eventually, we formulated the play’s plot, which was about a bear, a tiger, a shark and a crocodile who go on an adventure in search of “El Campo Magico,” a fabled field where everyone in the animal kingdom can play baseball together, where it never rains, where bats and gloves grow from trees, and where a river endlessly brings water to all who are thirsty.
The girls were apprehensive at first, but after a few exercises to introduce theater, they started to get really into the play. We convinced the security guard to draw the sets for us, which the girls painted. We made paper mache flowers and mushrooms, and we put together some killer costumes. Before we knew it, the big day was upon us. It was unbelievable how nervous the three of us were! We managed to gather an audience of about twenty people, and suddenly the curtain was drawn, and the girls were on. I have never been so impressed in my entire life! The girls hit every line spot on, their blocking was perfect, and their voices carried far and beyond our expectations! I cried the entire play. It was absolutely beautiful. At the end, the girls had transformed from four nervous, shy adolescents into outgoing, proud young women.
We were covered in tears when we parted ways on Sunday, but the three of us know that our work with the girls at Nicoya Mission has only just begun, and there will be much more of it in the time to come.
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