Tethering Post One

A Letter from Justin Sundberg, serving in Nicaragua

March 2017

Callout:
Isaiah 35:5: “I have called you to live right and well . . . to make a start at bringing people into the open, into light, opening blind eyes.”

Gorgonio Castro makes us smile. His interesting name, “Gorgonio,” perhaps unique in all of Nicaragua, has only 513 instances worldwide. It comes from the word “Gorgons,” three Greek mythological monsters, Medusa being the most famous of them. But what makes us smile most is Gorgonio’s self-assessment. He told us he used to be “blind”!  

Renée and I recently spent time with Gorgonio at his home in a very remote area of Nicaragua close to the border of Honduras. We were in a community called “Tethering Post One (Bramadero Uno).” If we had not been close to Honduras, one might have thought that we were not close to anything. But the Nicaraguan ministry for which we work, The Council of Protestant Churches (CEPAD), seeks to work in isolated communities like Tethering Post One because they tend to be the neediest and are typically overlooked by other organizations. CEPAD believes that God’s heart is bound to everyone everywhere, especially those who struggle to care for themselves, those most vulnerable to drought, climate change and sickness. So it’s in these places that we set down roots for five years, enough time to help people learn how to grow more food, healthier food, and to organize and write solicitations persuading local governments and NGOs to say “Yes!” to their proposals requesting electricity, health centers, potable water and roads connected to their communities.

Though not close to a city or town, Tethering Post One is certainly close to beauty—beautiful people with many beautiful skin hues to match the multitude of peoples who have settled this country, and beautiful, volcanic-rich soil, though sadly void of crops due to drought, cost-prohibitive seeds and the inability to combat plagues that destroy crops. The exceptions are Gorgonio and the cadre of others receiving training from CEPAD.

Gorgonio spoke with us and explained: “I was a tenant farmer. And I saved and sweated to buy this land,” land that stretches out in an undulating fashion.

Gorgonio’s HUGE squash

“But I never grew anything on my land,” he continued. “I was blind. I didn’t have any plants before I started working with CEPAD. We began to learn how to create ditches and contour lines to conserve water and prevent erosion. I’m also working on two compost piles. . . . I’m growing avocado, mango, yucca, squash, papaya, oranges, golden spoon [a small yellow fruit] and rambutan [a small red fruit]! I have 70 plants in total and [am working toward] 25 varieties of produce. We are even learning how to graft trees, and I have made the ‘Mango Rosa’ my favorite mango variety!”

This volume and variety of produce is a HUGE deal for someone who previously struggled to grow beans and corn. Gorgonio now has HUGE pride in what he is doing. HUGE health benefits for his family. And he is a HUGE inspiration to neighbors around him, some of whom are now entering their own cycle of training.

Organic compost

CEPAD’s training allows farming trainees to gather and learn best practices from each other, then introduces new techniques in regional workshops. In these workshops, people learn how to make organic pesticides and fertilizers from local resources and are introduced to new vegetables and fruit that will complement a diet typically composed only of corn, beans and rice.

Gorgonio, who previously felt lost because he was unable to grow food for himself and his large family, now beams when he talks about his hard-won farming victories.

Your partnership with us in Nicaragua makes this happy blindness-giving-way-to-sight ending possible. Thank you! CEPAD will continue to work with Gorgonio, his community, and 40 other communities until 2019, when it will switch to 40+ new communities.

Thank you for walking alongside of us

For Renée and me, Gorgonio’s story beckons us to strain to see, to really see, and to trust Christ to lead us from darkness when it hovers around us. Your friendship has the same effect for us. Thank you for praying for us, for caring for “the least of these.” Now with over three years in partnering with CEPAD, more than ever we can say that, as North Americans and Nicaraguans, together we are helping to grow food in our lives, both materially and spiritually.

Please continue with your strong support to help keep our eyes, and the eyes of the thousands of CEPAD community members, set on work, on possibilities and on land and lives becoming fertile, ready for planting and growth. We especially thank you for your commitment to CEPAD, our Nicaraguan partner of Presbyterian World Mission with whom we have worked since 2014.

May this letter find you tethered to the hope we have in Jesus Christ.

Justin and Renée