Skip to content

Freedom Won and Lost and Won Again: The Journey of Nicaragua

July 16, 2010

By Suzanne Rumsey

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Ay Nicaragua, Nicaraguita
La flor más linda de mi querer
Abonada con la bendita, Nicaraguita
Sangre de Dirianjen
Ay Nicaragua
Sos más dulcita de la mielita de Tamagás
Pero ahora que ya sos libre Nicaragua
Yo te quiero mucho más
Yo te quiero mucho más

Oh Nicaragua, little Nicaragua
The most beautiful flower of my love
fertilized with the blessed blood of Diriangen*
Oh Nicaragua you are even sweeter
Than the honey of Tamagás
But now that you are free little Nicaragua
I love you much more
But now that you are free little Nicaragua
I love you much more

*An indigenous leader who fought against the Spanish conquistadors
In 1979 in the wake of the triumph of the Sandinista National Liberation Army over the forces of dictator, Anastasio Somoza, Nicaraguan folk singer, Carlos Mejía Godoy, wrote this love song to his newly liberated country.  Over 30 years later it remains the unofficial anthem of this small, impoverished Central American country.

The cost of that “freedom” was extremely high.  Thousands died in the revolutionary war and thousands more would die in the U.S.-sponsored counter-insurgency war (known as the “Contra” war) of the 1980s.  When I first visited Nicaragua in 1986 — and subsequently lived there for a year in 1989 — at the height of that war, the Sandinistas and the people of Nicaragua were struggling to maintain their hard won freedom and the dreams of their revolution: education, health care and a measure of dignity for all.  A crippling economic embargo, the destruction of infrastructure and the loss of so many sons and daughters led, in 1990 to the defeat of the Sandinistas in national elections.
Formed and shaped by that struggle were a number of young Christian medical professionals who, in 1984 formed Christian Medical Action.  From small beginnings, CMA is now a highly respected national NGO with almost 100 staff working in Nicaragua’s poorest communities in the autonomous regions of the Atlantic Coast and the northern department (province) of Matagalpa.  Since 1995 PWRDF has partnered with CMA and in 2006 in consultation with CMA, began to direct its funds to the Matagalpa program.  A network of community medicine dispensaries, programs in preventative health care, and a growing food security program anchored by four “land banks” where landless farmers receive land through low interest loans, and training in sustainable organic agriculture, are some of the elements of CMA’s integrated community health and development program in Matagalpa.
On a visit to the farming community of San Jacinto, its leadership of women, youth and elders spoke about the “freedom” they have gained since settling there in 2000.  Though still impoverished the community now boasts an elementary and pre-school, three churches, housing, latrines, a road (very bumpy, but a road nonetheless!), a milk cow program for women and children, and most recently, the construction of a Casa Comunitaria (Community Hall) where we met.  All of these projects, together with such indicators as improved nutrition among San Jacinto’s children, are evidence of a community that, together with CMA, is slowly but surely creating the dignified life that the revolution promised so many years ago.  When asked what their hopes for the future were a community elder presented a list of 17 projects of various shapes and sizes; everything from bringing electricity to San Jacinto to ensuring a successful May 30th Mother’s Day celebration, to a family-based reforestation project.
Dr. Reyna Cordero (waving in the picture, left), a dynamic medical doctor specializing in epidemiology, coordinates the Matagalpa program.  In conversation she described how she came to this community health work through her experiences as a young medical student in 1988, when she was part of the effort to bring aid to the communities impacted by Hurricane Joan.  In San Jacinto she observed that the list of projects was a wonderful mix of community initiatives along with those which would require support from CMA and various levels of government.  “Clearly”, she told them, “you are not simply waiting for others to help, but you see projects that you have the capacity to carry out yourselves.”
Reyna also spoke with the people of San Jacinto about the centrality of the relationship between PWRDF and CMA’s beneficiary communities.  “This is not simply a financial relationship”, she explained, “but a human relationship, between members of the Anglican Church in Canada, with San Jacinto and many, many other communities.” 
Freedom was won in Nicaragua in 1979.  While it has never been completely lost in the three decades since then, it has had to be won over and over again in large and small ways by individuals, communities, and those who accompany them.   Through its support for the work of CMA, PWRDF continues to be a part of those efforts that seek to offer a measure of dignity — and freedom — to the people of Nicaragua.
But now that you are free little Nicaragua,
I love you much more.

All News Posts

For media requests please contact Communications Coordinator Janice Biehn at (416) 924-9199;366.

Featured

Latin America Caribbean Stories

Nicaragua Stories