Emma Kline is one of our Passport Immersion participants. When she and her team were in Nicaragua, they came face to face with deep hopelessness. But we serve a God of hope, and Emma’s team brought that hope to the people of Nicaragua in a tangible way. This is their story:
The small village of Bethel, Nicaragua has 136 families. In the last few years, more than 70 of the men in Bethel have chronic kidney failure – more than 30 men have already died from the disease, as well as a few women.
70 of 136 families have lost their fathers, brothers, sons.
Although the exact cause of the disease is still unknown, the staggeringly high rate in this area is known to be directly linked to the sugarcane industry. Most of the men in this part of Nicaragua work harvesting sugarcane. The combination of long workdays in scorching heat, chronic dehydration, breathing large amounts of smoke after the fields are burned to crystalize the sugar, and extended exposure to the toxic chemicals the companies dump on the fields has caused an epidemic of kidney failure that eventually kills those who suffer from it.
This is a sad reality for the families in Bethel and other communities all around Nicaragua. My heart has been continually breaking more and more as I have gotten close to several families who have sick men in them. There is no one in Bethel who isn’t affected in someway by this disease. And young teenage boys whose fathers have passed away from the kidney disease have no way to support their families but to work in the fields and perpetuate the cycle.
One particular man we have gotten to know is Felix. He lives on the outside of Bethel with his wife and three children. His house is made of sticks and miscellaneous pieces of metal, which isn’t ideal for living in Nicaragua during the rainy season.
Felix wanted nothing more than to build a new roof so every time it rains the house does not flood. He has been wanting to fix it for awhile, but because of his kidney disease he is not able to work or afford to hire labor. The family is barely making ends meet with their son working in the sugarcane field.
Felix is an amazing man of God who has been praying for help for his family for a while now. And that is where we stepped in.
My teammates and I put money together to build his family a new roof. But our vision grew as God provided for more.
Not only did we build them a new roof – we built them an entire new house! In only a week.
Inside their house were a few cots and a stove, and that was all they owned. So we also went out and bought four mattresses so they can sleep more comfortably. The last touch we made to the house was adding on a front door. Before we started they didnt even have any walls on the front of the house, so a front door is a big deal.
This week has been so encouraging! I am going to miss Felix and his family when we leave, but I’m so happy we could impact their lives in such a big way while we had time. My favorite part was seeing this family smile and laugh for the first time in a long time. Felix only has a few weeks to live, and now his family will have a dry, comfortable place to live when he’s gone.
We serve a God of hope and abundant provision. Sometimes that provision comes in the form of young missionaries from another country showing up when people need help most and blessing them with a new home.
Can you picture yourself being God’s abundant provision and hope for someone? Apply for a Passport trip today, and soon you’ll be living stories like this. 
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