Mission of Hope to build complex in Nicaragua
By SUZANNE MOORE
Features Editor, Plattsburgh Press Republican
July 20, 2009
PLATTSBURGH — First, North Country Mission of Hope found a place in the hearts of the Nicaraguans it helps; now, it will establish a permanent physical presence in the Central American country. The Plattsburgh-based humanitarian aid group is nearing completion of purchase of an almost 1.5-acre piece of land in Chiquilistagua, Nicaragua, where construction will soon begin on a multi-phase facility. Phase one on the project financed by the George and Shirley Moore Foundation includes a medical clinic, offices and an adult-education/meeting center.
That first phase will take the shape of an L, with phase two completing a Spanish-style building with a courtyard in the center, said James Carlin, chairman of Mission of Hope’s Land Acquisition Committee. The expansion would include dormitories for large mission groups to stay; now they are housed in a building on the adjacent compound on Niño Jesus de Praga School, but there’s no guarantee that will continue indefinitely, Carlin said.
“We have to ask (the Carmelite) nuns who run the school) every time we schedule a mission if the facility is free,” he said. As well, Mission of Hope shares the present clinic space in the compound with another medical provider and storage room for supplies has become an issue.
“For the long-term sustainability of the mission, I think it’s a good idea that we have our own facilities,” Carlin said.
Mission of Hope began exploring the possible sites for a complex of its own in February 2008, settling on this one a few months later.
“It’s right behind the (Niño Jesus) compound, convenient to water, electricity,” said mission Executive Director Sister Debbie Blow.
It also offers good access for trucks that would deliver shipping containers of mission supplies and equipment, she said.
“It’s very flat, very developable,” Carlin said. “A very nice piece of property.”
Owned by an uncle of Mission of Hope Leadership Team member Oscar Flores, the land’s price tag is $40,000. A gift totaling $100,000 from the Keeseville-based Moore Foundation will pay that and includes $60,000 for construction as well. Closing the land deal has turned out to be a lengthy effort.
“The process is a little different down there,” Carlin said. “Much more government involvement.”
“I am ready and anxious to put the $40,000 in to cover the land and ready to do the other when it’s appropriate,” said George Moore of Keeseville, who traveled to Nicaragua last June to look over the property and see the mission at work first-hand before committing foundation funds to the project. Through his foundation, and in memory of his late wife, Shirley, he already contributes to various mission programs, including Children Feeding Children, which provides meals for school kids. After seeing the poverty there, Moore and his son Phillip wholeheartedly endorsed buying the land and building the complex.
“I saw places where there was such an extreme need,” Moore said.
The mission, which has already hired two security guards to watch over the property, will pay to complete the walls surrounding it. Carlin expressed hope that the sale would be complete in time for missioners who will be there from late July to Aug. 6 to acquire the building materials for the security wall. Then, by the next big mission trip in February 2010, he said, “hopefully, we’ll at least have the security walls up and the beginnings of our building there.
“We will pay just wages, hire local labor and have our people work alongside the people there as well, so it is a joint ownership of the mission’s next phase,” Blow said.
Already, she, Carlin and other mission members can picture how the complex will facilitate efforts to improve lives in Chiquilistagua and its environs. A door will be cut into the wall between the new facility and Niño Jesus compound so the connection with that community — especially with the children — isn’t diminished. Adults earning first-responder status will enjoy indoor comfort for their classes.
“Now, they are trained in the courtyard of the present compound under a tree,” Blow said.
“I’m as excited about this as anything we’ve done,” Carlin said.
After more than 10 years of repeat missions to the area, people have come to trust the American group, but, he said, a permanent facility will reinforce the commitment. “The mission is here, and it’s going to stay here.”