Nicaragua
April 2011

A Nicaraguan woman recently shared the following poem with one of our volunteers in Nicaragua. It is very moving and could represent any place on earth where there is violence and pain.

Nicaragua by Marco Morelli

I am in love with a woman raped
because in the sordid anguish of her wound
she has learned to love
and because her deepest need,
like my own,
is love.

I have opened my heart to disillusionment.
I am drowning in the catatonic waters of her eyes,
where dreams once splashed,
where independence torches marching in the night
once reflected.

Now she is mud and disease,
she is chaos and blood,
she is a hurricane of drunkenness and exploitation.

Still she is beautiful.

I sit alone at night listening to her mountains howl,
and think . . .
I swing her barefoot children in giggling wild circles
and fall dizzily smiling in the grass.
without machine, I dig her colorful earth
and lay, with blistering hands, an intimate foundation.

I let the flooding rivers of her disappointment spill over me
when there’s no money for the operation,
when the application to escape the hopelessness
has been denied,
when the relief aid hasn’t trickled down
and she’s hungry, hungry, hungry . . .

And I read her poems,
where she sings with fists and guffaws
her insurrection,
her solidarity,
her love.

I love a woman who was raped,
who continues to be raped
and who is not the rapist’s only victim.
oh, and though I haven’t known my lover long,
I know the rapist well.
I know the rapist well.

From: Sr. Debbie Blow, Executive Director – North Country Mission of Hope
To: Our Donors, Volunteers and Supporters

April 22, 2011

As many of you know, there are always ongoing investigations, concerns, challenges and questions that develop regarding well known charity organizations and their funding. In light of this sad reality, we want to, once again, emphasize the following with you, our donors and supporters:

First, each and every year, we are audited and our financial records are public and can be reviewed via the NYS Charities Bureau out of Albany. Soon, we will have a link on the Home page of our web site which will provide viewing of our annual audit as well.

Secondly, as we have very clearly stated since the beginning of the Mission, our goal is to insure that all donations go directly where the donor wishes them to go, whether that be to an orphanage, the feeding of children, our clinic facility or any number of other options.

Finally, we as a Mission, are firmly committed to justice…justice for the poor we serve and justice to our donors and supporters. To do anything else would be a betrayal of who we are and also a betrayal of the gospel values of justice that we profess.

We value your trust, we thank you for your continued support on so many levels, and we want to reassure all of you that “we are who we say we are”. We are transparent and we are a Mission of HOPE- committed to integrity, justice and compassion.