Stories - Nicaragua

Nicaragua Julie Marciaq, CSJ
from Trauma Healing and Transformation,
Chapter 4, p. 156

Panamanian-born Julie Marciaq, CSJ, is a healer who only recently discovered the amazing power of her hands. Julie's face radiates when she talks about her life journey that led her from a profession as a science teacher, through a family tragedy and personal trauma, to her current work with popular education center CANTERA, coordinating a group of grassroots healers in Nicaragua. Through Julie's inspiration and enthusiasm, a number of people from the barrios and rural areas of the country have received training in holistic healing. The role of these grassroots healers is very significant in a country where the majority of people do not have access to medical care. Some of them run their own small holistic centers, offering bodywork, acupuncture, and herbs to people. After Hurricane Mitch a quarter of the population of Nicaragua was left homeless. The grassroots healers went immediately to the refugee camps and areas most affected to work with victims of the disaster. The healers, who are themselves poor, recognize they have true wealth abundance of compassionate love and a healing power, that no money can buy.

Nicaragua The Women of Centro Antonio Valdivieso
from Trauma Healing and Transformation,
Chapter 5, p. 224

Nicaraguan psychologist Marta Cabrera, and Vidaluz Meneses Robleto, Director of Centro Antonio Valdivieso, are remarkable women who have been committed for many years to the work of consciousness-raising and transformation. Both women were active during the Sandinista Revolution to bring awareness and social change to Nicaragua through their professional work with the Catholic University, and within the political structures of the society. Through many challenges, struggles, defeats, and triumphs in the popular movement, Marta and Vidaluz have come to recognize the deeper dimensions of political and social change. A profound change of heart and mind in both person and society are necessary to form the basis of a revolution. Through their work with Centro Valdivieso in Managua they are commited to a revolutionary transformation of heart and mind in Nicaragua. The Center's projects include work with women in gender, nutrition, literacy, and development; aid and psychological support for refugees of Hurricane Mitch; a university scholarship program for youth; leadership development; a radio station for biblical commentary; support of civil initiatives against corruption; and ecumenical celebrations, forums, and debates.

Nicaragua Healers of the Grassroots
from Trauma Healing and Transformation,
Chapter 5, p. 233

Elba Ubeda and Alvaro Flores are living examples of the Partnership Model in Nicaragua. Both went through the trauma of the Contra War with brothers killed in the violence. Elba saw her two brothers massacred, and she described how afterward she was overwhelmed by feelings of anger and hatred. Both Elba and Alvaro have done much personal work to heal and transform their wounds into wisdom. Both have learned how to forgive and to work with their own attitudes and judgments. They have studied issues of gender and partnership, and are commited to modeling and teaching this to the grassroots people they serve. Elba and Alvaro are inspiring healers working both in natural medicine and theology, healing and transforming the body and the spirit of the Nicaraguan people.

Nicaragua Anabel Torres, CSA, and Popular Educaton
from Trauma Healing and Transformation,
Chapter 6, p. 236

An inspiring model in the field of Popular Educaton is Anabel Torres, CSA, founder and director of CANTERA, Center for Popular Education in Nicaragua. CANTERA, meaning cornerstone, has animated and empowered many grassroots people in Managua and throughout the countryside. In a country where illiteracy is again growing, CANTERA's work with those who have few resources has been very significant. CANTERA's program covers a wide range of topics including gender, holistic healing, legal rights over property, spirituality, early childhood education, agrarian reform, work with war and hurricane trauma, grassroots organizing, and popular education methodology. As a cornerstone, CANTERA is empowering the people.

Nicaragua Mary Hartman, CSA
from Trauma Healing and Transformation,
Chapter 5, p. 218

When I think of beauty and harmony in an environment, I think of Mary Hartman, CSA, who has lived and worked in Nicaragua for over thirty years. Mary's commitment to the people of Nicaragua has included working with the base communities, serving as a member of the Sandinista Human Rights Commission for the prison system, and now working with CANTERA, Center for Popular Education. Mary, as an artist, well understands the beauty and grace of energy flow, whether that be through human relationships and political institutions, or through a piece of art or bouquet of flowers she intuitively places in a meeting room. The simple beauty of CANTERA's new center, alive with flowers, trees, and art, is the work of Mary who recognizes that the poor who come there for workshops deserve to be inspired and nourished with beauty. In many ways the spirit and grace of this remarkable woman are manifest in the beautiful environments she creates around her.