MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1999
My Remembrance
By Carol Bidon I was raising three young children in the 80's but I listened to first-hand reports from Minnesotans who so bravely traveled to Nicaragua between '81 and '84. The seeds they planted eventually helped get me there to live for six years in the '90's.My first direct experiences with Nicaragua included two marvelous Pastors for Peace caravans. There were only eight vehicles in the 1993 trip, allowing the 18 of us to talk a lot and know each other well. Our caravan included a semi-truck-trailer leading the way, carrying a brick making machine for Miguel D'Escoto's FUNDECI project, driven by two wonderful labor union guys from Chicago. One of them lived part-time in Nicaragua, had fought with the people in the 70's and captured my fairly wide-eyed attention with what I then thought of as his "radicalism." We who followed, (constantly in communication via walkie-talkie) drove a little Chevy pick-up, an ambulancia converted from a family van, a brand new Land Cruiser, a couple of 12 ton trucks and Errol Edwards in a diesel car, destined perhaps to be a taxi, bringing up the rear. Errol was proud that we made it through every customs stop within hours and without bribes and arrived in Managua, three days early.
Our excellent progress through Central America gave us time for meetings with Fr. D'Escoto, Daniel Ortega, Violeta Chamorro, the amazing Baptist pastor who ministered to those suffering in the prisons and, from the Atlantic Coast, Ray Hooker and Francisco Campbell of Bluefields. That trip was the beginning of the most amazing adventure of my life! Thanks to the extra days, a few of us flew to the Caribbean Coast. It was the start of the rainy season and having experienced many blizzards in my native North Dakota, I was entranced by the blizzard-like tropical rains which lasted only hours and left us refreshed rather than snowed in. Smitten, I signed on with the newly forming University of the Autonomous Regions of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua and returned to Bluefields to stay for six years.
During those six years, I taught some English at URACCAN, established the Tia Irene Hotel and Bar/Restaurant in Bluefields, married a 'Coast man', acquired a Nica son-in-law, step-daughter and grandson and now have Nicaragua and her beautiful, hopeful, generous people planted in my heart forever! Saludos and abrazos, especially to anyone from that first PFP caravan who might be reading this.
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