Women and men as corns: campesino/a gathering in Nicaragua

Natanael Disla, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Last October I went to Nicaragua, sent by the Dominican Republic Baptist Seminary, where
I study, to participate in a campesino/a gathering organized by the Latin American and
Caribbean Community of Ecumenical Theological Education (CETELA).

Corn is the main ingredient of Mesoamerican diet. It is said that women and men came from
the corn seeds, because they came straight from the earth. So it is important for them to
take care of the soil that produces the corn, wheat, and other components of the dairy diet.

We went to Loma de Viento, a community in the hills of Nicaragua. There they have an eco-
friendly community-operated hotel. There is no electricity, but they have managed to build
a power solar system. Turists come there to walk and explore along the hills and swim in
the Acayo river.

Agriculture there is sustained by the farmers and community. Funds raised by the hotel
room occupations supply funds required to buy the seeds and instruments to work the land.
Turtles and iguanas are raised there to maintain a proper balance in the fauna.

They have succeed and more and more communities have required workshops in order to
repeat the same experience that has taken Loma de Viento to gain sustainable lifestyle in a
rural context without power service.

Ten water springs that were taken away and hidden by deforestation and mismanagement
of soil use, have been found again, restoring hope and water for the forty families that live
there. They built trees around the river basins in order to protect the springs from dry
again. “Discovering again these water springs bring a new life to this community. We never
imagined that this could happen again,” said to us Jáenz Marcial Umaña, the manager of the
community rural project.

Churches have been an important part of this new life. After began working on restoring the
land, the Loma de Viento community partnered with the Inter-Church Centre for Social and
Theological Studies, of Managua. They came and bring their Agro ecological Formation &
Community Development Program, helping them in training farmers in agro ecological
techniques, forming rural animators in order to engage the entire community in this process
of change. Since then, they have become a successful communitarian tourism project.

But in most parts of Nicaragua things have not been like in Loma de Viento. Rampant
deforestation, lack of soil cultivation knowledge, have led farmers to use soil for other crops
instead of the ones needed for these types of soil, causing misuse and resource waste,
leading to impoverish the lives of their families.

Land contamination is a great issue in Nicaragua. Many farmers and their families have
suffered from diseases caused by improper use of pesticides. Many initiatives have been
formed to help the farmers to discontinue its use, but many parts of the land have been
contaminated, causing thousands of people to suffer for the rest of their lives. Every three
days a person in Nicaragua dies from Nemagon, a dangerous pesticide, part of the so called
dirty dozen, the group of the twelve most hazardous pesticide products.

There is a great need to rediscover ancient wisdom on the use of the land and soil.
Technocracy has permeated rural techniques and management of nature resources, using it
as another resource to gain money, rather than a living being, who demands all the respect
from us. When ancient Mayan people needed to use a part of the land to work it, they lifted
up praying to Mother Earth, and asked for forgiveness. For them, respect to environment is
core to organization.

When the last river has been drowned…

When the last tree has been cut down…
When there were no fishes to eat…
Then you will realize that even money can't feed

Indigenous quote

Other fellow theologians from across Latin America talked about the challenges their
communities are facing. Claudia Tron, from Argentina, presented a paper about the
diaconical work the Valdense Church of Argentina is doing in the Entre Ríos province,
working with farmers. Álvaro Pérez from Guatemala talked about the conquista mindset that
continues today in the paradigms of campesino people, that sometimes does not make their
claims heard by the oligarchy. I talked about the Dominican utopy of the areíto and batey as
new words of encounter with a new imagination, and the work we, as a theological
institution, are doing with impoverished dominican-haitian communities in the country.
Roberto Zwetsch from Brazil talked about how CETELA has worked along the years aiming
Latin American theological institutions to include environment care related courses in their
educational programs.

One of the most beautiful moments of the event was when Brazilian pastor and poet
Louraini Christmann read some of her poems that were inspired by the work she is doing
with farmer women groups.

There is a greater need today for people who love the land and its people, to engage and
incarnate in initiatives that can bring change where change is most needed. A
communitarian life where everyone cares for everyone, where everything is important like
persons; where the earth, animals and trees dance with people in a dance that never ends.
Other world is possible if we care for the Mother Earth, and ask for forgiveness and ask Her,
as our sister, Madre Tierra, Pachamama, to bind us together in this dance called life.

Natanael Disla is student of the Dominican Republic Baptist Seminary, in Santo Domingo.