Hope Travels Far
Maria needs a wheelchair to move around—but she didn’t have one.
Resonate Global Mission missionaries Jairo and Kelly Solano were able to work with a local church to help provide a wheelchair for Maria and meet other needs.
Isolated, Hungry, and Alone
Maria lives with her granddaughter Selena in a small home in the mountains of Nicaragua. The walls are unstable. There are no doors or windows. Rocks and heavy logs hold the rusting corrugated metal sheets of their roof in place.
“Their house is in precarious condition, which becomes a serious issue, especially during the eight months of the rainy season,” said Jairo.
Maria and Selena have trouble providing for themselves. About 30 years ago, Maria lost her ability to walk. She has visited doctors several times, but the doctors aren’t sure what caused her illness, and they don’t have a cure. Maria believes her condition is from a voodoo curse that someone placed on her.
Now in her mid-sixties, Maria lives with her 20-year-old granddaughter, Selena. Selena’s father—Maria’s son—died a number of years ago. Selena is deaf and doesn’t speak, so she has trouble finding work. But she spends her days caring for Maria.
The only access they have to food is through Maria’s son, José, who lives on the other side of the mountain. He works on farms, but the income is hardly enough to provide for him, his wife, and his three children. He gives what he can to his mother and niece, but there’s simply not enough food for everyone.
Most of the time, Maria and Selena live isolated and alone. Their house can only be accessed by foot. It takes about an hour and a half to walk from their house to a paved road, and then there's the long bus ride into town.
“They don't have any community support system close to them,” said Jairo.
So the community came to them.
Community in Action
Recently José learned about a church that helps to meet needs in the community. It’s the church that the Solanos helped to start a number of years ago. José asked for help for his mother and niece—requesting food and a wheelchair—and members of the church sprang into action.
They gathered food from their own homes—beans, plantains, bananas, milk, and bread.
But where would they find a wheelchair?
Resonate has a strong network of missionaries and ministry partners in Nicaragua—including a ministry center dedicated to helping people who live with disabilities. The ministry is called Tesoros de Dios. Kelly called Vinnie Adams, a Resonate missionary who works with Tesoros de Dios.
The ministry had a wheelchair available for Maria.
Testifying to God’s Goodness
Jairo and a few members of the church loaded up his truck with the wheelchair and supplies. They drove as far as the path would take them, and then they hiked with the supplies over a stream and up the mountainside to Maria and Selena.
When Jairo and the group gifted the wheelchair and food to Maria and Selena, they were grateful and overjoyed. They also spent time talking with their visitors, reading the Bible together, and praying for healing.
“I am humbled and overwhelmed at God's goodness. . . . God orchestrated this act of love for a woman who has spent the past 30 years of her life in bondage,” said Kelly.
Continuing to Witness
From their home in the town near the foot of the mountain, Jairo and Kelly plan to go back regularly to continue sharing the gospel with Maria and Selena.
“They believe in God . . . however, like many people in Nicaragua, their belief and faith are mostly an inherited tradition. They don't have a close relationship with Christ and a solid Bible-based doctrine,” said Jairo.
“Our goal is to continue to witness to them so that through regular monthly visits we may share our faith, share what the Lord has done in our lives, offer prayer, encouragement, bring any aid we can put together for them, and walk with them through their needs.”
