Francisco Artiaga. The name is burned in my skull. This is the month of reckoning. In the next two weeks, he’ll be reunited with his family, hopefully.
I remember sitting down on the bench, nervous, as my first time performing an eye-examination - in a Nicaraguan prison, no less! [...]

I followed her down the alleyway. My eyes kept shifting from one side to the other expecting someone to jump out. Daylight streamed between the buildings. I was glad it was daytime, I wouldn’t want to be caught out here at night.
She stopped and pulled on the caged door resembling a jail cell door and [...]

The morning we taught at the Verbo Christian School, I had a chance to walk amoung the students and capture their expressions while the rest of my team was at the front of the assembly teaching a bible passage, and singing songs (with the appropriate translations by Pastor Eduardo of course).
Some of my best photos [...]

On the first afternoon we were in Bluefields, we pumped up some soccer balls we brought along from Toronto. We went out onto the street and started kicking it around. Like bees to a flower, kids slowly started to show up and before you knew it, there were 7 boys playing football (soccer for you [...]

Each day when we were in Bluefields we spent it doing construction, administering the locals, or doing an eye glasses clinic. While the work was draining in the warm and humid weather, the daily reminders of the needs in this little city erodes the soul. Poverty, joblessness, addiction, teenage pregnancy, domestic abuse…
In face of such [...]

In Bluefields, addiction is an increasing problem. Alcoholism is common, but now drugs are appearing on the streets.
This photo I snapped while traveling in a bus on my first day in Bluefields. It was early in the morning and this young man is already drinking.
Remarkably, I think this photo touches on many of the issues [...]

On the 4th day of our Mission in Bluefields, we had the opportunity to go to the Rock Quarry (for more information about the Quarry, see this post I wrote earlier).
What impacted me the most was the children who lived and worked within the quarry. It’s very difficult to see children break rocks so that [...]

Earning a living in Bluefields, Nicaragua can be difficult. What some families have done is live and work inside the rock quarry. The rock quarry, located around the corner from the Verbo Church, is home to dozens of people including young children and babies. These people make their living by digging up large volcanic rocks [...]