The face of the quarry - Bluefields, Nicaragua
Mar 22nd, 2007 by Jon Posted in Bluefields 2007 | 4 Comments
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 from the earth and break them into smaller rocks so they can be sold as construction material.
Each rock pile represents a day’s worth of work for an entire family and is worth only a few Cordobas (1 Nicaraguan Cordoba = $0.055 US dollars).
As harsh as this sounds, these people are making a living and earning a wage. Many other people of Bluefields are not so lucky.
While on my Mission here, I was blessed to spend some time with these people and be a witness. Now I’m back in Toronto where I hope to raise awareness to the situation in this small corner of Nicaragua. The sad part is Bluefields is not the worst of Nicaragua. There are regions far worse that need aid too, but where does the help start?
Technorati Tags: Bluefields, Nicaragua, rock quarry, Verbo, Mission
March 26th, 2007 at 10:29 am
[...] 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). [...]
May 5th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Jon, I just want to say that this website is awesome. It really is well done and an nice mix of your experiences and other peoples. I hope it grows and and grow so that others find it and Nicaragua. I am doing my part to try to promote it!
Cheers,
k
April 21st, 2009 at 12:23 pm
[...] the edge of the Verbo property is a rock quarry (see here for “The Face of the Quarry“) where families work by breaking large volcanic boulders into piles of smaller rocks which [...]
January 3rd, 2010 at 3:27 pm
I just came from Bluefields on a mission trip from our church on St.Simons Island, and a church from Savanah (Dec 26 - Jan 2, 2010). We went to the rock quarry also and gave out packets of rice and beans to feed 6 and flip flops and children’s bags. I too wanted to raise funds and hope for this community which is poor but not as destitute as the children and families living off the trash dump that I saw on a trip earlier in the day.
Do you happen to know the name of the rock they dig for? I need it for a project I am thinking about to raise awareness for them. I brought home a few of them.
Our church group has been going down for 8 years but this is my first time. They have a liason there who helps with getting things done so that they actually get done. I noticed that in the rock quarry there is a school and a basket ball court, the side walks,( I think that may have been provided by the mayor’s office) and a few churches being started. As I said they were poor but at least they had the dignity of being able to work and provide for their families though meagerly.
I think most peoples around the world only want an opportunity to work or own their own business. Even in the rock quarries a few individuals had a little store where they could sell rice or candy. But they were few and far between.
Pam