Restoring the Whole of Life

Who would have thought homelessness would be the best thing that could happen to a youngster? But it was for Edwin Guzman, whose parents abandoned him when he was a baby. At age 12, he was alone and living in a park.

The chief of police gave young Guzman odd jobs to keep him off the streets and eventually helped him become a mechanic. Sheer determination helped Guzman finally finish high school at age 30.

Now a pastor, Guzman uses his mid-level degree in administration to solve community problems like an entrepreneur. His relentless passion to help the needy won the hearts of the people in the community. Often, however, he could barely provide for his own wife and four children.

But he found a way to teach his community to help itself through Food for the Hungry, who had partnered with several Christian organizations to form the Nehemiah Center. Pastor Guzman learned holistic ministry and began encouraging his congregation to “think outside the walls of the church.”

Today, his church is known for its integrated approach to solving community problems. Pastor Guzman creates an environment where transformation can occur, he’s working to help his community solve problems without outside help. “The gringos are not always going to be here,” he says.

What We Do

Nehemiah Center: Church leadership training, consulting and training for local non-profits, biblical worldview training for church leaders, and strengthening local community leaders.

Community health: Development of local teams of health promoters (volunteers) who are equipped with basic preventative health care knowledge and skills to reduce the incidence of common diseases. These health promoters also educate their communities about local, inexpensive dietary alternatives (such as soy) that improve nutritional intake levels.

In 1972, Food for the Hungry assisted with earthquake relief efforts in Nicaragua, and began its long-term holistic development work in 1994. In this disaster-prone country, Food for the Hungry has had several major relief operations, as well as other small responses. In September 2007, Food for the Hungry responded on Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast with a multifaceted approach that included funds for food and housing reconstruction, $2.7 million worth of medicine, and counseling for the survivors and their families. Efforts are ongoing in the western region of Chinandega that suffered from a serious epidemic of crop disease and destruction from a tornado.

A large number of Nicaraguans are small farmers or fishermen, making the impact of Hurricane Mitch in 1998 especially devastating; flooding killed thousands, left 20 percent of the population homeless, and destroyed countless bridges, roads, and buildings. Hurricane Felix hit many communities in 2007, leveling entire forests, destroying crops, and bringing further distress to people already reeling from a history of civil wars and natural disasters. The positive characteristics of Nicaraguan culture – family orientation, creativity, humor, hospitality, and persistence – are often offset by views such as fatalism, a mystical or ritualistic understanding of God and man, distain of physical work and those who do it, devaluation of women, hierarchical and authoritative leadership style, the absence of many fathers leaving youth who turn to gangs for social support, and the recent influx of consumerism.

You can assist Nicaraguans through the Nehemiah Center, which partners with churches, communities, and institutions worldwide to bring back hope. The name comes from the example of Old Testament Nehemiah, who led his people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The center exists to equip Nicaragua’s leaders to rebuild Nicaragua’s "walls," which similarly demolished by disasters, wars and catastrophes. The center offers preventative health and microenterprise, development programs, and biblical worldview training, the foundation necessary to nurture the future growth of this country and its people.