Vance Neudorf is a team leader on a Canadian Badlands Passion Play Mission trip to Nicaragua to build a classroom at the Verbo School in Bluefields on the east coast of Nicaragua at the end of December.

    While standing in a long line at a toy store with a Christmas gift for my grandson, I spied a package of Kinder Eggs on the candy rack. My thoughts immediately went to Nicaragua and a boy about the same age as my grandson. We had visited his school and had brought a gift of 200 Kinder Eggs in Tupperware containers. As we left, this boy came running up to thank me. He had eaten the chocolate egg but didn’t understand that there was something inside the orange plastic ball. When I opened it and showed him the toy inside, he did the most ecstatic happy dance I have ever seen. It was as if that little orange egg contained all the treasure he had ever dreamt of.
    The children of Nicaragua have captured my heart and I consider it a great privilege to be able to help them by building a school in the city of Bluefields. Nicaragua is the poorest country in the Americas and the needs are great but the people there are hardworking and resourceful. It amazes me how much they can get done for so little.
    Ed and Ligia Jaentschke exemplify the Nicaraguan spirit. When a devastating hurricane struck Bluefields they responded by taking children into their home and starting a school in their back yard. The school grew and today it educates 350 students giving them the skills they need to participate in the rebuilding of their country. Many girls today work at breaking rocks into pebbles to sell to construction companies. The school is making a great difference in their lives. It is giving them hope and training for a better life.
    The Verbo School also works with children from the dump. These children sort through the trash as it arrives looking for recyclables and food. Our team works with the church to bring food to these families but it is difficult to realize that at times these children must compete with the pigs and dogs for something to eat.
    The children from the dump and quarry who come to the Verbo School are invited to stop by the church before school starts to have a meal. It is often the only meal they receive in a day and at times more than 200 children will show up for a bowl of rice and beans. We have been there on days when there was not enough to go around and the sight of hungry children being turned away was extremely difficult. The infrastructure was all there to provide a meal, all that was missing was 50 cents to buy the ingredients.
    The Verbo church has started a home for children who have to live on the streets just to survive but construction can only take place when teams arrive to help with manpower and funding.
    Children also suffer due to lack of medical resources. One child named Mario had his eye damaged in an accident and he had lost all hope of not being disfigured for the rest of his life. He was telling Ed that he didn’t even want to live any more. After leaving the hospital, we asked Ed what it would take to have the surgery and get Mario a glass eye. The total cost was $50 but neither the family nor the church had the money on hand.
    Our team contributed the funds and a month later, we got a picture of a much happier Mario. It is incredible how far our donations can go to help children in Nicaragua.
    At the end of December, I will be taking a team to Nicaragua to continue work on the Verbo School. A few years back we dug the foundation for a concrete building to replace the old wooden classroom building.  The new building is nearing completion and the school is already using the bottom floor. We will be working to get the entire facility ready for the students to use.
    For this trip, a team from the Canadian Badlands Passion Play will join me and we will be going down over the Christmas holidays to continue the work on the classroom building.
    If you would like be a part of blessing the Verbo school this Christmas you can make a donation by clicking here.
    It takes just a few minutes and any amount, even the cost of a Kinder Egg, will help out (the trip is through Samaritan’s Purse and gifts are tax deductible). This is my personal funding page and donations made here will go to support the Verbo School construction project. If we raise more than we need for this particular project, your donation will assist with many other needs.

    Drumheller is gearing up for a huge bash to ring in our centennial year. This year, the Badlands Community Facility will be the site for a once-in-100-years New Year’s Eve celebration.
    This will also be the first year such an event will be held at the new Badlands Communtiy Facility.
    “It’s quite a momentous occasion and something to be proud of for sure. We’ll be ringing in the new year in style, having a blast and getting started on a whole year’s worth of celebrations for our centennial. It’s something special and something we’ll never see again in our lifetimes,” said Councillor Lisa Hansen-Zacharuk, who helped plan the event with the Drumheller Centennial Committee.
    “There’s going to be huge fireworks right at midnight happening right across the river from the BCF.”
    To help everyone get home safe, the Valley Bus Society will be offering a shuttle service to drive people home within Drumheller.
    The New Year’s celebration gets the ball rolling on a whole year’s worth of centennial celebrations.
    One of the major events being scheduled is on May 15, 2013, the official day Drumheller was incorporated as a municipality 100 years ago when the coal mining boom was just getting underway.
    Plans include another dinner gala for that day.
    The biggest centennial event will coincide with Drumheller’s Canada Day celebration. Other, smaller events will be held throughout the year. Anyone holding an event throughout the year is encouraged to take up the centennial theme.
    Plans are also in the works to create a the Centennial Park, which includes a skate park next to the Rotary Spray Park and a outdoor amphitheater near the Aquaplex.
    For now, the Drumheller Centennial Committee is focusing on ringing in Drumheller’s 100th Anniversary.
    “It’s a kick-off to the centennial celebrations and I think it’s going to be a good one,” said Hansen-Zacharuk.