The History of Limonal

This poor village of about 1,500 people is situated between the garbage dump, the septic field of the nearby city, and a graveyard–an place the locals call “the triangle of death”. In 1998, Hurricane Mitch hammered this area, killing many and leaving over 350,000 Nicaraguans homeless. As squalid as this piece of land was, no one else wanted it and so refugees moved in, building makeshift shelters from the cardboard, plastic and tin that they scavenged. And so Limonal was born.

Before long the gangs came, operating drug and prostitution rings. They ruled Limonal through violence and fear. Some time later Osvaldo Bonilla, a pastor from the neighboring city, began to come to Limonal to help the people. A church was begun, children were being fed, and the first glimmers of hope sprang up. The gangs confronted Osvaldo several times, demanding that he leave Limonal to them. Osvaldo kept coming back. One day, the main gang leader told Osvaldo that if he didn’t leave, he would cut his head off with a machete and put it on a post at the entrance to Limonal. Osvaldo ignored him and went to meet with the church. The meeting was interrupted by the gang leader challenging Osvaldo to fight with machetes. Osvaldo told him that he would fight for the villagers, but with fists. The gang leader agreed, began to drop his weapon, then suddenly lunged toward Osvaldo, machete in hand. Immediately, one of Osvaldo’s young leaders stepped between them and told the gang leader that he would have to go through him to get to Osvaldo. At this point, with much of the village looking on, something shifted in the atmosphere. Suddenly the gang leader became unsure and faltering. He turned and walked away from Limonal, followed by many of his gang members. Just like that, years of harassment and intimidation were over.

There are so many problems in Limonal. Families do not have adequate housing to protect them; during the tropical storm season the roofs leak and the dirt floors turn to mud. Many of the men have abandoned their wives and children; those that have stayed are mostly unemployed. The air is full of toxic fumes from the burning garbage and the water is contaminated by the septic field. Many women with no other means of feeding their children are forced into prostitution.

And yet…

Osvaldo and his team provide meals for all of the village children 2-3 times each week. They have established a very basic school (no walls, few books or supplies, no desks). Sometimes a doctor and nurse can come and see as many of the sick as time and medicine allows.

Limonal is filled with huge challenges, but a more careful look reveals that these are really opportunities for great transformation. Paul wrote to the church in Rome:

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” (Ro 8:22)

Limonal–the men, women and children, and the very land itself–has been waiting for salvation to come in its fullest sense, changing every part of life. Clean water. Meaningful employment. Education. Medical care. Ample and healthy food. Housing that protects and comforts. The power of hope and spiritual renewal. The experiential reality that Jesus sees, cares and acts on behalf of Limonal.

Steve Stewart