(NICARAGUA) It’s one of the oddest sights. A huge sack of used dolls, dozens of smiling faces and bodies pressed against the side of a transparent plastic bag with an assortment of loose appendages settled at the bottom.

The dolls are castoffs from North America, either thrown out or given away by families as their children outgrow their toys. Through various commercial distribution channels, the dolls, as with clothing and other toys, eventually make their way to countries like Nicaragua where they are sold to vendors who in turn sort, clean, dress, and resell them to their customers. So rather than ending up in a landfill broken and rejected, these dolls are given a “new life,”—this time purchased for a fraction of the original price and without the fancy packaging.

Beatriz Navarra is one of these vendors who live in David Andino, a marginal community that is part of an urban renewal program that World Renew supports in Nicaragua. The program is very unique. First, three churches have joined together to provide leadership to this program. Second, instead of trying to identify problems to fix, the churches are building on their community’s assets and identifying issues that can be solved without bringing in outside resources. The main assumption is that no matter how destitute a community is, there are always latent skills and other resources that can be used to address issues in the community. What that involves is facilitation and networking.

Beatriz, like the dolls that she sells, has moved from brokenness and rejection to experiencing new life in Christ.

After surveying each of the 950 homes in their community, the program members made a 10-point action plan. In the next few years, they hope to build a green space for their kids to play, to start literacy courses for adults, and to organize clubs for the youth. They want to help some families get access to roofing materials for their homes from a government program and address some grey water issues that contribute to diseases that are spread by mosquitos that breed in pooled water. World Renew’s role is simply to facilitate the program process. There is one other goal. It is to address the domestic violence that is so prevalent in the community. That’s where Beatriz Navarra’s story begins.

I met Beatriz in her simple home that also serves as a small shop where she sells refurbished dolls and toys. Beatriz knew that I was affiliated with the urban renewal program, and she was eager to tell me her story. Beatriz said that her life changed when she started to participate in the domestic violence prevention program. There, she learned about the biblical model for relationships. Healing took place between Beatriz and her husband as they took steps toward mutual respect and learned healthy ways to manage interpersonal conflict. At one meeting, Beatriz committed her life to Christ. Her bitterness and anger began to subside, and she increasingly began to accept herself as a child of God.

Beatriz then joined one of the congregations in the David Andino community, and she is continuing to develop her spiritual life with the help of her church family. To some extent, Beatriz and her husband have been able to work out some of their differences, but they still sometimes fall into their old patterns of relating.

One of the blessings they experienced recently was the birth of their first child, after trying to conceive for nine years. Beatriz feels that God wanted them to wait for a baby until they could be good parents.

Beatriz, like the dolls that she sells, has moved from brokenness and rejection to experiencing new life in Christ.

Mark VanderWees

P.S. We hope to be in Canada as a family this summer. We are still working through our schedule, but as always we look forward to connecting with you.