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A young Nicaraguan enjoys mixing paint at a week-long Chinandega arts camp. A June 25-26 garden tour in Pella is raising funds so other Nicaraguan children can experience the same joy and learning. |
A Gateway to Hope: the name of the June 25 and 26 Pella garden tour says it all. Offering that gateway for the poorest-of-the-poor Nicaraguan children through week-long arts camps is the reason members of Friends of Chinandega (FOC) are sponsoring the seven-garden tour which offers events for children, for flower gardeners, and for vegetable gardeners.
Seven members of the FOC steering team saw the need—and the dramatic results of arts camp—during a trip to Chinandega this past February representing Faith Christian Reformed Church of Pella.
Coordinators of the week-long camps of the previous two years told them of the camp goals: building skills, character, and self-esteem through arts training. In a song repeated each day, the children were asked, “Who is special?” The song response is “I am! I am special.” The first days the children were afraid to raise their hands and sing that they were special. By the end of the week, they were shouting it.
Team members then walked house-to-house in Bayardo Arce, meeting residents and learning about the impact of the 2010 camp training in music, movement, and visual arts.
They heard stories of transformation. One boy, for example, told the team he not only learned to draw; he also made new friends. His mother verified that prior to arts camp, he was withdrawn and said little, either to her or to neighborhood children. After the camps, he became much more verbal.
Pastor Gary Hanson, an FOC team member, recalled, “I was amazed. How overwhelming it must have been for him to speak to seven North Americans who appeared in his neighborhood. In his shoes, I would have been scared out of my mind. He talked to us with poise and dignity.”
Some families proudly showed guests their children’s work from the arts camp. Several apologized for not being able to show the FOC team samples of their children’s work: it had been proudly shared with relatives living elsewhere. The arts are not part of public school curriculum in Nicaragua; those who wish to learn music, drawing, dance, etc. must pay tutors, and that is unimaginable for residents who subsist in these one- or two-room homes with dirt floors and tin roofs.
Hanson said he had started the day skeptical about the need for arts camp training. “I wondered whether it was worth the effort. Perhaps they needed something more practical in order to improve their lives.”
But the walk through Bayardo Arce changed his mind. “At each home, I heard a story of emerging hope. And I realized that you can have all the practical skills in the world, but if you have no hope, they will do you no good. And, for me, hope underlies the Christian message. We are bearers of hope!”
Gateway to Hope tour visitors can also be bearers of hope through their donations in the receptacles provided at each tour site. The tour goal is $3,000, which will enable 100 Nicaraguan children to attend the week-long camps. Receptacles for tour donations will be available at each garden.
Using a curriculum from Build-a-Bridge, arts camps are coordinated by The Nehemiah Center, an interdenominational Christian center of collaboration and transformation supported by several Pella-area congregations.
All seven gardens are open to visitors 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 25 and 1 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, June 26 are:
Van Klompenburg Gardens. 599 228th Place. An engineer’s vegetable garden with raised beds, irrigation, and row covers. Also a flower-lover’s perennial garden.
Vue Garden. 2209 West Washington Street. A huge Hmong vegetable garden, known for its immaculate upkeep and Asian vegetables.
Burg Garden. 509 Liberty. A veteran gardener’s vegetable garden featuring heirloom tomatoes and traditional North American vegetables.
Kuyers Garden. 506 Liberty. A gracious backyard garden with a patio, flowering shrubs, iris, peonies, and more.
Groenenboom & Kreykes Gardens. 1115 East Seventh Street & 17 Jackson. A two-for-one tour of adjacent gardens, each with a water feature.
Faith Church Community Gardens. Corner of University and E. 12th Street. A flower garden maintained by church members and individual vegetable garden plots for interested Pella residents. On Saturday, a garden tour tea, a retail shop, information about the Nicaraguan children’s arts camps, and supervised children’s lawn games are also offered here. Retail shop products include plants, Nicaraguan/U.S. garden art, cookbooks, Nicaraguan handcrafts, and almond tea rings.
Visitors may begin the tour at any garden. Tour guides with maps and a schedule of Saturday sessions will be available at each site.
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