Group from Schomberg heading to Nicaragua for humanitarian work

Ashley Boultbee, Connie Fraser, Marie Groombridge and Elinor Mitchell are all ready for their humanitarian trip to Nicaragua this coming Monday (Nov.3). they are seen here with just some of things they are taking for some of the families. Absent is Hannah Mizuno, who is currently doing volunteer work in Guatemala. Five Schomberg women will be offering their assistance for the next couple of weeks in Nicaragua, a country that suffers profoundly in political and economical conditions.

The women are Elinor Mitchell, Marie Groombridge, Connie Fraser and Ashley Boultbee, along with Hannah Mizuno, who is currently doing a volunteer project in Guatemala. This is part of the medical team organized through PAN Missions, an association made up of people from a wide variety of backgrounds and different parts of Canada. The five will be going as a group from Emmanuel Presbyterian Church.

The women will be leaving Monday (Nov. 3) to return Nov.16. The idea of their expedition is to go out into rural Nicaragua with a local doctor and set up seven day clinics.

It's a scary truth, Boultbee said, where in Canada people can access a beneficial healthcare system, whereas people in a Third World country like Nicaragua, which is the second poorest place in the hemisphere, cannot.

"It's a rural country. People have to walk miles and miles just to get to these clinics that we have set up," Boultbee said.

Nicaragua is poor because of tripling prices of food supplies such as beans, rice and flour. As well, they deal with the rapidly rising cost of gas, like in Canada, Boultbee commented.

"Also you need to take into consideration the 70 per cent or so that live in the very poor barrios who are finding it even more difficult to survive, let alone improve the chances of a better life for themselves, or their children," Boultbee reported.

They raised about $15,000 over the last year and a half through fund-raisers and barbecues, especially at Schomberg IGA. "All the money that was raised was towards our mission trip," Groombridge said.

Along with toys, toothbrushes, clothes and other accessories for families in the country they will be taking medical packs, which contain medicines donated by Health Partners International Canada. The packs are valued at $550 each.

"It's an administrative fee, which people around the community have kindly donated their money to buy for us," Boultbee commented. "There have been some people who have individually paid the whole cost."

The women would like to offer a final thanks to all those who have helped them before they leave Monday. They'd like to thank their community, church and Schomberg IGA.