Buffalo, N.Y., Jun 5, 2010 / 11:10 am
Koty Mann will never drink a Coke without thinking of the homeless. During a mission trip to Nicaragua, the 16-year-old saw a man living in a shelter built from Coca-Cola and Dasani vending machines. “It never leaves your heart; remembering all the people down there is like a slideshow that keeps going through your head,” he said.
Mann and 16 others from St. Gregory the Great Parish in Williamsville traveled to the city of Hogar Belen-Diriamba, where they stayed with Mustard Seed Communities, a non-profit organization that provides homes for abandoned and handicapped children in poor countries. “They’re kind of abandoned in their country because they’re more expensive to take care of for their parents, and the poverty there doesn’t allow their parents to take care of them,” said Tom Warner, 15.
The largest country in Central America, Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Americas. The economy is still recovering from a civil war that took place in the 1980s and a 1972 earthquake in the capital city of Managua.
During the mission trip, the crew helped build a new home for the growing number of children cared for by Mustard Seed. Without the use of modern tools they spent the better part of a week in April mixing concrete with shovels, moving cinder blocks, shoveling dirt, and tying wires around support poles. The new house will be home to 16 needy children.