It all started with a dream, the dream of one guy to take a few of his friends to a town that he'd stumbled across the year before. In May of 2003, a group of 7 students from George Fox University embarked on a journey that would change their lives forever.
After a journey across the country of Nicaragua by bus, boat and plane, they landed in Puerto Cabezas, a town of 30,000 people on the Atlantic coast. They were welcomed by Earl and Demaris Bowie and introduced to the work that Verbo Ministries is doing there.
Verbo is very active in the community of Puerto Cabezas. It supports two Christian schools, which offer the finest education in the city, the largest church in the city, an orphange for kids and teenage girls and a discipleship center for teenage boys. The team found themselves busy teaching classes at the school, painting the orphange, delivering donated computers to the school and the church, and passing out dental supplies in the community. They were even able to help build bathrooms for one of the schools, which previously had two toilets for their 450 students. But most of all, they fell in love with the kids at the orphange.
When they got back, they realized that something special had taken place in that little town on the coast of Nicaragua. Try as they may, they couldn't forget it. They couldn't get those kids out of their hearts and they couldn't escape the idea that something bigger was happening.
In December of 2003, 5 of the 7 went back, bringing other friends and family members, ready to show them the amazing people they had met. They built a playground for the kids and painted the school. But once again, they spent a lot of time with the kids at the orphange.
A lot has happened over the last two years. There have been many more trips to Nicaragua and all involved have fallen in love with the people there. Teams have begun to do work in other communities, including helping out at a school in Somotillo and handing out worm treatments in the remote village of Krin Krin. There are two full-time staff members living in Nicaragua and a sponsorship program for the kids at the school in Puerto Cabezas is nearly completed. And somewhere along the line, TeamWorks International was born.
Numerous projects have been completed in Nicaragua and the relationships that were formed have continued across continental boundaries. While the goal of the teams has always been to help the Nicaraguan people, the greatest changes have occured in the lives of those who experienced it. And it all started with a dream.