NCHA Assists Nicaraguan Earthquake Victims
Diocesan Press Service. March 8, 1973 [73072]
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The National Commission on Hispanic Affairs (NCHA) of the Episcopal Church recently sent $5, 000 to Managua, Nicaragua "to demonstrate the solidarity of Spanish-speaking people in the United States with Nicaragua" following the earthquake that destroyed Managua in December, 1972.
Not only did the NCHA send its gift; it also sent its executive secretary, the Rev. Jorge Rivera, a member of the Executive Council staff, to demonstrate a personal concern. "Not only did we want to make a grant; we wanted personal contact, " said Fr. Rivera, who recently returned from the devastated city.
At the encouragement of the Rt. Rev. Edward Haynsworth, Bishop of the Episcopal Missionary Diocese of Nicaragua, Fr. Rivera went to Managua and spent two days observing the destruction and the relief work.
In spite of the destruction, stench and hunger, Fr. Rivera said, "there is a new note. No longer do the people say, 'Managua is dead,' but, 'We shall rebuild Managua. '"
The Nicaraguan government expects everyone to help clear the debris, he said, and in payment the government provides food and shelter. " Everyone can work, " he said, "even the poor. "
The Episcopal Church, he said, provided uninterrupted services, though some of the buildings were destroyed or severely damaged. The Church's clinic, St. Luke's, was damaged, but the staff went to the streets to help the stricken.
The Church is sponsoring a mass therapy program on the one television station still in operation. Two television stations were destroyed by the earthquake. St. Luke's previously had a successful drug addiction and psychological therapy program in the clinic, the only project of its kind in Managua.
Not only did the Church, under Bishop Haynsworth and the Rev. William Muniz, the only Episcopal parish priest in the city, serve the immediate needs of the suffering and homeless, but it is involved in the development of long-range plans for all Nicaraguans, according to Fr. Rivera. "They accept this as an opportunity to make a unique contribution to the whole society, " he said.
The Episcopal Church, Fr. Rivera said, is one of the few churches to make relief grants with "no strings attached. " The Episcopal Church, through the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief and Interchurch Aid, sent $10,000 immediately after the disaster, and more than $120,000 has been contributed to date to a special Nicaraguan Emergency Relief fund.
Fr. Rivera said that the NCHA contribution was given "undesignated," left to the discretion of the Episcopal Church in Nicaragua" as to its use.