By Carole Townsend
Staff Correspondent

Recovery efforts following a major hurricane such as Hurricane Katrina can last for years. A local Christian group is still helping Nicaraguans rebuild their lives after the devastation of 1998’s Hurricane Mitch.
Mitch struck Central America on Oct. 30, 1998, killing more than 10,000 people in Nicaragua and Honduras. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in Chinandega, Nicaragua, alone, and entire villages disappeared under volcanic mudslides.
Amigos for Christ, a nonprofit Christian benevolence organization founded and based in Buford, learned of the plight of the displaced people there and decided to help.
“When Mitch hit Nicaragua and wiped out entire villages, the government relocated the homeless families to a garbage dump and promised that help was coming. It never did,” said Sue LaFave, director of education for Amigos for Christ.
Seven years after Hurricane Mitch struck, 120 families have been moved out of the garbage dump and into temporary housing, LaFave said.
“We have finished building 40 houses, but the people all agreed that no one would move into the homes until they were all finished,” LaFave said. “They opted to build a permanent school first.”
Over the past year, other churches and even schools have offered their support of Amigos for Christ’s efforts in Villa Catalina, the newly founded community populated by the Mitch survivors around Chinandega.
“We’ve hosted 17 different mission groups to the area, and that’s helped so much,” said Patty Perez, Amigo’s director of outreach. “We have the houses, the school, a library/health center and a new water tower, which was funded solely by Sugarloaf United Methodist Church.” Before May 2004, the villagers’ sole source of water was a contaminated river.
“We’ve formed four co-ops,” said Sabrina Bland, a volunteer nurse and rural health coordinator. “We have an agricultural co-op, a thrift store, a pig co-op and we’re working on a chicken co-op.”
The villagers grow their own food and sell the surplus to generate income.
“The people are so proud and excited to see the mission workers when they come,” Bland said. “They want to show off their school and the crops.”
There are health practitioners, including surgeons, who travel to Villa Catalina. Mobile clinics now take care of the health care needs of the people. They have cool, clean water, “which has cut the health problems in half,” Bland said.
All of the work has been done by hand. There are no tractors, backhoes or concrete mixers available to the workers.
“The children haul buckets of water from the well to their homes daily. It’s hard work, but they’re happy,” LaFave said.

Amigos Outback Festival
From noon to 8 p.m. Sept. 17, Amigos for Christ will hold Amigos Outback Festival 2005. The event will feature local arts and crafts vendors, pottery made in Nicaragua, live music, games, a moonwalk, petting zoo and silent and live auctions.
Outback Steakhouse ribs and chicken will be served, and 100 percent of proceeds will go to Amigos for Christ. Local Hispanic communities will bring foods from Colombia, Mexico and other countries, and there will be Starbucks coffee and desserts provided by Prince of Peace Catholic Church.
“It’s a fun and safe way to spend a Saturday with the family,”  Bland said. Tickets are $5 each, or five for $15. The fiesta will be held at Rock Springs farm, 1405 Rock Springs Road in Buford.
For more information about the fiesta or to learn more about Amigos for Christ, call 770-614-9250 or visit http://www.amigosforchrist.org/.