Debbie Harrison and Abbey Green cried when they were there. They cried on the plane back. They cried once they were home from the missions trip.
The main reason for the trip had been to assist in providing medical care for the poor of Nicaragua, of whom there are plenty.
The Central American nation is the second poorest in the Southwestern Hemisphere, according to Nicaraguan Christian Outreach, the Louisiana-based ministry that arranged the April trip for members of First Baptist Church, Minden, La., plus the two Baptist women from Alabama.
Longtime friends Harrison, a member of Siloam Baptist Church, Marion, in Cahaba Baptist Association, and Green, a member of Uniontown Baptist Church in Cahaba Association, found out about the trip from Bill Wallace, director of missions for both Cahaba and Hale Baptist associations.
Wallace’s brother Jim serves First, Minden, as minister of education and administration.
“Well it’s just a win-win situation there (in Nicaragua),” Wallace said. “The church members go and they minister and they help people down there … and what they themselves get out of it is out of this world.”
The two women, who work together at Marion Bank and Trust Co., agreed.
Harrison helped the pharmacists. Green helped in triage.
That was out of this world enough.
But it was the day they went to the village of Kilombo — make that when they went to the village dump — and watched the orphans line up with their big eyes and empty bowls that really got them. That’s when they lost it.
“I wept for a week,” Harrison said. “One little girl even said, ‘Will you send us clothes?’”
That’s when she and Green decided to put their tears — and, after a little brainstorming, their needles — to work.
“We gave one week of our life to doing ministry work, and we wanted to continue to work when we got home,” Green said. “We decided to just start making clothes … pillowcase dresses for the girls and shorts for the boys.”
It was when they decided to involve the girls in their community and Bobbie Wheeler, Green’s grandmother, that things really started taking off.
“When we got back, we started gathering up supplies,” Green said. “My grandmother is a seamstress, and I asked her if she would help us out because Debbie and I weren’t ever good sewers. We sent out little fliers inviting people (to sewing gatherings) and telling people to bring friends, and we also went to (Vacation) Bible Schools and talked about our trip.”
The idea was that they not only could provide clothes for the needy children of Nicaragua but also could teach the school-age girls of Marion about missions and sewing.
“We were wanting to teach them a life skill and show them that you don’t have to give them money to help them; you can make things,” Harrison said.
It’s working. The group that grew out of Green and Harrison’s desire to help — Circle of Friends — has more than exceeded its initial expectations for production.
“Some girls, we have to pull them off the sewing machines from making dresses because they don’t want to leave,” Green said. “They’re so excited about it, and they’re so excited about showing their work and why they’ve made these dresses.”
Fifteen girls have participated so far. They meet at Wheeler’s house every other Wednesday.
The group set a goal of 100 dresses by Aug. 1 and far exceeded it, sending 300 dresses, 175 pairs of shorts for boys and numerous flip flops and sunvisors to Nicaragua with a missions team from First, Minden, earlier this month.
“You see what people have here and what they don’t have there, and it just broke my heart,” Harrison said.
“We hope to do this for as long as we can. As long as we have hands to help, we’ll keep sending [clothes].”
For more information on Circle of Friends, contact Harrison at 334-683-9501 or dharrison@marion-bank.com.
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