INTO

THE ZONE

Bosawas, Nicaragua
By Max Maudie

A woman carrying a baby walks past a church in the village of San Andres. The
village is in Nicaragua's Bosawas Biosphere Reserve.
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Bosawas, Nicaragua
February 2016

At 66, Mario is old for

Nicaraguans Bosawas
tropical rainforest, and
hes suffering. Thats what
10 badly decaying teeth
do. They leave you in
chronic
pain
and
threaten
widespread
infection.
Mario got word a dental
brigade was setting up
shop in Pamkawas, a
village of about 250
families on the shores of
the Rio Coco River, so
one sunny February
morning he pulled on his
rubber boots, shouldered
his backpack (a canvas
sack) and hiked off.

Mario, above, hiked hours through Nicaraguans Bosawas tropical

rainforest to get to a volunteer dental clinic. Left page, bottom,
some of the boats the Canadian dental brigade used to get down
the Rio Coco River, finally stopping at the village of San Andres,
pictured at top left.

Three hours later, Mario

trooped into the clinic
triage room, one of a
couple of schoolrooms
perched along the edge of
the village. Volunteers
with
Edmonton-based
charity
Change
for
Children had floated in by
dugout canoe after dawn
and quickly set up a clinic,
including a generator and

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air compressor.
My morning highlight had
been an example of
typical rainforest fun; A
volunteer had howled,
then chuckled, when
something (a bat?) had
flown from the pit of the
outhouse where she was
doing her business.
Mario's arrival trumped

that, though. A translator

listened intently as the
words of his story rolled
over his painful teeth.
Volunteers were so
moved by Mario's long
walk and rotting mouth
that he was bumped up to
the front of the dozens in
line. His visit could take
hours, too, so best to get
off to a quick start.

On the left page, villagers line up to get care at a dental clinic in San Andres. Above
left, a boy walks at dusk through the village of San Andres. Twins, right, were born in San
Andres days before the dental brigade arrived.
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Sugary beverages (above left) aren't hard to nd, even in villages nestled deep in
rainforest, nor is it difcult to nd rotting teeth. On the page at right, two dentists
work on patients in an improvised operator.
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Mario was one of 78

patients that day, and what
was in his mouth accounted
for 10 of 117 teeth
extractions, teeth pulled by
dentists hunched over
tables and planks covered
by black garbage bags,
surrounded by makeshift
work benches and delivery
carts.

Through the five clinics in

three communities, the
volunteers three dentists,
supported by hygienists,
dental assistants, and
general volunteers who
sterilized
equipment,
comforted and calmed
patients and set up and
managed infrastructure
would treat almost 500

locals, yank 807 teeth, fill

83, and clean 77 sets of
champers. The volunteers
work was tireless in hot
and humid conditions. And
while there was no
grumbling, there was a
lot of laughter and
camaraderie.

Change for Children

(CFC) president and Educ
dentist Sony Shara a
friend of mine for nearly
20 years is modest
about their work.

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we're trying to minimize

the pain these people live
with, said Shara. It
doesn't seem like much,
but hundreds of people
are in less pain when we
leave.

Educ, Alta., dentist Sony Shara holds a young patient in

the village of .
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When the United Nations

Educational,
Scientific
and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO)
declared
Bosawas a biosphere
reserve in 1997, there
were only about 130,000
inhabitants
scattered
across its 20,000 square

kilometers. Bosawas is the

largest protected reserve
in all Central America.
The indigenous Mahayana
and Miskito people are
mostly
subsistence
farmers, living off crops of
beans, rice, cacao, and
maize. They also raise
animals. Their villages are
homes to animals such as
cows, pigs, chickens, and
turkeys, and the animals
run free through the
rough streets of dust and
the paths and fields of
grass and dirt.
To the foreign eye, it
seems the locals live in
squalor. There is little to
no electricity, no running
water and no plumbing.

A young girl processes rice for animal feed in the

village of San Andres.
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A puppy looks on as a boy chops a coconut in the village of San Andres. On the
right, a cow grazes freely in the village.
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Kids pound rice with

pestles as tall as
themselves and mortars
that climb to their wastes,
livestock runs free, and
the shack-like homes
often seem like they're
going to fall apart under

your feet. Its like one had

floated into town in a
time-machine canoe.
There are signs of
modernity, though. The
odd cellphone, a nice
radio, even a satellite dish

here and there. Though

those
signs
aren't
ubiquitous like in North
American society, its
obvious modernity is
creeping in. Among other
work, CFC is easing that
inevitable transition.

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CFC raises money and

partners with communities
in Latin America and Africa
to build schools, dig wells,
distribute Eco-stoves and
more, as well as promote
health and human rights.
Its not so much that CFC

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is in Bosawas to guide
the indigenous people
to somewhere better;
Edmonton's Bill Hal lam,
past CFC president, said
theres synergy in the
relationship.

walking beside them,

not leading them, Hal
lam told me as we
chatted in the village of
San Andres, CFC home
base in the region and
home to 700 families.
and were learning from

them. One thing we

learn from them is
they're happy. And its
not from an i Phone 6."
Not yet, anyway. While
some fear its inevitable, its
a creeping change. The
only highway in is a river,
the Rio Coco. And the cost
of big-screen TVs and i
Phones is far out of reach
of most Nicaraguans, but
certainly not all of them. A
walk through the Waldemar
in the country's capital,
Managua, illustrates this.
Indeed, Nicaragua is one
of the poorest countries in
the Western Hemisphere,
hindered by one of the
worst disparities between
rich and poor.

Above, a boy visiting a dental clinic ashes a smile. On

the left, villagers walk through an open field in San Andres
while, in the foreground, people line up for a visit to the
clinic.
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The people of Bosawas

are among the poorest.
Nevertheless, judging by
the villages I saw, they're
generally happy.
CFC nourishes these
communities by

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supporting the building of

schools and digging of
wells, projects the local
indigenous people
contribute to and are
grateful for, said Primitive
Centeno, 44, the former
president of the

indigenous territorial
government. He is crucial
in getting CFC into and
out of Bosawas.
Pamkawas, where Mario
got his 10 teeth pulled, is
Centenos home village.

education is a way to
success, said Centeno.
been able to see schools
built in most communities
and we have land titles to
still keep our culture safe
from the threat of
glottalization, he said

through a translator. we
still have our language,
our culture, our way of
living.
Certainly, though, that
way of living is changing.
Industrial beef farming is

becoming more common,

and a problem. Having a
cow to support a family is
one thing; Raising a herd
and then shipping it
across the river to
Honduras for a payday is
another.

On the left, a school that Change for Children helped build in Pamkawas. Above, land
being cleared for another school.
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The impact on the

biosphere is stark. During
the eight-hour canoe trip
down the river to San
Andres, it was common to
see the bald hills of
Honduras on the other
side of the river from

Bosawas cleared of
rainforest for cattle
pasture. Those spots
pepper the hills of
Bosawas, and they're
growing in size and
number, our guide tells us.
Erosion is also evident; Its

amazing that some spots

along the river remain
standing. Education on
Eco-friendly methods of
cattle farming, as well as
on alternatives to cattle, is
crucial. And, as the
people of Bosawas make

Cows graze on the hills of Honduras, right across the Rio Coco River from Nicaragua.
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their way into modern

civilization, so is support
from caring organizations
from outside the reserve.
The NGO Alexander Von
Humboldt Center is a key
partner in CFC mission.
They organize and plan

the building of schools,

bridges and wells.
Our trip into Bosawas took
more than five dugout
canoes, almost a thousand
pounds of dental-related
gear, and about 50 people.

Yet its the visiting

Canadians who come out
ahead. they give us more
than we give them, said
brigade leader Frank
Bessai. we take some pain
away, but they teach us
about community.

A footbridge spans a ravine in the village of San Andres. The bridge was built with the help
of the Alexander Von Humboldt Center.
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Edmonton's
Bessai,
whoas
been
into
Bosawas 16 times he
calls it the Zone
said creating music is
key to building that
community. He brings
his violin into The
Zone; Many of the
locals know him as
The Violin Man.

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In fact, two of the

Nicaraguans that CFC
works closely with
visited Edmonton in
June and, along with
Bessai, the trio played
a well-received series
of small concerts under
the name The Minstrels
of Managua. Natives of
Bosawas have visited,
as well. They meet
new people, tell new
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Freddy Martinez, left, and Silvio Ramirez play music in a

boat on the Rio Coco River.
stories, and share
Bosawas experiences.
It becomes a face-toface operation, even
though the groups are
often worlds apart.

the community always

grows and the umbrella
always widens, said
Bessai.

Maudie.com

A girl, left, colors in a coloring book at a volunteer dental clinic. On the right, a boy flashes a
smile while at a clinic.

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The sun sets over the Rio Coco River near San Andres, Bosawas, in Nicaragua.

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All words and photographs by Max Maudie.

Much of this work also appeared in the Edmonton Sun e 2016
max.Maudie@mail.com

A volunteer dental brigade made its way

into the deeps of Nicaraguans Bosawas
tropical rainforest in February 2016.
Journalist Max Maudie joined them and
in these pages tells a story about the
people the brigade helped and the
wonderful place they live.