Home  I  Who We Are  I  What We Do  I  Where We Work  I  News   I  Projects   I  Contact Us   I  Donate Now  

Eusebio Osmar Vargas (Mayo)  and  Dr Gustavo Parajón

This last week has been one of great sadness for the Nuevas Esperanzas team.  Last Thursday we tragically lost one of our team, Eusebio Osmar Vargas, known to us all as ‘Mayo’, and on Sunday we heard of the death of the inspirational peace campaigner and Baptist pastor Gustavo Parajón, who had been with us in León only a few weeks ago to lead a retreat for our team.  We will miss them both.

Mayo, aged 37, had been with us since 2008 as a building supervisor, overseeing the construction of many rainwater harvesting tanks in rural communities in Telica and Somotillo.  Softly-spoken and considerate, he was greatly appreciated by the families he served in the remote hillside communities around his village of San Jacinto.  Mayo was conscientious and eager to learn, always looking for opportunities to improve his skills.  In January, a few weeks after starting work on a new water project for the communities of La Unión and Nuevo Amanecer, he was diagnosed with kidney failure.  He was recommended for dialysis and had been accepted into a programme in Managua.  Unfortunately, such procedures are often feared in rural communities like Mayo’s and his family was worried that if he went to the capital for treatment he may never return.  Renal failure is very common in certain parts of Nicaragua and dialysis is often associated with treatment given to terminally-ill patients in their final days.  Although he briefly accepted the idea, having been persuaded by his concerned colleagues, he decided in the end that he did not want to go through with the dialysis.  He died amongst his family and friends last Thursday evening.

The whole of the Nuevas Esperanzas team was present at his funeral the next day at his rustic house in the village.  Mayo’s wife, María de la Cruz, his two daughters, aged 16 and 13, and his son, aged seven, have lost a much-loved husband and father and our love and prayers are with them.  Despite being buried within hours of his death, many were in attendance from the remote hillside communities where he worked with Nuevas Esperanzas.  Many of those present have Mayo to thank for the fact that they now have water to drink at their homes instead of facing a two hour walk to collect it from the spring.

I first heard Gustavo talk at the Greenbelt Festival more than 20 years ago, but it was not until we revisited the same festival again last year during our time in the UK, that Jane and I got to know him personally.  Gustavo has been called many things and his extraordinary life cannot be summed up by any of them, but the three adjectives used in tributes paid to him since his death which seem most appropriate to the Gustavo we knew are ‘humble’, ‘unassuming’ and ‘inspirational’.  Never seeking the limelight he nonetheless influenced an extraordinary range of people from Jimmy Carter to Bono.  And yet he had time for anyone who needed an unhurried chat over coffee as we discovered last August in a tent at Greenbelt.

At his funeral in Managua yesterday, the most moving moment for me came when Gustavo’s granddaughter read a poem she had written about the many pockets in her grandfather’s guayabera, a linen shirt popular throughout Latin America which Gustavo often wore.  She told how, just as its pockets had space for everything from his keys to colouring pencils for children, Gustavo had space in his pockets for everyone.  Gustavo took a keen interest in our work, visiting us in León and including us in activities of CEPAD, the organisation which he founded.  He also became a friend to us personally as we shared ideas about music and politics and as he played with our children.  We were privileged that he had a pocket for us and for Nuevas Esperanzas in his many-pocketed guayabera.

Mayo and Gustavo met each other in January when Gustavo came to accompany our team on a retreat.  In his customary style, he led us through several Bible passages, verse by verse, drawing out their contemporary meaning for the social and political situation in which we find ourselves in Nicaragua.  In his inclusive way he asked each of our team to read a few verses from the Bible.  As it reached Mayo’s turn, I looked around anxiously for a tactful way to tell Gustavo that Mayo, having had a limited formal education, could not read.  I need have had no such concern.  Noting our discomfort and instantly diagnosing the cause, Gustavo quickly lamented that Mayo had "forgotten his reading glasses" and with a smile moved on to the next person.  Our reflections and discussions that day drew upon the thoughts and opinions of all and Gustavo, a Harvard-educated doctor, blended in perfectly.

After Gustavo’s funeral service, and before moving to Managua’s main cemetery, we unexpectedly found ourselves in the presidential palace where Gustavo was posthumously awarded the “Rubén Darío Order of Cultural Independence” by President Daniel Ortega and First Lady Rosario Murillo.  We left as the Parajón-Dominguez choir, founded by Gustavo’s parents, and the Camerata Bach orchestra performed the Hallelujah chorus.  I know this was a particular favourite of Gustavo as he and I had been hatching a plan to set up an impromptu performance of it in the middle of a Managua shopping mall, but I couldn’t help wondering what Gustavo would have made of all the fuss.  I believe he would have been equally at peace at the small village cemetery in San Jacinto where we said our final farewell to Mayo.  I never had the chance to tell Gustavo of Mayo’s untimely death.  I am sure he would have been deeply saddened and as troubled as we are to know that, with better health care and education, Mayo may well have lived to see his young family grow up.

Gustavo was described in the Nuevo Diario newspaper as “un pilar ecuménico por la paz y por los pobres”, which translates literally as "an ecumenical pillar for peace and for the poor".  His life’s work could be a mission statement for Nuevas Esperanzas in so many ways.  And in memory of both Gustavo and Mayo, we will continue to offer our lives to work for peace and for the poor.

Rest in peace, Mayo and Gustavo.

Andrew Longley, 16^th March 2011