Latrine to Legacy

Mauricio’s life started at the bottom of an outhouse. His young mother could not care for him, so she made the decision to abandon him as a baby inside a latrine. By the grace of God, a passerby overheard the baby’s cries and crawled down into the pit to rescue him. He was eventually identified and sent from Nicaragua to the United States so he could live with distant relatives.

Without the allure of luxury tourism like its neighbor Costa Rica, Nicaragua is often neglected. The country still suffers from the effects of American imperialism dating back from the 1800s, manifesting in deficient infrastructure and cyclical poverty that traps generations. Rampant potholes plague highways and families lack father figures. Yet despite these adversities, Mauricio Rodriguez traded his first-world comforts for the prospect of transforming Nicaragua. I traveled there to meet the man who gave up his normative life in the U.S. to love greatly in a beautiful, disregarded land.

North of the capital, Managua, lies Esteli, a small city tucked away in a rugged mountain range. It was here Mauricio was born and here I met him. We planned to visit the schools he was establishing in the area’s remote villages and I was eager to witness the impact of Mauricio’s life on the region.

Early in the morning we set off in his no-nonsense 4-wheel drive truck. Crawling up the dirt road, Mauricio stopped to talk with passers-by and give hitchhiking students a ride to class. It was true when he told me he knew everyone; he had backpacked to every village on the mountain range and visited every home.

When the road became too narrow to drive, we transitioned to horseback. The rest of our journey was made possible by a neighbor who lent us his horses. In Esteli, all of the villagers are happy to help Mauricio in any way and are careful to protect him. During the journey, the same neighbor refused to let us ford a particularly wide river because the strong currents posed too great a risk of losing Mauricio.

When we finally reached the first school, the children were ecstatic. They had grown to trust and love Mauricio’s continued involvement in their lives. This is exactly what Mauricio’s organization, Tree of Life 84, is all about: creating loving environments and social initiatives for children and their young mothers.

The kids were all smiles as Mauricio joined in the schoolyard games. Playing kickball in the jungle couldn’t have been a better way to celebrate our long trek, and my expectations were completely outdone by this hometown hero who was once an abandoned child himself.