Court Appearance 2

Steve was in court again today to pay the remiander of his fine. He managed to raise the money from people within the prison (for which he will have to pay back) to pay the fine in person. At least now he knows that it has been paid.

So, his case is now listed for a proper hearing in front of the judge on Thursday 29th January 2009. He is due at court at 9am and it it likey his case will be heard at about 1 / 2pm, but who knows. Nicaragua is currently 6 hours behind the UK, so we are talking about 7 / 8pm on Thursday 29th.

He has again been told that his sentence will be reduced to something in the region of 10 - 12 years which we will just have to wait and see if this is the case. There is so much misinformation I have received that one never knows what is really the truth and what is people just saying what you want to hear, so we have to hope that what Steve has been told is indeed the truth.

So for those who wish to pray I have a couple of requests:

1. That Steve remains safe in prison up to his trial
2. that the information he has been given concerning the time he has served and the likley reduction of the sentence is indeed correct
3. That his solicitor continues to act with integrity
4. That the judicial representatives realise the disproportionate sentence initially given and that they see that Steve was not given the proper treatment during his arrest and trial
5. That the judge seeing Steve on Thursday reduces Steves sentence to a more appropriate term.

I also want to say a huge thank you to all at St. B's who have prayed this last two nights and for Sián in Tanzania. It is nothing short of amazing that as a church family we can powerfully hold this man before God and seek his justice and mercy. I am so grateful and I know Steve is also.

I spoke to Steve tonight and he is a very happy man. Finally he has his a day in court to seek the reduction of his sentence. He is in good spirits and so appreciative for all the work people have done for him.

I also want to set this day aside for prayer and fasting. If anyone feels as though this is something right for them to do then I would be most grateful. I have seen and experienced the power of prayer and fasting and feel this is the right thing to do. It will be a day to hold this man before God and petition God for his mercy. I pray this to be a great day for Steve. That day again is Thursday 29th January 2009.

Once again, thank you so much for all your support. I will of course let you all know how things progress.

Court appearance

In classic Nicaraguan style Steven was told today at 10.00am that he was going to be in court to have his case reviewed. That is a day earlier than was anticipated. Still, whatever day it was, it was simply amazing that he actually found a solicitor that has got him to court, the fact his solicitor did not know there were other issues with the case is simply typical for the way things work in Nicaragua.

Steve went to court to be told that the reason he had not been called for a review earlier than this is becuase he has not paid the C$2500 fine that was imposed at his sentencing. In actual fact, he had given it to his solicitor at the time who had decided he would not pay the fine and keep the money for himself. This was two years ago, Steve only found out today. He has been ripped off by 3 solicitors to date who have done nothing for the money they have been paid, and that money has come from his family who simply do not have it.

So, today the honaray Consul sent US$40 from Prisoners Abroad based in the UK so he can buy food, yet he paid it to the court today as part payment towards the fine. We are now making arrangements for the the outstanding US$80 to be sent out and paid to the court so his case can be relisted.

We are told that once the fine is paid and the case relisted he will have his sentence reduced to 10 years as the original prosecution was for trafficking drugs into the country which is not right and a complete fabrication by the National Police of Nicaragua. How true this is I simply do not know but we can only go on what we have learnt to date and take it from there. We have made arrangements for the fine to be paid and Andy will be seeing his solicitor on Friday this week to clarify all the things Steven has been told today.

It is possible with the way things work, that is Steves sentence is reduced to 10 years at the next hearing and we can then get him deported back to the UK to serve out the remainder of his time, he could be back with his familly with 2 years. This is amazing, and we can only hope that all that has been said to Steven today is indeed the truth.

I want to thank all those people who prayed tonight for Steve and who have supported us thorugh this. There could be a long way to go yet and i am still awaiting a report from the embassy in Costa Rica concering the welfare and support Steven has had and should expect.

Who knows how this will pan out, but both Andy and I continue to follow all avenues the Lord has given us until they run dry.

Praise God for all his grace and mercy.

Steven Update

I have been asked by a few people to keep this blog going so they can see how things are progressing with Steven. So, I will so long as people are still interested I shall continue to keep you updated.

The photo above was taken on the 6th January 2009 at Centro Penetenciario del Modelo, Tipitapa, Nicaragua. Left to right, Brendan Quinn, Steven Evitts, Junniet Castillo.

I visited Steven's mom yesterday. It was actually quite emotional not only for her but also for me. I had a photograph that we arranged to be taken at one of the visits I was at which includes myself, Steven and a Nicaraguan girl called Junniet who is Stevens girlfriend. It was a really good day getting the photo taken as Steven was really excited about his mom receiving it. So, when i did give the photo to Steves mom, it was somewhat emotional. I really felt for her as we discussed what had happened and the fact that she has not seen her son for over 5 years now. She desperately wants to see him so much so that it is likley with the help of a few other people associated with Nicaragua, I think we may be able to get her on a flight to see her son. This is all if it is Gods will. We shall see what transpires.

I spoke with Steven yesterday who was actually quite excited about the prospect of going to court this Wednesday to see if he can have his sentence reduced. It's hard during these times not to get hopes up and often there is no point trying to keep peoples feet on the ground as nothing I can say will change the hope that his sentence will be reduced. Still, in a country like Nicaragua who knows what will happen on Wednesday, could be nothing at all or everything, we will not know until wednesday. I will keep you posted.....

Newspaper clippings from Nicaraguan Newspaprs reporting on Stevens arrest and initial hearing in Managua 2003.

Goodbye

Well it is my last night in Nicaragua and to be honest I can't actually remember being somewhere I have been so blessed. My time here has been nothing short of amazng. I am only just begining to see what it is I have been apart of whilst here and actually the full weight of it will not sink in for a good few days if not weeks. I can't explain how God has blessed both Andy and I and there is much to muse over.

Suffice to say I left Ometepe yesterday and worked in the prison today at a clinic that Andy has been allowed to run. Again, something that can only be described as amazing, it is simply not possible to just walk into the biggest prison in Nicaragua, have coffee with the Governor and then go into the depths of the prison and run a clinic. My role was one of Pharmacy and between myself, Nestor and Steve (the guy in prison) we ran a very effective pharmacy proving medication to the prisoners. Each man I met today was full of appreciation for what we were doing. The Governor pleased to see us and welcoming. We had been told the Governor simply will not allow anything to hapen in the prsion, yet, we rocked up to the barrier this morning, drove our truck into the centre of the prison, unloaded all manner of medication and had a laugh with all manner of prisoners and wardens. We then had dinner with the wardens.

A guy who is currently in for multiple murders came up to me at the end (I had got to know him through my visits with Steve) and said that he thought it was amazing what we were doing and that everybody was so appreciative of all we had done. He was so gracious in his approach and such a blessing to me and Andy. What a last Day.

Not to mention dinner at Doctor(rita) Sandras house where we both discovered that we both have different coloured eyes. It was amazing, really do love the woman, she has been so much fun, a great friend and such a warm person whose devotion to the people she works with is nothing short of inspiring. It would appear I have made her cry twice now each time by singing to her, and before anyone comments on the quality of my voice, she was very touched, not in pain!

Oh what a last day. And I can only say that it is all for the Glory of God, nothing I have done has been of any sgnificance, it has all been provided for by God. through our meagre efforts there are over 30 prisoners and a number of prison Wardens today who have pretty much got some fo the drugs they need and will all be dosed up to the eyeballs with Multi vitamin tabs.

How do I feel about leaving the country. Well, through our times of prayer we have realised that what happens now is right and it is right for me to leave for now. We have both learnt so much and have been so blessed to spend a good number of hours each day with God which has meant a much clearer view of what we are to be doing. So I leave, but not with a sad heart becuase I know that all this has been so benificial to me and to Andy. Who knows, I may well return as I have made some wonderful friends here most of them being Nicaraguans, which is so wonderful. Libby has been a blessing also and we had dinner last night and said goodbyes, she too is an inspiration and has been our good and only english speaking contact.

Oh how amazing this has been. The key now is not to loose sight of all that has happened here and all that is possible in the UK even through the pace of life there is so very much different from that of Ometepe.

So, I get in on Sunday and straight back into work on monday. Cant wait to see the snow, though I will miss the 33-35 degrees we have enjoyed each day whilst here.

I just also want to say a big thank you to my friends who have stayed in touch whilst I have been out here, boots, moo, American Dave and the emails received from those back at home, and indeed, the wonderful thing that is skype that has allowed me to see my neice a good few times on the webcam, thank you Francesca.

So for now, Adiós amigos Nos vemos pronto! Yo regreso a Inglaterra el domingo.

Prison 2

I met Steve today for the last time whilst here in Nicaragua. How God works here is unbelievable. A good freind of Andy's wrote that God seems to work powerfully here than in the UK. I have to agree, but I wonder why. I think there is an answer but I am just formulating it in my mind at the moment.

Steve was good, have loads of information and things to do when I get back to the UK, but it was sad walking out of the prison today knowing I may not see him for some time. broke my heart if I am honest. I felt as though I was loosing a friend, though I know I am not.

Anyway, if you are, please do coninue to pray for this man, I cant even begin to tell all that God has done here, it trully is amazing, suffice to say, I have yet another familly in the world who want me to come and live with them. If it means I dont leave, I can move in tommorow. so humbling since they have nothing, but yet want to offer me their home. It was no joke, it was very sincere.

I am blessed.

Ivan the Terrible

Ivan the Terrible

Yesterday (Saturday) Andy and I climbed a volcano. Now, the preparation for which consisted of press ups daily, star jumps, and a rustic made skipping rope fashioned from blue rope wrapped in duct tape. I must say it is quite an efficient piece of kit even if it is killing the pair of us. We have been working out for a good three or four days prior to our expedition.

Our guide, Ivan, is a worker at the Hotel Castillo in Altagracia. A really nice and animated chap who takes good care to ensure his Spanish is understood with all manner of hand gestures and facial expressions. A nice chap and certainly has the talk. Last week we walked up from Altagracia towards Urbite, our home town and he walked a Km with us and we discussed climbing Conception, the highest volcano of the two and still active. He said he was the number 3 guide for getting up the volcano, some other chap we had never heard of was number 1 and a guy called Naphtali was number 2. We thought Ok, no worries, we like this guy seems to have it all sorted so we arranged to meet him yesterday morning at 5.00am at La Sabana about 1 Km out of Altagracia.

I can tell you it was not a pretty site yesterday at 3.30am. Two grown men stumbling around as if with no sight, coordination or stature. Hunched over looking for random bits of clothes and bumping into each other frequently with the odd grunt. We were a shambles, and so would any self respecting man at such an hour. We made it to the kitchen for breakfast only to find that Anaglasia had got up and made us a full breakfast. What a great woman. We were fully stuffed with Guyapinto, plantain, corn flakes, and fried cheese. Mmmmm. And, with a full mug of thick dark coffee we were well on our way to progressing from our Neanderthal state. 4.15am we left the CVC in Urbite and commenced our 45 minute walk to La Sabana to meet Ivan.

We had met him the day before in Altagracia to confirm all was good for the morning.

So, 45 minutes later we were at La Sabana, and propped ourselves against a wall on the side of the road and watched the sun lift itself into our sky.

The 45 minute walk had also destroyed one of our ruck sacks which we bought the day before in Altagracia, the whole back had just dropped off it. What could we expect for 110 Nicaraguan cordobas (£1.80). So one back pack down 5.30am and no sign of Ivan. Now those who know me know that am not one for being messed around. If you aint gonna make it on time, then let me know. If you aint gonna make it at all, let me know. So 5.45, no Ivan and the Quinn was starting to get somewhat frustrated that over 2 hours after getting out of my scratcher, Ivan was nowhere to be seen. The Quinn was not happy, but the Elliott was keeping me in control.

6.30am and still no sign of Ivan. That was it, no one was going to take the pee out of the Quinn. I was stood up on the side of the road and ready to go. To add insult to injury, 20 minutes prior a group of guys with their guide walked past on their way up the volcano, their guide shouting over to us, ‘who are you waiting for’ to which we replied Ivan, his reply was ‘well, he says he is a guide, but I aint going to say anything’! Arghhhh – he had said all he needed to say, that was it, no amount of grace or self control was making me stay there any longer, I had no interest in waiting any longer and certainly did not want to climb a volcano. 6.45am and I had had it. Off I stormed with the Elliott back to Urbite.

Now, here is where a few things, change. As we walked back up the road to Urbite, about 100meters we came across a bus stop with Ivan, on his back, paws up, Zeds flying all over the place, shirt just about on him. It’s the sort of look you usually get from someone who has had a bit of a session with Tona the night before.

Andy and I stood there, looked at this fellow and wondered if indeed this was our guide to take us up a 1610m active volcano. It was!

Andy uttered the words ‘Ivan’ in a soft manner and up shot Ivan. Completely delirious, like a rabbit in the headlights, mumbling Spanish that was not on the CD I learnt from. He then realised who we were and what we were doing there. I would have loved to say he smiled at us and said come on boys lets give this volcano some stick. But no, he had indeed had a date with Tona the night before and from my understanding of the situation she was flying through his veins in abundance.

I looked at him and thought, right then; this will teach you a lesson.

Andy and I looked at each other and decided, yeah, come on, let’s mount this thing. So we did. Like a couple of greyhounds out of the traps. Again, I would love to say that Ivan was right with us, leading the way and showing us how to get up the thing, but oh no, he was way behind, struggling to make sense of it all and wondering was this all worth C$600. We let him have it, and I mean we really let him have it. We would stop every 20 minutes to get some water on board and wait for Ivan to get to us. He would then lie down on his back and seek out some sleep. He would be on his back for the best part of 3 minutes and we were like, right then, lets go. He was crushed. We were guiding him up this thing and he was struggling to keep up with our pace, but fair play to him, he kept going. I am not too sure if I would have been able to do it with a huge hangover, but he did.

Mind you, he had not had any breakfast, he had no food with him, no first aid kit, he had no water. Nothing. This was our guide and were feeding and watering him. In truth, it was a farce.

It was great, we past everybody, Naphtali and his group, another group and even met a guy on his way back down cos he couldn’t go any further. We were motoring; it was the Elliott Quinn show in full swing. And I mean FULL swing. Ivan always far off behind us. Still, he did earn his money; there were a couple of turns that we would simply have missed without him. The terrain was dreadful and relentless and the last 2 hours were really hard work. For pretty much all of the 1610m it rises at something between 40 – 45 degrees. Its no joke.

The last hour was unbelievable. We were in a full on wind battering us and as we neared the crater we were blasted with grit and rain. It was unbelievable. We met people coming down who had not made it to the crater because the wind could just suck you into it. We were a little apprehensive, but we were also exceptionally careful. For the last few meters we were on our hands and knees, being blasted by winds of what I would say were 50 – 60 miles and hour, enough to take you off your feet. We scrambled to the crater. What an experience, 4 hours it had taken us to get up which is actually a very fast pace (Ivan was still in shock and wondering what the hell had happened to him that day). We got to the edge and peered over into the volcano. We could see nothing really, except for the white steam and sulphur that came out of this thing. The sulphur was pungent and only really present right at the craters edge. We were getting pummelled by the wind, grit and rain. Ash all over the craters edge, and the ground we were sitting on was hot. What an experience, and one not many will have achieved, in fact we were the only people on that volcano that day who go to the craters edge. It was amazing. We got the camera out and took a couple of photos, but to be honest it was so difficult to keep anything still with all the wind that we don’t hold much hope for the photos. But hey, what an experience.

We stayed there for 5 minutes and that was it. We were soaking, and had to get out of the wind. Ivan sprung into action, maybe his weekly fill of sulphur had topped him up but he was off like a hare. He led all the way down the volcano. He was great.

The descent was very hard on me, with a very dodgy knee I really struggled, we just kept slipping sliding and falling all over the place, how we did not hurt ourselves I don’t know, but then, I am sitting on a mattress with Andy to my right typing this and neither of us are able to walk with any sense of elegance. We look like we were riding a bull all day yesterday!

Still we got down in 4 ½ hours which was ok, but not great. We took Ivan for a beer (well a couple) and had a good laugh at his expense, paid him and went home for tea. 7.30pm The Elliott and the Quinn were both in bed pushing up some well earnt Zeds.

Today, neither of us have the ability to walk. YAY. What an experience.

Oh and did I mention Andy sharing the back seat of a minibus with a dolled up transvestite?? He did not even know till I told him afterwards. His reaction i shall leave between myself and him!

New year and bots n bobs

HAPPY NERW YEAR to you all!!!!!!

And what an interesting new year it was for me and andy. I could well be in danger here of typing a ton of stuff, but I aint gonna cos well its loverly outside and the sun has my name written all over it.

Andy and I went to see Steve in Prison last Thursday. Was a great day, we spent it praying and fasting and i can not even begin to tell you how God has blessed us for that. Was amazing. Just a a little update this is some of the things we have done and been blessed with

Encounter with police and request for help dealt with very very efficiently and did not even charge us (very corrupt here), we needed their help, it was nothing short of a miricle. Visit to Steven, I should not have got in but I did. Loverly landlord and landlady who give us food for nothing and look after us. Toña is being so very kind to me. Andy asked the prison governor to work in the prison one day a week, had lunch with him and said no problem, we were told it would never happen in a million years. A certain passport was found. I could go on. It seems I have been here for months as there has been so much to give thanks for it is so amazing.

new years even was m and andy standing in church as they rang the bells for the begining of the new year. it was great, then a beer with out usual landlor and lady which was great with some nice chilled spansh guitar in the background. New years eve cost us 2.50 each. Was wonderful.

Concerning Steven, Andy and I have spent some good time with him. it is important to say that he was given 25 years for a crime that most nicarauguans only get 10, indeed, the murderers and rapists in the prison usially get 10 years. It appears it is becuase he is white that he has been treated so badly. Also his case was all over the place, no interpreter, signing things that he did not knwo what he was signing, he thought he was being sent back to england but was actually sent to court. ANyway, Andy and I are trying to involve other people in this so we can effectivly help the boy in terms of welfare. He rang us on New years day just after midnight to wish us a happy new year. Was a very humbling experience.

I am home on the 12th, but witht here being 8 days to go, I just never knowwhat God is going to do next, so I want to thank you all for support and pray for a great new year for you.

God bless.

Up a volcano tommorow!!!!!!