Klampa
Klampa is the second largest of the villages we serve, with more than 1,100 inhabitants. The name is probably a contraction of the Miskito words kla and mapa, which literally means, “opposite (us), upstream.” Each month when we head down from Waspam to visit our schools, Klampa is the first one we pass on our way to base camp in Sawa. Its school, painted blue and white like the Nicaraguan flag and named after Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, is only 50 feet from the bank of the river.
Pedro Joaquín Elementary School, Klampa
Teachers and children hear the sound of our outboard motor coming from afar, and when we pass, they are already standing at land’s edge, waving their hands in gleeful welcome. The children know that in the morning we will be at their school to sing with them and teach them a special lesson that we have prepared.
Catholic and Moravian missionaries first came to the remote sister villages of Klampa and Boom around the same time in the early ‘50’s. The Moravians chose to concentrate on Boom and the Catholics on Klampa. Today, Klampa is predominantly Catholic.
In 2007, however, one of our Seek the Lamb teachers experienced a profound encounter with Jesus Christ and planted a new Evangelical church under the covering of a mission called Ministerio Mesías. In the beginning, Benjamín Felipe faced strong opposition. At one point, a Klampa man burst into his classroom, drunk, and tried to shoot him because he had refused to stop preaching the gospel. Benjamín convinced the gunman to do his deed outside so as not to injure the children. Once out in the open, he made a run for it and miraculously escaped.
Today, the Ministerio Mesías thrives alongside the Catholic church, old rivalries long forgotten. Seek the Lamb employs leaders of both churches as teachers at Pedro Joaquín Chamorro Elementary School.
Lunch at the Flag Pole
Children receive warm meals in cooperation with the World Food Program
Erika José Masanto, student and worship leader
Klampa school from the air