How Coffee Beans Change Lives

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“...And the greatest of these is love.” The Miskito children of Nicaragua face many challenges growing up in one of the remotest locations in the Western Hemisphere, but strong family ties help them survive it all.

The Coco River, known by its Spanish name, Rio Coco, traverses one of the remotest areas in the Western Hemisphere. The longest river in Central America, it originates at a mountainous point 485 miles inland in southern Honduras/northern Nicaragua and flows eastward until it meets the Caribbean Sea at a point known as Cape Gracias a Dios (Thanks be to God).

 The name is appropriate. Through the work of a Vero Beach couple, Michael and Laura Bagby, the residents of this remote land have much to be thankful for.

 The eastern half of Honduras and Nicaragua (between which the Rio Coco forms a natural border) is inhabited by the Miskito Indians. Unlike their counterparts on the Pacific side, the Miskito never came under the thumb of the conquering Spaniards. Their first European contact occurred in the early 18th century with the arrival of the British, who treated them not as slaves but as trading partners. Thus, many of the Miskito speak English and have English-sounding names.

Read the entire article in the January 2008 issue

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