Since 2010, I have been the in-country director in Nicaragua three different times for the sister city relationship between Gettysburg and Leon which will hold its annual auction this month on Saturday the 25th at the Bream Wright Hauser Athletic Complex on the Gettysburg College campus. I have left Project Gettysburg Leon (PGL) for family reasons each time, but have returned for work that includes potable water, school building, support for the arts, projects for improving nutrition and support of orphanages. However, my relationship with Nicaragua began years before in 2000, intertwined with meeting former President Jimmy Carter there in 2001.
In 2001, I worked on potable water projects in rural Nicaraguan communities. During a break, I took a three-week position as an election observer for The Carter Center, focused on a tumultuous election in Nicaragua happening just months after the September 11th attacks in the U.S. My role was traveling to countryside towns to interview people and on election day evening to be at the vote count center in the city of Leon.
As I returned to the city, the car I was in rolled off the road. I didn’t realize I was injured at first. The seatbelt I wore slammed into my chest so hard that both lungs were hemorrhaging and I was drowning in blood while standing on the side of the road. Once I reached the Leon hospital, a surgeon said he’d need to insert tubes to drain the blood and reinflate my lungs. I asked how long I would be unconscious and was told a few hours. Two days later, I came out of a coma with an oxygen tube down my throat. Without my glasses, I was blind and saw only shapes in the room. I was disoriented and panicky, but one of these shapes at my bedside said, “Hello, son. I’m Jimmy Carter and you’re going to be all right.”
President Carter came from Managua to Leon during heavy rains to make sure I was taken care of. I was later transported by ambulance jet to the U.S. My girlfriend Mercedes, now my wife of twenty-two years, was issued a ten-year visa by the U.S. Embassy, closed for the election but opened at Carter’s behest. Despite nearly dying, my recovery in the U.S. was quick. In December that same year, Mercedes and I went to a book signing by President Carter and were 643 in line. I told him who I was, and his smile was familiar and genuine before he turned to Mercedes and said in excellent Spanish, “I never got to meet you in Nicaragua. I’m so pleased to say hello now.”
Jimmy Carter’s death is sad but a time to remember the man’s incredible decency and empathy, expressed through all he worked on after his presidency. However briefly our paths crossed, his example was a personal inspiration. I’m thankful for many things but am grateful beyond words to know firsthand how great a human being he was. Thank you, President Carter.
Gregory Bowles
Greg Bowles is the current director for Project Gettysburg Leon, the sister city program between Gettysburg and the country of Nicaragua that was founded in 1986.
