By Paula Day

"Go back and tell John what you hear and see; the blind see again, and the lame walk." Matthew 11:4-5

Miracles happened nearly 2,000 years ago -- "miracles" still happen today -- that is the hope and aim of Jubilee Partners, a Christian community located in Comer, GA, near Athens.

The story of 19-year-old Carmen Marina Picado, double amputee victim of a landmine blast in Nicaragua, is the story of that hope for a modern miracle, fulfilled.

Last October, Carmen, her seven-year-old niece, Elda Sanchez, and Elda's father, Amancio, a Pentecostal minister, boarded a small truck loaded with about 50 civilians for a trip to Jinotega, Nicaragua, the nearest large city. Suddenly, as it traveled down the main road, the truck's rear wheels detonated a land mine and an explosion tore it apart.

Because of injuries suffered in the explosion, Amancio had one leg amputated. Elda had one leg amputated immediately and the other was badly injured. Carmen lost both legs, one below the knee, the other above the knee.

Jubilee Partners brought the three victims to the United States, Feb. 9, for medical treatment. On March 12 Elda and Amancio were able to return to Nicaragua fitted with artificial limbs. Gerald and Betty Ferland, owners of Ferland Prosthetics of Atlanta, and Aubrey Smith, artificial limb manufacturers, donated their time and materials to make legs needed for the three victims, a donation worth more than $10,000.

Carmen, however, because her condition required more extensive therapy, remained at Jubilee Partners. Her treatment is supervised by Dr. Asok Bhoomkar, head of the amputee ward at the Emory University Center for Rehabilitation Medicine. Dr. J. Robin deAndrade, orthopedic surgeon with Emory Clinic, removed scar tissue and bone spur which would have aggravated the prosthesis. This past Tuesday the process of fitting Carmen with artificial limbs was begun by making a mold, similar to the kind made for dental work. The custom-made prostheses will be patterned from this mold. If all goes as planned, Carmen will return to Nicaragua May 5 or 6.

The miracle of healing for Carmen goes beyond being able, someday, to walk again. Her losses are deep. She was engaged to be married at the time of the explosion. The powerful medication she needed caused her to lose her hair. She had lost any desire even to care for herself, according to 36-year-old Pauline Aguilar, bilingual Spanish speaking resident of Jubilee who served as interpreter.

"She went through a lot of depression, a lot of doubts," added Ms. Aguilar who shares a small bedroom with Carmen and uses her nursing skills as Carmen's aide, confidante and physical therapist.

"She'd ask, 'Why did God let this happen to me?' She did nothing for herself. I'd have to push her: 'You can bathe yourself -- you can move yourself from the bed to the chair.'"

One of the first signs of new life, internal as well as external, Ms. Aguilar added, was the ecstatic discovery of new hair growth. Gradually Carmen has struggled toward a new self-reliance, a renewed self-concept.

Carmen is physically lovely, with laughing brown eyes fringed by sweeping lashes, a shy smile and an upper body uncrippled by the mine blast.

She has learned to knit, has developed her cooking skills, and has taken child-care classes. She blushes deeply when she hears the name of her male English teacher mentioned in the English conversation. With an impish grin she refuses to give stock answers to translated interview questions, but teases her nurse interpreter with unexpected replies.

Carmen's daily hour-long physical therapy aims at strengthening the upper torso muscles she will need to lift herself onto her prosthesis. The therapy also involved exercising the remaining thigh and leg muscles needed for manipulating the artificial limbs.

Carmen's care is part of Jubilee's newly launched "Walk in Peace" campaign. The campaign solicits tax-deductible donations to provide artificial limbs for an estimated 2,000 amputee victims of the war in Nicaragua waged by Contras who oppose the Sandinista Government. Its far-reaching goal is to give rehabilitation help to every amputee in that country, without regard to their political views. They plan to use donations to set up clinics through the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health in cooperation with the Red Cross.

On-the-spot clinics will be necessary because young amputees such as Elda will need yearly replacements of their prostheses as they grow. Even adult amputees should have their artificial limbs replaced every five years.

The idea for "Walk in Peace" came to Don Mosley, a founder of the Jubilee community, last October while he was visiting Nicaragua. Shortly after he arrived with an American religious delegation, the landmine blew up the truck. Mosley saw the opportunity to make a further concrete application of the Jubilee commitment to living lives of Christian compassion.

"Walk in Peace" parallels the larger Jubilee program whose theme comes from the Old Testament practice of proclaiming every 50 years a Year of Jubilee. During that year slaves were freed and the poor and needy ministered to in special ways. For Mosley, "Walk in Peace" provides the chance to bring about two "miracles" -- giving sight to the blind and limbs to the crippled. The blind, in this case, according to Mosley, are those in this country who do not see the devastating effects of American support of the Contras in Nicaragua.

Mosley quoted a letter he had just received from Edgar Chamorro, former Contra leader: "The Contras were also using mines of a distinctive character to cripple soldiers and harvest workers and indirectly to cripple the government there with take-care (caretaking) of so many handicapped persons." Mosley also said that the Contras control the area where the landmine blew up the bus carrying the Sanchez family.

A long-time proponent of a political settlement of the Nicaragua dispute, Mosley insists, "We must stop intensifying the violence by sending more military hardware because the greatest victims are the civilians who are caught between the two sides. We believe that there are clear diplomatic alternatives to military violence which are not getting a fair chance."

Mosley's group, a daughter community of the Koinonia community based in Americus, GA, settled on 260 acres in Comer in 1979. From the beginning the community focused on welcoming refugees -- first those from Southeast Asia, and, more recently, screening political refugees from Central America for asylum in Canada.

As a legal halfway house between Central America and Canada, the center offers its refugee guests not only food and shelter, but also classes in English and a general orientation to the northern culture. Of the more than 800 involved in this program, the center has successfully helped 98 percent reach Canadian asylum.

At the present time, the community consists of 35 members: full-fledged Jubilee Partners, novices who are in the process of becoming Partners and guests who are sharing the communal lifestyle on a temporary basis.

This lifestyle is frugal. Meals are simple; household duties, cooking and outdoor chores are shared in common. A simple devotion precedes the noon meal in the community's large living-dining room. Besides working with the refugees, members continue to update their own skills. Presently they are taking a CPR course. Their life is not all work, however. Plans are being made for a white water float in the near future.

As Mosley commented in Jubilee's April newsletter: "Jubilee is a great place to celebrate Easter. Resurrection surrounds us."