Finding Your Cockroach

Trees for Life was called to help the village of Tisma, Nicaragua. After visiting the farmers in the village, I received a message from the women. They wanted their own time to meet with me.

Later that evening, when their housework was done, 18 women gathered in one of their homes. They explained how bad their situation was. The official unemployment figure for the village was 60 percent. The men couldn’t afford to get married. The women would get pregnant, have babies, and then couldn’t find jobs because no one would hire them. To make enough money to put two meals on the table for their families, some women had to engage in prostitution. All their stories were depressing. 

After patiently listening, I told them that during my travels around the world I had heard the story of the plight of women everywhere. It made no difference if I was in Asia or Africa or Latin America. The world was caught in the deadly trap of poverty and despair.

“Let me tell you a story,” I said.

There was a young brash king who got angry at his wise old counselor, Ramsu, and ordered him locked in the top of a tall tower to die.

Wailing in despair, Ramsu’s wife came to the bottom of the tower to say goodbye, for no one had ever come out of the tower alive.

Ramsu told his wife there was no need for tears. He asked her to find a cockroach and bring it to the tower.

“A cockroach? Are you crazy?” his wife sobbed.

Ramsu assured her that if she did what he asked, he would soon be free. Still shaking her head in disbelief, the woman found a cockroach. Ramsu asked her to tie a silk thread to it and put a touch of honey on its antennae. Once she had done that, he asked her to put the cockroach on the side of the tower, pointing its head upward. 

The cockroach, smelling something sweet, started crawling upward to reach the honey. When the cockroach reached the top, Ramsu picked it up and untied the thread. He then called down and asked his wife to tie a cotton thread to the silk thread.

Once that was done, Ramsu carefully pulled the silk thread up the side of the tower, till he caught hold of the cotton thread. Then he asked his wife to tie some twine on the other end of the cotton thread.

Again, Ramsu carefully pulled the cotton thread up the side of the tower until he could take hold of the twine. Then he asked her to tie a rope to the twine.

He quickly pulled the twine up until he had the rope in his hands. He secured the rope and climbed down the tower to his overjoyed wife. The old couple happily escaped together.

The outraged king wanted to know who in his kingdom could throw a rope that high. He ordered a contest in which the best and most powerful people in his kingdom were asked to throw a rope to the top. No one could. For the past one thousand years, every year, a contest has been held to see if anyone can throw a rope to the top of the tower. None of the strongest people in the kingdom have been able to match the feat of a tiny cockroach.

I acted out the story dramatically, even standing on a chair to act as Ramsu looking down from the top of the tower. I climbed off of the chair, to act the part of his wife, sobbing and bringing the cockroach. Each sentence was then translated into Spanish. The women sat listening with rapt attention. At the end of the story, they all stood up and broke into the playful Spanish song, La cucaracha, la cucaracha…. There was a shift in the whole dynamic of the evening.

The women started to discuss the implications of the story. They figured that even in the most hopeless conditions there is a way out. They just had to take the initiative and not get discouraged. They had to start small and solve their problems one step at a time.

Once the women reached this collective insight, they decided to address one problem in the village: how to help the street children. Too poor to afford school, such children took to the streets and had no hope for anything better in their future. The women decided that they would start a small primary school for the street children. They would raise funds for the school by doing odd jobs and selling meals at their village fair. 

Their own initiative and determination, plus help from Trees for Life donors, made their dream a reality. Once the dream of the school had been realized, the women decided to create a community library, another dream that came true. They continued to find the cockroach for other problems they wanted to solve. They rekindled the spirit within themselves—and in their community. They began to call themselves Las Mujeres Milagrosas: The Miraculous Women.