Educate Team

August 21, 2009. Monthly Update by Chris Dubas. Hello to everyone in the States! These past couple months have been busy with a new school construction project in Chonco, library opening in Santa Matilde, scholarships, and many new playgrounds for the kids. For the past few months, we have been working on developing playground equipment for the kids of the communities where we work. The idea behind it all is to just let kids be kids and give them something fun to do during recess and after school. The first set was delivered to Villa Catalina. Complete with monkey bars, swingsets, and a slide it definitely has been put to good use. Next, the children of Los Rotarios received two swingsets. This past week, our mission team from Ohio helped install the third set at Iglesia Pilar in Montserrat, right in the neighborhood of the Amigos future home. It has been great to see the joy it brings to all of the kids. For the next few months we will be trying to raise funds to continue to bring the fun to more kids in more communities. In other news, I am happy to report that the new library in Santa Matilde is up and running. It is looking great with a beautiful mural, bookshelves, tables, fans, and tons of books. The new librarian says that she has several students visiting the library daily. A special thanks to Cindy and David Wiley for making this all possible!

 

July 27, 2009. Monthly Update by Chris Dubas. This month we have been working on cultivating our new vegetable garden in Villa Catalina.. Our goal is to produce as much produce as possible to supplement our feeding centers. We would like to be able to provide fruit for breakfast and snacktime and fresh vegetables for lunch for all of the students. The past few months, we have planted green beans, papayas, plantains, cantaloupe, squash, yucca, tomatoes, grenadine, and watermelons. So far everything has been going well and we have harvested 15 pounds of green beans and over 30 squash. We have reduced the total operating costs of the feeding center by 2% while providing freshly picked vegetables daily for the students. Not only is the garden giving back to the kids nutritionally, many of the scholarship recipients have been able to earn service hours planting, picking, and cleaning the garden. In the future we hope to expand this program to all the feeding centers, reducing overall costs, providing more nutrients and minerals to the children, and furthering the involvement of the communities with the feeding program.

May 14, 2009. Monthly Update by Chris Dubas This month I would like to tell a story- The department of education and nutrition also manages the needy family, food package program. The program consists of 10 families that receive a monthly packet of rice, beans, oil, eggs, sugar, soap, and other necessities of daily life. The packet is not designed to be the primary source of food, but to supplement the family’s diet throughout the month. This month another family, the 11th, entered the program. I would like to share their story. As appearances go, the house appeared normal; a cinder block house, with an additional cooking area. If you walked past it you wouldn’t know it was any different from a house in Villa Catalina. For that reason I was skeptical when Professora Ileana, of Los Rotarios, asked me to visit the family. Ileana and I arranged to visit with Sr. Andres Moreno, a husband and father to 3 children who lives in Los Rotarios. Upon arriving he asked us in to their dingy one room, dirt floor house whose only furnishing was a small dirty bed. As the conversation played out these were some of the things that stood out: there was no income in the house, the neighbor covered his electric bill, he was behind 5 months on his water bill, there was no food in the house and he did not have a Cordoba (Nicaraguan currency) to his name. I asked what it cost to exist in a month, and he told me that it was rare to have any money; his children begged for food from neighbors or went hungry altogether. He thanked us for providing the only sure meal for his children at the school’s feeding center where his wife assists cooking. So worried about his children’s meal, their family provides almost all the fire wood for the operating of the feeding center, thus guaranteeing a hot meal for his children. About this time in the conversation I found out why Sr. Moreno can’t work. He has a condition affecting him whenever he is nervous or excited where his tongue becomes swollen and he looses control of it. He is also affected when exposed to the heat and sun, so any job working in the fields would be out of the question. As we departed Sr. Moreno, on the verge of tears, thanked us many times while I assured him that another food packet would arrive next month. Maybe that night he went to sleep calmly, knowing that his kids would have another nutritious meal tomorrow and from that day forward.

March 3, 2009. Monthly Update by Chris Dubas. March looks to be a very exciting month for Amigos for Christ and our Nicaraguan students, The arrival of a container from the States means much needed schools supplies will be replenished, backpacks handed out at both Villa Catalina and Rotarios, as well as for the scholarship students. This month’s projects include rehabilitating an old building in Santa Matilda into a library and beginning playground construction in Villa Catalina. Thanks to all who sponsored these projects. The feeding centers (Santa Matilda, Nueva Salvacion, Rotarios, and Villa Catalina) are now up and running. In February we feed an average of 550 students per day. March's weekly menu looks like this... Monday- Boiled Eggs, Rice, Beans, and Tortilla Tuesday- Ground Beef with Potatoes, Rice, Beans, and Tortilla Wednesday- Cheese with Spaghetti, Rice, Beans, and Tortilla Thursday- Chicken with Rice, and Tortilla Friday- Boiled Eggs, Rice, Beans, and Tortilla... In partner ship with the Health and Wellness Department, we plan to implement Student Nutritional Analysis and Coordination (S.N.A.C.) this month. S.N.A.C will monitor the development of all students participating in the school feeding program to determine if any changes need to be made in their diet.">