Why Nicaragua?

God has called us to serve in the poorest country in Latin America. The majority of people in the communities we work with survive on less than $1.00 a day. We cannot ignore these conditions. We hope to positively affect the current generation and provide the necessary resources for the next generation to succeed on their own.

What have we learned?

Having worked with the poor in this area the last 7 years, we have learned:

1. Families must have a safe and dignified place to live, due to the extreme environmental conditions. The 6-month wet season brings hurricanes and heavy rains. The 6-month dry season brings extreme heat. Earthquakes are a constant threat.

2. International investment in Nicaragua is low. The citizens must survive on the national economy, which is lean, lacking diversity and conducive to pockets of extreme poverty, such as the Chinandega area.

3. We have chosen to use the best and most abundant resources in Nicaragua, people, land and animals, to develop wage-earning opportunities. Nicaragua’s volcanic soil is rated as one of the top 10 in the world. Our projects are: Organic Farming, Compost Production, Pig Farming and Chicken Farming.

4. We must focus on giving the children an opportunity for a better education. 40% of Nicaraguans are between the ages of 6 and 18. Half of all school age children in the Chinandega cannot read or write.

5. The rural poor have no access to proper health and surgical care. We must provide these services and initiate self-help programs in the communities we serve.

6. Clean and abundant water is the single most essential commodity needed for survival in the rural areas. River water in Nicaragua is almost always contaminated. We must drill water wells that are easily accessible to communities. These wells must provide water for both drinking and agriculture.

7. We must convey to the Nicaraguans that they are not alone in their fight to overcome their conditions.

Here is how we are making a difference:

1. Our home construction projects provide families with a safe and dignified place to live. We supply the capital, design and engineering and teach the families to build their own homes. To date, we have either jointly or solely participated in the construction of over 600 homes.

2. Our business cooperative programs supply the initial start-up costs and technical training community members need to learn skills they can use to produce revenue. We have used this model successfully in three large communities.

3. At Villa Catalina, a group of community members is trained to collect organic waste, produce compost and market the fertilizer to area farmers. Other members are learning to raise pigs and chickens, which will provide another important source of food and revenue. At Villa San Francisco, villagers are learning to breed chickens and sell the meat at market. A 17 acre farm near Leon is home to an organic farming site that, when fully developed, will produce enough vegetables to feed the school children in our sponsored villages and the Casa Jacinta y Francisco orphanage in Leon. An Organic Farming School is in the works at this site to teach adolescents how to become self-sufficient when they become adults.

4. We have constructed 6 school buildings since we began our mission. To round out the limited educational opportunities in our sponsored communities, we employ several teachers and fund secondary school scholarships for 42 students. Our school feeding programs provide the best and sometimes only meal of the day, for over 700 children. We have seen attendance increase to 95% in some schools because of this program.

5. We built and continue to maintain the St. Martin de Porres Surgical Hospital in Chinandega. Here rotating teams of doctors from around the world offer free surgical care to the rural poor. Our community clinics and mobile medical unit serve over 9,000 people in northwest Nicaragua. We have even trained members of some communities to administer basic first aid to their neighbors in the absence of a doctor.

6. We have drilled over 40 water wells that furnish clean drinking water to communities and allow farmers to grow crops year around. We were recently blessed with a new drilling rig that will dramatically increase water production, even in the most remote and rocky areas of Nicaragua.

7. We have 15 mission trips scheduled this year. Over 400 missionaries will work side by side with the Nicaraguans to help them improve their living conditions. Since 1999, we have strived to use every dollar we are blessed with in the most prudent and practical way. We are seeing the fruits of our labor every day in the healthy faces of the families we serve.