How To Help

 To date about 575 families in and around the mission settlements of Camoapa have a cow. With a $100 donation, we buy a milk cow and when she is pregnant with her first calf, it is given to a family - given to the MOTHER of the family. The cow will birth a calf for each of the next 7 years, thus supplying the family with milk, cream, cheese - and the offspring.

The first two calves are given back to the project to be raised for other families. After  that, the family "owns" the cow and subsequent calves.

For every 12 to 15 cows in a settlement, a bull is provided .
These families are not just "given" a cow ... for months ahead they are "taught" how to care for them, how to work together as a group for grazing purposes, and veterinarian injections, cleaning, — everything that goes into a successful venture.

The mother of the family also signs a contract stating that the cow will be cared for, that two calves will be returned to the project, that each month two homemade cheese will be given to another family or an elderly person .... and that they will work together as a group.

All school children - no matter what school they may be in - must wear a uniform: blue skirt, white blouse, white socks, black shoes. The boys wear blue pants, white shirt, blue tie, white socks, black shoes. That is the biggest expense for a family, especially if they have several children.

We usually sponsor 150 children a year for school. Depending on age/grade level the cost would be $30 for elementary school; $50 for middle school and $100 for high school.
Usually we get the uniforms "bigger" so they can be used for at least two years.

College costs about $50 a month. There are branches of the major colleges in the bigger cities. Presently we have 35 young people going to class and have about 10 graduates, whose jobs after graduation range from office managers, business administrators, hotel managers, priests, and computer programmers.

Two rules to be in the program: Study as hard as you can, giving it your best and no pregnancies ... We are there to help you for a future, a future that you can maintain yourself and a family ---  not to help support your family.

All of the candidates for the college program come from very poor families. Some students we have watched grow through high school and on to college.

Sister Cristina and Sister Blanca have a "soup kitchen" serving 50 elderly street people in Jinotepe, Carazo, Nicaragua.
Each day the poor elderly, some street people, get one, small, hot meal and something to drink. They can either eat it at the center or take it with them to be eaten at anytime of the day.
Also, the elderly in the town of Teustepe, Boaco, Nicaragua get a "food packet" each month: canned goods, pasta, cereal, rice, etc. They qualify by age and poverty level. Should any one of them die, we provide the "box" - casket - and sweet bread/coffee needed for the wake 

 In 1996, Sr. Terisita came to the town of Las Neublas and occupied a restaurant that had been vacated. The young girls from the mountains whom she was training to be nuns came with her and she built them a place to live. Terisita began collecting kids from the streets and orphans that were neglected or abused.

In 1999, after hurricane Mitch, Sr. Terisita began taking care of all kids that people were bringing her. She had no food nor clothing and no room to accomodate them all. In the beginning, there weren't enough beds and some children had to sleep on the floor.

Some crude buildings have been built in the last few years; one of which is a play area for children in case it rains. The younger children stay there for pre-school and first grade and the older ones go out to school and come back to study, play, eat and sleep. The living quarters are divided into three sectors according to age, consisting of a dorm with bunk beds and a play area, a place for holding their clothes and personal belongings, a bathroom and laundry area, consisting of two or three concrete sinks with a built in washboard. Every child from seven years and older is responsible for washing their own clothes. They do get some help, however.

Each dorm and play area has two nuns and a director in charge. A good size kitchen area feeds everyone three meals a day. Sr. recently received ten computers with Spanish keyboards and ten typewriters through a grant from Japan. Their sewing center began with machines from Western New York and continues to grow with machines from Japan.

The School for the Deaf is located in Ciudad Dario, north of Managua. The school is run by a religious order of nuns and has "normal" children along with a special program for the deaf.
 

Most of these children come from different parts of the country and are living at the school, cared for by the nuns.

Besides this, the nuns also feed ALL the children a lunch on a daily basis (most of the students are displaced from Hurricane Mitch and now live in that area).
We try hard to give 100 pound bags of rice, beans and funds to help in this effort.
Also, the Nicaragua Mission Project pays an art/woodcarving teacher for the deaf children. Most of  the tools and machinery used have been provided by us as well. The school develops the woodcarving, and furniture making skills so the students will have a "livelihood" for the future.