Nicaragua
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Fellowship and Work Study
Trip to Nicaragua

Feb 19-27, 2010

Approximate Cost: $1250 - $1350

(Includes airfare, meals, lodging, work project money, transportation, and cultural events)


Contact firewater2@att.net  , or call Jim or Elaine Bendle. Jim: 616.890.2843 or Elaine: 616.443.5335

Download Flyer (pdf)

Download Flyer  (Word)

Download Application (pdf)

Download Application  (Word)


Contact the partnership at LMPNicaragua@yahoo.com

Click on the map to learn more about Nicaragua (source BBC)

Click here for timeline of Nicaragua History

Visit the CEPAD web site www.cepad.org.ni

Check the weather in Managua, Nicaragua


Nicaraguan Mission Partnership sewing project

 Our Nicaraguan partners visited the Crazy Ladies quilting group in Coopersville in September, 2005.  The ladies arranged to have 5 sewing machines donated to the Nicaraguans which were delivered to them in April, 2006.  After much discussion, the Nicaraguan ladies have organized a sewing cooperative at the CEPAD office in Nueva Guinea.  They are teaching women to use the sewing machines and plan to sell items that they sew in the local market.  They would appreciate more sewing machines so if you would like to donate a sewing machine, please contact the partnership at LMPNicaragua@yahoo.com


SCHOOL SUPPLIES ALLOW NICARAGUAN CHILDREN ATTENDANCE

             Who could forget the sight of elementary aged children in the poor barrios of Nueva Guinea, unable to attend school because they lacked the prerequisite pencil and notebook!  One of the Pastors from CEPAD (The Council of Protestant Churches) explained that while there was no charge to attend public school in Nicaragua, the second poorest country in Latina America, children had to have the resources to supply their own pencil and notebook. 

            Before our group from the Lake Michigan Presbytery had left for Nicaragua April of 2006, our Christian Education Director from the Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, Michigan asked us to look around for a Vacation Bible School project.  As I listened to the Pastor interview the children who sat or stood in the shadow of a group of lop-sided shacks, I knew I had found the project we were looking for. 

            “Do you know the alphabet?” the Pastor asked the children who shyly examined these strangers touring their village.  A couple said they knew some of the letters, and one reported he knew them all.  “Have you learned to read?” he asked again.  The children looked down ashamed and said, “No, we don’t know how to read.”   

            Since all projects must be approved by both parties in the Partnership with CEPAD, we asked the leadership in Nueva Guinea if such a project would be welcomed and received hearty approval.  We were told that even the timing was good: if we could collect the money during July, we could send it with the delegation coming to Nicaragua from the Presbytery in October.  In January is the beginning of the Nicaraguan school year, and our partners in Nueva Guinea would distribute the supplies before the first day of school.

            People in our church had met people from Nueva Guinea when the delegation visited the Presbytery churches in fall of 2005.  When told of the little that was needed to make such a difference in a child’s life, the response to the VBS offering was generous.  We collected $508.72 during that week.

            In January we received a thank you, emailed from the office of the Director of CEPAD in Nueva Guinea.  Not only were the supplies distributed to children in the churches and seven communities in which CEPAD works, but this February, on a return trip to Nueva Guinea, we learned how one couple targeted the children who shined shoes on the streets.  They promised the children that if they enrolled in school, the directors of the school had supplies waiting for them, and the directors, in turn, gave the couple names of the children from that group who had enrolled in classes and had received the precious supplies.  What a blessing to be able to give to a project, that from beginning to end was the work of The Partnership of  Christian Brothers and Sisters in the USA and Nueva Guinea.

Presbytery of Lake Michigan Mission Partnership with CEPAD/Nueva Guinea , Nicaragua

(CEPAD is an association of Protestant Churches that
serves the poor in Nicaragua )

 

2 Cents a Meal Money Will Benefit 30+  Families in Nueva Guinea, Nicaragua 

The Lake Michigan Presbytery’s Mission Partnership with the Council for Evangelical Churches (CEPAD) in Nueva Guinea, Nicaragua will use 2 cents a meal (Cents-ability) money to develop and strengthen a sustainable backyard nutrition program.  Through a project proposal of the joint partnership committee in Nicaragua and Lake Michigan, $7,000 was allocated to the revolving grants given to women in families for Patio Projects. 

CEPAD works through means of self-empowerment to develop processes of social promotion, communal organization, and the preservation of people, environment, and also provides opportunity for spiritual development.  Patio Projects concentrate on nutrition and self-sustainability of the family.  Providing nutrition and opportunities to develop the diet of families is a priority for the partnership.  With the 2 Cents a Meal money, approximately 212 people will receive better nutrition and provide sustainable ways of continuing these improved dietary habits by allowing families to have more accessible food sources. 

Patio Projects are small backyard gardens and farms that allow a woman and her family to raise pigs, chickens, and food that will provide the family with necessary food and a small source of income.  A person is given training and education needed to develop and manage her patio project.  After completing each segment of training, women are given a loan to complete the next section of her project.  This means purchasing such things as chickens or pigs.  A woman will receive 2 pigs and approximately 14 chickens and one rooster through the project.  This can be used to raise more animals, and provide eggs and protein to the family.  Women receive follow visits and assistance while they are working with their projects. 

The unique piece of the Patio Project is that it is set up through a loan system.  Each complete patio project costs $200.00, and because CEPAD believes in providing systems that can be sustainable and are truly owned by its beneficiaries, the money is given as a loan.  Women receive the money as the go to training, and then begin to pay back the loan at a very low interest rate so that as their project becomes sustainable, the money can be used to benefit another family in the community.  The partnership is happy to be able to support the continued work of CEPAD and its work in the communities of Nueva Guinea and throughout Nicaragua.   

Intentional Mission Inclusive, Caring Community Education and Nurture
Evangelism Spiritual Formation

Go to PCUSA web
or call PresbyTel (800) 872-3283


  PRESBYTERY OF LAKE MICHIGAN
1511 Helen Avenue, Portage, MI 49002,
269.381.6337 (telephone), 888.271.6567, 269.381.6125 (fax)
 office@lakemichiganpresbytery.org

www.lakemichiganpresbytery.org

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