World Vision

The feeding program at the school.  Called community pot, families bring along vegetables from their gardens to share with the other supplies from World Vision.

A boy climbing up a tree to tie up the rope for the pinata.

Some of the boys at the playground.

I asked this boy if his name was Zacchaeus, he said his name was Jose.  The joke didn't translate obviously.

The one swing set was busy the entire time we were there.

Doug getting involved in trying to get the sound system working.  Our guide Odeir to the right in the white shirt and sunglasses.

Bonita (beautiful).

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"Take our picture with you."

Elizabeth and Jeremiah in the back of the truck watching the pinata.

A piece of the first pinata lots of the kids were wearing as a hat, including Elizabeth.

Pinatas can look like fun, but don't always end well.

Girls working on their jewellery.

The band of musicians ages 14-17. 

The new woodworking project that is starting up. 

World Vision took us to the Teleptan project in Nicaragua which is done in conjunction with World Vision Canada. 

Our escort Odeir made an excellent guide, and interpreter.  Staff are passionate about the work they are doing and the differences it makes in the community.  They were articulate and well spoken of the goals and objectives for World Vision.

We visited a local school which housed a community shared pot (feeding program).  The schools are funded by the government but are very basic.  World Vision helps with the community to improve buildings, teacher training, library resources and school supplies for students.  The principal and teachers were happy to express the improvements made.  To all the Canadian teachers out there you have lots to be grateful for.

The feeding program helps families understand the importance of nutrition; giving them recipes for food newer to their culture (soy beans) that are good sources of protein and nutrition.  Families are encouraged to plant small gardens to help subsidize their food sources.  Lots of kids were looking in on us with our visit.

We went to a community playground where a basketball court and a swing set have been established.  They tried to get a sound system working and Doug got involved of course.  They were setting up some piñatas for the kids.  Piñatas are very big and serious competition.  It was uncomfortable to see how aggressive it got with the piñata.  There was throwing of fists with some boys and some older boys ran off with the head full of candy.  Elizabeth had a few suggestions on how that could have been handled differently. 

There were also other children there wanting to talk, have their pictures taken and a little boy who offered one of his 2 candies to Doug.  Having a place to play and playgrounds are something we often don’t think about. 

We saw a craft group for girls who have learned to make necklaces.  They were efficient and proud of their work.  We saw a music group who have learned to play instruments and now mentor other musicians.  We didn’t understand all the words but we recognized the song "We want to see Jesus lifted high" by the tune.   Many of these kids play at their local churches.  Another group is learning to do wood working.  They put the 3 groups together in one area for our tour.  They spent a lot of time setting up all the things for us to see.  One of the boys said he would normally have been in school at this time.  We told him de nada (your welcome).

The last group we visited was a group of men who have been taught how to tend bees and sell honey.  The group is forming a co-op of 80 bee keepers.  The program started with 30 and has since been able to multiply.  They are working to export honey to Europe.  The difference this makes for their families is a steady income and more time together.  The men spoke before of long hours and having to work away from home during the week.  They would make a few hundred dollars a month or less to support their families.  One man had travelled 2 hours to come out for our visit.  They presented us with some delicious honey before we left. 

We are humbled by how much effort was made for our tour.

World Vision is intentional about building stronger communities and doing that by working with local leaders.  They establish goals and certain criteria need to be met before a program is initiated.  The monitoring is a huge task; in this community alone there were over 2000 sponsor children. 

This visit has made us even more aware of the impact World Vision makes.  It makes us more certain than ever that our donations are being put to good use.  Stronger communities make for strong families and healthier children.    Communities can sustain themselves when World Vision moves on to work with another community.