My Bags Are Packed

So greetings to all. It's finally time. My bags are packed and I'm going away!!! Oh my has time flown. As it turns out I had a large amount of donations to bring with my; however, thanks to Continental Airlines, I'm unable to transport everything. It turns out they put a baggage restriction during holiday times. Therefore I'm only allowed two checked bags and one carry one, no money would sway them either. So only a few items will be coming with me. Perhaps my mother will be able to transport more with her in March when she comes for a visit!!

I fly out from Portland this time around, much easier! I leave bright and early at 6am on the 28th but won't land in Nicaragua until 9pm! What a long day I have ahead of me. I will spend the entire day on the 29th in the city purchasing all the Christmas presents for the kids in the village. I've got a budget set and am hoping to get all 200 or so presents for under $400. It should be possible!!! Last year I think I averaged about $2 per child and everyone was super happy!

As for the classes and the children being sponsored for school it's a go. The teachers have been working on choosing the most needy children. Therefore when classes commence in February I will be there to award these children supplies and uniforms for the year! I'll drop everyone a bio and pictures on the child their money has been used to sponsor by the end of March.

Adult ed and Kids club projects are going to be great this year. Nate, owner of Rancho Esperanza, has finished the construction of the community center yet has fallen short for the funding of the walls so we are hoping for a miracle or a carpenter to come through the hostel as a volunteer. Otherwise I may end up using $250 or so from the adult ed program funding to finish the center so we have a place for the classes and the kids club to take place! I'll keep you all posted.

Looks like I'll get into the city once a week perhaps once every two weeks. I'll do my best to keep the blog updated!!

Wishing you all a wonderful New Years. If you'd like to drop a line the phone number to the hostel is [international prefix] 011 (country code) 505 879-1795. We are only one hour behind Maine, just so you know the time difference!

Much love to all and Thanks again for all your support!

Updates

Hello to all! As you all know I'm still here in Maine pushing forward to get as much accomplished as I can before I head back down to Nicaragua on December 28th. Yes, I've finally bought my tickets and they are set in stone. I fly down on the 28th of December from Portland, hopefully with tons of stuff including clothing and school supplies for the residents of Jiquilillo. I will be staying in Jiquilillo for 6 months with my return flight scheduled for the 9th of July!

My official plans include sponsoring 14 children to attend school, purchasing the vehicle to be used as an ambulance, distributing mosquito nets, commencing the gardening seminars, purchasing some new supplies for the school and the Kids Club program, holding AIDS awareness classes, and ascertaining a teacher for sewing classes. Yes I know this sounds like a lot, but I think I will be able to get it all off and rolling.

As for my recent activity here in Maine I've been working on several fundraising schemes. First, I've had the amazing opportunity to speak at the Foreside Community Church on Route 88 in Falmouth. Thank you Dorothy and Tim Blanchette and the rest of this amazing congregation for allowing me the opportunity to visit, and Thank you Nathan Yue founder of Rancho Esperanza in Jiquilillo, Nicaragua of helping me with the speech and during the coffee hour. I have also just submitted a grant application with the Portland Rotary Club for some financial assistance with the purchase of mosquito nets for the community of Jiquilillo; I'm hoping for some assistance from this great organization. Also just a few days ago thanks to the help of Danielle Haley with Family Health International I've begun to create lesson plans to help educate the residents of Jiquilillo about the AIDS epidemic. Most recently, however, I've begun the task of applying for Tax Exempt status with the help of Toby Burdet a wonderful man and a vast wealth of knowledge.

I have been blessed to have so much assistance with what drives my heart. It is amazing to me to see how everyone wants to help! I thank you all so much.

In the future I am still planning on holding a silent auction and a brief speech/slideshow with appetizers and hopefully a local Portland band. However, I have been struggling to ascertain a location. Perhaps someone out there would be in the know of a place in Portland that could accommodate all this. I'm shooting for the beginning of December.

As for the community of Jiquilillo, everyone is pushing through the rainy season hoping for the sun in sight. Fishing has been poor as usual but hopes are high as always!

Three, Two, One, Action

Ok, as you all know I've returned to Maine and have been trying to get back into the swing of the real world here. I think I've finally done it. I've managed to get my car out of storage and fix the brakes, which had rusted since it sat so darn long. I've also been fortunate enough to get cheep car insurance and the registration was not as bad as expected.

So with that crossed off the list I moved onto a way to gain personal financial stability. This was hard, and I hemmed and hawed about the cleaning business for a long time, but in the end decided if I was to be back in the US I should do something where I use my brain and try and further my networking. So yes I did it, I'm back working as an Appraiser Trainee, Thank you PM!!!!! So far things are going well at work, I'm having a bit of a hard time transitioning in from Nicaragua work ethics back to US work requirements, and trying to make sure I have a balance between a work life and a social network! So far so good. Next was find a place to live. Mom and Dad I love you but I can't live with you as you both know too well. As an independent woman with financial constraints this however has proved to be one of the more trying goals to accomplish. I generally don't live well with others, but I needed help. So I checked out Craigslist, with no luck, no one was comfortable with only a 6 month living situation. On to the next, the Portland Press actually did it for me. Yes they came through. I've met two really nice people whom, I now share an apartment with so far the living situation has been working great. We all get along and our energy's play off each other quite well. The bonus is I've now got a computer with constant internet access so my life of fundraising has become much more accessible.

So now that everything is done, except for the doctor for this darn ear infection, I am recomensing my trials and struggles for my heart. I'm back on a mission and was wondering if anyone had some words of advice for me. What I'm trying to do is get a grant. No, I'm not under non-profit status, I'm just not at the level where that is possible, but I do still have some great ideas in mind for my village. If anyone has any suggestions on where to start to look for a sponsor to cover me I would greatly appreciate some advice. I'm taking a chance and will be going down to talk with Safe Passage in Yarmouth next week, once my schedule allows me time, and am hoping they are willing to assist still. But any other ideas would be greatly appreciated. After that, perhaps at the end of this month or sometime in the beginning of next I would like to put on a benefit dinner with typical Nicaraguan food and a really neat slide show of my village, my friends and the families whom I love soooo much!!!!!

I'm Back and Ready to Get Back to Fundraising

So as you may all have guessed, I'm back to the USA. I made it back for the 4th of July, just in time to celebrate the Independence of the US, not that I actually made it out to see the fireworks because of the rain.

In the end things worked out alright. I got half of my projects completed, with great plans for January when I return to Jiquilillo! All the clothing donations got handed out as well as the supplies for the school! It was so nice to see all the children wearing their clothing donations on my last few days in the village. And I'm not kidding the Kid's were wearing either the shirts or shorts for 2 and some even 3 days in a row, and they had these big grins on their faces. I know all the clothing will get so much use!! Thank you all for making that possible for my little buggers out in Nicaragua.

As for the pick-up and the sponsoring of the school children, both these projects will take place upon my return to Nicaragua in January. Moises, my friend and trusted mechanic, promises to keep his eyes and ears open in search for a worthy vehicle. This is a bonus and I really respect his judgement. Nathan, my friend and owner of Rancho Esperanza, has promised to visit the teachers once a week to make sure that they are keeping track of everything that I need for the sponsoring. The teachers and I have decided that since almost all the children are in need of assistance for attending school it would be wisest to keep track of attendance and attitude. The teachers will be using a sticker chart and everyday a child attends school they get a sticker. They can earn an extra sticker at the end of the day if they have been good and attentive during class. In January when I return the children with the most stickers will be the first ones to be looked at for sponsoring. Now don't worry this is not just something we talked to the teachers about, all the kids know and the parents who attended our meeting also know. It's sort of an incentive for the children to attend school.

Two pictures are attached with this post. One is of me with Carlos a 12 year old boy who lives on the northern limits of Jiquilillo. I have just brought him and his family their bag of donated clothing. His house can be seen behind us and accommodates both his Mother & Father and two older sisters. The kitchen area (consisting of a fire pit and several cooking utensils) is located to the right of the photo and the sleeping area is to the left. The other picture is of our lovely bus system for Jiquilillo. The picture is taken on my bus ride out of the village. I finally got the privilege of riding on top of the bus known as El Carmen, it was so much cooler up there. The bus heading towards us is known as El Titanic and is heading in towards the village of Jiquilillo from Chinandega.

All Other Projects

As for updates with all other projects things have been progressing quite slowly. I fell ill for about five days within the past two weeks. This means I have not had a chance to get everything completed that I had hoped for. I have already extended my trip from the 27th of June to the 2nd of July. I hope this will give me enough time to get a little bit more work done, before I have to leave. I would love to stay and complete everything however, I must return to the states to finalize things there as well.

With all the donated clothing I collected prior to my travels, I have finally been able to walk through the entire village and get the names and ages of the children in the poorest families. These families include single mothers, large families, and families where neither parent is able to work. I have encountered a total of 48 families in the most need. Tomorrow, I will spend the day walking the village with these bags of clothing gifting them to the families. The bags of clothing include one article of clothing for all children, a stuffed animal for children aged 4 and under and two extra outfits for children under one years of age. All extra clothing will be left with the community leader of Los Zorros, another impoverished village to the north, to be distributed accordinagly. Nathan Yue, of Rancho Esperanza, and Doña Francisca, the local health promotor for Jiquilillo, have been an immense help in the walking of the village and creating the gift bags themselves. I owe so much to both these individuals. Without them it would not have been possible.

As for the vehicle to be used as an ambulance Nathan and I have looked at several others in Chinandega with our friend and mechanic, Mosies, only one of which he feels is worthy, however, we still have to negotiate a price. They are asking $6,500 which would be reasonable, with the exception that the truck will need new tires. Good tires in this part of the country are expensive therefore the truck will not affordable if they do not lower the price. We are still working and hope to have this finished before I leave on the 2nd of July.

Sponsoring children however has been an entirely different problem. The teachers have decided that it is best to wait and do the sponsoring in January when the new school year starts. This way a child can be sponsored in the same grade for the entire year. So now I will be creating attendance charts and discipline charts for the teachers to use until January. These charts will keep track of how often the children attend classes as well as what their attitude is towards learning. If anyone has any suggestions please feel free to add a comment to this post.

The picture associated with this post was taken Friday the 22nd and was taken during Kid´s Club which is held at Rancho Esperanza. Nathan and I decided a reading day would be appropriate since it was a really hot day. Nathan, and our two volunteers Stephany, from Boston, and John from Southern England, our chef Jacqulene, and myself all laid out on sheets with the children under our shadiest tree and read with the kids for two hours. The children were so into the books we acutally extended kids club. It was great to see them all so interested in the books and learning in general.

Gifting Materials to the School

Updates for the School. So far the school project is the only completed project for Jiquilillo. I have recently, on Monday June 26th, been able to gift the supplies to four out of the five teachers that teach at the primary school in Jiquilillo. The attached picture is of the teachers and myself with several supplies that I was able to collect in the states. Thanks to physical donations I was able to gift packages including pencils, pencil sharpeners, rulers, sicissors, notebooks, glue, erassors, and pencil boxes to each teacher to be lent to students who don´t have the necessary materials for the day. I was also able to gift a soccor ball, football, and several tennis balls for the children to use during recess. All parties including the teachers and the children were incredibly excited about the materials and have asked if future donations are possible if books and dictionaries and teaching supplies could be included. I feel this is very important considering the school has no dictionary, one set of out-dated maps, and only several books on site.

Also, just to let you know a little more about the school the NGO, Save the Children, has just this year become very active in the school system, and just last week held a meeting at the school directed at attendance levels. They NGO discussed several concerns with parents and teachers and several communitiy members who do not have children attending school, including Nathan Yue, owner of Rancho Esperanza. The main problem Save the Children has encountered is that attendance is low because the parents are not making the children go to school, instead the parents are allowing their children to work on fishing boats to help feed the family. However, another problem which was discussed by the parents is the teachers lack of attendance as well. The majority of teachers live in the city of Chinandega and do not make it to school before the bell, due to the bus system. This means that the children are less apt to show up on time or in reality at all. Save the Children stated at this meeting that if attendance does not increase they will pull all future funding. Currently, the main focus of Save the Children is providing free drinking water and one meal a day to each student. They have also gifted a swing set for the children to use during breaks.

Slight set-back, Still pushing forward

So far things with the projects have been slow. To start Nate Yue and I spent 2 days in Managua with our friend Moises, who is a mechanic. We must have looked at just over 15 vehicles. I have the blisters on my feet to prove it as well. Still no luck. The majority of vehicles did not pass Moises tests and the ones which did well as you can guess where way out of my price range. Moises also informed Nate and I towards the end of the day that we were getting "Gringo prices." This means that because Nate and I were from the US they were giving us a higher price than they normally would. Moises only knows this because he had looked at several of the vehicles previously and they had given him a cheeper price. Go figure. Thanks to Moises´honesty we have hired him to head out of Managua to both Masaya and Rivas where he will have more luck finding affordable cars in good condition since these places are closer to the Costa Rican border. Nate and I will not hear back from him until tomorrow so I will make another posting whenever I get back into the city.

As for the clothing and supplies which I had collected tomorrow Doña Fransica will be walking through Jiquilillo another time because the first list of the families who need the most help was accidentaly throw out while I was in Managua. Doña Fran and I are focusing on families run by a single mother and larger families who do not have a good means of income. I will have a more specific update about this and will include pictures of some of the families.

As for the sponsor of children through the school, things have also been moving slowly. The village has now been without power for 5 days and nights straight so most children have not been going to school and most of the teachers have left to return to the city to the luxury of their own homes. Nate did however, get a chance to speak with the teachers today while I was in the city and he called to let me know we have another meeting scheduled for Wednesday. This is good news. What I have asked the teachers to bring to the meeting is their class attendance lists, grades and notes about the children in their classes. I am hoping to find children who enjoy coming to school and do well when they are there, but who just cannot afford the supplies. I will let you know how this meeting goes once I return to Chinandega (the city where I use the internet.

As you can see I actually remembered to bring the camera and hook-up to the city with me this time. The attached picture was taken the other day at Kid´s Club. The girl in the photo with me is Maria she is 10 years old. She lives with her 3 older sisters and her twin brother. Her parents do not live with them and Maria herself does not know where they are.

I Made it

Just a brief note letting everyone know that I´ve made it to Jiquilillo, Nicaragua. I´m so excited at being back and spent the first few days getting re-aquainted with everyone. It was nice to see all my friends again. However, things have changed in the village so it was a bit strange to see. The people I kept in contact with never mentioned the changes, because it was a natural progression for them, and they didn´t even think about it.
Currently, I´m in the City of Chinandega, using the internet to stay connected to everyone who has helped so far. Things with the vehicle have been progressing well. Nate, my friend and owner of Rancho Esperanza, is helping me. Today, we looked at one pick-up in Chinandega, but our mechanic told us it was junk. We have three more to look at tomorrow in Managua. Keep your fingers crossed.
Things with the school have been moving a bit slower on the other hand. I´ve been having a hard time connecting with the teachers. This past week was a bit different for them, with Nicaraguan Mothers Day right in the middle of the week and a huge teachers meeting on Thrusday and Friday. We have another meeting set up for the end of this week, so hopefully things will get rolling soon.
I do want to thank everyone once again for their support. I will not let you, me, nor my friends down! Sorry there is no picture I forgot to upload my pictures to my memory chip. Next week.

Send Me On My Way

So I'm off, after months and months of fundraising and waiting I'm finally at the stage where I can return and gift everything I've been working so hard towards. As you can see from the photo, not only was I collecting money for the village but I was taking in donations too! I've had a wonderful response with donations as well as funding. I will be purchasing a vehicle for the village upon my arrival. My trusted friend Nathan Yue, owner and operator of Rancho Esperanza, where I'm staying, has found a Toyota Hilux in good shape and all we have left to do is get it to our friend and trusted mechanic Moises. Keep your fingers crossed it will pass his test. Otherwise it's back to square one, yuck. As for the children thanks to everyones help I've been able to raise enough money to sponsor 15 kids!!! Within this week I will be meeting with the teachers at the school to find out which children need the most financial assistance. I also had a great response in donations for the children including everything from clothing to school supplies, so this will be donated to other children who also need some financial help! The only tricky part I think I will encounter is how to carry 5 checked bags each weighing between 60 to 90 pounds, one carry on, and a bongo drum. Any suggestions? Otherwise wish me luck, and I'll be back to the city of Chinandega, Nicaragua to use the Internet and provide updates!! Thanks to all one more time, without you this would never be possible. So please take the time to pat yourselves on the back, you've done wonderful things!!!!!!

Getting Ready to Go

So my time in Maine is winding down. I will be leaving on May 23rd, and I am sooo excited. I will be working this next week trying to get all the loose ends tied up at the houses that I have been cleaning and organizing. For my last full week in Maine I will be purchasing gifts for my some of my closest friends, with the cold hard cash I have been earning from my jobs. I will also be packing up all my goodies (clothing, GPS tracking devices, crafts, and toys for the kids). I have so much stuff and have recently learned that I need to limit myself to 5 checked bags. It is amazing how quickly the donation piles built up. I am hoping that I can fit it all in. Otherwise who knows maybe I'll have to make another trip in quicker than I originally thought.

As for the fundraising I have been working on I am trying to get everything organized and figure if a vehicle is still possible. As of today, I have raised just over $5,500. This amount is amazing and I can't believe I did it, however, it is also not as much as I was hoping for. In order to sponsor 15 children and purchase the vehicle I was hoping for $12,500. I am hoping the article that ran in this weeks Forecaster will help a little more. Only time will tell but I've got my fingers crossed till then.