Diria schools participated in World Water Day Celebrations this week and learned about care of water, the environment, and personal hygiene. As part of our work constructing water storage tanks and improving latrines with Living Earth Institute and Pangea it is important that we educate the children and community on the proper care of the tank, hygiene, and other related themes. As a result we took advantage of World Water Day, March 22nd, and had celebrations in the school.
The 4th, 5th, and 6th grade children participated in a presentation competition and gave presentations on care of the environment, personal hygiene, and care of school property. The younger children performed folkloric dances and participated in a variety of games and competitions. The schools were very organized and excited about this event.
It was a very fun and educational day, a day in which the results of the work we have done in these small rural communities was evident.

Proyecto Laguna, working in conjunction with the Living Earth Institute, has started construction in six schools. Our initial plan was to install water storage tanks and repair latrines in 5 schools. Luckily, we were able to stretch the money to include six. This means that every school that is in the countryside of Diria will soon have a back-up source of water. Water is important for health and hygiene and having a storage tank will greatly benefit the students at these schools. We are also repairing latrines in these schools so that the children have a safe, private, place to use the bathroom.
Proyecto Laguna is also working with the parents at each school to help them raise money and put together a maintenance plan so that they can maintain this project independently. We are working in conjunction with the Ministry of Health to start classes in each school focusing on health and hygiene and proper use and care of water and latrines.

Proyecto Laguna is currently working on marketing the products of Diria's seamstresses and tailors to other organizations and businesses to assist in providing a steady source of employment for these residents.
The seamstresses and tailors currently have a contract with Don Pan, a bakery chain, to make reusable grocery bags. They also have a contract with Ola Verde, a restaurant in Managua, to make canvas catch-all bags. There are several other business interested in their products and we hope to be signing contracts with them soon.
The seamstresses and tailors are very happy that they have this source of income and we hope that we will continue to be able to find businesses interested in their products.

A few months ago Proyecto Laguna was approached by the graduating high school students at the Anne Frank school. They asked us to help pay for their graduation ceremony. We decided that what we would do is help the graduating classes from Anne Frank--preschool, 6th grade, and high school--raise money for their own graduations.

Saturday was the big day and Proyecto Laguna brought in donated clothing and housing goods and the parents and students of the classes that are graduating held a sale. People from the community were able to come and buy clothing and household goods for very affordable prices and the students and parents were able to raise over $200 for graduation.
It is the hope of Proyecto Laguna that by providing an opportunity for the community to raise money for itself we are also empowering them and teaching them to help themselves and put the effort forth to make things happen within their own community.

Last Friday, Proyecto Laguna, with two Diria seamstresses, purchased materials for 850 backpacks at the Oriental Market in Managua. The Oriental Market is the largest market in Managua and is always an adventure full of sights and sounds and the frantic market pace. All of the supplies were delivered to Diria and distributed among the 11 seamstresses and tailors who are now getting started on making the backpacks we will need to distribute to the students of Diria for the start of the new school year in February. By working with local seamstresses we are able to provide employment for local residents and the money we spend on backpacks stays within the community.
Proyecto Laguna is currently working on marketing the products of Diria's seamstresses and tailors to other organizations and businesses to assist in providing a steady source of employment for these residents. The seamstresses and tailors have made several sample bags and we have gotten some interest from businesses in Managua. We hope to complete contracts with these businesses soon and have more work for these seamstresses and tailors.

The last week has been full of parties and parades as it was the week of celebrating Nicaraguan Independence. The culmination of the week was on both Sunday Sept 14th, which is the anniversary of the battle of San Jacinto and Monday Sept 15th which is Independence Day. The schools had been preparing their marching bands for weeks and had a wonderful parade through Diria on Sunday.
On Friday afternoon there was a party in Diria and all of the students gathered to watch a torch, that had been touring the country, go by. The parent's group prepared juice and snacks and sold them at this party to raise funds to help maintain the school. The tamales Carla made where a smash hit and sold out in 10 seconds flat!

Proyecto Laguna recently met with local tailors and seamstresses to get started on making 850 backpacks for the start of the new school year in January. We work with local skilled workers in order to provide employment within the community of Diriá instead of spend our money on products shipped in from other countries. With this model we are able to empower locals, provide employment, and the money we are spending stays within the community of Diriá.

Attached is a photo of our parent’s group and the 10 seamstresses and tailors who will be making our backpacks this year. They are excited for this opportunity and we have hopes that we may be able to market their skills and have them make backpacks for other organizations in Nicaragua too.

We have finished the remodel of the preschool building at the Anne Frank School. We were able to replace the rotting roof beams with longer lasting metal beams, replace the tin roof, amplify the windows, replace the doors, and build an attached office for the school directors with a storage area in the back. A group of students from the University of Washington visited last month and painted the newly remodeled building and also painted murals all over the school.

Last week the school had an inauguration party for the new school building. The children performed traditional dances and had a piñata. The parents of the kindergarteners presented Tracy Finch, founder of Proyecto Laguna, and Jennifer Schwinn, Community Development Director, with baskets of fruit to show their appreciation.

Thanks to a donation from Carol Caldwell we were able to install two new water tanks at the Anne Frank School. This school currently has to buy water that is transported from 3 kilometers away by ox-cart. The old tank was broken and had several leaks. Access to potable water is integral to health and now the students of this school have improved access to this resource.

For the past year we have been working with the Living Earth Institute and Pangea to install rain gutters and water tanks at the Ruiz Castillo School. Construction is now done and the children of this school will no longer have to wade through standing water in the rainy season and they have a water storage tank that will provide potable water even when the municipal source is unavailable. This improvement of the school environment makes the school a safer and healthier place for the children to study.

In late July Proyecto Laguna distributed over 750 packets of school supplies to the students of Diriá. July is the middle of the school year in Nicaragua. The packets included notebooks, pencils, pens, colored pencils, and more. The children and parents were very thankful for this help.

Thank you to all of you who sponsor children and help us ensure that the children of Diriá are able to have the appropriate supplies to attend school. Many children in Nicaragua do not attend school for the sole reason that their family cannot afford to buy them paper and a pencil. You can make a difference.

If you would like to sponsor a child please see our website-www.proyectolaguna.com.

May was a very busy month for us here at Proyecto Laguna. The rainy season has definitely started and each day it pours down rain, shutting down everything in Nicaragua until it stops. The roads out to Anne Frank and La Nicaroa are turning into rutted muddy lanes and soon it will be difficult to get to these two schools until the rains stop. It also was a month full of celebrations, fundraisers, and new projects.

A lot happened this month; we started construction at the Anne Frank School, had a movie night, held a garage sale, started working with a local furniture maker, and participated in Mother’s Day and Children’s Day celebrations.

Mother’s Day is the second largest holiday in Nicaragua (the first is Easter) and the festivities were wonderful. Unfortunately, due to a very intense tropical storm on Mother’s day, festivities were delayed a few days, but there weren’t any less fun. The children did folkloric and modern dances, read poems, and sang songs.

Children’s Day was also a fun day. Jennifer, our Community Development Director, was asked to hand out candy, in a clown suit! The teachers and school staff did dances and sang songs for the children in crazy costumes, and Jennifer danced around in a clown outfit handing out lollipops (she learned that dancing in a clown outfit in the sun is a sweaty business).

Construction
We have started a remodel/refurbishment of the kindergarten at the Anne Frank School. The existing pre school building is dark and dank, very little light comes in the windows, the wooden roof beams are rotting, there are holes in the ceiling, and the doors are hanging on their hinges.

We are replacing the rotting roof beams with longer lasting metal beams, replacing the tin roof, amplifying the windows, replacing the doors, and building an attached office for the school directors with a storage room in the back. The school directors currently have no office and have been using part of a classroom divided off by a couple of bookshelves.

For the past several months we have been working on getting all of the permits and finding a contractor so it is very exciting to finally have started construction.

We would not be able to do this project if it were not for the large donation made in the name of Stephanie Lerner which is paying for the majority of this remodel. Thank you so much for making it possible for us to provide a safer, nicer preschool classroom.

Movie Night and Garage Sale
The parents groups at Ruiz Castillo and Anne Frank are going strong. They have set the goal of buildings kitchens in both schools this year and are working on raising money for smaller projects and to save in their maintenance fund.

This month Ruiz Castillo had a movie night. The parent group raised over $100 by charging children 25 cents to watch a movie projected on a big screen, and selling snacks during the movie. The parents were so excited with the results that they plan to start doing movie nights more often.

At Anne Frank the parents group had a garage sale. Many people have donated clothing and toys to Proyecto Laguna. We brought these things to Anne Frank on a Saturday and the parents had a garage sale. This is a great model in a couple of ways; the parent’s group is able to raise money to use to meet their goals and the townspeople are able to buy nice toys and clothing for very low prices. The parent’s group raised close to $250!

Furniture
A few weeks ago the La Nicaroa School asked us for help. In this three room school, housing preschool through sixth grade, there was a problem. The pre-schoolers and first graders were sharing a classroom and they were constantly distracting each other. The first grade teacher asked if we could pay for a temporary wall to be put in the middle of the classroom. We took this a step further and are currently working with a local carpenter, Alfredo Ortega, to make a series of book shelves, some with doors and some without, to use to divide the classroom. This way, not only will the classroom by divided but the divider will be useful and more able to muffle sound.

Also, through working with a local furniture maker, who is the father of a child attending Ruiz Castillo, once again we are putting the money we spend to improve the schools back into the community.

We would like to thank St. Vincent de Paul High School of Petaluma, CA. We would not be able to build this furniture were it not for the donation they made to us. Thank you for helping us improve the quality of the educational environment at La Nicaroa.

Thank you

Thank to everyone who made a donation in the month of May. We depend on donations from persons such as you. A special thank you to those of you who are renewing your sponsorships-thank you for choosing to help a child succeed in school and in life.

May Newsletter
After the heat of April we are all looking forward to the rainy season. It has been so many months since the last rains that it is hard to believe that in a couple weeks the rain will start and not stop for several months.
April has been another month of planning and preparing for future projects. The parent groups at both Ruiz Castillo and Anne Frank completed applications to solicit funds to build kitchens in their schools. We have met with the Ministry of Education in Managua, with builders, and with school administration.

Seeking Sponsors
Proyecto Laguna currently has 685 students registered in our sponsor program and that number is growing all the time. Less than 20% of these children are currently sponsored.
We have a big school supply distribution coming up in July and we hope to have more children sponsored by then.
Sponsorship costs $100 a year and your sponsored child is provided with shoes, uniform, backpacks, and school supplies at the start of the year, a supplemental packet of school supplies in June, basic medical care, and supplies are provided to their classroom.
Please take the time to sponsor a child today. Child’s sponsorships make great gifts.

Medical Support
Proyecto not only provides basic medical care through our school nurse but we have also been able to help children with serious medical problems.
Last week as Jennifer was at the Anne Frank school she was approached by a woman who reported her daughter had been having severe abdominal pain for over a week, she couldn’t walk and she couldn’t eat. The mother couldn’t afford transportation to a doctor’s office let alone the price of the doctor and asked if Proyecto Laguna could help. Dina, the school nurse, accompanied this mother and daughter to a doctor and an ultrasound appointment in Masaya and a follow-up with an endocrinologist. The doctor reported that the little girl had a blocked colon that was threatening to perforate her small intestine. Luckily, we were able to start treatment before this little girl needed surgery, a colostomy, or had a dangerous infection due to a perforated colon.
Proyecto Laguna has paid for CT scans for an epileptic girl and medications to manage her epilepsy which has significantly reduced the frequency of her seizures. We have bought orthopedic shoes and/or braces for several children. We have paid for a dermatologist for a child with severe eczema and a physical therapist for a child with congenital hip dysplasia. We have purchased thousands of dollars in prescribed medications that families can’t afford to buy.
When we are approached by a family with a child in medical need, we pay for the treatment if we have the funding. If we don’t have the funding we seek it out.
When you donate to the general fund of Proyecto Laguna you help us meet the medical needs of children in Diria.

Shoes
The cobblers just finished an order of 124 shoes which were distributed to the children last week. So far this school year we have provided 328 pairs of shoes to children in need. Not only has this benefited the children but it has also provided employment to cobblers in Diria. We have about 20 more pairs of shoes that we plan to make, for sponsored children.
Please help us ensure that all of the children in Diria have shoes to wear by sponsoring a child or making a donation today.

Incentive Program
Proyecto Laguna is currently launching a new program in the hopes of rewarding and motivating students. Proyecto Laguna is going to provide a monthly “reward” to two students in each classroom. The rewards will go to the student with the best grades and the student with the best attendance and effort. Rewards will be something small, a fancy pencil, or a small coloring book. We hope that providing this reward will help motivate students to work hard in their class. As part of this program, we will also be providing larger rewards to the top students in these two areas at mid-year and at the end of the year.

Thank you
We would like to thank Rebecca Krzywda for her help with our accounting. Rebecca has been kind enough to assist us in setting up our accounting program and teaching us how to use it. Thank you Rebecca!

Thank you to everyone who made a donation in April, especially those of you who renewed your child sponsorships. We can’t do the work we do without your donations. Thank you for deciding to help a child in Diriá, Nicaragua to succeed in school and in life.

April Newsletter
March has been a month full of holidays, fundraising, planning, and setting goals for the future. Semana Santa fell in March this year. Semana Santa is the week leading up to Easter and is the biggest holiday of the year in Nicaragua. School was out for a week as many people went to the beach and/or participated in innumerable street processions. Semana Santa is a beautiful week where the churches are decorated with flowers and fruit, fireworks are constantly going off, and there are frequent parades in the streets.

March was a great month for us for fundraising. We are very thankful by the generosity of our donors. Tracy Finch, co-founder, utilized a vacation to the states to do fundraising in Maryland and Virginia.

We are continuing to work with the Living Earth Institute on the water-tank/rain gutter project, and with the Ministry of Education on the school gardens project. Also, we are starting construction this month on remodeling the preschool at Anne Frank.

A Family in Need
Blanca is a single mother of 3 children; Alondra, Miguel, and Isidro. Recently, Blanca separated from the father of these children because of domestic violence. She now is struggling to get by. Blanca has no stable source of employment. She takes in washing and does odd jobs when she can find them. She is struggling to provide adequate food to her children and doesn’t have any extra money to provide them with school supplies, shoes, or medical care.

Blanca’s children have been enrolled with Proyecto Laguna for a year, but have not yet been sponsored.

Isidro is 7 years old and in the 2nd grade. He reports that his favorite food is bread and butter and he wants to be a lawyer when he grows up. Miguel is 8 years old and in 4th grade. He likes to play basketball and wants to be a doctor when he grows up. Alondra is a charming little preschooler who likes playing with dolls.

To help these children succeed in school and in life please sponsor one or all of them now. Sponsorship is just $100 a year per child and provides the child with all necessary school supplies, shoes and uniform, basic medical care, and provides didactic supplies to their classroom. To sponsor these children please contact us at info@proyectolaguna.com.

Goals
This month we worked with the parent groups at Ruiz Castillo and Anne Frank to set goals for this school year. The parent groups both set the goal of building a kitchen with an attached cafeteria.
Currently, one mother from each classroom cooks each day, on a rotating schedule. The mother picks up the dry rice, beans, and corn and the next day brings it to the class for lunch. This system is difficult and inefficient. The parents, who already have scarce resources, are responsible for providing wood to make a fire to cook and for paying to grind the corn. If a mother forgets to pick up the food, the children in that class don’t eat, and sometimes food gets picked up from the school but never makes it back. It is also hard to control food hygiene when the food is prepared off site.

With a school kitchen only three mothers a day, on a rotating schedule, would have to cook. Two would prepare rice, beans and cereal, and one would prepare tortillas. There would be less wood used because all of the food would be prepare in one large batch instead of several small batches. And a cafeteria would provide an eating space for the children to use where we could ensure there are always available plates, cups and silverware-currently some children do not eat lunch because they cannot afford to buy a plate to keep at school.

The parent groups are currently working on writing up a proposal soliciting donations for this project. The photo in this section is of the parents and school directors at Anne Frank who are applying for funding for a kitchen.

We estimate that the cost of building a kitchen is $3000 with $2500 extra for the attached cafeteria. If you are interested in donating toward this project please contact us. If you are interested in fundraising at your school, church, place of work, or other organization, for this project, please contact us, and remember all donations are tax deductible!!

Fundraising Success in March
“A Night for Nicaragua” charity event was a success. The Kiss Café in Baltimore, was gracious enough to donate the event space and cook delicious Latin/Caribbean food. Over $3000 was raised for Proyecto Laguna including 12 new child sponsorships.

On Easter Sunday, Tracy Finch, our co-founder, spoke at the Westminster Church in Richmond, Virginia. Tracy gave a presentation on our project; what we do, why we are here, and what the realities of life in Nicaragua are. Parishioners donated over $2000 including 18 new child sponsorships. The Parishioners reported they were touched by Tracy’s speech and that the pictures she showed helped make the stories real.

Last week we received a check from the Baraca Bible Class from Westminster for $1248! In an attached note they told us, “we especially liked the fact that you seem to have found the best solution to empowering people to help themselves.”

We would like to say Thank You to the Kiss Café, Sammy Williams at Westminster Church in Richmond, VA, and the Baraca Bible Class. We truly appreciate all of the support you have given us!

Pre-School Remodel
The pre-school building at Anne Frank is in a state of disrepair. The walls are crumbling, the wooden beams holding the tin roofing is rotting, the paint is chipping off, there are no lights or electric sockets in the classroom, and the room is dark and uninviting.
Next week we will start construction and remodel this classroom. We plan to replace the wooden roof beams with metal, replace the roof, replace the doors, expand the windows, connect electricity, and patch the walls. We also plan on adding an attached office that will be used by the directors of the school. Currently the directors have a very small room that is sectioned off from a classroom by a bookshelf. We will build an office that is attached to the preschool that has a storage room in the back to store the dry rice and beans for the school lunch and plenty of space for the directors to work.

We are very excited for this project and look forward to working with the parents of Anne Frank who are will be volunteering their labor for this project.

Thank you
Thank you to everyone who made donations this month. We depend on your donations to make a difference in the lives of the people of Diria.

School is in Session
The first day of the new school year in Nicaragua was on February 4th. The weeks leading up to this day were busy for us!
Proyecto Laguna distributed over 500 backpacks filled with school supplies to children registered in our program at the three schools we work in. We were also able to supply a backpack to each of the teachers filled with notebooks, markers, pencils, pens, glue, scissors, and more. Each school also received supplies of blank paper, art materials, and office supplies.
Children and their parents renewed their contracts with Proyecto Laguna agreeing to be responsible, attend school, and complete their school work. Over 100 new children registered with us and will receive school supplies starting in July.
The children and teachers were happy to have their new backpacks and the community gifted Proyecto Laguna with oranges, toasted corn, kisses on the cheek, and blessings as a way of showing thanks. Parents thanked us for giving their children an opportunity to attend school.
We were thankful to have two of our board members, Kathy and Buzz Belcher, as well as three volunteers, Hazel Alemanza, Raul Planas, and Christy Myers, to help us distribute backpacks. We couldn’t have done it without their help.
The cobblers have finished the first batch of shoes and they did a great job. The shoes are well made in high quality leather. The cobblers should be finishing up our initial order in the next week.
There are still children who will not receive shoes this year, as we receive more donations we hope to continue providing more shoes to more children.

Special Cases
In the last month Proyecto Laguna was approached and asked to help two families in great need.
The Guadamuz family was recommended by the vice principal of the Ruiz Castillo school. He reported that this family was extremely poor, the children had not attended school the previous year as the mother could not afford shoes, uniforms, and school supplies. In this family there are 4 generations living in a one room house. The grandmother and mother take in washing but the money earned from this barely pays for food.
The vice principal helped the mother register the children for school but he knew the children would not attend school without shoes or uniforms and would be unable to do their school work without paper and pencils.

Non-Profit Status

Proyecto Laguna received a wonderful holiday gift this year, non-profit status! Proyecto Laguna is now officially a 501c3 Certified Non-Profit Public Charity in the United States. We are very excited for the opportunities this brings us and the benefits it brings to you, our donors. All donations are now tax deductible, and having governmental recognition opens a lot of doors for us.As a result of our non-profit status, all donations made in 2007 are tax deductible. We will be sending out receipts to all of our donors in the last year to use for tax purposes. If you don’t receive your receipt by the end of January please contact us at info@proyectolaguna.com.



Sanitation Project

In other good news, the Living Earth Institute has been awarded a grant from the Pangea Foundation to come to the Ruiz Castillo school and install two water tanks, rain gutters, and repair/replace the latrines. Our parent group is very proud of themselves as they helped solicit this grant, and the teachers and parents are all very much looking forward to the benefits the children will receive as a result of this project. The engineers from Living Earth plan on visiting in February to work on their plans. They are working in conjunction with Proyecto Laguna. We will be responsible for doing the community organizing and educating that is necessary to make this project a success.



Packing Day
In December teachers and parents from Diria came into Granada and helped us pack the backpacks that will be distributed to the children later this month. About 15 people showed up and helped us pack 700 backpacks with notebooks, pencils, erasers, dictionaries, pencil sharpeners, crayons, etc. Next week we will be distributing these bags to all of the children enrolled in our sponsorship program. Your efforts have made this happen and will make an incredible impact in the lives of these children.



Making Shoes
Proyecto Laguna is working with shoemakers in Diria to make pairs of shoes. Yes, there really are still cobblers! As we didn’t have enough money to make shoes for all the children, we asked the teachers to help us pick out the children who were most in need. The ones who are most in need are those who wouldn’t be attending school next year because they had no shoes. The teachers helped us gather shoe sizes for hundreds of children.Proyecto Laguna is working with local shoemakers because we believe it is important to keep investment within the community. By employing local workers, the money we pay to make shoes will go right back into Diria. If we were to buy shoes in the marketplace our money would go to shoes made in China. We have also found that by employing locals we get much higher quality goods, people take pride in making goods for their own community.As we receive more donations we hope to continue making more shoes for the other children registered with us. We need your help in this matter as there are children who need shoes who will not receive them at this time.



Photographer
At the end of December we had a visit from Kristine Ambrose, a professional photographer from Los Angeles. Kristine visited several of our families and took some truly amazing pictures. She plans on displaying her photos and donating a portion of the money she makes to Proyecto Laguna. We are also able to use her photos for our website and other advertisements. All the photos in this newsletter were taken by Kristine.
You can visit her website at: http://www.kristineambrose.com/



Thank you
We would like to send out a special thank you to Turf Valley Country Club located in Ellicot City, Maryland. They collected over $600 and donations of medicine. Thank you for your generosity.
We would also like to thank everyone who sponsored a child and those who donated money this month. Thank you for supporting the work we are doing and helping the children in Diria succeed in school and in life.



This newsletter will be sent out monthly and will keep you informed of our news and the projects we are currently working on. Your help is greatly appreciated.

The Christmas shopping season is in full swing and that means many people are searching for ways to give meaningful gifts to others.
If you want to give gifts this year that have true meaning, and can actually make a small difference in the world, consider giving donations to Proyecto Laguna as Christmas gifts.
Donations of any size can make a big difference in the lives of the children in Diriá. Here are some examples of what your gift donation could do:

$10-enough clean water for the 250 students at Anne Frank School for a week -They currently have no local water source.

$25-Printing costs for school exams which children now have to pay and often cannot afford.

$50- Shoes, uniform, backpack, and school supplies for one student

$100-Sponsorship of one child for a year-including school supplies, medical care, and supporting their school

$200-Shovels, hoes, seeds, and all the other supplies needed to start a school garden that will help add fruits and vegetables to the children’s diet

$500-650 pounds of rice and 330 pounds of beans to provide a school lunch

$720-one year salary for the school nurse

$1000- four month supply of prescription and non-prescription medication for students in all three schools

$5000-construction of a school kitchen to assist in the preparation of school meals

When you make a gift donation you will be provided with a letter addressed to the gift recipient describing our project and showing that you made a donation in their name.
We hope that you will consider giving charitable donations to Proyecto Laguna as Christmas gifts this year.


A Special Thank You
We would like to thank Stephanie Lerner, who asked people to donate to us for her birthday this year. Due to Stephanie’s generosity we received a $5000 donation! This is our single largest donation to date and we are very appreciative. As a result of this donation we are well on our way to providing shoes to the children of Diriá and are also hoping to be able to repair and improve the kindergarten classroom at the Anne Frank school. Thank you Stephanie, you have made a difference in the lives of many in Diriá.

Update

Update
We are in need of sponsorships and donations in order to provide children with school supplies, uniforms, and shoes for the next school year. Please help us ensure that every child in Diria has the opportunity to attend school next year. The children in this picture are unsponsored and are writing letters to thier future sponsors.
In the last two months we have been working on several things. Our seamstresses and tailors have been busily making backpacks for the next school year, we had a second movie night, we handed out packets of school supplies to over 600 children, and more.
We are enjoying our work in Diria and are developing warm, positive relationships with the community. We hope you can help us continue doing this work by making a donation or sponsoring a child. Remember, 100% of donations go directly to our programs; nothing is taken out for overhead.
You can make a donation by linking to our website at -http://proyectolaguna.com/donate/index.htm

We need your help!
We have had a nice response from a few people who are now sponsoring children. Unfortunately, there are still over 600 children who don’t have sponsors. The new school year in Nicaragua starts in January, and though that seems far away, we need to start working now to get uniforms and shoes made. It will cost $18 per child just to provide them with a backpack, a skirt or pants, two shirts, and a pair of shoes. This doesn’t include the cost of notebooks, pencils, etc.
As it is currently, unless we are able to raise a significant amount of money, we will be unable to provide uniforms and shoes to the children next year.
Please take the time to sponsor a child. For $100 a year your child will receive shoes, a uniform, backpack, and school supplies at the start of the year, a suplemental packet of school supplies mid year, as well as year round basic medical care. The child’s school will also receive support for classroom and office supplies as well as larger project such as installing water tanks or repairing buildings.

Update
These last couple months have been busy, as usual. We have been working to get sponsors for all of the children registered with us. We have had a wonderful response and we are very thankful, but we still have over 500 children in need of sponsors. Please take the time to sponsor a child today. $100 will supply your child with school supplies, medical care, and support their school for a year.
Sponsor a child now-http://www.proyectolaguna.com/sponsorachild/index.html
We are gearing up to give a mid year packet of school supplies to all of our registered children. The school year in Nicaragua is from January to December and July is the mid year point. We have been assembling packets of school supplies so that each registered child will receive pencils, pens, crayons or colored pencils, notebooks, pencil sharpeners, erasers, and for the older children a packet of supplies for studying geometry.

There are over 500 children who need sponsors.

Update
The last two months have been busy for Proyecto Laguna. We have been moving forward with our plans as well as gearing up for our child sponsorship program. We have registered over 500 children between 3 schools who need sponsors to help pay for their school supplies, medical care, and support their school.
Also, we have started working with the parents at Ruiz Castillo to set goals and fundraise for larger projects.
We met with a local shoemaker in Diriá and put in an order for over 270 pairs of shoes! Buying directly from a shoemaker helps increase the quality and durability of the shoes. It also provide a job within the community. So far, he has delivered half of the order and the shoes are high quality. The children and their families are very happy with them.
We also decided to start helping a third school.


Nicarao School
The headmasters of Anne Frank are also headmasters of the Nicaroa school in the rural community of La Zopilota. They approached Proyecto Laguna and asked us to work with this school. They explained that this community is very poor and needs help. The Nicaroa school serves just over 50 children in 2 multi-age classrooms. The nearest water source for this school is 6 kilometers away. Many children are unable to go to school because they are busy transporting water during the day. This is a rural community and many children work in the fields to help support their families. The children at Nicarao were a beautiful and polite group. As we entered the classroom they all stood and said "Buenos Dias", at recess time many of the children stopped to chat with us. We at Proyecto Laguna feel that this school deserves whatever assistance we can lend.

Child Sponsorship
For $100 a year you can supply a child in Diria with school supplies, basic medical care, and support their school. You will receive a picture of your child and letter from him or her. You also will receive information on the family of your child and the child’s goals for the school year. All sponsored children and their families have completed a contract with Proyecto Laguna. They have set goals for the school year. The children have agreed to attend school regularly and to put forth their best effort. The parents have agreed to support their child in attending school and completing their schoolwork. The parents have also agreed to participate in the school; attend parent meetings, assisting the teacher as needed, etc. We have completed registration at all three schools and have over 500 children in need of sponsors.
If you would like to help a child in Diria succeed in school and in life, sponsor a child now. If you are interested in sponsoring more than one child we can assist in finding a sibling group so you can sponsor children from one family.

To sponsor a child see our website- http://proyectolaguna.com/sponsorachild/index.html

Here are some examples of children who need sponsors:


Naydelin Nohemy Roderiguez, Pre-School
Naydelin is 4 years old and in pre-school. She has an older brother who also goes to Ruiz Castillo. Naydelin’s father works as a money taker on a public bus and makes $2.25 a day.
Naydelin’s favorite animals are bunnies and her favorite color is red. She likes to eat beans and rice and hopes to be a teacher when she grows up.


Jonny Pedro Franco Gómez, 3rd grade
Jonny is 10 years old and in the third grade. He lives in a large extended family with 13 children and 6 adults in the home. His mother makes and sells tortillas and brings home approximatley $10 a week.
Jonny’s goals for this school year are to study, attend class daily, and to pass his grade. He likes to play basketball and his favortie animals are dogs. Jonny hopes to be a police officer when he grows up.

Berta Adilia Gutierrez Mercado, 6th grade
Berta is 11 years old and has a brother, Francisco, who is also in 6th grade. Berta lives with extended family, there are 3 adults in her home, and 4 children. Her mother, Margarita, works cleaning and ironing clothes. Margarita makes $40 a month to support her family. Berta works before school and on weekends selling clay whistles to toursists, in nearby Granada, to help support her family.
Berta reports that this school year she wants to graduate from primary school and improve her reading skills. She hopes someday to have a career with computers.


Parent Meeting
Proyecto Laguna held the first parent meeting at Ruiz Castillo. There was an impressive turn out of 26 parents who were all motivated to improve their children’s present and future. In this meeting we explained to the parents the model we are using of community involvement and investment. We explained that our position is to help the community learn how to set goals, plan, fund, implement, and support projects. We will assist in facilitating this process and in funding, but that the community would be responsible for raising money to make a symbolic donation toward the project. The parents were excited and motivated and had many ideas on how to proceed.
The parents, and school administration, set the goals of building new latrines and setting up a water tank (this would be back up water as the municipal water system is often off). The parents have started fundraising and in their first raffle raised 1000 cordoba (about $55 dollars)! The parents were very excited about their success and plan on having regular raffles as well as setting up a monthly movie night at the school to raise more money.
Proyecto Laguna is working with engineers in the states on latrine design and implementation.
If you are interested in donating towards the building of a latrine and/or a water tank please visit www.proyectolaguna.com to make a donation.

Clean Water
Proyecto Laguna has also been busy contacting organizations who specialize in installing wells to see if they may be able to help in this area. There are three small villages in this area, without access to water; Palo Quemado, Los Jirones, and La Zopilota. We are hoping to join with a well building organization who can help these villages. If any of you could help link us to organizations who build wells please contact us at contact@proyectolaguna.com.

Fundraising
If you are interested in fundraising for Proyecto Laguna there are many options. You can put out a challenge to your business, church, professional group, or extended family to raise money or to sponsor a large number of children. You can start a penpal/fundraising relationship with a classroom in Diria. You can have a fundraising event in your community. Proyecto Laguna can provide you with fundraising information, including a slideshow explaining our project, the community, and the needs of the community.
For more information on fundraising, e-mail us at jen@proyectolaguna.com.

Donations
Thank you to all of you who made donations in March, your donation is appreciated and has made a difference in the lives of the children in Diria.
A special thank you to Hazel, Raul, and Ramon who helped greatly registering the children for sponsorship, and to the Nicholls State University in Louisiana's nursing program for thier donation, we look forward to working with you in the future.

How you can help - To make a donation now connect to our website www.proyectolaguna.com
For questions or comments feel free to contact us at contact@proyectolaguna.com

This newsletter will be sent out monthly and keep you informed of our news and the projects we are currently working on. If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter send an e-mail to: contact@proyectolaguna.com

To contact us with any questions of comments send an e-mail to info@proyectolaguna.com

To make a donation, go to our website and click on the donate link www.proyectolaguna.com