You Changed Lives in 2016
We want to celebrate the successes that were made possible thanks to YOU in 2016! There are many families that are healthier, happier and living better lives thanks to your generosity. Here are a few of the important highlights that were made possible by you.
Rodolfo’s Home Garden Changed His Life
Resting on a hand built reclining bench sits Rodolfo Pineda and his young daughter Katherin. A young boy races past the porch lined with flowering plants. The front of Rodolfo’s house is a little “pulperia”, a local name given to a small store with daily need items.
Rodolfo greets us warmly and explains he was part of the CEPAD program during the previous five-year cycle in his community, Sompopera. Though the work that you made possible is officially over, he and the other community leaders continue to work together to improve their community. Rodolfo is eloquent and talkative. He immediately begins sharing about his five-year experience with CEPAD. All the benefits Rodolfo has for his family were provided by you. This is just one family in one town, your gifts make similar things possible for families all over Nicaragua. The following is a transcript of what he said:
Fresh water for two brothers
After driving out of Teustepe, (a town in Northern Nicaragua), for 45 minutes on a rocky path and crossing a couple dry rivers, we finally arrived in the small, dusty village of Agua Caliente. The landscape looks bleak due to the past two years of drought. A few underdeveloped crop fields are visible through the breaks in the trees.
Two small boys were among the first to run up to the pick up truck to greet us. Jose and Joan were soon met by more children who walked with us to the small unpainted quarry block house.
“You Have Given to Us and Expect Nothing Back”
Come in to see our chancha!” Oscar and his older brother Witer ran ahead of us as their mother excitedly invited us into their house to see their large pig which had recently given birth to 12 piglets.
We followed, expecting to walk out the back door after entering the house, but the two brothers turned into the small, smoke-filled kitchen. There she was, their pride and joy, snout to the hard dirt floor, hunting for food with her 12 little pink piglets.
For Sugeyli, this family of pigs living in her kitchen eases her worry about her sons not having enough to eat. These pigs give her hope for their future.
The Village of Buena Vista Faces a New Problem
We recently updated you on a great story from the community of Buena Vista, where leaders were trained and were able to get a well dug in their community! Previous to this families had been carrying water from up to one-quarter of a mile to their homes. (To read this story, click here.)
Today, Buena Vista the leadership of Buena Vista is facing a new challenge, how to combat a severe drought affecting their community.
The average, the rainfall in August is usually over 40 inches, however in August they only received 1.5 inches of rain. The rain in September was also close to a record low. This means that farmers lost their first cycle of crops and there are increasing concerns that the second (and last) crop cycle of the year will be lost as well.
Most farmers rely on their crops to feed their families. Without a harvest, their families have nothing to eat.
Families in the area have been selling their cattle and other farm animals for money to buy food.The spike in farm animal sales has caused their price to drop, while at the same time, the price of basic grains has increased.
Emergency Drought Plan Offers Relief to Parched Farms
After a year of record-breaking drought, CEPAD and our partners ACT Alliance and Episcopal Relief and Development have taken further steps to help Nicaraguan farmers who lost crops and are struggling to feed their families.
“We haven’t had a good harvest in two years, and we couldn’t have survived without CEPAD,” said Hermelinda Urbina of the community Nacascolo. “We need water more than anything, and now thanks to CEPAD we have food to eat until it starts to rain in May.”
All of This is in the Reach of Our Hands
Thanks to Sara Delaney and all our partners at Episcopal Relief and Development for this wonderful story of CEPAD’s work. ERD partners with our farming programs in Nueva Guinea and San Francisco Libre to help provide training and support for families and farmers there.
Over a hot, humid, rainy week in Nicaragua recently, I spent some time with our partner there, the Council of Protestant Churches of Nicaragua (CEPAD). This was my third visit to see their work, and I’ve written in previous years about the amazing mega-gardens that small farmers have created around their homes.
This time, I wanted to see for myself how CEPAD works to share ideas on the management of these gardens with farmers. So I attended a two-day exchange workshop that brought together about 40 participating men and women from the surrounding area. It was one workshop in a whole series that farmers go through over a three-year period, and this one featured techniques for making natural fertilizers and pesticides using local ingredients.
Read the rest of the story at the Episcopal Relief and Development blog.
THANKS TO YOU, Arnulfo’s Yields Are Higher Despite Climate Change
Nicaragua’s rainy season is getting shorter, summers are hotter, and long-trustworthy climate cycles are less consistent.
So times are especially hard in San Francisco Libre, a region of the country where soil quality and lack of water has always caused challenges for farmers. CEPAD trains farmers to help them learn to overcome the environmental pressures they face.
“CEPAD taught me how to make banks and ditches with the soil to trap water and protect the plant roots,” said Arnulfo Jose Espinoza Gonzalez, who has been a farmer in the region for 13 years. “CEPAD helped me buy barrels to collect water, too. I’ve seen a big change in my plants.”
Since incorporating what he learned from CEPAD, Arnulfo said he is able to grow some crops for the first time, and his corn and plantain yields are rising. Support from CEPAD donors has meant more income for Arnulfo and his wife and five kids. He said he’s less worried about how they will care for their new baby. In a meeting with farmers from around the region, CEPAD and representatives from ACT Alliance led a workshop with farmers to identify the risks they faced and possible solutions.
Farmers were excited to learn about opportunities to seek funds from CEPAD and from local governments to install irrigation systems. Farmers in San Francisco Libre are committed to working with a changing climate to ensure they can continue farm work to provides food and income. CEPAD will be there with training to give farmers in harsh regions a shot at success. In the future, Arnulfo hopes he can quit his other job at a roof tile manufacturing plant and farm full time to earn enough to feed his children and pay for their school.
“I am a farmer in my heart,” he said. “I’m learning how to work with the climate to plant crops that will grow well, and my income from the farm is increasing a little bit. With God’s help, I will keep fighting.”
Arnulfo’s pride in his new plants reminds us why we keep fighting, too. Thank you for your continued support of CEPAD’s work! You make a difference in the lives of rural Nicaraguan families every day.