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La Esperanza Nov 2020

Dear Friends of La Esperanza Granada, 

Educators have many surprise activities for the children in the learning centers. As part of our life skills program, the last theme for the year is “Caring for the Earth” or environmental protection. We had an outdoor excursion for the children to a beautiful farm called Finca Zompopo.  We also started the gender equality pilot project in the learning centers!!

We continued to support the children and their families of the learning centers with the rice and beans program, this time thanks to all the donations we could add oil and bananas in the package.
La Esperanza Granada university sponsored student
 We want to let you know how well Elizabeth, the university student you all sponsored in the November – December 2019 matching grant fundraising, is doing. 
We are so proud to see her developing every day, as well as the rest of our university students. We are committed to preparing students to discover and achieve their own potential. We are focusing on interview and resume writing skills.

For next year we hope to add 10 new university sponsorships and we are happy to have already 4 sponsorships. We still looking for 6 sponsorships to reach our goal for the next year and replace the students that have graduated. Please click below to the link for more information about university sponsorship and to sponsor a student!

Click the video to know more about Elizabeth.
University Sponsorship Program

La Esperanza children go green!
 Many children who live in poor barrios of Granada have few opportunities to visit a farm and get close to nature. We had an outdoor excursion for the children to a beautiful farm called Finca Zompopo located 30 minutes from Granada. The farm is owned by Chris Crane, a very generous LEG collaborator who not only lets us visit his farm at no cost but also offers transportation, a warm meal and low-rope challenges in the forest.

Our objectives for this excursion was to have children enjoy the fresh air, observe the natural environment and connect with nature. We also included collaborative games and time for four stations of the low-rope course that test balance, agility, perseverance and teamwork. The educators and coordinators did a great job planning and leading the four excursions, one per learning centre. The security of children was assured by including a high number of adults, including mothers and staff from the Finca. As in the Learning Centres, we implemented COVID prevention measures with the use of masks, hand washing and social distancing.

October near the end of the rainy season in Nicaragua and nature is in full bloom. The children played, ran and screamed with joy. They were amazed by the huge trees, the multicolored flowers, the beautiful view of the Mombacho volcano and the animal life. Their shoes got very muddy and they ate with gusto. They made beautiful drawings of what they saw on the farm. They talked about the importance of caring for the Earth. One boy asked “when can we come back to the farm?” As a first experience taking the children to the Finca, it was a clear success and we intend to plan more daytrips. 

The Gender Equality Project
We are so grateful to have started our Gender Pilot Project that aims to empower vulnerable girls and boys in the learning centers. We started with a pilot, which means a more modest initiative for less time to learn from the experience, analyze results and draw lessons learned. After the pilot, we hope to be able to secure funding for a more ambitious initiative that could involve high school adolescents.

We want to thank Brian Anderson who funded this special project. We will report the progress over the months.
High SchoolAs part of the high school sponsorship we delivered school materials to the students of  Nueva Esperanza school. The materials included notebooks, pencils and a USB flashdrive. The 2020 school year ends in December. We are supporting the students with reinforcement classes in the afternoon in all subjects including computers. We are excited for our 23 graduated many hope to go to university, trade school or to work. 

Click below to consider sponsoring a high school student in 2021.
High School Sponsorship

Meet La Esperanza Granada staff
 For first time office staff are all Nicaraguan citizens. Please meet them from left to right. We have our Operations Manager, Roberto Picado; the new Pedagogical Coordinator, María Álvarez; the Learning Centers Coordinator, Scarleth Espinoza; the Communications Officer, Katherine Flores and the computer instructor and maintenance, José Arceda. Feel free to contact us any time. 

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS! Donations: Walter Gaczewski Jr,  Brian Shea, Nica-Friends, Judith Verret, John Roberts and Chris Binion, Lise-Lotte Herrfall, Francey George, Joanne Jean, Dale Schroeder, Wendell Blubaum, Sara Begona, Fred R Snyder. 

Again, thank you so much to the many friends of La Esperanza Granada!
Stay safe. 

The Esperanza Granada Team.
Visit our website:
 www.la-esperanza-granada.org
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Our email address:
[email protected]