The primary school at Mata de Caña is getting outside electrification, a partial new roof, screens, cleaned and painted window hardware and walls, a sidewalk, and working boys and girls latrines. The new, larger water tank was supplied by the government when our engineer began working on the improvements that our organization is providing, with your support!
Women who were in Adrianna Flavin’s sewing classes during Somos Ohana Nicaragua’s trip to Villanueva in July are continuing to hone their skills on the donated sewing machines which are now at the Instituto A.C.Sandino in La Carreta. They learned well how to make their own patterns and use the machines, and their sewing sessions are ongoing, now at the secondary school.
During this summer’s visit of the Somos Ohana volunteers to Villanueva, Adrianna Flavin taught sewing skills for 2 weeks to 20 women, using 3 donated electric machines that the team took down this year. Other projects completed were a day camp for 2 groups of special needs youth (children and older teens), the purchase of new bikes for the incoming secondary students with long walking commutes to the 2 rural high school we have built, meetings with our college scholarship students, a visit and donations to the Casa Materna maternity clinic, construction of a table for a school and visits to families with special needs children living in remote areas.
The community held a special commemorative mass in memory of Daniel Flavin who worked in solidarity with the people of Nicaragua for over 20 years.
The Somos Ohana Volunteers returned in August from their 2022 visit to Villanueva. One of their projects is the annual luncheon for cancer patients. These folks receive a grant to cover transportation from Villanueva to various urban cancer treatment centers.
High school director Álvaro Francisco Mondragón Maldonado and a number of the students at Instituto Jose Dolores Estrada in Rincón de García celebrate cutting the ribbon and inaugurating their new perimeter fence which the school community had requested. Workers contracted by Somos Ohana Nicaragua recently completed the fence and portal that will control access to the school grounds, permitting the students to grow a garden of vegetables that can be enjoyed by the families without fear of marauders, both 2- and 4-legged.
Some students performed folkloric dancing in a classroom, seen in front of a Sandinista flag. The government fully supports the school and teachers’ salaries, but Somos Ohana Nicaragua helps with special projects that wouldn’t be affordable otherwise.
Our latest project at the Instituto José Dolores Estrada secondary school in Rincón de García is a strong perimeter fence to protect the vegetable gardens the students will be growing and tending. It is coming along well, and the rainy season has begun a little early. We hope for a good growing season for the farmers and the school, once the construction is complete.
We have just added a 9th scholarship student who is studying Veterinarian Science at the the UNAN in Somotillo, the nearest university branch to the muncipality of Villanueva.
Students line up on the first day of the new school year to enter the secondary school at Rincon de Garcia, the Instituto Jose Dolores Estrada, greeted by the director of the South Villanueva Municipality school complex, Alvaro Mondragon.
