Meeting outdoors at the home of the Flavins in Pukalani on December 8 to work on the 2021 budget were 8 of the 10 board members. Shown (left to right) are: Daniel Flavin, John Powley, Charlotte “Maura” Flavin, Judy Buettner, Mary Santa Maria, Mele Stokesberry, Jim “Jaime” Kahler, and Barbara Lee.
The students of the Instituto Ruben Dario sacrifice their Saturdays to be able to get a high school equivalency education. They live at farther distances from the high schools and labor during weekdays. They, too, will graduate on December 11th in La Carreta on the stage at Instituto Augusto C. Sandino.
The first class of daily students who entered the new secondary school at La Carreta, Instituto Augusto Cesar Sandino, will graduate December 11, 2020, and they’ll do it in their just-completed auditorium. Note the Hawaiian flag; they sewed it, and it’s there in honor of us, their friends in Hawaii. Read all the latest news here: 2020 Newsletter.
The latest project of Somos Ohana Nicaragua, the newly completed auditorium at Instituto Augusto C. Sandino, provides a covered stage and seating for over 200. Not only will it serve for school and community functions, but on hot and humid days it will be a shaded outdoor classroom space.
Great progress on the open-air auditorium at Instituto Augusto C. Sandino in La Carreta is being made day by day. The hard-working crew has the beams on for the roof. Somos Ohana Nicaragua is hoping for a finishing date in time for the December graduation of the first class that started at this school.
The auditorium is situated between the 3 wings of the school and will be a multi-use facility.
Even though the Sept. 14 festivities for Nicaraguan Independence Day in Villanueva were canceled due to COVID precautions, the students of the Instituto A.C. Sandino had their own desfile, or parade. In honor of their Somos Ohana Nicaragua “familia” in Hawaii, the students even sewed their version of the Hawaiian flag, and by hand! (See the marcher on the far right.) They are very special!
Photo by Head Teacher Luvy Uriarte Lainez
The plans were carefully drawn and approved by the Ministry of Education, and workers are building the foundation for the open-air auditorium that will provide a covered stage and seating capacity of over 200 for Instituto Augusto C. Sandino in La Carreta. We expect the auditorium to be completed by this December’s upcoming graduation of the very first group of secondary students, the ones who started in 2016 when the new school opened.
The new structure will also provide a shaded, semi-outdoor classroom space for very hot days, as well as a lighted evening meeting space for the community.
The board of Somos Ohana Nicaragua, unable to travel to Nicaragua in 2020 due to the pandemic, is very pleased to have found a good architect and crew who have worked closely with us long-distance to provide good value in support of our mission. Somos Ohana Nicaragua is very grateful to the generous donors who have made the dream of an auditorium in the La Carreta secondary school a reality.
Some of the advanced girls who will graduate in December hold large pipianes in this photo taken by Head Teacher, Luvy, at Instituto Augusto C. Sandino in La Carreta. The squash were harvested from the school’s garden. These favorite Nicaraguan gourd fruits come in many sizes and can be white, green or striped. They are steamed or stir-fried into many dishes. Some of the pipianes will be eaten by the students at school and some shared with their families, and the seeds will be saved, shared and planted.
The boys cleared the garden for re-planting, and in the second photo, pipian seeds are put into the holes made by a digging-stick tool.
Since the rains returned to NW Nicaragua, the vegetables grown by the students at the rural Instituto Augusto C. Sandino in La Carreta have flourished in the school’s vegetable garden.
A meal at school provides extra nourishment, and the process of creating it helps the students learn more about how to grow their own self-sufficiency.
Here are photos of a teacher preparing and students enjoying the pipian (a Central American squash, C. argyrosperma, genus Cucurbita).
Get some delicious food from Café Mambo in Paia, Maui, Monday June 15 through Tuesday, June 30, 2020, and help us build the auditorium this year at Instituto Augusto C. Sandino in La Carreta.
Mention the “Nicaragua Fundraiser” at Café Mambo, 30 Baldwin Avenue in Paia across from Mana Foods, and we’ll receive a portion of profit from each meal item ordered, dine-in or take-out (alcohol excluded). See menu & photos at www.cafemambomaui.com, tel. 579-8021.
HOURS: Monday – Friday noon to 8:00 pm and Saturday/Sunday 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. ¡Gracias, Alfredo and Daniela of Café Mambo!
