Nutrition Program
Work Program
Agriculture program
Education program
Large Projects:
Nutrition Program
The first malnourished child we started to treat on
this program was Chanda, she 3 years old
and weighed only 20 pounds. Six
months later, we checked her again and she had not gained a single
pound. She was developmentally
behind, talking very little, lacking facial expressions and hardly ever
playing with the other children. We
started her on fortified milk and vitamins daily. After one month, Chanda’s facial expressions
improved and we heard her talking for the first time. After two months she was starting to play
and have energy, she also gained one pound.
It is only one, but it is the first in hopefully many pounds she
will gain before she becomes a healthy child.
Now she is gaining 1-2 lbs per month and continuing to improve.
We
provide some fortified milk and a multivitamin every day to each child in
the program. The cost per child is
only $10 per month. When you choose
to sponsor a child, you will be sent the child’s picture, history and other
information. Each month as we check
the children and give out more milk, a report can be sent to you. Pictures under photos from our front page.
To check on the children on the program or for children waiting for Sponsors. Please Click Here
Cost $10 per month per child
Work Program
The Miskito people of Nicaragua are subsistence farmers. If they don’t grow food, they have to buy it. We provide work for many families in the village. They work on the mission grounds, in the agriculture program, village work, etc. With the money from this work they are able to purchase – flour, sugar, oil, salt – none of which they can grow on their plantations.
Cost per day per person: $6.00
Average cost per month to support a family: $120
Aviation Program
The villages in much of Northeast Nicaragua are far up the river, requiring many days travel by river to get to them. This presents very hard conditions for people with severe illness, accidents or women in labor. They must travel many days down the river to get to the regional hospital. An airplane is able to reach many of these villages on the river giving people access to emergency medical transport. This saves many lives.
The second benefit of an aviation program is to transport Pastors and Conference workers to visit villages up the river and in more remote spots of Northeast Nicaragua. Right now there are many villages that have an Adventist presence but have not had another Adventist member, Pastor or Conference worker visit them in years because of their remoteness. The airplane will give access for Pastor’s and others to visit these villages and encourage our members already there as well as helping the church to grow with new members.
Monthly Budget: $1,000 (gasoline)
Airstrips: $5,000 each (estimate, depends on the runway)
Trip cost (saves 1 person's life, usually costs $150)
Village Houses
The local village
houses are built out of wood on wood stilts. The average house
lasts about 3-5 years before needing to be rebuilt. After the
hurricane there are a few families that are unable to rebuild their
dilapidated houses. An old widow, a single mother, a poor family
with a crippled father, a poor lay pastor. We would like to try
and raise money to build a house for each of them. Cement will last
many generations and will serve as a shelter for the village people
during a hurricane.
Cost of a new cement house: $3500
October 13, 2009: We have $1700 of the $3500 raised for our first widow's house. See the pictures of the house. We plan to start in December and put up the walls in February. If you are interested in a project, this is the one!
Antenna Tower
We have put up a network of several radio's that reach some
of these communities, starting with a base station for us at
our
house where we keep the airplane. Already, this has directly
saved at
least several people's lives, and it works very nicely. Now
we have two
more runways opening up just over 60 miles away, both of
them through
some hills. Our current antenna's are in trees as high as we
can get
them, around 50 feet. These trees are the largest, tallest
ones we can
reach close to our house and the antenna's are as high in
the trees as we can get them.
In a gentle wind it really blows them around. We have already had an
antenna break off one time from the movement.
If we had a solid tower reaching a little higher, maybe 60
to 100
feet, we could more easily reach the remote villages. Since
we are
their lifeline to medical care it is crucial we have a good
base
system so that we can hear them when they call and be able
to
respond.
Cost of a tower: $8565
New Women's Health Clinic
Women’s health is a big issue in the rural communities, from pregnancy to infections to infertility. There is an abundance of pregnant women. With the nearest hospital an hour away it is very important to encourage the women to have prenatal checks to prevent or screen for any problems. When a women's pregnancy is monitored it allows us to send her to town for her last few weeks, instead of making emergency trips after labor started putting both the mother and infant at risk. Prenatal vitamins are distributed at each visit as well as baby items they will need for their newborn. There is also a large number of women with sexually transmitted diseases and infertility. The women for the most part are scared to go to the hospital to be seen by the male doctors until the problems are so bad they need serious medical care (a lot of times this leads to infertility). There is a big need for a women's health clinic staffed with women nurses and doctors to help these women prevent and treat their problems quickly when they start having symptoms.
Cost of Clinic Building: $6000
Nurse: 2 years Nursing School for Local Villager: $500 total
Clinic Budget: $
Full time Doctor: $300/month
Staff house: $2000
Mission Compound
There
are many needs on the mission compound itself. The compound is where
the mission family lives and works. Here are a few of the needs.
Finish mission house
Construction
of a guest house
Power system upgrade
Ongoing maintenance
Truck maintenance
