Efrain Aguilar Mendoza

Project: San Ramon

This is a story of Rainbow Network's ability to radically transform lives. Before Rainbow Network entered his life, Efrain, 37, who has only an elementary education, did his best to provide for his family by growing corn and beans on a small lot of land that he rented and working on nearby farms, equating to about one dollar a day. He, his wife, and three children lived in a small, wooden shack with a dirt floor. Their life was headed down the same path as many Nicaraguan families - one of basic survival and the daily struggle to obtain adequate food, shelter and clothing.

Thanks to Rainbow Network, he is now a small business owner and his family lives in a sturdy, cement home with a tile floor. He has received three loans from Rainbow Network which he has used to open and maintain a small store, or "pulperia," in the front of his home. Little by little, Efrain has expanded his "pulperia" and now offers clothes, movie rental, shoes, brooms, and cold sodas from the refrigerator he recently purchased. Also due to his success, he has been able to rent more land and now grows crops on eight acres of land. His family is the recipient of a Rainbow Network house in El Carmen of the San Ramon project. His children are no longer confined to the nutritional deficiencies of a diet composed solely of rice, tortillas, and the occasional serving of beans, but rather regularly consume meat, vegetables, and dairy products. To remind themselves of how far they have come and to keep harmful smoke out of their home, Efrain and his wife built a replica of their previous house behind their new one to serve as a kitchen.

Elena Aurora Mendoza Altamirano

Project: La Paz Centro

Long before the words "Rainbow Network" held meaning for Elena, she was praying for an opportunity to change the life of her family and envisioning ways in which she could do it. Her family of seven resided in a wooden shack with a scrap-metal roof and dirt floor that they couldn't even call their own. The house was in such bad shape that it collapsed shortly after they moved out. To provide for their four children, Elena and her husband rented a small parcel of land and barely survived off of what they grew.

In 2002, Elena's hopes and prayers became reality when her family received a home in Rainbow Network housing project Jim Burt in the community La Sabaneta. She began participating in the loan program and has received six loans in total: two for a chicken-raising project, one for raising pigs, and three she has put toward renting more land and growing crops. Her success has allowed her to add on a large room to her house, buy a refrigerator, and provide beds for each family member.

Elena's daughter was a Rainbow Network scholarship student for five years, and graduated last year. Her children faithfully attend the Rainbow Network schools in the afternoons. Elena is a leader in her community in charge of the education component, overseeing schools and their volunteer teachers in the afternoon. Her husband is often away from the home for seasonal work, traveling to Costa Rica to work in construction, and working in agriculture while home. Elena has found a way to provide for her family without leaving her four children (one of which is mentally handicapped) at home alone, as well as realizing her personal life goals.

Jacqueline del Socorro Herrera Sanchez

Project: La Dalia

Jacqueline's story attests to the vital role education plays in breaking the vicious cycle of poverty. Jacqueline, 18, was a Rainbow Network scholarship student for the five years of her secondary education, and graduated last December. She formed part of the first group of Rainbow Network scholarship students in her community, Granadillo #4, and was the only one out of the group to stick with it until graduation. She is the first high school educated individual in her community. Jacqueline is a leader in her community in charge of education/scholarship, but she is at every reunion and involved in every setback and success of her village. She was recently awarded an all-inclusive scholarship to study Education at a prestigious university in Leon, in part due to the support of Rainbow Network. Rainbow Network provided the economic support needed for her to study under a tutor in preparation for the competition, which consisted of a series of academic tests.

Jacqueline has accomplished a lot considering the economic challenges of her family. Her father is the only provider for the family, making around $33 a month by growing crops on land that he rents with the help of Rainbow Network loans. Jacqueline's mother died nine years ago, so she lives with her father, stepmother, and two younger siblings. Her family lives in a Rainbow Network house - a huge leap from the bamboo hut and plastic roof that they called home before. She has two younger siblings, one which attends the feeding center. Her younger sister is currently a Rainbow Network scholarship student, and her three year old brother attends the community's feeding center. Her father was a Rainbow Network special medical need patient and received surgery to remove a hernia that was preventing him from working.

Santos Erving Lopez Carrion

Project: Nagarote

Santos Erving Lopez Carrion, at 31 years old, finally received the answer to his prayers. Santos. goal was to graduate from high school. He entered his first year of high school in 1984 at 15 years old, but was forced to quit after a year due to the instability in his country. The government was requiring that all young men leave school and fight in the vicious war in the mountains, and Santos' parents withdrew him from classes in order to avoid a premature end to his life.

Eight years later, once the country regained stability, Santos worked five days a week in the fields to put himself in school again. He had finished part of his third year when he lost his job. His parents were economically unable to support the costs for his schooling, leaving Santos' life goal once again put on hold. At 22 years old and only two years completed, he began to think graduating from high school was a hopeless dream - he would spend his life uneducated.

In 2001, what Santos considers a blessing from God, Rainbow Network entered his community and made him a high school scholarship student at 31 years old. Two years later his dream finally became a reality, but he was not done yet. Santos continued studying beyond high school with Rainbow Network's support and last year finished his degree in primary education. He now works in a public school teaching second through fourth graders. With Rainbow Network's support, he went from being an adult with little chance for a high school education to one with a career.

Hilda del Socorro Mendez

Project: El Crucero

telling the story of her daughter Iris Mendez (pictured)

Ever since Hilda's daughter, Iris, was born, she noticed that her child always seemed to strain to see things at a distance, cupping her hand above her eyes and not walking in the right direction, but they regarded it as just odd behavior that she would grow out of. The situation persisted, however, affecting Iris' ability to perform in school. When Rainbow Network entered her community, our doctors took notice of the behavior and sent her to be measured for glasses, thinking that would solve the problem. Upon visiting the ophthalmologist, Hilda and her husband were told their daughter would need surgery immediately in order to prevent total loss of vision in both eyes. Hilda and her husband returned home that day grief stricken and without hope - there was no way they could afford the surgery with a monthly income of around $40.00 for their family of seven. They would have to let their daughter go blind.

Rainbow Network made Iris a special medical needs patient and paid for the necessary surgery, as well as for the glasses she uses to read. Iris is in fourth grade now, takes painting classes with Rainbow Network, and already volunteers in her community's Rainbow Network schools because she likes teaching.

Two of Hilda's sons were scholarship students, and both received minor surgeries (removal of appendix and removal of abnormal formation behind ear), paid for by Rainbow Network. Hilda is the coordinator in her community, Daniel Teller, in charge of overseeing all Rainbow Network components. Hilda's family of seven lives in a three-room, wooden shack in very poor condition.

Maria Auxiliadora García Pérez

Project: El Crucero

Maria's family of six lives in a house made of plastic tarp, scrap wood, and sheets of metal, with a roof secured by rocks and a dirt floor. There are only two rooms, partitioned by pegboard and sheets. Access to running water is unreliable, and electricity is still a novelty. Some of the degrading conditions of extreme poverty still exist in Maria's family, but no longer do her children go without food or education. A better life for Maria and her family is within reach and is being realized in partnership with Rainbow Network.

Maria's oldest son, Saul, is in his last year of high school and will graduate with a technical degree in computer science. He studies every Saturday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., requiring a 1.5 hour trip each way. During the week, Saul gives classes to younger students, as well as volunteers at the nearby Rainbow Network office helping to distribute food to the feeding centers or pass out educational supplies to grade schools. Because his family is so poor, Saul did not enter first grade until he was 11 years old. He learned his first letters as a young adolescent.

Maria's husband works on nearby farms when employment is available, sometimes only 3 days a week, making around 50 dollars a month. Maria's work was similar before she began taking out loans with Rainbow Network, using them to open a small store in her home and offer basic foodstuffs to her neighbors. Whenever she took out her first loan, she had nothing to put on the guaranty because her family owned nothing of value. She is on her fourth loan, and her store is slowly growing. She is a leader in her community, in charge of the feeding center.

Maria's son Wilmer receives medicine from our doctors on a regular basis to control his goiter. Two of her sons attended our feeding centers when they were younger, as well as Rainbow Network schools. They both participated in the 2007 scholastic Olympics and won 1st and 2nd place in Math and Spanish among Rainbow Network grade students of three projects. They have both just begun their first year as scholarship students.

Without Rainbow Network, this family would still be without steady employment, without secondary education, without food to put on the table every day, and nowhere to turn for support. The children would be doomed to repeat the livelihood of past generations - a lifetime of work with a machete under the hot sun. Rainbow Network is the only aid presence in the area; in Maria's own words, "even the government has forgotten about us." Maria and her family have had "6 full years" thanks to Rainbow Network.

Genera Gonzalez Diaz

Project: San Ramon

Genera is the mother of Alejandro Fajardo Gonzalez, nine years old. Alejandro was born with such severe malnutrition that when Rainbow Network entered his community, El Carmen, he was four years old and could not walk, talk or sit on his own. The malnourishment had caused his bones to stop developing as an infant. Rainbow Network made him a special medical needs patient and provided him with milk, dry foods, vitamins and the anti-parasitic treatments he needed. Rainbow Network's doctor checked up on him weekly, monitoring his recuperation. Within a year, progress began to show and Alejandro started talking and taking steps, until eventually walking at five years old.

He is still small for his age, but he runs and plays like all of the other children in his neighborhood. He attends the feeding center and Rainbow Network grade schools. Genera is active in her community, regularly attending community meetings and cooking in the feeding center.

Victoria Castro Orozco

Project: Ciudad Dario

Victoria, 63 years old, spent 12 years of her life with a superficial ulcer on her leg that left her with extremely limited mobility and an infected, open wound. Local doctors had been unable to find a cure for the ulcer, but Rainbow Network discovered it was as simple as applying zinc oxide - the same chemical used in diaper rash ointments. Today, Victoria's ulcer is just a scar and she walks with the help of a cane.