Community gardens are a source of fresh fruits and vegetables for families and feeding centers, as well as a source of income for those who trade or sell extra produce in the market.

Freshly picked produce contains more nutrients than shipped produce harvested before it is allowed to ripen. These gardens also add variety to diets that would otherwise be little but rice and beans.

You can multiply Baker Creek’s donation of 100 gardens by adding to the gift! Click the give button to the right, call 417-889-8088, or mail a check to our office to make a donation.

December 2011 Online

Best to you in the New Year,

The Rainbow Network

This year, 116 students earned high school degrees in the face of disparaging adversity. Often, Rainbow scholarship students are the first generation of high school graduates from their families, or even from their entire villages.

Meet the Graduates

Yusemi is 19  and lives in Flor de Piedra with her mother and 3 siblings. There is no elecricity or running water in her agricultural village. She works hard helping her mother with her siblings and studying, and she still finds time to volunteer as a tutor and mentor to elementary students. “[My sponsor's] family are such nice people because they worked hard so I could continue going to high school and make my dream come true that I’ve had since I was a little girl.”

Rolando is 20 and lives with his Aunts, Uncles, and 3 little cousins on his grandparents’ small farm in La Trinidad.  He helps plant corn, cut firewood to sell, tend the animals, and draw water from the well.  His family would not be able to afford his schooling without Rainbow, but he studied hard to earn his degree and now plans to be a teacher and improve the futures of young people in La Trinidad.

Rosa is 17 and lives in the small agricultural community of Cabo de Horno.  Her father works hard doing seasonal farm labor to provide for his wife and 4 children, but the family still cannot afford school.  With Rainbow’s help, she graduated a year early and hopes to go on to technical school. “Education is very important to me because I want to have a better future and improve the living conditions of my family. Education is the best way to help our families and our communities to live better in the future.”

There isn’t room to tell every student’s story, but the other 113 graduates are listed here by village in the 2011 Rainbow Network “Honor Roll” of graduates. (PDF file)

Sobering Truth

As the U.S. office assigns new students to sponsors whose student graduated, a sobering truth is clear; along with the list of 116 graduates to be removed from the scholarship program came another list of 28 students dropping out of the program.

Poverty is often described as a cycle, and rightly so, as it is so difficult to stop it in its tracks. Some students leave school to work and supplement the incomes of their struggling families, or are too overwhelmed with adult responsibilities at a young age to continue their studies. But Rainbow Network is reversing negative trends in rural education, and we are here to stay.

Hope

The success of these graduating students is a product of years of hard work and support from the families and staff in Nicaragua and sponsors in the U.S. Their education is a step toward hope; the leadership skills, sense of self-worth, and economic stability these graduates are developing are the key to one day erasing poverty in Nicaragua.

Join us in celebrating this hope for the future of Nicaragua by providing an un-sponsored high school student with a scholarship of $25 a month ($300 per year) to cover the cost of tuition, uniforms, transportation, and supplies. You can sign up online through Paypal here, or by calling our office at 417-889-8088.

Congratulations to all the graduates for their hard work; their families, sponsors, and the staff are proud of their accomplishments!

This backpack was made by a microloan recipient in our El Crucero project, just south of Managua. Stitched together on Wal-Mart sewing machines costing less than $100 total, the resulting business now employs multiple individuals, and provides for the families far beyond what the typical seasonal labor allows.

Representing the hundred of success stories from our Microfinance program, this backpack will be on display at our Rainbow Network office during two upcoming Holiday Receptions:

• Thursday, December 23 , from 3:30 – 5:30

• Thursday, December 29, also from 3:30 – 5:30

The gatherings are your chance to visit with Keith Jaspers, the Rainbow Network founder who has recently returned to the organization. There will be light refreshments, good conversation and updates on the state of our Ministry in Nicaragua.

NO RSVP is necessary, just stop by 3834 South Avenue (just north of Campbell 16 Theaters) during either of the times. If you have questions please call us at 417-889-8088, and we hope to see you there

Next comes Las Posadas.  Churches in the U.S. often have a Nativity play, but what if it lasted 9 days? During Las Posadas, community members representative of Mary and Joseph travel from home to home, being refused lodging until the ninth day, when they are welcomed to an inn and there is a great celebration. During this time, whole communities come together to put on or watch the play, which recognizes the hardship of Mary’s pregnancy and the miracle of birth.

Christmas Eve is especially significant in Nicaragua.  It is celebrated with a family dinner, the giving of small gifts like fruits or candies, and fireworks at midnight to celebrate Jesus’ birth. Christmas is a day of rest after all the celebration and festivities with family and neighbors the night before.

New Year’s in Nicaragua can be understood as a hybrid of New Year’s and Thanksgiving here in the United States.  Families gather for dinner to give thanks for blessings in the past year and toast to the year ahead.

Of course, there is food, family, and fireworks, but another unique tradition is a part of Nicaragua’s New Year; when translating student letters, I read multiple students talking about “El Hombre Viejo.” I was at first concerned and confused about this “old man,” because the students enthusiastically described him being at the center of a bonfire! However, after some research, I found that “El Hombre Viejo” is not an old man, but a straw doll (like a scarecrow) dressed in old clothes who represents the past year.  Communities have a bonfire with the straw doll to express the idea of “out with the old, and in with the new!”

Many of these grand celebrations are enjoyed in the cities, but in Rainbow’s remote villages, holidays are less decorative.  Some families still give small gifts, like fruits, to children for Christmas, and El Hombre Viejo is a tradition in some communities. Even without the packaging and parades, villages are filled with family love and joy around the holidays.

This Christmas, cherish your blessings and find a way to share what you have been generously given.  Merry Christmas from Rainbow Network!