Walmart and Manna Partner for a Project in La Chureca!

Walmart impulsa proyecto económico y social para apoyar a mujeres de La Chureca El proyecto beneficiará a 2 mil personas

Redacción Central

foto El Gerente de Asuntos corporativos de Walmart en Nicaragua, Eduardo García Montenegro, entregó una donación de 27 mil 476 dólares a la directora de Manna Project Internacional en Nicaragua ,Katie Messick , para combatir la pobreza , el desempleo, la desnutrición que afectan a 120 familias que residen en el basurero de la Chureca, el basurero más grande de Centroamérica. El proyecto beneficiará a 2 mil personas en total y nació luego que en el mes de noviembre 2011 el voluntariado presentó un plan de negocios que permitirá implementar el “proyecto de fortalecimiento a Mujeres emprendedoras”, dijo el Licenciado García Monteneegro. La actividad se realizó en Supermercado la Unión de Linda Vista. Las mujeres beneficiadas se dedicarán con el aporte de Walmart de México y Centroamérica, dijo la directora de Manna Project Internacional, Katie Messick, a labores de bisutería. El Gerente de Asuntos Corporativos afirmó que con el Proyecto se generarán 25 empleos autosostenibles para 25 madres desempleadas; 50 madres empoderadas para toma de decisiones positivas de nutrición y alimentación para ellas y sus familias. También se espera atender 22.000 consultas y tratamientos de salud y nutrición anuales en la Clínica Casa Base de Salud, institución que Walmart apoyó en el 2011 a través del Voluntariado Corporativo que efectuaron 100 asociados. Ese es el único centro asistencial médico que existe La Chureca y que atiende a las 120 familias.

Casa de Ben Linder celebrates 25 years!

Summer Interns visit Casa de Ben Linder

They also got to see the finished product painted by muralist Gerardo Hernández 

Check out the new video filmed in La Chureca.

Things that made us smile this week, part two

After a two-week hiatus, we’re back! Sorry again for the delay in posting—most PDs went out of town last week during the holiday celebrating Central American independence, and we’ve been extra busy since our return! As promised, here are more anecdotes that made us smile this week.

· Watching Agdiel, who is extremely handicapped and generally unable to articulate sentences, answer a question asked in English correctly. –Davis

· A three-year-old Nicaraguan student asking if she may use the restroom in English during our Kids English class at Salero. –Davis

· One of our students, who is thirty years old, sprinting to the board during a game of Pictionary yelling the English answer at the top of her lungs, and telling us multiple times how much she had loved the class. –Davis

· Ariel, who generally struggles at math, confidently explaining to Flor, one of our best students, how to find the area of a circle; which we had just taught him. –Davis

· Watching our women’s exercise class do a zumba workout to Danza Kuduro in the water during our pool workout at the Manna house! –Anna

· This week my kid's English class at Colegio Cristiano La Esperanza in La Chureca was amazing. All of the kids were so motivated and focused on learning a hard concept. To see them eager to learn and willing to try with great attitudes even if it meant getting the answer wrong was awesome. The thing that left me beaming all day though was watching them succeed and the pride that showed all over their faces when they got the answers correct. –Jesse

· "Johnny," Luis Fernando's talking basketball, writing the correct answer to a question on the board in our Salero Kids English class. –Maggie

· Francisco, another student in our Salero Kids English class, telling us that we're his family when we got up at 6 am to watch him participate in his school's parade. –Maggie

· Seeing Douglas, a kid in our Child Sponsorship program, sprinting 50 feet down the street in Chureca because he's so excited to see us. –Maggie

· Seeing lots of my students at Mass today, and meeting the adorable little brother of one of my favorite students, William. –Fiona

· Delicious pizza and good conversation with fellow PDs at a nearby Italian restaurant. –Fiona

· Getting a chance to see the house and small store of one of our child sponsorship families in La Chureca. –Fiona

· Jose Raul, one of my math students, understanding how to simplify fractions! –Fiona

Lake Xiloa

This past Sunday some of the PDs and summer volunteers travelled to the lake with the moms and children of the CS program from La Chureca.  Every couple of months the PD’s involved in the program throw sort a party or paseo for the families, and so yesterday they all headed to Lake Xiloa, which is a small lake about ten minutes north-west of Managua.  Although the day started out uncomfortably cloudy for a day on the water, most of the moms still came and as the the day progressed the clouds disappeared and the rain held off.  While most of the mom’s stayed out of the water to chat on the beach, the kids were constantly in the water playing with PD’s and summer volunteers.  There were also cookies and bananas to share for a mid-afternoon snack.  Overall it seemed like everyone had a really pleasant and enjoyable time! Here are some pictures of all the fun and activities.  

Sahari :)

Marina, Joseling, Zeneyda, and Mariella, some of the moms in the CS program.

Program director Luke with Elvis.

Summer volunteer, Paul, playing with some of the older kids in the water. 

Program director Katie and little girl Lisbeth. 

Help Casa Base!

Casa Base

As many of you already know every week Manna travels to La Chureca to run its weekly programs;  Megan and Matt to teach the beginner's English class, Zach and Amanda to teach the intermediate English class, and Joanna, Katie, Dane, Luke, and Will to run the Child Sponsorship Program.  Located in La Chureca as well is the health clinic, Casa Base, in which the  child sponsorship team works with to help host its weekly 'charlas' on various health-related topics.  Casa Base is one of the only clinics in the area and provides assistance to the nearly 200 families that live in La Chureca.  Unfortunately, because of the lack of funding,  the clinic is closed as of right now and is going to continue to be closed for the month of March until sufficient funds can be raised. 

The situation: 

• • Since 2006, MPI and another non-profit, Austin Samaritans have financially supported the clinic.
  • As we wait to hear if Austin Samaritans will be able to provide its half of the budget, MPI is seeking the remaining funds needed for 2011 or seeking another funding source to help. (we will know by the end of March).
  • The total operating cost is $48,000/year which provides for all medicine and treatments the clinic offers as well as salaries for the Nica health staff of 2 doctor, 1 pharmacist, 1 nurse and 1 health promoter. 
  • As of right now, MPI only has enough funding through February, which has already ended, and is seeking the remaining $4,000 in monthly support for operating expenses in 2011

The people living in La Chureca are extremely poor, many living off less than one dollar a day, which is what the World Bank classifies as a level of "extreme poverty".  Many of the residents make a living by digging through the mounds of trash in search of some sort of collectible scrap, such as glass bottles, metal, or cans, to turn in for money.  For most this money is necessary to provide them with an evening meal.  Because of the proximity to the trash, the daily fires burning the trash, and the overall lack of sanitation, this environment is a breeding ground for disease.  Needless to say, these people rely upon the free assistance that they receive from Casa Base, and to think that this clinic is not going to be available to them is unsettling.  Below are two links that will take you to sites where you can read more about the clinic and the specific work it does.  The second is a video that is a couple of years dated but none the less paints a picture of the clinic's significance and work in the community.

Casa Base

Video On Casa Base

It is always uncomfortable asking people for money, at least for me, but thinking about the people of La Chureca living without the clinic and their ability to get access to healthcare for them and their children is even more unsettling.  So if you would like to donate money towards keeping open the health clinic of Casa Base please visit fundraising site at www.razoo.com/story/Support-Health-Clinic-In-La-Chureca-Managua-S-City-Dump or mail a check to MPI, PO Box 121052, Nashville, TN 37212.  Be sure and designate “Chureca clinic” online or in the memo space of a check.  And please help spread the word.  Your help is greatly appreciated!

La Chureca

Another photo of La Chureca

A SHORT PIECE ON CHANGES TAKING PLACE IN

LA CHURECA

BLOG ACTION DAY:

DRINKING WATER IN NICARAGUA

When I first arrived in Nicaragua I was ambivalent about drinking the tap water. Before departing I had dutifully gone to the travel clinic where I updated all my shots and of course got thoroughly warned about all of the exotic sicknesses that can be contracted in Latin America. Many of these sicknesses can be acquired by drinking contaminated water. In the Manna house I noticed that the old PDs were drinking from both the tap and a purified water jug. I asked around about this and learned that the tap water in Managua is reportedly treated the same way that tap water is in the United States. So, the argument here has been that maybe the water won't make you sick now, but in ten years or so maybe then you'll start seeing the consequences. In response to that worry I went to asked about drinking tap water in Managua to Amira to which she replied, "I've been here for 10 years and I've been drinking the tap water and I'm fine." Nonetheless, this does not carry off to outside of Managua, where bottled water is a must.

During my first two weeks in Managua while I was signed up for intensive Spanish school, I did a homestay. During my homestay I quickly learned something about the water realities for the people and families living in Managua, that most nights at around 6pm the water is turned off. After the water is turned off they use barrel that is filled during the day to flush the toilet, wash dishes, etc. There were many a nights were I would return from a day of 4 hours of Spanish school and an afternoon of exploring the city to a big bucket of water for a shower. Don't get me wrong, at that point I was thankful to be able to get clean. But, that experience got me thinking, if the water is regulated and restricted in such a way in the main city, what is it like for people living in more rural areas? After a little bit of research I've learned that there are many pueblos (villages/neighborhoods) that still do not have safe drinking water, not only in rural areas of Nicaragua, but in Managua too. Many of the community members that we work with in Cedro Galan and La Chureca don't have working toilets or running water. Without a proper sewage system, human waste will often contaminate water in the surrounding neighborhood, leaving the inhabitants permanently with parasites and in a weakened state.

Although Managua is on the right track with proper water sanitation with tap water, it still has a lot more development that needs to take place in order for all of Nicaragua's inhabitants to have access clean and safe drinking water.

Principe(or Prince in english) here, like many Nicaraguans,

has no choice but to drink untreated groundwater

the floods in La Chureca contaminate the roads and water

with harmful parasites and bacteria

To learn more about Blog Action Day and what you can do to help give the world access to clean water

please visit: http://blogactionday.change.org/

RAINY SEASON

There are only two seasons in Nicaragua. There is rainy season/Winter which lasts from May-Dec and there is dry season/Summer which takes place from Jan-April. Managua normally receives 182mm of rainfall in September. However last month there was at least 300mm of rain.

Amira, who has lived here the past 10 years has also said that she has never seen rains like this before. The roads in the community that consist mainly of mud and in some places strategically placed rocks are being destroyed by this rainfall. Children who have been playing in community roads that have morphed into small rivers have been tragic victims of drownings and a total of 40 people have died so far due to the heavy rains. Already isolated neighborhoods are becoming even harder to enter and exit. Coastal towns and towns that boarder the lakes are having to be evacuated. Sections of La Chureca have been flooded, leaving community member's small abodes in ruins. The heavy rains are literally crippling the city. They also have a large effect on the programs we run. When it rains here it's as if all of Managua's life is put on pause. People remain wherever they are and wait for the rains to stop. Many community members don't even own rain jackets and only a few have umbrellas. Although this season there has been much more rain than normal, I find myself confused to Managua's inability to deal with it. Houses are built right on the dirt and flood at least a little on a regular basis, the roads are still constructed poorly and get immensely damaged in the rains, and the people refuse to go out in it. However, there's not much we can do to change an ingrained cultural behavior, all we can do try to accommodate our programs to the weather and hope for the rains to recede.

Eroding road and stream made by rains.

Annual average weather graph for Managua.

Last night coming home after having dinner over at a community member's house.

Where you see us standing is normally a road.

DONATING BLOOD in NICARAGUA

Last week on the way home from La Chureca we stopped off at the Red Cross

where some of us were able to donate our blood. Among the donators was Karen Bustos, a community member that we work with in Chiquilistagua.

If you donate blood in the name of a person here, it bumps them up to the top of the waiting list and guarantees that they will receive the blood they need.

We donated for Sara Zeledon, a little girl who lives in La Chureca who suffers from anemia and leukemia. Sara is also a part of our Child Sponsorship program.

Today Sara's mother was excited to report that her daughter's platelet count is improving!

Red Cross Nicaragua

arriving at the blood bank

Sara Zeledon, age 7

Hope Shines Through

I was first made aware of La Chureca a little over two years ago on an alternative spring break trip through the Nicaraguan Orphan Fund at James Madison University. Over 200 college students from four universities in Virginia joined Brad Corrigan, former drummer of the band Dispatch, for el Dia de Luz (Day of Light). We journeyed into the trash to help salvage recyclables, flew kites, attempted to compete with the kids in soccer matches, gave endless amounts of piggyback rides, danced to the music performed by Braddigan, and ultimately dedicated the day to loving this special community. El Dia de Luz (http://dayoflightmovie.com/trailer/) was captured on film and turned into a documentary which was released earlier this year.

After watching the documentary, I was reminded of how crazy life can be in La Chureca. Back in the United States, from the comfort of a cushioned couch in an air conditioned room, it’s easy to not recognize the struggles that 2,000 people are challenged with daily. While I may sometimes complain about cooking, I always have ample amounts of food available. While I may get frustrated about not finding the perfect outfit to wear out, I have clothes. While I may dread studying for exams, I have the opportunity to receive an education. These are all things I tend to take for granted living in the United States. The documentary conjured my passion to serve those in La Chureca, and I applied to be a summer volunteer with Manna Project.

One of Manna's sponsored children swims at Laguna Xiloa

During my first week serving with Manna, we hosted a field trip to a laguna for the families participating in the Child Sponsorship program in La Chureca. As the families boarded the bus to leave for the laguna, I remember one of the program directors commenting that she almost didn’t recognize one of the children. When I asked why, she said because he was dressed so nicely. My next question was what does he usually wear? She said he usually wears nothing.

As I began making home visits with the Child Sponsorship team, there was more than one moment where I had to take a step back to myself after witnessing the reality of this unfathomable poverty. We walked by a house with a small child maybe around two years old playing with Garcia, the tie died bear beanie baby. His Garcia had a torn off leg and the once bright colors were beyond faded and coated with mud. I once owned the same Garcia bear plus probably 4 dozen more of Garcia’s beanie baby friends.

Spending time in La Chureca, I’ve come to realize that there is also an overwhelming hope and joy which shines through the darkness and poverty. I remember when the children came to the clinic to receive their vitamins, oatmeal and milk for the month from the Child Sponsorship program. A recently enrolled child ran around my feet with the biggest smile playing peek-a-boo while he waited his turn to be weighed and measured. I remember a child leaping for joy as he won a game of “chebolas” (marbles). I also remember the smile that greeted me from one of the parents who recognized me from the laguna field trip weeks prior. I’ve learned despite the fact that the families have next to nothing, they do own some of the most heartfelt smiles I’ve ever seen.

My time in Nicaragua is (too) quickly coming to an end. I’ve spent the past month stretching my comfort zone, and now I am packing to return to my familiar life in Virginia. I am continuing to process my experiences and am challenged to share a new perspective as I return to the States. Each Nica smile has truly left an imprint on my heart.

Joanna Lang

Summer Volunteer '10

Transforming Chureca

Managua's municipal dump, La Chureca, has sat on the shore of Lake Managua since 1973. Each of those 37 years has seen the refuse pile and conditions worsen... until now.


In August 2007 María Teresa Fernández, the Vice President of Spain, was so moved by a visit to Chureca that she committed US$45 million to transform, in her words, "garbage to human dignity." After an extended legal battle with Chureca's owners over purchasing the property, we are finally seeing action.


The Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI) has partnered with Managua's mayorship to enact a sweeping plan to transform Chureca. The plan will cover the trash, creating a landfill. More impressively, though, a recycling plant will be built, which will employ 2,000 workers living in Chureca. New homes will be built, a bit farther from the landfill, and families will be moved out of the slums adjacent to the trash.


For more information about the AECI program, read The "New" Chureca.

Dirt movers are now a common sight, pushing mounds of dirt over the trash

Project workers (in construction vests) rest as tractors clear a space for new homes (background)

Temporary houses have been built for families living too close to construction

Chureca from a nearby vantage point

Returning to La Chureca

The Child Sponsorship team hit the ground running upon our return to La Chureca in early January 2010. An increase in sponsors and the graduation of several saludable (healthy!) children allowed us to add four new children to our program. As more sponsors and positions become available, we are seeking to enter even more children in February, especially younger children and siblings of current program participants. Currently, we offer each participant a monthly supply of oatmeal, milk, and vitamins, and our goal is to alleviate undernourishment in La Chureca.

Coming back, I immediately noticed the striking progress being made on the Spanish MegaProject to transform La Chureca. When the Spanish Vice President María Teresa Fernández de la Vega stopped to view La Chureca on her tour of Central/South America, she was greatly impacted by the horror of people living and working in trash heaps. Her personal commitment for change encouraged the government of Spain to commit 30 million Euros (the equivalent of 45 million USD) to bring dignity to the people of La Chureca. The Spanish government has had a noticeable presence in Chureca and has held many meetings with community members and NGOs to discuss how to create a holistic solution to the problems faced by those dwelling in La Chureca. According to a 2008 article by William Grigsby Vergara, the solution involves closing down the dump, creating an alternative recycling system, and providing housing alternatives for the residents of Chureca. I have personally witnessed how Chureca is “closing down” - the once heaped trash has been transformed into a flatter plain, dirt roads have been created on the neighborhood/trash divide, and signs declaring the Spanish equivalent of “Authorized Personnel Only” are posted next to entrances to the trash. This has not kept any of the Churequeros from continuing their work in the trash, but it has provided a visual to confirm that action is indeed underway.

Read more about The "New" Chureca: From Grace to Human Dignity.

Highlight: Chureca - Nica HOPE

Manna Project is proud to have built and to continue strong relationships with other non-profits active in La Chureca. These partnerships increase MPI's awareness of needs in the community and allow us to refer community members and interest to the appropriate organization. Love Light & Melody once again gives a view of life in Chureca and area NGOs with a number of videos highlighting the activities of a few of those organizations. The following video highlights Nica HOPE, an organization founded by former Manna Program Director Deanna Ford, which supports education and runs vocational training initiatives for women and children living in La Chureca.

Nica HOPE from Love Light & Melody on Vimeo.

For further information on Nica HOPE visit www.nicahope.org

Highlight: Chureca - Love Light & Melody

Manna Project is relieved to know that it is not the only organization working to dampen the harsh effects of life within Chureca's grip. Among them is Love Light & Melody, an NGO seeking to spread awareness of Managua's city dump and its residents. Their most recent video showcases Dia de Luz, or "Day of Light," a March concert organized by the organization and put on in the community. The video is a telling view, or as telling as a digital stopover can provide, of one of MPI Nicaragua's focus communities.

Day of Light from Love Light & Melody on Vimeo.

Highlight: Chureca - in Pictures

MPI attempts to limit the number of photographs taken in Chureca by its volunteers in order to respect the privacy of the community members, and also with a desire to reduce as a spectacle what is, sadly yet certainly, a home. However, we do respect the power of visual stimulus to carry the reality of the dump beyond its confines, and the amazing work of friend of Manna Brian Shumway does exactly that:

La Chureca by Brian Shumway

Highlight: Chureca - Joy Is Resilient

Our visitations last Thursday to families in our Child Sponsorship Program took us through the heaviest fumes my lungs have yet braved. With burning eyes and failing voices, we walked through white smoke so thick that shadows cut visible swaths of black in the milky air. Though worried for her, it was no surprise that Maudelia's two year-old daughter, who she carried at her side, carried in turn a coarse and incessant cough.

As we rounded a corner of the single-room school that services the area, I noticed a boy gazing down at us from his perch in the leafless branches of a tree that barely rose above the corrugated metal separating his house from the next. He wore only tattered shorts and splashed mud on his chest. He looked to be well past seven, the age at which Nicaraguan children begin their schooling.

After trading his name for mine I asked, "Y porque no andas en escuela?" And why are you not in school?

In the broken Nicañole that Chureca teaches its children, he patiently explained that he was not permitted the luxury of an education because the house could not be left unattended while his father worked in the trash.

Left with a piercing feeling of impotence and that now familiar loss for words, my gaze fell through the fumes to my feet and the mange-riden animal not far from them. The seconds passed, and not knowing what else to say to my new friend whose unfortunate predicament I had just reminded him of, I absent-mindedly directed my next words to the dog at my feet. "Qué nota, perro?" What's up, dog?

Laughter suddenly burst through the air. Surprised and confused, my downtrodden spirit eagerly soaked in his broad smile and careless cackles. And, in that moment, as his laughter infected the air, I knew that it was no less real than the smoke it joined.

As living conditions range, nothing that I have known has any liberty to call itself Chureca's peer. This reality in mind, I am constantly perplexed that thoughts of my mornings in that desolate place are inexorably... joyful. Though seemingly counterintuitive, I cannot ignore that each visit brings cheer with a frequency almost insultingly disproportionate to the surrounding destitution.

Nicaragua's second discourse, taught in strife witnessed and smiles wielded, has been that whether life exists in privilege or penury, whether found on marble floors or shattered glass, joy is resilient.

Ian Rountree

Program Director

MPI Nicaragua

Highlight: Women's Soccer - Bringing Chureca and Chiqui Together

Chiqui girls ready to play in their uniforms!

After many phone calls, missed turns, and false alarms, the Chiqui girl's soccer team finally played the Chureca girl's soccer team. Manna Project sponsors a team that practices once a week at the field over at El Salero. The girls who come are mostly from 13.5 and Cedro Galan near El Farito, and bonding those two groups was a main goal of the soccer program. Juntos Contigo, a Nicaraguan non-profit that works in Chureca right next to the clinic, has their own team, coached by our friends Roger and Ruben. Many of the girls on the Chureca team attend our English class and the majority of the Chiqui girls participate in at least one other Manna program.

For the game, the fearless Manna coaches, Kelly and I, recruited Daniel to be the referee, gathered all of our gear (donated uniforms, extra sneakers for girls who don't have them, balls, goalie gloves...) and somehow managed to pick up all of the girls in time for the scheduled 3:30 match. Okay, maybe we were ten minutes late, but thanks to the "hora nica" that counts as being on time.

The two teams had met three times before, twice in Chiqui and once in Chureca, and the home team won each game, so I expected our away game to be challenging. The Chureca "field" is really more of a bumpy dirt pit--there isn't a single blade of grass in sight. I wasn't just nervous about the field though, or even the dubious skills of our players. I'd spoken to girls on both sides who regaled me with stories of how dirty the opposing team played. They even told me that two of the girls, ironically each being one of the most timid on their respective teams, got into a physical fight that Michael had to separate. Some even pronounced that they would skip the game because they were afraid, although their incessant questioning about the time and date of the game tipped me off that their assertions were merely idle threats. For two weeks before the game, every time I saw the girls either in Chureca or around the community, I emphasized that the match was strictly friendly and that I expected them to play cleanly with absolutely no fighting. In addition, I read the rules (no fighting, support your teammates, respect the referee and coaches) to the team in the micro on the ride over to Chureca.

Action shot during the game

Luckily, the repetitive lectures paid off and we finished the game without a single raised fist. We played two twenty minute halves with impeccable refereeing by Daniel. Some of the girls really surprised me with their dedication and everyone contributed to the team effort. Highlights included an end of the first half save by Norma, the time when Idalia actually answered her cell phone during the game, a kick that bounced off of the heads of three unsuspecting fans, a corner kick to header play by Flora and Jennifer on the Chureca side that narrowly missed our goal, and, of course, the final shoot out. We ended the game tied 0-0 and the coaches on both sides would have been content to leave the game a draw, but the girls unanimously protested, demanding penalty kicks. The first set of five penalty kicks resulted in another tie, 1-1, and we ended up each doing two more, and unfortunately for us, Flora placed a perfect shot in the corner of the net and the Chureca team won.

All in all, I was so proud of all of the girls on both sides. When we were entering Chureca, Kelly and I looked at each other and wondered how the Chiqui girls felt driving in through the trash. Since it was their second visit, they seemed accustomed to the surroundings so I can't speak to their first impressions. I think now they see Chureca simply as a place to play against another team, unlike many people in Managua who see Chureca as the country's dirty secret and turn down their nose at the community. I hope that the Chiqui girls have gained an awareness of both the startling reality of the dump but now, with our second visit, the humanity of the people who live within it.

Karen (Chiqui) and Jennifer (Chureca)

Many people asked me why we were having the game in Chureca instead of at the beautiful grassy field on the August family's land. It's definitely a valid question, but I think that our decision to play the away game reflects upon our commitment to respecting the residents of Chureca as equals and as a valid community in their own right. I remember the pride that I felt when playing a home game with my high school team, and the Chureca girls felt that same pride, even though their field is essentially a plot of dirt. Playing on neatly clipped grass isn't always the best for everyone--the Chureca girls have an advantage on their field since they rountinely play on the dirt and know how to navigate the bumpy ground. In addition, they had the support of a crowd of fans who clustered around the field and sat on the wall that delineated one of the sidelines cheering for the home team. I saw that the game built community in many ways--between the Chiqui girls on our team, between the Chureca girls on their team, within Chureca between the players and their supporters, and especially between the two neighborhoods. One of our Chiqui friends, Karen, has been coming to the Chureca English class for a while now and has become friends with many of the girls on the Chureca team. I think that their friendships helped to maintain the positive tone of the game. Little developments such as these make me feel that something as small as organizing a soccer game can really make a difference in connecting communities and I feel so much cariño for all of the girls that I love seeing them develop friendships with one another through the games.

Anina Hewey

Program Director

MPI Nicaragua