Empowerment: Women's Self Defense

In addition to abounding energy, we enjoy having summer interns in Nicaragua because they can add unique and varied skill sets and knowledge to our work here. Whether it is someone gifted in education that can take the time to sit down with one of our students who has been struggling in class or medical students that bring a wealth of knowledge and passion to our health programs, we are thankful for their generosity.

This session one of our interns, Dana, became a part of our efforts in women's empowerment by teaching self defense class during our Women's Exercise program. With the help of fellow interns and a few PDs, Dana led an hour-long session covering basic defense strategies from different attack scenarios. The class also included a discussion about the prevalence of violence against women and the importance of creating a public discourse for this often ignored problem. A recent WHO study reported that over 1-in-3 women will be the victim of physical/sexual assault during their lifetime, which gives us quite the perspective shift since that means approximately three of the ten women in class will experience abuse during their lifetime.

Bienvenidos Nuevos!

This past weekend we welcomed our second group of Summer Interns into the Manna house. They have already jumped into helping with programs, running summer camp, and getting to know our families here in Nica. They come with energy, passion, and so many great ideas for impacting this community in their short time of service. We are grateful for their presence and hopeful of all they will do in the next few weeks with us!

Be sure to check out the "Summer" tab (above) to hear their personal accounts of their adventures here in Nica! 

Farewell Kiely

We are sad here in Nicaragua to bid farewell to one of our year-long Program Directors, Kiely. She has added so much to our family and community over the past 11 months and we're just so thankful. She has served here with MPI teaching Level 5 English, Sexual and Reproductive Health, and Women's Exercise, as well as working in our Child Sponsorship, jewelry, and girls' sports programs. She invested herself in this organization, this house, and this community with gusto, and we will miss her! Best of luck at the Fletcher School, Ky!

Summer Camp

How is it already June?! No one around here can believe how fast time is flying both with our Manna year and with this first group of Summer Interns.

Over the past three weeks, the Summer Interns have been hosting a summer camp for all of our children in Cedro Galan. Four days a week the kids come to Farito for an hour long camp session, where they do anything from playing games to doing crafts. It has been excited to watch our interns get to know the kids so well and to spend such a focused amount of time investing in them. We're thankful for their energy and the opportunity it has given us to encourage creativity and community in our kids through Summer Camp.

Some of their projects have included drawing pictures of things they dream about, creating a collective landscape banner, making predictions/goals about who they want to be in the future, and various Mother's Day crafts. We are looking forward to the things they have planned for their last week. The kids will continue to have camp in El Farito during the week, with a large field day planned at El Salero for Thursday afternoon.

Happy Mother's Day!

Today we celebrated Nicaraguan Mother's Day within our communities!!

In La Chureca this morning, PDs and Summer Interns visited each of our families to deliver a small card and some treats to each of our Child Sponsorship mothers. All too often in this culture mothers shoulder most of the responsibility to raise their children and run their homes, so it meant a great deal to us to use this time to applaud their efforts and encourage them. We were met with many hugs and grateful smiles as our attentions turned from their children to them as mothers and women.

After comedor (feeding program) in Cedro Galan, the summer interns threw a Mother's Day party with the kids participating in Summer Camp. They brought their mothers to class today for a dance party and cake, and we able to give their mothers handcrafted gifts made during Summer Camp the past week.


We're so thankful for our mothers here in Nica, both those we are learning from and those who've adopted us during our year. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

Welcome Summer Interns!

There has been a breath of fresh air here in the Manna House and we call them Summer Interns! We are excited for their service with Manna and their presence in our communities. We have added a new page to our blog where you can find updates written by our interns about their experience in Nicaragua. Click on the tab labeled "Summer" for information about the program and to hear stories from our interns.

Morgan's First Month

Hi Everyone!

My name is Morgan, and I've recently joined MPI as a 3-month PD in Nicaragua. Things have been fast-paced here since the first week I arrived, when I attended nearly every program we run to get a feel for which ones I was interested in working with. Doing this allowed me to start engaging with members of the community and to gain a better understanding of the responsibilities of being a PD.

Despite having only been here for a month, I already feel like I've been accepted into the community here.  I was so excited the first time kids from Cedro Galan remembered my name while I helped run Comedor, our feeding program. I've also gotten to know my students in our Level 3 and Level 4 English classes that I co-teach. These classes have been one of my favorite parts of the PD experience thus far, and I look forward to planning exciting lessons for each week. Last week I was able to experience life in the community by doing a home-stay, and also by traveling to San Juan del Sur with members of one of the churches in the community.

Now that I'm feeling more settled in, I'm looking forward to what I have ahead of me in the next two months. In this time, I want to focus on improving my Spanish (of which I knew basically none when I first arrived) by having one-on-one language exchanges with people in the community, and by doing more home-stays and traveling. I also can't wait to see the progress we make with the health clinic, and the changes in our programs now that summer volunteers have arrived. Make sure you check back soon for updates from our summer vols about their awesome camps and activities in the community!!