Mariposa Spanish School’s Weblog

Written by Alex, La Mariposa Intern

Many thanks to all of you who fundraised and donated money to help improve the educational experience at Ruben Dario Primary School in our community of La Concepcion, Masaya, Nicaragua.  With the generous donation of   $2 500, La Mariposa was able to successfully complete the construction of a retention wall, place canals to prevent future erosion damage, purchase books and school supplies for the library, and ensure the continued employment of a teacher at the library in the afternoons.  See the pictures below of the erosion damage and the newly built retention wall – this project (including the canals) took over $1500 of the original donation, but it was definitely necessary!

Before: severe erosion hole

Before: severe erosion damage

After: retention wall built

Since the library opened last November many children from the school and other individuals from the wider community have enjoyed the resources of the library and the services of our teacher, Fernando.  Keeping the libraries in both Ruben Dario and Panama primary schools open during summer vacation time (Dec-mid Feb) proved to be great success! At solid group of students experiencing difficulties in school came to the Ruben Dario library to receive extra tutoring during these months, and in Panama kids from the community attended nearly every day to enjoy the library there.

The lending program at the Ruben Dario library has been one of the project’s greatest achievements, with over 30 people borrowing books.   We continue to push the program in order to reach more students and people in the community.   Very recently, the teacher we support at the after-school reading project in Santiago just by chance was placed by the Ministry of Education to act as a temporary director at Ruben Dario school.   This allows for better organization of the afternoon project since she will work with the teachers to create a schedule for the afternoon students.  Those students experiencing difficulties (grades 4-6) will be sent from the classroom to the library to work with Fernando, providing them with more individual attention.    In addition, a small group of children who attend the morning classes and a few secondary students from the community regularly come to the library in afternoons to make use of the books, educational games and school supplies.   This project is still new to the community, so we carry on working to improve its capacity and we hope that more people will come to benefit in the future!

Books purchased from Libros Para Ninos for the library

We continue to accept donations for all of our educational projects and other schools in the community.  Here is a reminder of materials we can always use:

• Books in Spanish – story books (sets are best, and also Latin America content is great), and educational books for children (animals, encyclopedias, atlases)
• School supplies – paper (white, lined, colored), notebooks, pencils, markers, pens, scissors, erasers, pencil sharpeners – everything!
• Crafts and educational toys – coloring books, paints, puzzles, flash cards, games (Spanish!)

We can also use cash donations to buy many of the materials listed above here in Nicaragua!  You can now donate money to our projects using PayPal via a good friend of ours Reverend Brian Peterson at Ascension Lutheran Church in Austin, Texas.  See our how you can help page for more information and the link to donate through PayPal or contact Paulette at paulette.goudge@googlemail.com.

One of the beneficiaries hauling espadillo to his home.

Anelkas completed plot! The first plot of the project!

Mario, Anelka and another beneficiary plotting out the fence

Written by Clare, Mariposa Intern.

I have learned that community development usually involves taking one step forward and two steps backwards. This has been the case buying the living fence. Let me say before I go on that without Ismael, this project would not be. Ismael is our go-to-guy for just about anything in the community. His connections have been invaluable to the creation of this project, and continue to be.

About a month or two ago when this project was but an idea, I had been going back and forth with Ramon and Franklin about where to find the espadillo and the measurements required. Unfortunately I was never able to see the finca suggested by Ramon, so I decided to look somewhere else.

So Paulette directed me to Ismael. He had been telling me for a few weeks about someone he knew in San Juan who sold espadillo. One thing to know about Ismael is that he is a busy man with many demands, so not for another two weeks were we able to go to the finca in mind.

Before going, Ismael had been in contact with some of the workers at the finca. Unfortunately, we were not given permission to cut the espadillo as the owner was out of the country. Ismael came up with the idea to get official permission from the town hall to cut the plant down. Franklin wrote us up an order and Ismael took it over. We discussed measurements and costs on end. Despite the order we issued, when we went over to see if they would cut it for us, they said that the finca’s owner needed to be there in order to make the cut. Back to square one. I felt discouraged and began to realize how difficult a task this might be, when Ismael bounced back and said something along the lines of, “Not to worry we will go somewhere else, I have a friend who has an espadillo finca in la Concha, and I will talk to him next week.”

So the following week Ismael once again, makes the exact same arrangements with his friend. This time it seemed for sure. The plan was to cut the espadillo on a Monday and Tuesday of the following week. We went on the Friday to double check that everything was set and of course, comes another bump in the road; the owner had already promised the espadillo to someone else! I came back to the Mariposa after a very long day at work, hoping that this would pan out. Paulette said I had the most disappointed look on my face. At this point, if it were not for Ismael, I might have given up the fight. I felt incredibly dependent on him and incredibly grateful at the same time.

Of course Ismael knew someone ELSE who had a finca, this time in Masatepe. At this point, Michael was set to come at the end of the week and I was getting anxious we would not have much ready for when he arrived. So off Ismael went to ensure the espadillo would be cut. Two days after Michael arrived we were off to pick up the fence and take it to Santiago. From then on, the whole day moved smoothly. The owners of the finca were incredibly generous, the workers worked quickly to load up all 3000 posts and Michael and I were given a tour of the finca to see the many fruit trees and coffee plants. The project was finally feeling like it was moving forward, and with perfect timing!

Last week we finished the fence on Anelka’s plot, the lady in the picture above. The first nine beneficiaries have decided to come together, with the efforts of Karin, the coordinator to help each other plant the fence. The plan is that each beneficiary will pay one person in the group 100 cordobas or roughly $5 as a motivator. Michael and I have noticed a few people that have demonstrated excellent leadership skills and great enthusiasm for the project. Michael and I were especially taken aback by Karin’s mother, Marta, who never hesitates to get her hands dirty or haul heavy buckets of water on her shoulders for hours on end in the hot sun.
I have learned so much in the last two weeks; how to create a trench, the processes of planting a shrub such as espadillo and the basics of organic composting, just to name a few. Ismael has hunted down someone in la Concepcion to build our compost boxes. At the end of this week Franklin will head to Santiago to train each family on the basics of composting, how to create a wormery, and on Friday the boxes will be delivered to each beneficiary.

La Mariposa can now accept donations for our projects through a Paypal account set up by a former guest, Reverend Brian Peterson at Ascension Lutheran Church in Austin, Texas.  The donations go via the Ascension Lutheran Church which then forwards the money in full over to La Mariposa.  Anyone with a Paypal account or major credit card can easily donate to help our projects, and US citizens are able to make tax-deductible donations.   For more information on how you can help La Mariposa visit our Projects pages on our website and contact Paulette at paulette.goudge@googlemail.com for any questions!