I wanted to share more in depth about the many ways that La Mariposa is working to help support needs in the communities around them; but since I already made my children write journal entries on that topic for their school notebooks, I thought I would just let them tell about it in their own words, using quotes from their writing! They wrote these journal entries the day after we went on a tour of 3 of the projects sponsored by La Mariposa.
School Library project
Quinten: “There are many things that La Mariposa does in the community. 1. They donated a library to a school that’s close because mostly kids in Nicaragua can’t just go pick up a book and start reading.”
Thea: “In Nicaragua some schools have no library, so at one school La Mariposa will buy books for that school.”
Village of Panama English Classes
Quinten: “Our teachers at La Mariposa teach Spanish to us in the morning, and teach English (to other children) in the afternoon! The kids in the community can go to school in the morning and learn English at the project in the afternoon (from La Mariposa teachers)!”
Water for Panama Community
**This community is the poorest in the area, people living very high in mountains and very near to a volcano, with seasonal farming of pineapple and dragonfruit the only available work. There is no water pipeline to this altitude, and it is very hot and humid. Water needs to be trucked up the mountain in barrels from the municipality below, and is rationed. The smoke and acid constantly in the air from the proximity of the volcano causes other health risks and badly corrodes anything made of metal.
Thea: “A town they sponsor is very near a volcano and it is really humid. It is very hard to get water so they only get one barrel of water every week (that’s probably as much water as you use in a bath!). La Mariposa gets extra water for them.”
Quinten: “Families living on a mountain near a volcano don’t get water from the tap, but they get one barrel full of water every week. So they have to be careful of how much water to use, because normally an average person (in the US) might use 2-4 barrels of water a day. But La Mariposa provides extra water, so they still have to be careful, but they get more!”
**That one barrel per family per week that they describe would need to meet all of the family’s water needs—from bathing to clothes washing to cooking and drinking. Because that is so little water for a whole week, in a very hot location especially during the dry season, La Mariposa pays to provide extra water barrels for this community.
Chispa de Vida: Children with Disabilities
Thea: “They have a program called Chispa de Vida (*Spark of Life). It is for children with disabilities. One is physical therapy which is someone moving their muscles. The second is equine therapy which is for once a week they let the kids go horse riding. The third is Hydrotherapy which is when the kids go to a pool to also get their muscles moving.”
**Nicaragua does not have the social support system that we have in the US for families to receive free services for a child with disabilities (how our family benefits from free preschool and speech therapy for Cheyenne). Parents with a special needs child would be on their own to pay for something like a session with a physical therapist, and most could not afford it, and wouldn’t have proper transportation to get their child there. Chispa de Vida is completely free to these families, providing them with transportation to the program by van as needed from some very rural areas and access to 3 physical therapists paid by La Mariposa to help work with each family and assess each child’s individual needs. One day a week is specifically for physical therapy, one day a week is for equine therapy, and one day a week is for hydrotherapy at a pool rented by La Mariposa, with the physical therapists present for all.
Community Children’s Projects
Quinten: “There is a place where kids can interact and play with each other that La Mariposa sponsors. But the most important thing there is a make new friends.”
**Our children have had other opportunities to visit and play with some of the children at one of the projects nearby with their Spanish teachers, and without needing to speak very much in the same language, Quinten and Thea quickly made friends with some other kids there by joining in a game of soccer! The kids there also surprised us by performing the “Baby Shark” song (One of Cheyenne’s most favorites!) and the “Chicken Dance” (how did they know the crazy chicken lady was coming?) for our group when we visited! Since school in Nicaragua is only a half day compared to ours (9:00-12:00), these community children’s projects started and supported by La Mariposa give children a place to go after school (and currently during their break from school) for more organized activities, crafts, learning English, and other enrichment and learning opportunities beyond just going home and watching TV for the afternoon (which a number of my teachers have named as a big problem in their country).
The La Mariposa staff is planning to open a new children’s project in another local community in need, starting this week! And because Denver’s family sent donations along with us to use for projects we felt called to support during our travels, we had fun this Sunday afternoon going on shopping sprees in a couple little tiendas (stores) in nearby towns to buy LOTS of necessary school supply items to stock the new project and the ongoing ones. The workers in these little librerias (book stores) were definitely surprised (and grateful for the business!) to sell such a large quantity of school supply stock all at once! So now 4 bags full of writing notebooks, scissors, glue, markers, pencils, crayons, colored paper, and fun crafting supplies sit in our room ready to be used to supply the grand opening of new children’s project and restock the various other community children’s projects, and I am super excited to hand them over to the directors of these programs! (Thanks Steiner family!)
