For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.-Hebrews 11:10

Construction of the new building for the vocational school at Betania Iglesia where Cory will be teaching is well under way. The work has been extremely hard since the beginning stages of the work has been done during hottest time of the year. The men have worked diligently in order to get the cement poured before the impending rains come, which will be a welcome relief. Many people from the church are volunteering their time to help, including Carlito, who is around 80 years old.

Deep footings have been placed in order to protect from future earthquakes.

Early stages of the shop

We recently held swimming classes in the farm's cistern for women and children who wanted to learn. This is crucial because many Nicaraguans are afraid of the water. They experience flash flooding on a regular basis and almost every family has lost a relative or friend to drowning. We were able to give the students in our class some comic relief by teaching them they didn't need to panic, because in two feet of water, all they had to do was stand up! Five of the students learned to swim for the first time and many others overcame their fears.  

Alexandra, age 19, with her daughters age 3 and 4 and their friends.

The farm's cistern has been a great
place to cool off during the hottest
part of the year.  Especially for those that
haven't had running water all month!

This month Cory has started to teach 
both Gavin and Caleb how to drive. 
 Please pray for everyone's safety!

In Nicaragua, an average family of five spends about $1 day to purchase their firewood, up to 20% of their income. Other families cut down trees and carry the wood long distances on their backs. Children are often burned by the exposed fires and women spend their days in the hot, smoke-filled kitchens that have no chimneys or other forms of exhaust from the smoke. Around the world, over 2 million women and children die yearly from inhaling the smoke from cooking fires. 

The Coci-Nica uses one-third of the amount firewood, vs. a traditional cooking fire; it emits very little smoke, cooks much faster; it is protected from the wind and is safer for children.  It can burn firewood of any size, from large chunks to small twigs and cooks up to 5 gallons of food.  The Coci-Nica last for many years and saves the average family about $150 each year. We want to introduce the Coci-Nica into our community and other rural communities.  In order to accomplish this we will need your help. Please consider donating $10 to buy two Coci-Nicas for us to distribute to a deserving family.

An average cooking fire

As many of you know, last month hundreds of earthquakes rattled Nicaragua.  In the Los Brasiles area, the damage was severe.  Because this is already an impoverished area, buildings often aren't made with proper reinforcements.   We are working with the #104 Compassion site and The Summit Church to get help to those that have lost their homes completely. We toured the site earlier this week, in order to assess the damage.  Below are a few pictures of what we saw there.  

The walls of these houses now sway back and forth, like a cardboard house. Another quake could send them toppling over on whomever is inside. 

Many families are sleeping outside.

Last month, we featured a Compassion child named Victor. He is sponsored by Amber, a member of The Summit Church, and she had the privilege of meeting him in person last month. His home was completely leveled during the quakes. He was sleeping outside in this shelter, but because he is a Compassion child, the project was able to build his family a more stable temporary shelter. The rainy season began May 1 and they needed to stay dry. They hope to rebuild their former home one day soon, but for the moment they are safe.

Only one wall remains of the former house.

The new shelter Compassion built is large enough for two beds.

The grandma still sleeps outside at night when it is not raining.

At Compassion: classes are held outside for fear of unsafe
building conditions at the school.

Ways to help this month:

Contribute to construction costs! Phase 1 is complete on the new vocational school, but we are waiting on funding before we move on to Phase 2.

Equip the woodshop with tools! Cory needs funds to buy a table saw before the shop can be fully operational.

Sponsor a coci-nica for a Mother's Day gift for a local woman at $5 each. (Mother's Day is May 30 in Nicaragua.)

Sponsor a Compassion child or make a one time donation to the rebuilding effort in Los Brasiles. Contact us for more details on how to do either option.

Please keep our community in your prayers. There is a very bad stomach flu which has put many of our students in the hospital this week.

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