Building New Hope

Developmentthe coffee project - in 2002, when a precipitous drop in the world price of coffee brought devastation and starvation deaths to regions in nicaragua, building new hope formed a relationship with the 46 families of the worker-owned cooperative of el porvenir to assist them in marketing their product and to avoid foreclosure and loss of land. By working with many volunteers, bnh has been able to pay them more than the fair trade price for their product and also provide additional assistance, enabling them to secure their land and expand their school.building new hope also provides an education fund for the community, which the members of the cooperative direct. These funds were used during 2022 to support an additional teacher for the cooperatives elementary school, make repairs and to provide school supplies. Twenty-three elementary students and 19 secondary students were served.

Healthhealth work in 2022 primarily occurred in the context of our sponsored project, the casa lupita veterinary clinic.a large and sick population of street animals is a serious public health problem, as are work animals that are not in good health. The casa lupita clinic was founded to provide affordable spay/neuter services, and treatment of animals held as pets and as work animals.

Buiding new hope supports other projects in central america consistent with our mission:laman (asociacion de minusvalidos artesanos de nicaragua) is a school and sheltered workshop for handicapped children and adults in granada. During 2022 it served 26 individuals ages 14 to 72. For more than 20 years it has served physically and mentally challenged individuals, giving them the opportunity to be economically productive. During 2022laman served individuals with conditions ranging from autism, downs syndrome, and mental illness, to blindness and hearing loss.casa lupita veterinary clinic in addition to the public health purposes of the clinic mentioned above, the veterinary clinic also provides vital services to work animals such as horses and a few pigs, thus contributing to stable livelihoods. Puedo leer (i can read) program & libraries puedo leer is devoted to bringing the joy of reading to nicaragua. It provides access to books through libraries (including granadas first lending library) and small reading rooms in granada and nearby rural areas, including one in a clinic. The school program lends rotating booksevery two weeks to 24 urban and rural schools, providing teachers quality books to read to their classes, and provides training workshops for teachers and parents. In the reading in the park program volunteersand parents read quality childrens books to children of all ages. Thisactivity reaches children who do not attend school for various reasons, those who have no access to books in their homes, and even adults who want to learn to read or experience listening to stories for the first time. Randall shea guatemala education ministrythe vision of the ministry is to provide educational opportunity for low income mayan indigenous and mestizo youth and young women and men who are from santa maria tzeja, guatemala and surrounding villages. Its impact has been reflected by the achievements of their former students: one young mayan, born in a refugee camp, has become the first woman editor-in-chief of a major guatemalan daily newspaper, and won multiple international recognitions.