We are writing today as we are in need of your help as accounts are running dry down here and we are badly in need of donations to help keep our programs running and our progress moving forward. We also wanted to take this opportunity to provide you with an update on how we have been spending your very generous donations over the past 18 months.
PLEASE HELP OUR CAUSE BY DONATING TODAY!
Waves of Hope High School
As many of you already know, we have been very busy down here in our little corner of Nicaragua and have been very fortunate to be able to see some of our DREAM PROJECTS come to fruition over the past 12 months. Our largest initiative to date, was the construction and opening of our high school in partnership with the great folks from Surf For Life this past February. It was a massive and collective effort of international donors and both local and international volunteers that allowed this project to happen. We are still working away on this project and will be for many years but so far we have spent over $130,000 CAD on this effort. Our high school boasts 6 classrooms, a Waves of Hope library, a Waves of Hope computer lab which now offers 13 computers, an outdoor study area, a teaching greenhouse and much much more. We have over 85 students attending daily and another 115 students attending the Sunday high school program. Later this month and early in November our high school students will be visiting the 8 local elementary schools to give presentations to the graduating grade 6 students to encourage them to attend the daily high school program next year. We speak a lot about building the culture of education down here and we are very proud that are high school students are now leading this effort. Our current expenses for the high school include the ongoing expansion of both our library and computer lab, transportation stipends for our 3 high school teachers, a night time security guard, two librarians and ongoing funding for school materials. We also assist with funding for the high school bus, which is a great service offered by our friends at Circle of Empowerment. Our monthly funding requirement is about $650 CAD.
We also broke ground on a new elementary school in Francisco Laguna, in partnership again with Surf For Life early in March of this year and opened the doors in late June. This was an existing elementary school program that never had the proper infrastructure from the start. Students were attending classes in little more than a tin shack held up by wooden posts cut from nearby trees. In cooperation with PAN Missions Canada, another charity doing great work down here, we were able to build a brand new school for these children. The new school offers 4 classrooms, new washrooms and septic system and new furnishing (desks, white boards, teacher desks) for the classrooms. The students and teachers and parents of this wonderful community are thrilled with their new school and very grateful for your support. We are seeking additional funding to finish painting half of the school, to purchase and install tile on the second half of the school and some other basic finishing. The total funding requirement is about $5000 CAD.
El Manzano #2 Pre-School
Our third major project of the year has been the construction of a new pre-school in our neighbouring community of El Manzano #2. We broke ground on this project in late August and are about 2 weeks away from completion. The old pre-school was in a state of disrepair and lacked a floor. During the rainy season a current would form and flood the pre-school after each hard rain causing the frequent cancellation of classes. The new pre-school will be opened in just a few weeks. We are seeking funding for paint and furnishing (desks, tables, etc.). The total funding requirement is about $2000 CAD.
Ongoing Programs and Projects
On top of all this, we are still providing various scholarships to local students, sponsoring the local sea-turtle conservation project (in partnership with Surf With Amigas, providing literacy education in the local elementary school, distributing clean water filters to various schools and family homes (in partnership with Waves For Water , offering a Kids Club at Coco Loco twice a week, providing High School level English classes free of charge, and providing material and resource support to various elementary schools in the area. Our monthly funding requirements for these programs is about a $1000 CAD.
Plans for 2015
In 2015, we plan to slow down on the major construction projects but we would still like to undertake a couple of school rehabilitation projects of neighbouring elementary schools. These schools are in very poor states due to a lack of funding for maintenance and upkeep. They are in need of concrete and tile repairs, roofing patches, fresh coats of paint, window, door and desk repairs as well plus the installation of a hygienic toilet system (either compost or flushing). In the past these rehab projects have cost us between $4-$8k per school. We also plan to launch an expanded tutoring and literacy program that will see the 3rd and 4th year high school students working in collaboration with their local elementary schools to provide extra educational assistance to community children and youth. The goal of this program is to help prepare these students for the high school program. We will also be launching the Waves of Hope High School Internship Program, which will provide vocational opportunities at hotels, medical clinics, local farms, local charity organizations and more to our 4th year high school students. In addition to this, we look forward to the expansion and growth of our regular programming.
Our computer lab opened up this past April. We have already expanded from 5 to 13 computers!
Funding Needs
We feel like we have been able to make such incredible progress down here over the past few years and our reach continues to grow. Educational opportunities are greater than they have ever been here and we still feel like there is so much more that can be done. We have been able to accomplish all of this but of the amazing support we have recieved from all of you and from many other great organizations as well. For that we are very grateful but we are writing today because we are very low on funds and we are concerned that we may have to shut down some of our programs soon. The first to go would be our turtle conservation project, and then our scholarship program and shortly after that we would have to close down the new library. This would disappoint us and our community greatly and this is why today we are asking for your help. PLEASE consider making a donation today to help make sure we can keep moving forward and MAKING WAVES in our community.
DONATE TODAY
Social Media
If you haven’t already please join our Facebook Page to stay current with project updates and plenty of photos.
Sincerely,
Jamie & The Waves Team