February Newsletter

Start of School
January was an exciting month for us as we geared up for the start of the new school year. We were able to use out initial donations to provide school supplies to the neediest children and some basic supplies to the schools.

The first day of school was January 29th and once again the school yards are filled with children. We installed wall mounted pencil sharpeners at both Anne Frank and Ruiz Castillo. The children had never seen wall mounted pencil sharpeners before and lined up as soon as they were installed to use them. We also provided pencils, erasers, and paper to both schools. These supplies will be given out throughout the school year to the neediest students. We also provided shoes to many students who were not attending school because they had none. The smiles on the faces of these children as they proudly wore their new shoes were wonderful. Both schools received donations of jump ropes, basketballs, volleyballs, soccer balls, baseballs, and baseball bats for use at recess and in physical education classes. We are off to a good start and hope to be able to continue to provide much needed supplies to these schools.

Casino Night Benefit
Proyecto Laguna is having a casino night and silent auction at Euro Café on Saturday, February 10th, at 6:30pm. Euro Café is on the northwest corner of the central park in Granada, Nicaragua. Entrance is 200 córdobas and includes gambling chips, a free drink, and a free dessert. All proceeds will go directly to Proyecto Laguna. We are looking forward to this opportunity to raise funds and spread awareness of the work we are doing. We hope to see you and your friends on Saturday.

Pen Pals
Proyecto Laguna has started a pen pal program with classrooms in the United States. We are starting with a pre-school class in Virginia that is fundraising for us. They have sent us introduction letters and pictures and the pre-school children at Anne Frank have drawn pictures and been helped to write letters to be sent back. If you know of a class that would be interested in fundraising for Proyecto Laguna and having a pen pal relationship with a class in Nicaragua, send an e-mail to jen@proyectolaguna.com.

Children's Medical Care
Our school nurse, Dina Morales Alemán, started working with the start of the new school year. She is working at each of our schools one day a week. Dina is able to provide basic medical care to the students; wound care, medicines for minor illnesses, etc. In just the first days of school Dina has been approached by a girl in need of eye surgery, a boy who, due to a fall, was unconscious for 30 minutes-his parents couldn’t afford to take him to a doctor, a girl with a serious skin condition, and many others.

Children who require medical care beyond what Dina can provide need assistance paying for that care. We are able to refer these children to the Alabama Clinic in Granada, where, for $1.70, they are able to receive all of their medical care throughout the course of their illness or disease.

We are planning on conducting physical examinations on all of the children at both schools in March. We hope to see each child and assess physical health and refer children on for further medical, dental, or eye care, as needed. After conducting the medical exams we are planning on treating the children for parasites and lice and providing vitamins. We hope to conducts these examinations and treatments every 6 months.

To this end, we are requesting donations to assist in treating these children with much needed medical care. The cost will be a total of $3 per child; 50 cents for parasite treatment, 1 dollar for lice treatment, and 1.50 for vitamins. With a total of 750 to 800 children being served we need to raise $2,400 dollars. If we are able to raise extra money we will be able to provide this service to other children in the community.

At a cost of $3 per child for basic parasite, lice, and vitamin treatment and $1.70 for medical treatment for serious illness, how many children can you afford to help?
Please connect to our website to make a donation today http://www.proyectolaguna.com/.

If you are interested in doing a fundraiser at your place of business, church, or other organization send an e-mail to jen@proyectolaguna.com. We will assist you with information and materials to use for fundraising.

Donations
Thank you to all of you who made donations in January, your donation is appreciated and has made a difference in the lives of the children in Diria.




To make a donation now connect to our website www.proyectolaguna.com
For questions or comments feel free to contact us at contact@proyectolaguna.com

This newsletter will be sent out monthly and keep you informed of our news and the projects we are currently working on.

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Newsletter January 2007

Getting Started
Proyecto Laguna is getting started as is the new school year in Nicaragua. School starts on January 29th and there will be approximately 750 students in the two schools we are currently working with.

We have been meeting with the headmasters and the mayor’s office to get things off the ground and are meeting with all the teachers next week to introduce them to our project.

It is an exciting time for us and we are getting off to a good start. We have just hired a school nurse to work part time, and are gathering school supplies for the start of the school year; notebooks, pencils, etc.

Next week, Rodney Robeson and his family are coming to Diria and are going to install 15 wall mounted pencil sharpeners in the schools. This is going to help a lot as most of the children can not afford to buy pencil sharpeners and are often out of class trying to find a student or teacher who has one they can use. Rodney and his family are also bringing 2,000 pencils to help stock the schools for the new school year.

Thank you all for your support in this endeavor. We look forward to helping the people in the community of Diria gain the skills to improve their own lives.


School Nurse
We have hired a school nurse to work two days a week, one day at each of the schools we are currently serving. Dina Morales Alemán is a licensed nurse who studied at the Polytechnic University of Nicaragua. Dina grew up, and currently lives, in Diria and will be working at the elementary school she went to as a child, Ruiz Castillo.

We are currently only able to hire Dina part time. We hope that in the future we will be able to raise enough money to offer her a full time job. Salary for a fulltime nurse is $200 a month. When we are able to hire her fulltime we will also be able to provide medical services in more schools.

We are currently in the process of acquiring all the supplies that will be needed by Dina. We need everything; gauze, alcohol, a scale, a stethoscope, parasite medication, the list goes on and on. If anyone is able to assist us financially or materially with these supplies it would be greatly appreciated.

Donations
Thank you to all of the people who have made donations to Proyecto Laguna. Your donation makes a difference in the lives of many.

To contact us with any questions of comments send an e-mail to info@proyectolaguna.com

To make a donation, go to our website and click on the donate link www.proyectolaguna.com