donating blood

Sara Zeledon Hernandez is an 8 year old girl in our Child Sponsorship program who was diagnosed with aplastic anemia 13 months ago.  Aplastic anemia is a condition where the bone marrow doesn’t produce enough blood cells – WBCs, RBCs, and platelets.  Every 8 days, she gets her blood counts checked and receives a blood transfusion if the numbers are below normal.  5 Manna program directors and 1 community member, Karen Bustos, donated blood at the Nicaraguan Red Cross in Sara’s name to ensure she receives the blood she needs!
Sara
Donating blood in Nicaragua was exactly the same as in the US.  I learned that Nicaragua has one of the greatest donor rates in the entire world!
500cc later... I've ensured Sara will receive blood :)
Katie and Matt finishing up and about to relax with some pear juice.
Amanda mid-stick.
When Karen learned she was a universal donor, she got extremely excited and asked how often she was able to donate.  The sense of community and desire to help others in this country is amazing.

paseo

This past Saturday, we gathered children and their families from our Child Sponsorship program and headed to the Land for a paseo (field trip)!  The Land is a sports complex created and maintained by the August family, missionaries from Seattle, Washington.  We danced to music, ate snacks of bananas and cremas, played on the swings, shot hoops, and played lots of soccer, keep away, and tag.  The day ended with a piñata and lots of smiles as the kids collected as many caramelas (candies) that their little hands could hold. 
The field trip was an incredibly fun opportunity for the families as they rarely leave the confines of Chureca.  It was an afternoon where the kids weren’t expected to help work and the parents could relax as their little ones ran out their seemingly endless amounts of energy.  The PDs also took advantage of this time to further our relationships with our CS community.
Douglas takes a swing at the piñata

how many caramelas can you hold?

Jose Antonio

Snayder

Ready, Set, Fast!

This past Thursday and Friday the Manna Project volunteers and staff from all three sites participated in a 30-hour famine.  Yes that does mean each and everyone of us went thirty hours with only the consumption of water and juice, and I'll be the first to admit that it was not easy. It began on Thursday at one in the afternoon and ended the following night at seven in the evening.  World Vision developed the 30-hour famine as a fundraiser to help raise money and awareness toward its global effects to end hunger, and so we thought it would be something unique and enlightening to do as a team.  According to the World Vision website, more than 1 billion people go hungry everyday, and so for thirty hours we experienced a little bit of what about a third of the population battles with on a daily basis. Even though this event was a test to our physical and mental strength, I think we would all agree that we were grateful to have participated and for experience and insight we acquired because of it. To break the fast one of Amira's friends Kathryn, who works for the Canadian Red Cross, came to the house and gave us a brief presentation on some current nutrition issues here in Nicaragua and the work that she is specifically involved in.  She presented us with a lot of awesome resources and information, some of which the Child Sponsorship team might use.  And then after we had a feast of spaghetti and ice cream. Delicious!!
Also this past week Steph and Matt worked with Amanda Gutierrez, a local missionary here in Nicaragua, to help give out backpacks to kids who passed their last year of school.  In order to receive a backpack, the child had to bring their report card as evidence of their completion.  Inside of the backpacks were various school supplies for the upcoming year, such as notebooks, rulers, and pens and pencils.  The kids were definitely excited for their new things, and lets hope even more excited for the upcoming school year, which begins February 15th!

Steph and Alba signing people in.
All of the backpacks sorted by grade level.
Some of the boys excited to show off their new supplies!

2, 4, 6, 8... who do we appreciate!?

I can't imagine my childhood without organized sports.  The highlights of my weekends seemed to be running around with my friends and what the parents would bring for a post-game snack.  MPI provides the opportunity for girls in our community to be a part of a soccer team which meets every Friday for three hours of soccer practice, and 15-20 girls regularly join us each week.  Play may be interrupted by squeals of laughter as one of the girls nearly misses a soccer ball to the head, or choruses of "¿estás bien?" when a player trips and falls, or an eruption of smiles and cheer as a goal is scored.

This past Friday, we gathered the girls for a Premio Pool Party at the Manna house to show our appreciation for their constant enthusiasm and to reward their efforts with the team.  Premios (prize in Spanish) were distributed to the girls based on last year's attendance and included a selection of tennis shoes and athletic apparel.  Two of the girls had perfect attendance and were additionally rewarded with soccer balls!

Tatiana slides into the water!

uno...dos...tres...salta! (jump!)

Megan and Norma Alta sizing up their games.

Back in Managua

Happy belated new year blog-readers and welcome back to our blog here in Nicaragua! After a three week visit back home to the States, the program directors are back in Managua and ready to start full swing.  Joining the team this year are four new program directors, Joanna Lang, Amanda Pirilli, Matt Creeden, and Megan Fuson.  All are adjusting well and ready to get their hands and feet dirty in their new Nicaraguan community.
In this first week back, we have had the pleasure of hosting a group from Worcester State University, who make an annual trip to Nicaragua this time of year.  Led by Jackie Brennen, a professor at the university, the team consists of five occupational therapy students who spent the week volunteering at a school about ten minutes down the road called Tesoros de Dios. Tesoros de Dios works with children that are either mentally or physically disabled, and so the team travelled back and forth everyday to assist  them with a variety of activities and exercises, such as identifying colors and words, stretching and practicing physical movement, and much more.  They were not only a pleasure to host and get to know, but the work they were doing was an immense blessing on many children’s lives.  Steph and Katie also spent the week there, trading off days to help translate for the volunteers and doctors.  
Next week all of the regular Manna programs will be up and running again, and so needless to say everyone’s schedules will once again be full. Thanks again for checking in with us, and stay tuned for our post next week!
Tesoros de Dios School

Program director Katie working with one of the children.

Jackie, the leader of the Worcester team.

Program director Steph helping out with one of the exercises.

Stephanie looking for Waldo with one of the kids..

The whole group at Tesoros de Dios.  From left: Sarah, Dave, Jackie, Kristen, Sarah. Front: Steph & Caroline