"I am a strong woman"

On a recent delegation trip with Amos Trust, Jenny Richardson wrote this poem and meditation after meeting with women in a rural community to learn about their experience with Prestanic, a microcredit organization that has strong ties to CEPAD. We are thankful to share it here.
I am a woman.
I raise my family in one room and create our home.
The government gives us materials for a roof
and we can shelter from the rain.
I wash our clothes in the stream
and watch the bright colours dancing as they hang on the washing line.
I pick the fruit,
Growing in abundance,
to feed my family.
Do you think I am poor?
Do you not see, I am a strong Nicaraguan woman?
I helped my mother to sell the bread she made.
It was all too much
and I left to live on the streets.
I took drugs but have been given a road to a new life.
I want to be a fashion designer
and my mother will be proud of me.
Do you think I am poor?
Do you not see, I am a strong Nicaraguan woman?I meet with my friends
and we delight in sharing news of our business ventures.
We slaughter pigs,
sell clothes,
Bake bread,
And with our profits we repay our loans and provide for our children’s education.
Do you think I am poor?
Do you not see, I am a strong Nicaraguan woman?

I teach my children to harvest the ripe coffee,
To work the processing machine outside our home.
To sort the best coffee beans for market
And to carry the precious load to market.
Do you think I am poor?
Do you not see, I am a strong Nicaraguan woman?

I have lived through change in Nicaragua.
Friends have died in the 1972 earthquake.
Relatives have been caught up in the fighting between the Contras and the Sandinistas.
Yet I welcome the hope that the government gives me.
Do you think I am poor?
Do you not see, I am a strong Nicaraguan woman?

You ask me about faith.
I am a Catholic and an Evangelical.
Faith is a gift of God.
It is no ones property.
I live with dignity as a daughter of God.
My theology takes me out of the door of the church into the streets
To work for justice and reconciliation.
Do you think I am poor?
Do you not see, I am a strong Nicaraguan woman?

We nurture our children
And they are proud of being Nicaraguan.
As they grow stronger
Nicaragua will continue to flourish.
They are are our hope and our future.
Do you think we are poor?
Do you not see we are strong Nicaraguan women?

I am Mary,
A girl from Nazareth.
Engaged to be married.
I trust God.
He will liberate the poor.
He will bring down the mighty.
He has chosen me and I say ‘yes’.
I will be the Mother of God’s son,
With all it’s joys, challenges and responsibilities.

Do you think I am poor?
Do you think I am weak?
Do you think I am holy?
Don’t you see, I am a strong woman.

Fall 2013 CEPAD Report

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Together, We Help Thousands of People Each Year

In 2012, CEPAD provided direct training and resources to more than 1,000 people in rural Nicaragua. Those people are each charged with sharing what they’ve learned with their communities. That means thanks to your support, CEPAD reaches thousands of people every year with our programs. We couldn’t do it without you!
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A Single Mom Gains Leadership and Farming Skills

As the only breadwinner in her home Tita Rocha was delighted when she was chosen to be a Community  Agriculture Promoter to learn about conservation techniques as well how to diversify her crops and improve the type of food that her family can eat throughout the year.

“I am happy because I am changing the way I work the land. I am now planting different crops that will yield food for my children in different times of the year, making use of techniques of soil and water conservation to protect my land and my plants.”

Tita participated in three trainings provided by CEPAD and learned conservation techniques which included preventing soil erosion through the use of live and dead barriers, making natural pesticides and making organic fertilizer.

As a Community Agriculture Promoter Tita also has other farmers who she is sharing the information she learned with to help them also improve their crops and protect the environment.

For Tita the value of these trainings extends to her children as well. She is teaching them what she has learned which is helping them to be more involved in the work that she does.

In the future Tita hopes to plant all of her land to reap the benefits of her newly diversified crops. “In the future I hope to plant the rest of my land,  putting into practice what I have learned through the trainings.”

Thanks to your support of  CEPAD’s programs together we were able to train 516 farmers in 2012 in these farming techniques, improving their food security as well as their  treatment of the environment. This post originally appeared in the Fall 2013 CEPAD Report. Subscribe to the e-newsletter to receive the report and other news from CEPAD.

Irrigation Systems Mean Hope In Face of Drought

The first half of 2013 left many Nicaraguan farmers in despair as crops and animals died. But Luis Robles has hope for the future after CEPAD installed an irrigation system to help farmers in his community.

Luis, 23, leads the Community Development Committee in Malacatoya, a rural community outside of San Jose de los Remates, some 96 kms from Managua, the capital city. This year, he and two other farmers were able to irrigate their crops thanks to a motorized irrigation system that pumps water to their farms. This system will allow them to harvest basic crops year round to provide food for their families and to increase their income.

“Because of climate change, the drought this year was long and hard,” Luis said. “We had enough clean water to drink, but we didn’t have enough water to cultivate. So, it was amazing when CEPAD brought us the irrigation system and trained us how to use it.”

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