Improved Nutrition and Financial Security In Communities Wows Volunteer

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By Leala Rosen

Rachel and I visited Nicaragua in January and spent two weeks learning about CEPAD’s work empowering small farmers and improving food security through sustainable agriculture training. During our time with CEPAD, we stayed at homestays with farmers who have participated in CEPAD agricultural trainings. We stayed on two farms – one was with a family that had been the first Community Agricultural Promoters in the community, and the other was in the earlier stages of working with CEPAD to improve their food security and nutrition.Community Agricultural Promoters work with disciples in their communities in order to teach others about organic, sustainable agriculture techniques in order to improve crop yields and water efficiency as well as increase food security within the farmer’s homes.

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Yale Alumni Bring Needed HealthCare to Leon Region

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A group of more 68 people from the Yale Alumni Service Corps visited Trohilo, a small community near Leon, to provide medical care and other projects. In five days, they provided medical consultation and care to more than 400 people from Trohilo and nearby communities.
Jelen Yalisa Espinoza, 16, said she came to the clinic to get treatment for a headache and couldn’t remember when she had last been to the doctor previously. In Trohilo there is a health clinic with a doctor and a nurse, but the clinic is only open part time. They don’t have the capacity to serve everyone who needs care, said nurse Esperanza Quiroz, and there are no specialized doctors in the community, like cardiologists or internists. Many people have to travel to the city of Leon to receive treatment or medicine. “I feel confident to say they have saved lives by diagnosing people, like women with cancer, who never would have known they were sick otherwise,” Quiroz said.

She has been working at the clinic for 8 years and said the two primary health concerns in the community are women’s health needs like Human Papilloma Virus and the devastating Chronic Kidney Disease that kills many people in the community, especially men who work in the nearby sugar farms — dehydration and exposure to pesticides both greatly increase the risk for that illness, she explained.

“Everyone who lives here is at risk for CKD,” she said.

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Every Day Is International Women’s Day

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We hope you had a great International Women’s Day! We celebrated el Día Internacional de la Mujer a couple days late with a breakfast and devotional to honor the women who work for CEPAD and those we serve with our programs.

About 60 percent of CEPAD’s staff are women, including at the leadership level with Damaris Albuquerque at the helm as executive director and Anita Taylor leading our partnership and delegation programs. In our programs, we work to support and empower women through our programs by providing microloans to help women start small buildings, training women on their rights against violence, and more. Women lead CEPAD’s community development committees in many regions, and they learn skills to be leaders in other areas of the community. Read more