1000 and counting...

So it's been a little while since I have been back in old Canada land and I have managed to raise a few dollars to buy my kids in the school "Jose de La Cruz Mena" school supplies this coming year. A few of my Canadian friends joined me last Sunday for a small breakfast to raise money for my kids. We made about 125.00. The turn out wasn't fabulous but those of my friends who I can always count on, showed up with bells on! Thank you for caring. It turns out I can make a pretty mean breakfast.

The school year in Nicaragua commences at the beginning of February so I am hoping to have atleast 2500 dollars to make our dream a reality. So far we have about 1000 and I will continue to politely ask people if they would enjoy helping my cause! I always have to remind everyone that each of your hard earned dollars goes straight to the kids, we don't take a cent. I would like to be able to supply about 500 children with adequate school supplies which will take the economic burden off their parents. The sad truth is that most of these kids would go to school without anything at all. I want to to remind people that Nicaragua is considered to be the second poorest country to Haiti in the Americas. If you would like to read more about the situation in Nicaragua check out: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/country_profiles/1225218.stm?lid=nicaragua&lpos=day_txt_poorest-country

The picture I posted is one of my favorite kids in Nicaragua named Oscar. He has been apart of the program at the spanish school I attended "Casa Xalteva" for about 3 years now. Juan Carlos whom I share this project with, met him a few years back when he was looking for water to drink. Juan Carlos invited him to join the program at Casa Xalteva where he could receive free schooling, meals, and a warm place to put his head at night. Oscar comes from a loving home that just simply could not afford to take care of his important needs. Casa Xalteva really inspired me to help other kids in other communities such as El Pantanal, where the situation is even more dire. If you are interested in studying spanish abroad, I highly reccommend Casa Xalteva. They not only provide great instruction & great laughs, but also some of your money goes towards helping street boys. For more information check out their website at: http://www.casaxalteva.com/

I love Oscar even though he tries to convince me on a regular basis that I am a dirty gringa (that doesn't bathe.) We have a good laugh together.

Christmas is coming up and I hope that people think about how overboard we can all get with the consumerism. We have everything we need in our society...ipods, iphones, wees..etc. It's actually pretty sick. I hope you think about doing something a little bit more meaningful whether it is donating to a local charity or helping my kids in Nicaragua. As Gandhi put it..."Be the Change you Wish to See in the World." It's just that easy.

I am very inspired by other people who are helping out in other ways. My good and long term friend Tara fell in love with the community of Gulu in Uganda, Africa. She is now involved with her own project situated out of Montreal raising funds to provide basic health care to children. For information regarding this project please email me at: puedenreir@gmail.com.

I would also like to thank family friends who have kindly donated money to my cause. Thank you to Michelle Pelland & Jim + Linda Millala for your kind contributions.

Muchas Gracias.

Garage Sale in Victoria BC

Garage Sale
Saturday September 6th 9am-5pm
for address details please email me at: puedenreir@gmail.com

To fundraise for our project “Si Quieres, Pueden Reir” (If you want, they can laugh!) This is a project that raises money to buy children school supplies in a very poor area of Nicaragua (outside the beautiful colonial city Granada.)

Come by to:
1) find some interesting items for you or your house
2) Make a donation (5.00 will buy one child school supplies)
3) Have a free silk road tea

We raised enough money last year to supply all 500 kids in this school “Jose De La Cruz Mena” . We also made improvements to this school and built toilets for another school that had one broken toilet for 1100 children.

Happy Birthday Emily!:)

This is a speacial blog entry to wish Emily Crandall of Seattle, Washington a very happy birthday. I met Emily in Granada, Nicaragua and we were placed in the same spanish class for one week. That was by far one of the best weeks of spanish class, as we learned a lot but also spent quite a bit of time teaching our teacher slang and dirty words in english:) In that time, she learned about our project "Si Quieres, Pueden Reir". Emily and her husband Drew came out with Andres and I on one of our first ventures to El Pantanal and the school "Jose de la Cruz Mena". Drew and Emily also spared some precious travel money (as they still had 5 months more to travel around South America) to buy us some notebooks and supplies for the kids. Thus Emily truly witnessed the birth of our project and Im happy to say that she will also allow it to grow further. Emily's sister in law Jen Bowerman of San franciso wrote me to let me know how Emily had talked about our project in Nicaragua and that she wanted to donate money in Emily's name for her birthday. We graciously accept 100.00 American dollars in Emily Crandall's name to continue our project in El Pantanal, Nicaragua. I will be heading back to Granada, Nicaragua in early January just in time for the beginning of the school year and this money will be used to buy our 500 students their packages of school supplies. I want to thank Jen Bowerman and her husband for their kindness and as well as to Emily & her husband Drew for everything as well.:)

My friend Juan Carlos (who I stayed with & who works with me on the project) pointed out Emily's dimples when she smiled. Juan Carlos loves dimples because his 8 year old daughter Judene has an incredible pair. When Juan Carlos saw Emily for the first time in Casa Xalteva as she waited for our spanish class to start, he asked her in spanish "what class are those dimples going to". Of course we didn't understand what he meant at the time but he explained (as he always does...)

Happy Birthday Emily. I hope you are smiling today. Ojala que estes sonriendo.:) Make sure to come to Victoria sometime to visit.

Toilets are done... now we need some cash!

Just writing a quick update to say that we have finished those ever famous toilets for the kids about 2 weeks ago. I am going to post some pictures of them when I can, as I am not in Nicaragua anymore... and I am relying on my friends in Granada to send me those. However, rest assured that the kids now have 6 flush toilets (for 1100 students) rather than 1 for 1100!!!! We feel good about it. And we hope you do too.

Now we are trying to raise some funds so that we can give our kids at Jose De La Cruz Mena a second round of school supplies. These kids will each receive a package of 6 notebooks, 2 pens, 1 pencil, an eraser, and a pencil sharpener. It costs about 5.00 to supply one child. Each child will get a package (no matter if the child is less poor than another) we feel that this part of Granada (El Pantanal) is generally economically struggling and do not pick and choose. Therefore, rest assured that these happy smiling faces will all be getting the same package.

If you can in anyway help with our project please email me.
puedenreir@gmail.com

Donate!! We need your $$$$$

To those who would like to donate to my cause... for those damn cute Nica kids.. I now have a pay pal account & you can send me money that I will directly send to Nicaragua. Right now the money will go towards finishing our "toilet project" and then after that we will be raising money to resupply our kids in the school Jose De La Cruz Mena. We will need about 4000 for that resupply project.

What you need to do is sign up for a free pay pal account https://www.paypal.com and after that is done send whatever amount you feel compelled to send to my email address which is yourfriendkathryn@gmail.com
I know that I am not an NGO as of yet but you can be assured that the money goes straight to the source and that I don't take a dime of your hard earned cash. It is possible that this project will turn into an organization but as of now we are simply a project. PS no amount is too small.... 6.00 can resupply one child with the proper school supplies.

Kathryn

Updated OUR STORY description

Our Story
Si Quieres, Pueden Reir (If you want, they can laugh) is a project afiliated with a larger and well established organization called Casa Xalteva. Casa Xalteva is a non profit spanish school and educational center in the heart of Granada, Nicaragua which raises funds to help care for children that come from harsh economic conditions. "Si Quieres, Pueden Reir" is a project inspired by the philosophy of Casa Xalteva which is to help others that are in need without religious or personal biases. http://www.casaxalteva.com

Our project was founded by three people from Casa Xalteva. Our project consists of one former student from Canada (Kathryn Moncur) and two local Nicaraguans who are important staff members at Casa Xalteva (Jose Andres Martinez Barahona and Juan Carlos Roblero.) Through generous foreign donations and money raising projects, we will continue to help the school "Jose De La Cruz Mena" in El Pantanal (Granada, Nicaragua.) Our main goal is to be able to supply each student of this school with a package of school supplies twice yearly. This is to ensure that the children have the proper supplies for optimal learning.

We also discuss and create other projects within the school in order to improve the conditions for not only the students but the teachers who are working in the environment. We would like to continue to support this school within El Pantanal in order to encourage and motivate the children to stay in school.

As my friend Juan Carlos says… “It is all worth it when you see them laugh”

Toilets are almost done!!

I am writing you from Canada ( I returned a week ago) to let you know that our 4 flush toilets that we are putting into the school are almost finished. We have also repaired the other two toilets that already existed. Therefore within weeks the children will be priveleged to use 5 flush toilets (instead of one) and the teacher's will continue to have their own personal toilet. I have received word from Nicaragua that we are lacking a little bit of money for the roofs and doors for the toilets. Therefore it is my hope that I can raise more money so that we can complete this project very soon.

As soon as I have updated pictures of the toilets, I will be posting them for your viewing purposes.

I want to thank Oliver Hartman once again for heading this project and making sure it went so well. Our team that we hired for this project worked hard in the rain and hot sun without the tools that we are spoiled with in Canada and the USA ( like tractors ect.) Everything was done by shovels and picks!! These guys are seriously strong and amazing workers. We are also lucky to have been given the gift of a discount because this project was to help a local school. We are very grateful for that.

Please let me know if you would be willing to donate to finishing this project. We have now discovered a way to send money to Nicaragua that doesn't cost money.

email me puedenreir@gmail.com