Beneficiaries: 542 children
Completion date: April 2023
Country: Nicaragua
Executive summary
The kitchen is the heart of the home—and the same is true for Compassion’s child development centres, where boys and girls eagerly gather to fill their rumbling tummies with hot, delicious meals. Yet two church partners in Nicaragua have no safe place to cook nourishing meals for the 542 children in their care.
For NI0317 in Santa Lucía, the current kitchen space is wedged beside the outer wall—teeming with flies, animals and dust, and exposed to the rain. Meanwhile, NI0356 in Ocotal has no kitchen at all. The church was offered a temporary place to cook the children’s meals, but it will no longer be available by end of year.
These two frontline church partners urgently need a sustainable solution so they can keep their promise to provide for the physical development of each beneficiary—which includes offering nourishing meals so their bodies can grow up healthy and strong. Each church wants to build a kitchen so they can prepare and serve meals in a hygienic, safe and comfortable environment. But they lack sufficient resources to carry out this work alone.
With your generous investment, the church partners will be equipped to build a 25-square-metre kitchen, plus pantry and cellar, using quality construction materials with the help of a professional engineer. Church members will provide the manual labour as well as ongoing maintenance, like plumbing, painting, repairs and cleaning.
All 542 beneficiaries will enjoy regular hot and nutritious meals prepared in a safe, on-site kitchen space. Since, often, children living in poverty aren’t aware of how simple habits like handwashing or covering food could help keep their bodies much healthier, each child will also participate in workshops to learn about daily hygiene and healthy eating habits to help prevent malnutrition and common illnesses such as diarrhea and parasites.
Summary
Did you know?
As a low-income, food-deficit country, 30 per cent of people in Nicaragua live in poverty, which is closely linked with food insecurity. Chronic malnutrition and stunting are common for children who suffer from the intergenerational cycle of undernourishment and hunger.
Background
NI0317 is a Compassion centre in the community of Santa Lucía near León, Nicaragua, where 50 per cent of adults are unemployed. Families lack basic daily necessities, and children have limited opportunities to attend or complete public school. Alcoholism and family breakdown are common as parents struggle to cope with the challenges of life.
NI0356, a Compassion centre in Ocotal, Nicaragua, has a staggering unemployment rate of 80 per cent. A typical home here has a dirt floor with tin walls and roof. Seventy per cent of people in the community do not yet know God in a personal way, instead engaging in traditional religious and cultural practices.
The need
Compassion releases children from poverty in Jesus’ name by partnering with the local church to lift boys and girls out of spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty. And for children to overcome poverty, they must have healthy, growing minds and bodies nourished with nutrient-dense foods. The hot, tasty meals served at Compassion centres are a highlight for kids coming with hungry tummies, and a big opportunity to combat food insecurity in their young lives. Two church partners in Nicaragua don’t have the kitchen facilities to offer those meals to children just yet—but with your help, they soon can!
Your generosity will help build two simple, yet high-impact kitchens at the NI0317 and NI0356 Compassion centers in Nicaragua. With these facilities, staff will be able to give sustainable nourishment to 542 children currently living in poverty. Children will know they can look forward to a yummy meal each time they come to their local Compassion centre, which will help them learn, play and grow. As we feed their growing bodies, we will also be nourishing their hearts and minds so they can grow up to become all God has created them to be.
What your gift will do
Your gift will build sanitary kitchens for two Compassion child development centres in Nicaragua:
- Preliminaries, foundations and walls
- Steel roof frame, roof and fascia
- Concrete floor
- Electrical system
- Hydro-sanitary works
- Doors, finishes and exterior work
- Ceramic and tile
- Pantries and cellars
- Hygiene workshops for children, including snacks
- Monitoring, evaluation and follow-up visits (including food, transportation and lodging)
Logistics
- Local contribution: US$4,481.79
- Handling of funds: Compassion Nicaragua will ensure this intervention remains within budget.
- Monitoring and follow-up: The impact of the intervention on beneficiaries and church partners will be monitored and evaluated through follow-up visits and interviews. Church members have agreed to provide ongoing maintenance so the kitchens can continue serving children for years to come.