The first, from tornado-ravaged Joplin, MO, is La Rosas village partner St. Paul’s United Methodist Church. Their team of five people spent several days in that village, meeting sponsored students, delivering donated supplies, and helping out in various capacities. Photos from their trip are posted on the church’s Facebook page HERE

The second group includes Roger Ray, former Board Member, pastor & columnist for the Springfield News-Leader. While in-country, he submitted three stories that were published as a series by that publication. We invite you to view the stories below, or on our Press Coverage page HERE.

Please share them with individuals who you know that have supported Rainbow Network in the past. Despite several challenging years, the Rainbow that we have built together continues to shine brightly in the lives of rural Nicaraguans. Read on to find out what our brand of Hope looks like today.

La Rosas article 3~20

Impact article 3~21

Education article 3~22

An example student profile from our new sponsorship sheet.

Rainbow Network has a new Student Sponsorship sheet; open it up and take a look!

The new sheet’s benefits are twofold; it makes it easier for you to share students with friends and family as well as streamlining our office’s  tracking process for unsponsored students.

The sheet includes 8 students, a description of our education program, and a mail-in form for sponsorship. We will periodically update the document as students are sponsored.

Print one for yourself, one for your Sunday School class, one for your men’s or women’s group, one for your reading circle, and one for your softball team; get excited about these bright young students, and what you can do to literally transform their lives through education, leadership, and support in love.

The classic individual profiles will still be sent to sponsors after payment is received.

A woman uses a sewing machine purchased with a Rainbow Network micro-loan

Upon returning from his most recent trip to Nicaragua, Keith was excited to share success stories and words of thanks from people impacted by Rainbow Network programs.

One such story is that of Eunice, a 29 year old woman living in the  Nagarote network. When Rainbow arrived in her community 12 years ago, Eunice was newly orphaned and raising her two younger brothers in a tiny mud hut. She said they survived on handouts from the kindness of similarly impoverished neighbors, but there often wasn’t enough food to share.

With Rainbow scholarships, she was able to attend first high school  and then trade school for a year to become a professional seamstress.

Five years ago, she moved into a Rainbow house, where she now lives with her husband and 2 year old son. They make much of their living with a sewing machine bought on a RN micro-loan, using cloth from another loan.With the profits from each piece of clothing, she is on track to paying off their mortgage. She was grateful for the opportunities afforded through Rainbow, speaking of answered prayers.

Think now of her son, who at two is watching his parents, educated entrepreneurs, pay off their home. He has a safe place to play, grow, and learn the value of education and hard work from his mother and father. When the opportunities of Rainbow combine with the hard work of people like Eunice, the impact ripples through generations.

Funding a micro-loan is a sustainable way to change lives; you really can’t go wrong with a program that cultivates work ethic, takes steps toward self-sufficiency, provides business training, bolsters local economies, and, when paid off, repeats the whole success story by providing the funds to another family. A family’s way of life can be transformed with a micro-loan for only $300. Click the donate button to the right or contact our office to fund a micro-loan.

Our offices have just compiled the lists of all the new students accepted into the scholarship program, and each of these students needs a sponsor.

There are 2 ways you can help:

These three young ladies volunteer in the medical clinic in their community, but only one of them was able to go to school last year. Photo credit: Rochelle Collette, Springfield, MO

Sponsor a student for $25 a month. Bright students often wish to continue their education, but without financial means, end up working in the plantation fields. A scholarship of $25 a month ($300 a year) provides tuition, transportation, 2 uniforms, and supplies for one student in need. To give back, the student will write at least 2 letters per year and will do volunteer work in the community.

Volunteer to visit an adult Sunday School class with student profiles. This is so easy, anyone can do it, and the impact of sponsorship ripples through every group that hears about it.  Get your profiles here!

Our scholarship program grows or shrinks based directly on the number of sponsors; I challenge you to take action and make sure that the program grows in 2012. Every student sponsored has the chance to earn a degree, develop leadership skills, and create a relationship with a sponsor that reminds them they are loved; could that sponsor be you?

Community gardens are a source of fresh fruits and vegetables for families and feeding centers, as well as a source of income for those who trade or sell extra produce in the market.

Freshly picked produce contains more nutrients than shipped produce harvested before it is allowed to ripen. These gardens also add variety to diets that would otherwise be little but rice and beans.

You can multiply Baker Creek’s donation of 100 gardens by adding to the gift! Click the give button to the right, call 417-889-8088, or mail a check to our office to make a donation.

December 2011 Online

Best to you in the New Year,

The Rainbow Network

This year, 116 students earned high school degrees in the face of disparaging adversity. Often, Rainbow scholarship students are the first generation of high school graduates from their families, or even from their entire villages.

Meet the Graduates

Yusemi is 19  and lives in Flor de Piedra with her mother and 3 siblings. There is no elecricity or running water in her agricultural village. She works hard helping her mother with her siblings and studying, and she still finds time to volunteer as a tutor and mentor to elementary students. “[My sponsor's] family are such nice people because they worked hard so I could continue going to high school and make my dream come true that I’ve had since I was a little girl.”

Rolando is 20 and lives with his Aunts, Uncles, and 3 little cousins on his grandparents’ small farm in La Trinidad.  He helps plant corn, cut firewood to sell, tend the animals, and draw water from the well.  His family would not be able to afford his schooling without Rainbow, but he studied hard to earn his degree and now plans to be a teacher and improve the futures of young people in La Trinidad.

Rosa is 17 and lives in the small agricultural community of Cabo de Horno.  Her father works hard doing seasonal farm labor to provide for his wife and 4 children, but the family still cannot afford school.  With Rainbow’s help, she graduated a year early and hopes to go on to technical school. “Education is very important to me because I want to have a better future and improve the living conditions of my family. Education is the best way to help our families and our communities to live better in the future.”

There isn’t room to tell every student’s story, but the other 113 graduates are listed here by village in the 2011 Rainbow Network “Honor Roll” of graduates. (PDF file)

Sobering Truth

As the U.S. office assigns new students to sponsors whose student graduated, a sobering truth is clear; along with the list of 116 graduates to be removed from the scholarship program came another list of 28 students dropping out of the program.

Poverty is often described as a cycle, and rightly so, as it is so difficult to stop it in its tracks. Some students leave school to work and supplement the incomes of their struggling families, or are too overwhelmed with adult responsibilities at a young age to continue their studies. But Rainbow Network is reversing negative trends in rural education, and we are here to stay.

Hope

The success of these graduating students is a product of years of hard work and support from the families and staff in Nicaragua and sponsors in the U.S. Their education is a step toward hope; the leadership skills, sense of self-worth, and economic stability these graduates are developing are the key to one day erasing poverty in Nicaragua.

Join us in celebrating this hope for the future of Nicaragua by providing an un-sponsored high school student with a scholarship of $25 a month ($300 per year) to cover the cost of tuition, uniforms, transportation, and supplies. You can sign up online through Paypal here, or by calling our office at 417-889-8088.

Congratulations to all the graduates for their hard work; their families, sponsors, and the staff are proud of their accomplishments!

This backpack was made by a microloan recipient in our El Crucero project, just south of Managua. Stitched together on Wal-Mart sewing machines costing less than $100 total, the resulting business now employs multiple individuals, and provides for the families far beyond what the typical seasonal labor allows.

Representing the hundred of success stories from our Microfinance program, this backpack will be on display at our Rainbow Network office during two upcoming Holiday Receptions:

• Thursday, December 23 , from 3:30 – 5:30

• Thursday, December 29, also from 3:30 – 5:30

The gatherings are your chance to visit with Keith Jaspers, the Rainbow Network founder who has recently returned to the organization. There will be light refreshments, good conversation and updates on the state of our Ministry in Nicaragua.

NO RSVP is necessary, just stop by 3834 South Avenue (just north of Campbell 16 Theaters) during either of the times. If you have questions please call us at 417-889-8088, and we hope to see you there

Next comes Las Posadas.  Churches in the U.S. often have a Nativity play, but what if it lasted 9 days? During Las Posadas, community members representative of Mary and Joseph travel from home to home, being refused lodging until the ninth day, when they are welcomed to an inn and there is a great celebration. During this time, whole communities come together to put on or watch the play, which recognizes the hardship of Mary’s pregnancy and the miracle of birth.

Christmas Eve is especially significant in Nicaragua.  It is celebrated with a family dinner, the giving of small gifts like fruits or candies, and fireworks at midnight to celebrate Jesus’ birth. Christmas is a day of rest after all the celebration and festivities with family and neighbors the night before.

New Year’s in Nicaragua can be understood as a hybrid of New Year’s and Thanksgiving here in the United States.  Families gather for dinner to give thanks for blessings in the past year and toast to the year ahead.

Of course, there is food, family, and fireworks, but another unique tradition is a part of Nicaragua’s New Year; when translating student letters, I read multiple students talking about “El Hombre Viejo.” I was at first concerned and confused about this “old man,” because the students enthusiastically described him being at the center of a bonfire! However, after some research, I found that “El Hombre Viejo” is not an old man, but a straw doll (like a scarecrow) dressed in old clothes who represents the past year.  Communities have a bonfire with the straw doll to express the idea of “out with the old, and in with the new!”

Many of these grand celebrations are enjoyed in the cities, but in Rainbow’s remote villages, holidays are less decorative.  Some families still give small gifts, like fruits, to children for Christmas, and El Hombre Viejo is a tradition in some communities. Even without the packaging and parades, villages are filled with family love and joy around the holidays.

This Christmas, cherish your blessings and find a way to share what you have been generously given.  Merry Christmas from Rainbow Network!

The decorative sign at left identified the house that was assigned via lottery to the family of Sonia Diaz Cordoba. As a single mother of five children working on the El Paraiso coffee plantation, this house will make an impact far greater than its 12’ x 15’ footprint. It will provide the basic necessity of a safe haven for Sonia and her family, but is also the first step to community independence for many other families.

Collectively, these 25 houses will form the hub of a wheel of hope. As with all Rainbow Network projects, the spokes include not only housing, but sustainable community gardens, consistent healthcare, economic development funding, education and scholarship opportunities. All of which are built on our “hand up, not hand-out” model, which lays the foundation of personal accountability for each recipient of housing or loan assistance.

For Rainbow Network, every house in this group of 25 represents good fortune. While many NGOs have suffered greatly in the ongoing economic slump, new methods of conducting our standard business have emerged which are changing our approach. El Paraiso is such a template, and is the culmination of generosity from many people, working together across state and international borders.

Demonstrating an exemplary responsibility to their resident workers, plantation owners Alex & Luz Ross graciously donated the land on which this village has been built. El Paraiso Village Partners at Davidson United Methodist Church Davidson, North Carolina have provided ongoing support for the needs of the community’s families. Denominational brothers & sisters at Arch United Methodist in Hannibal, MO tirelessly raised funds for the building project throughout their Mark Twain UMC district  & supplied the construction labor, working hand-in-hand with the future homeowners during several Mission Trips to the community.

In some cases it is said that the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts. In this case, the total is far greater than 13, and much luckier any number.

Submitted by: Brian Hom, Director of Development

Dedication participants from Arch United Methodist Church in Hannibal, MO pose at a house with Rainbow Network's Director Nelson Palacias (r.) just after the ribbon-cutting.

Trip Attendees included:
- Mel West and Megan Munzlinger, Columbia, MO

- Pastor David Scott, Mary Huddleson and Valerie Munzlinger, Hannibal, MO

- Lucy Sauer and Hannah Remmel,Little Rock, AR

More Pictures From El Paraiso

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