Projects for 2018

Tisma's request to support five projects until the end of 2018 was received in September 2017. Following this list is a translation of the description of each project given by our link group in Tisma:

1. Early years teaching materials

2. Support for a poor University student for 1 year

3. Clothes and shoes for La Perla community

4. Materials to repair secondary school chair-desks

5. Support for secondary school music group.

Our aim is a minimum of £1500 in total - from the UK it is more effective to send money that can be spent in Nicaragua than collect materials. If we raise more it will support further projects. View Instructions on how to forward donations.

Sheyla Aburto in Tisma says " Each one of these social projects was put under the microscope before choosing it, so that they are really of benefit to many people with few economic resources of their own. Through these projects we will be strengthening the social, scholastic, cultural, emotional, physical and mental health of all those people."

1. Pío-Pío Nursery

The Pío-Pío Nursery has 193 children enrolled. Its director and management committee has sent the twinning group (in Tisma) a letter asking for didactic material. They explain their need for toys, coloured paper, paints, crayons, pencils, plasticine and glue to be used by the children in the nursery. US$200

2. University grant

We received 10 requests in all from young people for economic support for University students. After reviewing each one, the decision was to support Joe Adair Ugarte Guevara, from the Zona Sur, sector el Madraño, who is in year 1 of Public Accounting and Finance. This young person has little money and his parents do not have a stable income to support him, so he has to work to pay his transport, books, and other costs that always arise at university. For this reason and because we have observed that he is keen to train himself, it was decided to support him with a monthly grant of US$30, during 12 months.

3. Clothes and shoes for La Perla community

This project will be carried out in the community "La Perla" which is 1km to the west of Tisma town. It has 23 families, a total of 75 people including children, young people, men, women and older people. The project may seem strange, but the (community linking) group and the community was consulted and the conclusion reached that it is important that we are helping them economically, socially and emotionally so that we are sowing a seed of self-esteem and encouraging its cultivation. They are very poor families, abandoned by the municipal authorities. We hope for your understanding and support for this project, which costs US$300.

4. School desk repairs

This is the only secondary school (Instituto) in Tisma municipality, with two shifts of children, morning and afternoon, and a total of 380 students. It is enough to point out that in this school centre there are not sufficient desks to give students the security that they need to carry out their daily studies. They lack desks because the majority sit in chairs without desks attached or the desk is on the floor. We think it is not possible to obtain a good academic outcome wihtout minimum conditions, which the school does not have. The school does not have the ecnomic support of another institution or of the parents because they come from poor families. For these reasons we have decided to support this project, with a total of US$340. [We understand that this is for materials, the parents will repair the desks that can be repaired]

5. School band

This is the band of the Instituto Manuela Martinez de Urroz, the same Institute mentioned above in project No. 4. The school needs maintenance and repair of its musical instruments, which are for student use and which allow events to be held. With these two projects in the secondary school, we are supporting and benefitting 380 students, helping them develop their skills and abilities culturally and emotionally and for self-esteem, values which they need to keep developing. US$300.

The letter from Tisma and description of projects ends: "We thank you for your unconditional support for Tisma. Although distance separates us we are united in one big heart of love, solidarity, compassion, kindness, humansim and love of our neighbour." It is signed by Sheyla Indiana Aburto Olivas, Omar Antionio Garcia Rivera and Nidia del Socorro Olivas Trejos, who together make up the executive committee in Tisma of the Tisma-Bradford community link.