Nicaragua: 2017

It's all about the Kids! I believe if EDUCATED....things will change!

More pictures following blog.

Dear Family, Friends and Rotarians,

Len Rogers and I will be leaving on December 7^th for our annual Christmas trip to Nicaragua. We will return on December 19^thfrom our 20^th trip to the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. We will be leaving with heavy hearts due to the passing of Len’s wife Connie, on September 18th, after a long, courageous battle with cancer. Connie will be watching over us on our trip, while sitting with Our Father in Heaven. Len asked for donations to be made to NESH in Connie’s name and on this trip we will be building the “Connie Rogers House of Hope.” This house will be built for a young lady named Sofi and her husband. Len has had a long friendship with this family and this house will be built on her mother, Joanna’s, property. Joanna’s house was one of the first houses we worked on years ago.

We will visit many old friends we have made over the past 15 years, to share God and celebrate the birth of His Son, Jesus Christ. Our plans are to build three houses and have a Christmas party at the New Jerusalem Church for approximately 65 kids. The numbers are down a little because teen pregnancy seems to be down. I hope this may have something to do the with number of children we are sponsoring in school! We will again have a Christmas party at Pastor Enrique’s Church, Holly Mountain Presbyterian Church, for around 40 kids. Pastor Enrique’s Church continues to grow, so I anticipate more children this year than in years past. All of this is contingent upon raising enough money. I want thank God, my family, friends and Rotarian's who have made our past trips successful.

Last year we were able to build three homes. Two of the houses were built in Veracruz and one in Masaya, three doors down from the Holly Mountain Presbyterian Church. Thanks to the generosity of Dr. Kevin Yingling and his two Sons, Chaz and Luke, the house in Masaya was made possible. With the hard work of the Yinglings, this house was finished in a little over four days. The houses we build are 18’ x 18’ cinder block, with a tin roof and cement floor. We pay local friends to do most of the work and it costs about $3,500 to build a house. With the help of our volunteers and donors, we have built a total of 40 homes in Nicaragua!

This has been another wonderful year for the kids we have in school. Dr. Dennis finished his public service work, running a rural clinic in the mountains outside of Matagalpa and he can now proceed with his residency. He took the test to do a Gynecology residency, which had ten positions open, and had one of the top five scores; however, he was told he did not belong to the “correct” political party and was not given one of the ten positions. Within a few days, he was contacted by a private hospital and was offered a four-year Gynecology residency. He accepted the residency, but it doesn’t pay anything and he still needs some support from us. His sister, Dina, will be finishing her fifth year in medical college next month and will begin a two-year internship. Brother Donnie will finish his fourth year in dental college next month and is number two in his class. Next year will be his last year.

Angelica Moraga takes care of all the other children in school for us. She takes all the kids shopping for their school clothes and supplies and monitors all the grades throughout the year and makes sure all are doing well. This year we have one young lady graduating from high school. Angelica’s son, Jordy, speaks English and emails me all the grades every quarter. I appreciate Jordy’s help, because it is not an easy job typing in the grades using your second language. Angelica is a very good steward of our money and doesn’t spend a penny unless she must. She personally takes the children shopping and purchases what they need, not what the parents want. While there, we will meet with Angelica, the parents (usually mothers), and the kids we sponsor in school and find out how everything is going. Anyone that fails the year will be dropped from the program. Because of rising costs, I think we will stay at 30 children again this year and not add any on this trip. My belief is the more children we can help educate, the better off everyone in Nicaragua will be. We have a waiting list of 12 kids to choose the replacement of our graduating student.

Over the past 13 years, with the help of family and friends and Barboursville Rotary, we have built 40 homes for families with children and have sponsored numerous kids in school. Several children are now learning English, which makes it possible to communicate throughout the year by email and telephone. This will be the 11^th year we have had our Christmas party for the children at the New Jerusalem Church. We give all kids a Christmas gift and, for some of the children, it will be the only gift they receive. We always play games, have something to eat, and, of course, we have a piñata or two. This will be the third year for the Christmas party at the Holy Mountain Presbyterian Church for about 40 kids. This is Pastor Enrique’s Church and is in Masaya. This Church has more than doubled since the first party we had two years ago. Pastor Enrique is the father of Dr. Dennis, Dina, and Donnie. We will also spend time with the kids at Remar Orphanage and will have a Christmas party with them and a group coming from Fifth Avenue Baptist Church.

The past several years have been very successful and growing for our work in Nicaragua. Because of the many things we are now doing, we have moved some of the projects out of the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church and seven years ago started a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization called Nicaragua Education, Shelter and Health Fund, Inc. (“NESH”). We did this to help with fundraising and because of all the people outside our Church helping with our work.

Now comes the part where I ask for YOUR help. God says you won’t receive if you don’t ask, so I am asking!! We haven’t raised all the money yet to build the three houses, pay for the children’s Christmas parties, and pay for school clothes and fees for the upcoming school year, which runs February through November.

School for 30 children, with 7 in college, costs us over $13,520 a year, which is very reasonable for 30 children and two in Medical College. I don’t know if our graduating student will want to go to college or not. I will find that out after graduation.

Many of you have helped with our Nicaragua work in the past and I can’t adequately express how much Len and I, the people in the 40 houses, the school children, and especially Dr. Dennis and his family, appreciate it. I have called him Dr. Dennis for a few years now, and every time I talk to him, or get emails from him, I can’t count how many times he says to me, “God bless you Jack, and all your friends.” I know he is going to make a very good doctor.

You are all invited, and I wish you could all come with us sometime and experience God in a different culture and experience how tremendously grateful these people are. It makes you realize just how blessed we are to have been born in the United States. If you have any interest in ever going to Nicaragua, please let me know! We go every year at least once.

I know everyone’s budget is tight, but if you could find it in your hearts to help me and all the people I just talked about, I, and they, would be truly grateful. You can make a tax-deductible check payable to “NESH” and mail it to NESH, P.O. Box 731, Barboursville, West Virginia 25504. You will receive a letter confirming your contribution. One hundred percent of your contribution will go to work in Nicaragua. All administrative costs of Nicaragua, Education, Shelter and Health Fund, Inc. are paid by the Kroger Company.

Again, I want to thank everyone for their past and present support, and ask everyone to please pray for our safety and our work. I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and to remember what Christmas is all about. In Nicaragua, Christmas is quite different; they celebrate the coming of our Lord for several hours on Christmas Eve, set off fireworks at midnight, go to bed, and wake up to few, if any, presents on Christmas morning.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL
Jack Mease