8/8/2019 Katie and Sarah Miles Report 2005
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Katie and Sarah MilesIn the last issue of the SRF Newsletter, we
briefly mentioned that Katie and Sarah Miles from
Birmingham had been working with our partner organisation, the
Berriz Missionary Centre,
in the El Viejo area of Nicaragua. They were there as a result
of contacting the Santa Rosa
Fund, and their primary purpose was to conduct research into
disaster preparedness and
response. During their time there they faced a tornado, were
stranded in a national bus strike,
and witnessed first-hand disaster response to severe flooding
caused by Hurricane Stan.
Although they spent only a month there, they witnessed poverty
enough to come back
determined to raise money for the Santa Rosa Fund and the work
of the nuns in El Viejo.
Through friends, family and talks and reportslike the one shown
here which appeared in
The Wilmslow Express in Januarythey managed to raise over 1,000,
all of which they
donated to the Fund. The Miles family took the decision to go
without Christmas presents in
2005 and to donate all the money that they
would have spent on them to Katie and Sarahschosen cause, the
Santa Rosa Fund, fully awarethat much of the Funds financial
resources
would go to support the projects run by the nunsof the Berriz
Missionary Centre in El Viejo.
Sarah said: Our time in Nicaragua has made us
aware of how important political pressure and
campaigns such as Vote for Trade Justice are to
raise awareness of the international rules and
regulations that keep countries such as this in
poverty in order to serve the needs of the rich.The scale of the
issue is so huge that we cannot
resolve it single-handedly, but we can play a small part by
raising awareness and raisingmoney to continue the good work we saw
in operation whilst we were out there.
It goes without saying that the Fund is immensely grateful to
Katie and Sarah.
To support the evidence of Katie and Sarahs eyes, the following
figures relate to the
department of Chinandega (in which is located the town of El
Viejo and the Cosigina
Peninsula), and they highlight the need for further support for
educational initiatives in the
region. Rick and Pats report on pages 3-5 of this newsletter
gives some details of the support
the Fund has given this year. Perhaps the Santa Rosa Fund can
improve on this next year certainly the need is great.
The figures were presented in a Forum organised by Save The
Children and held inChinandega in March this year. The total
population of the department of Chinandega is
441,300.
Pre-school children absent from school 28,091
Primary aged children absent from school 19,004
Secondary aged children absent from school 27,465
Children working 1,717
Disabled children not attending school 2,311Illiterate children
under the age of 14 17,854
