Santa Rosa Fund Newsletter 39

7/31/2019 Santa Rosa Fund Newsletter 39

1/8

SRF Newsletter No. 39, July 2012, p.1

SANTA ROSA FUND NEWSLETTER

Registered Charity No. 1028085 Issue 39, July 2012

Supporting educational initiatives and projects in Nicaragua

www.santarosafund.org


2/8


Our front page From top left in a clockwise direction, the photos on our front page show:

Nathan Rutter and Phoebe Burton (volunteers in Nicaragua) talking to a pre-school class at

the Santa Rosa School, June 2012. A group of children at The Little Cob library in Matagalpa, June 2012. The Youth Recreation Centre in use in El Viejo, complete with roof and lighting, June 2012. Volunteer Alice Klein interviewing children at the Quincho Barrilete Associations

Rehabilitation Centre in Managua, 2009. And in the middle are two pupils at a computer in the Santa Rosa School, 2010.

The following short reports describe recent developments and requirements in a number of theeducational projects and initiatives supported by the Santa Rosa Fund.

Updates on SRF-funded projects

The work of the Berriz sisters

From October 2011 to June 2012, Jason Searing (right) served as avolunteer worker on a number of projects in the Cosigina Peninsula in

the north-west of Nicaragua. He was mainly involved in environmental projects, but whilst there he visited a number of educational projectsmanaged by our partners, the Berriz Sisters in the town of El Viejo. Theseare projects funded, at least in part, by the Santa Rosa Fund. He wrotethe following account of an event organised by the Sisters specificallyby Sister Abdontxu for several rural communities in the area, and wethink it will give our readers an idea of the wide range of work carried out by our partner organisation, the Berriz Sisters.

December 2011

The Centro Catequstico [which houses the Berriz Sisters] celebrated the year end with a reunion on13 th December, 2011. The event highlighted the wealth of projects the organisation currentlyundertakes and continues to promote with rural communities including W omen Against Violence ,drinking water projects, the use of organic and sustainable farming techniques and Taking Care of the Environment , all in the Cosigina Peninsula of north-west Nicaragua.

The 50 strong meeting gave a wonderful opportunity for participating groups to discuss the variousrecent achievements and environmental issues, as well as recognising the hard work that women athome carry out on a daily basis. One of the subjects meant exploring overconsumption whileanother looked at the problems of chemical fertilisers.

Sister Abdontxu (shown below), who has been a leader in many projects in the area, facilitated themeeting and promoted the successes of the groups. Achievements include an increase in the amount


3/8


Making papier mach heads for piata models

and quality of crops which are being produced,although unfortunately market prices have remainedlow. In terms of animal farming, those who have beenrearing pigs have had great success in the sale, whichhas provided an increased income. Micro-loans havebeen provided by the organisation to help communitiesin the collective. Understanding of the procedures wasrealised through some powerful role plays andreassured the communities that their combined effortshave been worthwhile.

A major problem in 2011 was the heavy rainfall whichaffected crop production in some areas. Rice growersnoticed that using a particular strain of rice gives

difficulty pollinating during the rainy season, although that can be changed for next year. Ricefarmers also saw storage as a current problem. Without storage they have to sell in a saturatedmarket for a low price. However the use of silos (rice storage containers) would mean they could

wait to sell the rice when the demand becomes greater. Some communities have been physicallyisolated in the rainy season because rising water levels have meant that the bus has not been able topass through the local rivers, making some necessary provisions unavailable. The problems withwater continue in the dry season when irrigation becomes more difficult. The groups suggested thatfinancial help for more powerful water pumps could help when wells become much deeper.

The community believed that the sharing of ideas and skills learnt over the year was crucial to thecurrent and future success of the project.

The Little Cob library

In June this year, Nathan Rutter (from Gloucester) and Phoebe Burton (from Somerset) visited The Little Cob library in Matagalpa along with one of the SRF trustees. They spent a day helping Dominique Olney who runs the library. This is their account of their time there, along with two photos taken by Phoebe.

Our first visit to Matagalpa included a days involvementat The Little Cob library, a facility built and run byDominique Olney. The cob building style from Celtic areasof the UK is similar to the adobe building of Central andSouth America where it is particularly associated with the

rural poor for whom it is inexpensive. It requires basicallya mixture of mud, water and straw dried in the sun asblocks or plastered onto a lattice of bamboo or other poles.The Little Cob is built in this style but with a fewimprovements and strengthening features such as a concretebase, a long overhang of the roof to prevent rainwaterhitting the walls and the great thickness of the walls.

Children began to trickle in as soon as they knew that Dominique had arrived. Out came the tablesand chairs, the drawing materials, the pens, coloured pencils, crayons, games, cards and other itemsfor the kids to enjoy themselves with. They were all well-behaved and clearly absorbed by whatever

activity they chose to pursue. This is the kind of learning environment we hadnt yet seen inNicaragua where classrooms tend to be very ordered and in rows facing the whiteboard.


4/8


Yveth and Fanny showing the earrings they made

When the morning group departed at 12 noon, wesnatched a few moments to make ourselves asandwich of things we had bought on the way there.And then the afternoon children arrived. Anotherround of games, drawings and enjoyment until theheavens opened and we all moved inside The LittleCob to avoid the storm. It was certainly cramped,

but that didnt spoil the fun everybody was having.We ended up with one big card game involving

nearly all present, including all the smallest andyoungest a game called UNO. They were all well

practised at this and most of them knew how to cheat successfully. Meanwhile, Yveth, Fanny andPhoebe had spent the afternoon making earrings and bracelets, and Nathan had been building a newstorage space for the larger equipment.

It was a great learning experience for us as well as the children and we may go back there to do

some more volunteering later in our stay in Nicaragua.

The Santa Rosa Fund has recently begun to support The Little Cob with what few funds are left after we have honoured all our other funding commitments in Nicaragua. At the start of this year we made the gigantic donation of US$100 to The Little Cob we hope to improve on this in the

future. More information about The Little Cob can be found at http://littlecob.wordpress.com

Quincho Barrilete Association

Over the years, SRF supporters have contributed monies

to aid the work of this former street childrensprogramme which is now evolving into a supportorganisation for abused children. In June this year, a visitby two of the SRF trustees and a potential volunteer wasmade to one of the Associations Rehabilitation Centre sin Managua. Our group was accompanied by LediaEsperanza Izaguirre, one of the Associations workers. The organisation now operates an outreachprogramme of centres in different barrios of the city rather than one large rehabilitation centre.

A visit to such a place is not easy. What questions do you ask? How long should you stay? Will thechildren understand why you are there? Should you even be there? But both workers and children

are very welcoming, the workers being obliging and professional. On this visit the children had justfinished lunch and were busy helping to clear up. All were in school uniform having attended themorning session of their respective schools. Then they sat down in a very orderly way to speak withtheir visitors.

Of course their abuse (physical, sexual and emotional) was not mentioned, but they spoke of manyother things and were keen to talk about their interests which included football. They also talkedabout their activities at the centre making hammocks and jewellery, for instance. Earrings andbracelets were duly purchased by the visitors.

The children were very proud of their handicrafts and were more than happy to talk with theirstrange visitors. In itself, this was no mean achievement considering the trauma they had allsuffered as a result of contact with adults.
http://wordpress.littlecob.com/http://wordpress.littlecob.com/http://wordpress.littlecob.com/http://wordpress.littlecob.com/


5/8


Fund raising reports

A significant birthday

In January, SRF trustee Rosie Mayston (right) celebrated asignificant birthday with her friends at one of her favouriterestaurants in Waterloo, London. In so doing she raised money for the Santa Rosa Fund. All is explained in her own words below.

Dear All,As I have one of those significant birthdays approaching, ratherthan trying to ignore it, I thought I'd organise a party/charity event tocelebrate and raise some money for SRF.I have a lovely venue booked in Waterloo and the woman who runsone of my favourite restaurants is going to provide some delicious

Ethiopian food. My flat-mates and I are going to do some puddings.There'll be a DJ too. My main aim is for people to have a good time and raise some money for SRF hopefully people may then be amenable to coming to future events(we'll see how this one goes!)To ensure people are well-informed about SRF, can I request somehelp with literature or photographic material? It'd be lovely to havesome nice photos for the invite; I also thought I may project photosduring the evening on the wall. Also, could I have some written info

some of the cards for the actual day would be good, but any brief digital material would be helpful for sending out with the invite.Love, Rosie

Dear All,I just thought I'd update you with how things went last week. We allhad a great time, although there was a fair bit of running around atthe last minute, I had some really helpful friends and so it was allalright on the night! After costs (food + hall) we made 265 for SRFwhich I was pretty pleased with for a first attempt! Have attached acouple of photos to give you an idea of what it was like.

xx Rosie

A significant music eventThe February Acoustic Caf event at Tavistock Wharf was held in aid of the Santa Rosa Fund. Itfeatured sets by Bess Howard-Baker, OnePointFive, the Nigel Smith Trio, Luke Scott Dumper,Half-Rattled and the highlight of the night ska, reggae and rock band, the Skalets. Our thanks goto all those who performed and the organisers of the event. Unfortunately, attendance was low andso only 92 that was raised for the charity, but many thanks to all those who did attend.

Tim Miller of the Skalets will be performing again for the Santa Rosa Fund on Friday 23 rd November at Whitchurch Village Hall when he will form half of the duo Gadjo Guitarres.


6/8


A significant marathon

In April this year, Sarah Miles ran the Exmoor Marathon to raise money for the Santa Rosa Fund.Sarah and her sister Katie had first got to know about the SRF in 2005

The Exmoor Marathon is part of the Endurance Life Coastal Trail Series, a series of eventsdesigned to provide extreme challenge in beautiful places. This one didnt disappoint.

Located in the stunning Heddon Valley near Lynton in North Devon the marathon mainly followsthe coastal path, hand railing the sea to both the East and the West of the Valley.

We set out from the Hunters Inn at around 8.30 am headinga mile along a wooded path before crossing the river andbeginning the first 1000 ft climb. On the way, I passed a

fellow marathon runner sat on top of a sign reading Never,never, never give up! Im struggling to warm up, shetold me. She seemed destined for a very long day.

We dropped back down to the start and began another longbut fairly gentle climb out of the other side of the valley.The path was fairly precarious, about 2 people wide with a300 foot drop down the cliff face on the left. We had beenbriefed to stay on the right if we suffered from vertigo Icould see why.

My memory gets hazier as I got more tired, lots of undulating paths and trails merge into one. At about 14miles we ran through Lynton.At 16 miles I began to struggle. I decided to risk properfood (too much gives me a stitch) and tucked into some

malt loaf and snack-a-jacks. It worked and I was able to pick up the pace into the 17 milecheckpoint. By 18 miles I was feeling better. Then we encountered another (what seemed like)massive hill. My strategy to average not less than 15 minute miles was blown out of the water asmy watch was reading 30.33. It was particularly tough because we still seemed to be running awayfrom the finish. It was a real relief to get to the top, and some welcome downhill was coupled withswitching back on ourselves for home.


7/8


Sarah handing over her sponsorship cheques toSRF trustee June Mowforth

The last few miles passedreasonably steadily. Realisingthat I was on track to beat mytarget of six hours 30, I pickedup the pace into the finish,arriving in 6.20.33.

Unfortunately, the race hadbeen shortened on the previousyear. I had run 26.79 miles, butone friend had sponsored me 10 for the last mile (from 26 to 27). So I clicked my finish time in

then ran two laps of the car park, much to thebemusement of the onlookers, to get to 27 before I finallycrossed the line.

In total I raised 1,191 for the Santa Rosa Fund. It feltvery satisfying to achieve a goal and do something

constructive for the Nuns of El Viejo, whose work wehad been so impressed with when we visited in 2005. Abig thank you to all whose generous sponsorship helpedspur me round.

And a very big thank you from the Santa Rosa Fund toSarah.

A significant quiz

On April 27 th the SRF Quizmasters extraordinaires, Malcolm and Judy Medhurst, treated us toanother world class quiz which baffled many of the SRF supporters present. Fifteen teams enteredfor the ritual humiliation, including puzzling team names such as: The Unnamed 6, The Oh Dears,CFWDP, The Loggerheads, Austerity Quartet, Los Agotados, Happy Hoppers and Scrambled Eggs.The 3 Short Planks won the competition with a score of 105. The Quiz was followed by a shortdebate about the nature of intelligence which featured only those members whose teams had failedto score even in the 70s.

The event raised a total of 319 for the Fund. As always, many, many thanks go to Malcolm andJudith for all their incredible preparation. Many thanks too to all those who made cakes to sell at theevent and who helped on the evening with the raffle, selling teas and cakes and setting up.

A significant garden

On the weekend of 12 th and 13 th May this year, SRFsupporters Pat and Dave Woodhouse opened theirgarden in the West Devon village of Mary Tavy to thepublic see photo on right. They generously donatedthe money they raised on the sale of refreshments tothe Santa Rosa Fund. Perfect weather, superb cakesand cream teas, a magnificent garden and lots of people made the event a great success, and raised 225for the Fund. The Fund is very grateful to Pat and Davefor this effort.


8/8


Fund raisingTaking a leaf out of the reports above from our supporters, we feel moved to ask if anyone outthere is planning to organise a party or take part in a sports event or any other type of eventwhich is appropriate for sponsorship? If so, perhaps you would consider raising funds for theSanta Rosa Fund at the same time.

If the SRF trustees can be of any help in such a venture, please feel free to get in touch withMartin Mowforth (contact details below) for any of our publicity material.

Forthcoming events Friday 23 rd November 2012 Whitchurch Village Hall (near Tavistock)

A night of live music, performance poetry and fun. With:

Gadjo Guitares Flamenco and Gypsy music

Rob Barrett Performance poet and compere

Bring own drinks, apart from teas, coffees and cakes which will be available for sale.

7:30 pm for 8 pm start.

SRF Accounts 2011

The insert with this newsletter gives a summary of the Funds 2011 accounts. We welcome anyenquiries and questions about these accounts which should be addressed to the SRF treasurer, PatMayston contact details below.

SANTA ROSA FUND CONTACTSwww.santarosafund.org

Chair : Pete Mayston, Rose Cottage, Tuckermarsh, Bere Alston, Yelverton, Devon PL20 7HBTel. 01822 840297 Email: [email protected]

Secretary : Jacky Rushall, Culliford House, The Down, Bere Alston, Yelverton, Devon PL20 7HGTel. 01822 841676

Treasurer : Pat Mayston as for Pete (above)Twinning links representative : Rick Blower, Cloberry Cottage, Brentor, Tavistock, Devon PL19 0NG

Tel. 01822 810600 Email: [email protected] Membership secretary : Martin Mowforth, 51 West St., Tavistock, Devon PL19 8JZ

Tel. 01822 617504 Email: [email protected]

PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER
http://www.santarosafund.org/http://www.santarosafund.org/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.santarosafund.org/

Documents

Santa Rosa Fund Newsletter 39