Delivering food, shelter, and hope to the poorest of the poor
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Streams of Gladness
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A Nicaraguan community celebrates the completion of a new water system.
NICARAGUA
Quench Thirst. Spread Joy. Encounter Christ.
When our Nicaraguan partner invests in a rural community, its outreach produces much more than clean water. By involving the local families and manifesting the love of God in tangible ways, it releases a deluge of pure, abundant, overflowing joy. In fact, optimism and delight infuse every step of the process, from community meetings held during the planning stages to home visits to prayer circles to the physical labor of digging water line trenches.
Today, we invite you to join us in creating the same joyful experience for more communities in need. We want to reach the many families suffering from sickness and thirst because their current water sources are shallow, unsanitary wells.
Your support this year will bless 1,100 more Nicaraguan families with a critical resource they’ve never had before: clean, abundant water on tap in their own homes.
Meet Some of the Many Beneficiaries
Runoff from Delmy’s old latrine increases the contamination of her shallow well.
Eager for Change
Sometimes she boils the contaminated water she collects. Sometimes she uses a chemical to try purifying it. She has also tried setting it outside, hoping the sunlight will help kill the bacteria. Delmy Roxana Medina Cárcamo does everything she can to make her water drinkable for her three children — but without some kind of outside intervention, she knows she is fighting a losing battle.
Delmy’s old well and her storage container are open to the sky and unsecure, so it isn’t surprising they are easily contaminated and often make her and her family sick. Others in her community have turned to local vendors who sell somewhat less-contaminated water, but she can’t regularly afford that option. As a result, her kids are often ill, and it has seemed like nothing will ever change to improve her situation. Until now.
Delmy now sees a tiny light of hope flickering in her community, and she is eager to fan that little flame into a blaze of positive change. The water project planned for her area will begin that transformation. With that source of clean water at hand, the threat of rainstorms overflowing latrines and contaminating her water source will be gone. In fact, dirty water will be a thing of the past — as will the illnesses it brought to her children.
The flame of hope in her heart shines bright, and other mothers in the community share in that joyful anticipation too. They thank God deliverance from suffering is at hand — and you can play a part in that deliverance by empowering this mission of mercy!
Fighting Another Hazard: Open Flames
In her dirt-floor kitchen, Yaritza Juliette Castro cooks eggs in a pot to demonstrate another problem common to rural Nicaraguan families.
As her wood fire heats the pot, smoke rises and fills the space. Absent a ventilation system, this noxious cloud becomes trapped under the straw roof and spreads throughout the house. Yaritza breathes in this smoke while she works, and it inflames her sinuses and makes her sneeze. This constant exposure can be as hazardous as a cigarette addiction. Yaritza reveals another reason why she is so worried about inhaling the toxic smoke — she is pregnant.
Small communities throughout Chinandega are full of women like Yaritza — and all share her dream of a better life for their sons and daughters. With your help, we can dramatically improve the quality of their lives!
The smoke from Yaritza’s open-flame stove has been hard on her sinuses. She looks forward to being able to raise her unborn baby in a smoke-free environment with a clean-air stove.
Committed to Transforming Rural Nicaragua
As you can see, our ministry partner is committed to more than just a water project. They want to spark a transformation that will bless individuals, families and entire communities! By supporting their efforts, you can play a major role in that effort. Your gift will enable our Chinandega ministry partner to develop long-term relationships with struggling rural communities to mobilize families to solve their most pressing issues and to strengthen their faith.
Because creating lasting, positive change is essential, they will do extensive follow-up work to ensure their transformational goals are being achieved and the people are receiving significant benefits from the programs being implemented. Ultimately, our partner’s hope is to eradicate the problem of shallow, unsafe water sources in the entire Chinandega area and to help families achieve a higher standard of living. These are crucial steps in helping the poor break free from the cycle of poverty that has plagued their families for generations.
What Your Gift Will Provide
Your generosity will bring hope to rural communities struggling with waterborne illness and other grave challenges.
WATER & SANITATION
About 1,100 families will be blessed with clean, abundant water piped directly to their homes, and 96 households will receive sanitary modern bathrooms.
CLEAN-AIR KITCHENS
Twelve families will receive clean-air stoves and sanitary preparation tables to reduce smoke inhalation and food contamination.
MICROENTERPRISE
71 microloans will be given to aspiring entrepreneurs, and eight farmers will receive 20-25 piglets every five months as they work to increase their income.
FOOD
We will ship 816,480 Vitafood meals to be distributed through schools, health facilities and other programs reaching children and families at risk of malnourishment.
Reach the Goal!
$903,535
That’s the amount needed to fully fund this transformative project.
Your generous gift can be the answer to the prayers of the poor for clean, life-giving water and other much-needed blessings. Help us show Christ’s love and fan the flames of joy in rural Chinandega!
Would you drink this water? Nicaraguan families don’t want to drink it either, with your help they will have access to clean water.
Let Joy Overflow
Once-suffering families in Chinandega are joyfully praising God because of the blessings this endeavor has brought to their community, and we want to spread that same joy and hope to even more needy Nicaraguan communities!
Working hand in hand with the men, women and children of rural Nicaragua, we believe it is possible to eradicate thirst, reduce illness and open up new sources of clean, abundant water. As testimony after testimony has proven, these water systems transform both lives and communities, and we know you share our eagerness to offer that same blessing and hope to others in need.
Imagine: 1,100 families rescued from thirst and waterborne illness! The health and happiness of thousands of people are at stake. As Galatians 6:9-10 says: “Let us not grow weary in doing what is right for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all.”
Download the Proposal
Proceeds from this campaign will be used to cover any expenditures incurred through June 30, 2023, the close of our ministry’s fiscal year. In the event that more funds are raised than needed to fully fund the project, the excess funds, if any, will be used to meet the most urgent needs of the ministry.
What Is Your Legacy Mission?
When you include Cross Catholic Outreach as a beneficiary in your will, trust, retirement account or life insurance policy, you will make a difference for poor communities by meeting both material and spiritual needs for generations to come. Create Your Legacy!