Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year! We may have put some new ideas on hold due to the global pandemic, but our fantastic crew in Nicaragua is continuing the good work thanks to your support! Here's the latest scoop:
Although social distancing and mask wearing are especially difficult in Nicaragua, where many families don't have the means to buy special equipment or the choice to work from home, we tried to encourage mask wearing and hand washing at Centro PUMA
We tried to outdo ourselves with tree plantings for the wet season (June-October), and with the help of our kids, our staff raised and planted about 2000 native trees, starting from seed:
The kids got some tree-planting excursions around Ometepe
And everybody got to enjoy the happiness of starting new life in the ground.
Kids are always a big part of Centro PUMA!
Our weekly English classes and daily tutoring continues, and although the classes are designed for kids, all ages can and do attend. An older lady wanted to learn English because she sells goods to tourists from her house:
We continued our family garden project with 2 new family gardens. One of our challenges this year was the lack of viable seeds for many of the plants we wanted, so we are partnering with another local group to develop a seed bank for family gardens.
And although we haven't been making a lot of noise on the fundraising side, we continue to apply for grants and seek donations. The latter half of this year has been almost entirely supported by private donations from people like you. We took advantage of our "viral" comet photo to start a photo gallery, and you can still purchase photos with a donation to Guias Unidos. Visit our gallery at https://guiasunidos.shootproof.com/
Thank you again for your support, and we look forward to seeing you in 2021! If you are a donor, we will be sending out our end-of-the-year card and newsletter in the early new year.
