Our compassion child for June is a 5-year-old girl named Rachel who lives in the costal community of Neighborhood Mira Lagos in Nicaragua. You can become Rachel’s sponsor for as little as $38 a month.
From Rachel’s profile (where you can also see a picture):
Personal and Family Information:
In her home, Rachel helps by gathering firewood and caring for children. She lives with her father and her mother. Her father is sometimes employed as a laborer and her mother maintains the home. There are 2 children in the family.
For fun, Rachel enjoys playing house, art and bicycling. She attends church activities and choir regularly and is in kindergarten where her performance is average.
Because of your sponsorship, Rachel will have new opportunities to learn and grow physically, mentally, and spiritually. Thank you for your concern and prayers.
Community and Project Information:
Rachel lives in the coastal community of Neighborhood Mira Lagos, home to approximately 5,000 residents. Typical houses are constructed of dirt floors, wood walls and plastic sheet roofs. The regional diet consists of maize, beans, fish, cassava, plantains and rice.
Common health problems in this area include flu, fevers and infectious diseases. Most adults are unemployed but some work as journeyman and earn the equivalent of $54 per month. This community has electricity and drinking water but needs educational materials, employment opportunities, access to medicine and medical attention and adult literacy programs.
Your sponsorship allows the staff of Rinconcito Infantil Student Center to provide Rachel with Bible teaching, medical checkups, nutritious food, health and hygiene education, special celebrations, field trips, tutoring, school uniforms and shoes. The center staff will also provide meetings, evangelism and opportunities for project involvement for the parents or guardians of Rachel.
Country Information:
Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America. With the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east, the country has three different geographic regions: the Pacific lowlands, the north central mountains and the Caribbean lowlands, also called the Mosquito Coast or Mosquitía. The climate is tropical in the lowlands and cooler in the highlands. The Mosquito Coast is an outlet for many of the large rivers originating in the central mountains. Seventeen percent of the country has been given national park status.
The Nicaraguan population, mostly of Indian and European ancestry, is more urban than rural. Spanish is the official language, but on the Caribbean coast indigenous languages are also spoken. Poetry is one of Nicaragua’s most loved arts. Even though most Nicaraguans are Catholic, during the 20th century Protestant denominations grew, particularly in the western half of the country. Compassion works primarily near Managua, in western Nicaragua.
In 1524, Francisco Hernández de Córdoba founded the first permanent Spanish settlements in the region. Nicaragua gained independence from Spain in 1821, briefly becoming a part of the Mexican Empire. In 1838, Nicaragua became an independent republic. The country began free-market reforms in 1991, after 12 years of economic free fall under the Marxist Sandinista regime. Nicaragua’s infrastructure and economy – hard hit by civil war, Hurricane Mitch, and ensuing mudslides in 1998 that killed more than 10,000 people – are slowly being rebuilt. Former Sandinista president Daniel Ortega was elected president in 2006.
Child’s Location:
East of Leon
