EducationThe Mission is involved in a number of educational initiatives as we all know that education is critical in terms of breaking the cycle of poverty. The largest is the sponsorship of school children attending Colegio Nino Jesus de Praga in Chiquilistagua as well as students at the school in Nejapa. Currently residents of the North Country and elsewhere sponsor almost 500 children. For a yearly donation of $140 you can cover the cost of tuition, registration, shoes, socks, notebook, pencil and uniforms at either of the schools. Students in Nicaragua wear a uniform of white shirt, blue pants or skirt, and black shoes. The children come to school dressed in clean, starched clothes, shoes shined and impeccably groomed. In spite of great poverty, the families take pride in their children's appearance and education.

Over the years, some of our faithful sponsors have discovered the name of the child benefiting from their generosity is different. While this is not the usual, it does happen in situations where a family has moved in order to find work (usually Costa Rica; unemployment in Nicaragua is a staggering 62%); an older sibling has been removed from school so that he or she will try to find day work; a mother has died and the oldest girl has left school to care for the family.

One of our major objectives is to “Promote education throughout the life cycle in support of human development". We believe that education that results in empowerment is one of the most important things that we can do. In addition to sponsoring the school, we currently support a sewing cooperative and a computer lab to help the people of Chiquilistagua find gainful employment.