Economic Growth Nicaragua Project #44295

Project Optics

by Fundacion Cristiana Comunitaria para Personas con Discapacidad Ruach

Project Report | Sep 22, 2020
Experiences with Little by Little campaign

By Astrid Delleman | coordinator

Thank you all!

This GlobalGiving campaign which ran for 5 days up to 11:59 pm on 18 September has come to an end. GlobalGiving is an international organisation which provides a platform for small non-governmental organisations. To promote themselves and increase the circle of contacts, to make a donation. During the Little by Little campaign GlobalGiving matched each donation up to $50 with another 50%, in the hope that this would attract a lot of small donors and to show the power of working together for good causes.

GlobalGiving has registered and vetted more than 7,000 projects worldwide. Of course not all projects were actively involved in the Little by Little campaign. The Ruach Foundation has been a member of GlobalGiving for about three years now, and by participating in GlobalGiving campaigns we have been able to raise about $4,000 every year for our work in Juigalpa: a valuable contribution to maintaining our community home, our activities club and our Ruach’s outreach work

With the help of Eric who lives in England and my daughter Daniella from Ecuador we prepared for the Little by Little campaign as professionally and well-thought through as we could, given our combined limited experience in this field. In an attempt to get the máximum benefit from the campaign. Which this time was not focused on our social programmes, but on a new Project: ‘Ruach optics’, i.e the setting up of a spectacles shop with optometrical services with the aim to make progress towards being more economically independent. Therfore becoming less dependent on donations.

The results of the campaign at the end are as follows:

Project Ruach Optics Rank 33

total: $4,782 Donated: $3,930 Matched $852 Donors 42 monthly donor 1

Only 42 organisations attracted more donors that we did (10 organisations were tied for the same rank), which means we managed to be in the top 1% of all GlobalGiving projects. We had a total of, also, 42 donations, our largest number ever for one week! Unfortunately 42 donations was not enough to take away a bonus prize for being among of the the 5 organisations which attracted the largest number of donors. For example, the organisation who got 5th prize in this category had 373 donors, and the winner 824!

But of course we are very grateful and moved by such generous donations by so many donors! From some of them we got feedback why and how they supported us. I’d like to share some of the most remarkable initiatives with you.

Some reactions

- I forwarded your email (explaining the campaign and requesting to forward it to friends) to about 40 addresses. I am curious what the outcome will be.

- Your letter is doing the rounds and got to me via Ada. I've read your letter with a lot of interest and I am full of admiration about your achievements in Juigalpa. I'm delighted to support your work and have spread the news via the website of 'de Regenboog' (The Rainbow) community in Leiden.

- Early this week I forwarded your mail to 43 ecclesiae members with a request to make a donation. I know that at least two of them have done so, but hopefully more will do so. I'll know more coming Sunday. It's such a good initiative. Good luck!

A campaign to support our campaign: flee market in Oegstgeest, Netherlands

I became enthusiastic when I got Astrid's letter about the special Little by Little campaign and the 50% top up on each donation up to $50. I walked through my appartment, looked inside my cupboards, and saw many things I no longer use. Superfluous crockery, travel souvenirs from different parts of the world; lots of handicrafts.

So on 13 september I set up a stall in a beautiful sunny garden in Oegstgeest. Many people looked at the ítems, but I did not sell much. But people did donate in a tin with a picture of Manuel and the text: 'Did you not find anything to buy? We would much appreciate your contribution to Vivir Juntos via the website: www.globalgiving.org/projects/project-ruach-optics

I also put some flyers in the stall and some people said they woulf donate via the site. But I've also received money from friends and family who find it difficult to donate via the GlobalGiving site, so I did it for them. Love, Miek

PS: Miek indeed passed on all her earnings from the flee market and donations from her family and friends to our Project on GlobalGiving. Mieke, you are a star!

The power of working together

So much can be achieved if many people all contribute a little. That's why our slogan is: 'Together we can make a real difference'. We all proved thast again with this campaign. Does that not give energy and a big sense of gratitude? It does that for me. The support we have received is truly inspirational and encouraging. Maaaaaany Maaany thanks!

Miek selling

Links:

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Jul 31, 2020
Ruach Optics: our second dream

By Astrid Delleman | coordinator

Just imagine: 3 or 4 years from now the Ruach Foundation will have a well-functioning and popular spectacles shop in Juigalpa! Imagine also that we realized this dream because many people believed in our ability to make the dream come through and supported us! Wow, wouldn´t that be great!

At the moment the dream is just that: a dream. We’ve only just started. We are fine-tuning our project proposal although an early version was already sent out into different parts of the world. No dreams are fulfilled by just dreaming. Hard work is needed, and that’s what we are doing.

The first dream fulfilled: social programmes up and running…!

The core of the work since the Ruach Foundation started its social work, improving the lives of adults who live with intellectual disabilities, in earnest from mid-2016. We now provide a safe and caring home for 7 intellectually disabled adults (the ‘core members’). We also set up an Activities Centre for intellectually disabled adults living in Juigalpa. Although we have faced challenges, our individualized stimulation programs for those who were able to regularly attend have been successful. We also started an outreach programme to change the perception of how the society at large perceives and treats people born with intellectual limitations. We have built a whole network of individual and corporate contacts and Ruach is well-recognized and appreciated.

So, our first dream is no longer a dream. It is now a reality. The community home is the core of our organization. The home is now well-established, and for more than a year there have been no personnel changes. It has become a stable and, by and large, happy community.

…. but our Foundation is not yet fully financially independent

The Ruach Foundation would want to address the most urgent and dire needs which ‘come our way’, irrespective of whether potential beneficiaries can ‘pay their way’. The Ruach Foundation therefore does not expect the families of Ruach’s seven community members or the participants of the Activities Centre to fully cover the expenses for the services they receive. Families pay in kind or cash whatever they can. The Activities Centre produces some marketable products, but the income of its sales is only a fraction of the running costs of the Centre. Ruach’s outreach work does not generate income either, although through this work Ruach has established a network of supportive friends among whom there are many who provide help in kind or for reduced fees, including e.g. medical help (doctor, dentist), hairdressing, transport, etc.

However, Ruach is far from being fully self-supporting!

Our strategy to become financially independent: providing optical services through a spectacles shop

The Board of the Ruach Foundation have thought for several years about the most realistic way of generating independent income and becoming far less reliant on (inter)national donations which at present are still needed to pay for the cost of social activities of the Ruach Foundation. As time went by, it became increasingly clear that starting an optical business would be the best option given the existing optical expertise in the Ruach Board and its network of well-wishers. There is clearly a market for a popular and cheaper spectacles shop in this part of Nicaragua as according to the Ministry of Health about 68% of the Nicaraguan population has vision problems. Our aim for Ruach Optics is to fill this gap in the market for the benefit of people with lower incomes. By offering appropriate eye care, frames and lenses while generating enough profit to feed back into our social programmes. Our own study revealed that a vast majority of people questioned in the regions around Juigalpa said that they would use Ruach Optics if it were to provide services at an affordable price.

Support us fulfilling our second dream!

Would you like to support our second dream? Then please mark in your agenda: Sept. 14-18! Through GlobalGiving’s ´Little by Little campaign’ you can support ‘Ruach Optics’, and also invite also your friends to give a little. We hope that during that week ‘many littles´ will add up to ‘big change’!

We will let you know by letter, how exactly you can help us. Only together, dreaming and working, we improve the rights of people with intellectual disabilities who are 15 years or older in Juigalpa, Nicaragua!

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Apr 30, 2020
Why a popular optic of the Ruach Fundacion?

By Astrid Delleman | coordinator

our dream

Juigalpa, Chontales

Since 4 years we started the Ruach fundacion to give a worthwhile life to persons with a intellectual disability. We are operated in Juigalpa, Nicaragua.

Not so many years ago, to be a person with disabilities in Nicaragua meant a lifetime of suffering in silence. Often people with disabilities were hidden away from society as they were almost regarded as “less than human beings” that brought shame to the family. Consequently, very few support programs existed to help families to cope with disability.

We need to generate income for the Ruach Foundation (workshops, office, home) to finance its social programs, being an economic alternative for self-sustainability for the RUACH foundation. Becasasuse of that we made a market study and made a proyect to start a popular optics in Juigalpa.

Why Juigalpa?

To open the optic in Juigalpa is because it has 79,581 inhabitants in the city, this is a positive stimulus that reveals a favourable investment. In addition, currently the city of Juigalpa, located northwest of the department of Chontales, in the central region of Nicaragua, has rapid demographic and possibilities of economic growth.

Another reason for this selection is that the department of Chontales includes most of the municipalities with the highest concentration of inhabitants, being these 10 municipalities (Juigalpa, Santo Tomas, Acoyapa, Comalapa, Cuapa, Villa Sandino, La Libertad, Santo Domingo, San Pedro de Lóvago and El Coral).

Juigalpa is a city that functions as an intersection of departmental and municipal road communication, connecting the municipalities of New Guinea, El Rama, Muelle de los Bueyes and El Ayote through land. It also connects the department of Rio San Juan and the entire department of Chontales with the department of Boaco and Managua. Besides, this city is an important transit point that interconnects the Autonomous Region of the South Caribbean Coast, and is therefore immersed in a large commercial movement, both internal and external, that provides easy mobilization.

All of the above has contributed to the increase in demand for diverse products, mainly health related like the need to wear glasses to improve visual conditions. This constitutes an investment opportunity in the services market.

Market research

According to studies conducted by the administrative team of the Foundation RUACH for people with disabilities, in five municipalities (Boaco, Santo Tomas, San Carlos, Rama and New Guinea) in four departments of the country (Boaco, Chontales, Rio San Juan and RACCS), it was verified that 96% are interested, willing and available to purchase lenses in an optician that offers affordable prices, wide variety of frames and lenses according to the needs of customers, vision screenings, among other services that mainly benefit the most disadvantaged.

What havve we done untill now?

We made the proyect in Spanish and English. We looked for people where to send it to, we gave a copy to people near by. We ar sowing and waiting that our effort will be rewarded. Every tip where to send it to, and what to do more, please let us know.

Together we can make a difference. We show it with our social work!

Links:

http://www.fundacionruach.org

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