Support Sustainability for Nicaraguan Farmers

Zika. You’ve probably heard frightening stories of a new virus in Latin America causing terrible birth defects. This month the World Health Organization called the outbreak a public health emergency. We wanted to give you an update with the facts you need to know about the virus, how it’s spread, and how we’re responding to protect our families.

But first, the good news: we've seen 0 instances thus far of zika among our families. And the great news is, that's what we'd expect, thanks to our heroic brigadistas, community health volunteers who provide stable and trusted preventative healthcare 365 days a year within our communities. Read on to learn more ...

WHAT IS ZIKA?

Zika is a mosquito-borne virus in the same family as dengue and yellow fever. Zika was first discovered about a half century ago in the Zika forest in Africa, but didn’t spread into the Western hemisphere until spring of 2015.

For most people who contract zika, symptoms are mild. The effects of the disease are similar to, but less intense than, those of dengue fever: rash, joint soreness, and fever. Many zika carriers experience no symptoms at all. There is no vaccine or treatment available right now.

The greatest danger posed by zika is its link to microcephaly, a condition where children are born with an unusually small head and incomplete brain development. Microcephaly has surged in countries like Brazil where zika has spread rapidly and appears to be triggered when a woman contracts the virus during pregnancy.

WHERE IS ZIKA NOW AND HOW IS IT SPREADING?

Zika has been seen in 26 countries, including all of Central America, where we operate. Zika is primarily spread through the bites of infected mosquitoes. Doctors are also examining cases of transmission through sexual contact as well as mother-to-child.

HOW IS AGROS RESPONDING TO PREVENT ZIKA?

We currently have 0 instances of zika in our villages. That’s because – thanks to you – our communities already have a trusted system in place to prevent the spread of mosquito-borne illnesses like zika: the valiant brigadistas.

Within each of our communities, a group of villagers, often women, are chosen to become the brigadistas - members of the health brigade. Brigadistas receive training on preventative healthcare areas like clean water and hygiene, domestic violence, and maternal and new baby care from the Ministry of Health. They then act as the stewards and watchdogs of their communities' health.

Because they live within the community, brigadistas are trusted and can monitor health conditions like pregnancies closely over time, referring their patients to the hospital quickly if problems arise.

Prevention of mosquito-borne illnesses, like dengue, yellow fever, and now zika, is already part of the brigadistas’ training curriculum for our communities. We're grateful to see that so far prevention is holding off the disease. The system works!

Our brigadistas will continue to be our families' first line of defense against zika, boosting preventative practices within the community and watching carefully to see if any cases develop.

In addition to preventative action at the family level, we’ve requested that the Ministry of Health spray nearby mosquito-breeding grounds around communities, like areas of standing water.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

There are two ways: please pray for our families, especially mothers and vulnerable children, that the virus will not reach them and cause harm.

You can also consider investing in our brigadistas with a donation today. These heroic community health volunteers – often women in their first leadership roles – are thwarting diseases like zika and saving lives every day from preventable health conditions like pregnancy complications and water-borne illnesses.

$50 would cover a Healthy Baby Session, where brigadistas weigh and measure children under 2 to stave off malnourishment and ensure healthy development.

$100 would support one mother’s journey through pregnancy with a brigadista at her side, providing pre-natal care, help getting to the hospital for a safe birth, and early childhood support.

Your donation of any size will invest in the health of our families and support this crucial component of our holistic system of community health & well-being, financial services, agricultural training, and education.

NEXT STEPS

We will keep you updated on the status of our families’ health as the zika outbreak progresses.

Thank you for your generous support of families in Nicaragua!

Links:

• Learn more about the history and current reach of zika

Your support will empower Nicaraguan farming families and transform their lives in the pursuit of safety, health, and prosperity.

Shelter, Sanitation, Community Design: The infrastructure for La Bendición, our first community, is nearly complete. To date, 45 of the 50 homes have been built and are occupied by 45 families. Thus far the project has served 139 regional families and the 45 families currently residing in La Bendición. Their homes have sinks and water storage tanks. We are in the process of completing latrine construction, and all families have access to clean water, but the water systems at large is in the final stage of completion.

Now they have homes with walls that don’t leak and cement floors rather than dirt that can be kept clean in a community of determined, collaborative families like themselves.

With regards to the latrines, the original plan was to build ten latrines that would serve five families each. Based on feedback from families, we’ve altered plans to share the costs of building a private latrine for each home. Families raised safety concerns around having their very small children accessing latrines away from the home, and offered Agros a compromise: in exchange for private latrines at each home, they would provide the labor, some materials, and finance a portion of the project. This fit within our goal to offer safe, hygienic access to the latrines. These added latrines are being completed over time, moving forward, as they are able. The construction will be done by the families, much like when they built their homes.

Our goal in developing communities is to equip families with the resources, tools, and know-how to achieve prosperity through their own labors—we plan to exit communities once they’ve achieved sustainable success. But when you’re building a new village, you have to start from scratch. Many families uproot themselves in order to build a new and more prosperous life. Moving into a new community can threaten families’ food security as resources are stretched to the limit, so all participating families receive food assistance initially in order to mitigate that effect. In total, 184 families from La Bendición and the regional project received food security inputs.

Right from the outset, we also provide families with technical assistance to grow high yield crops of corn and beans. Many families have been farming for decades, but never received an ounce of training. By implementing techniques like contour planting and strategic fertilization and irrigation, they exponentially improve their yield and quality. Across our Nicaraguan communities this year, corn harvests averaged four times the national average (Source: FAO: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). One La Bendición farmer produced 120 sacks of corn per manzana (1.72 acres); his previous harvest was only 19 per manzana. This exponential improvement in yield can change a farmer’s life.

Your investment is laying the foundation of social infrastructure – safe homes, clean water, food security, and healthcare – that will give Walter, Yamile, and the 49 other families of La Bendición a secure base to begin educating their children, developing community organization, and acquiring the financial and technical knowledge to become agribusinessmen. Your helping hand is bridging the gulf of inequality to give these deserving families the opportunity to build lives of dignity and prosperity.

Walter and his wife, Yamile, know as well as anyone how hard it is to escape poverty’s grip.  Like many, they were born into poor families and have spent much of their lives working as day laborers for others. Yamile has worked in the fields, planting and harvesting corn and coffee since she was six years old.

Walter and Yamile successfully built their home while conducting the rigorous, physical work of preparing their first crops of corn and beans. Both endeavors require backbreaking work, but Walter and Yamile were more than up for the challenge.

 “I’m so happy to be here,” says Water. “This is a fertile land… We know that if we plant corn we will harvest corn and if we plant beans we will harvest beans,” he says. “It is a blessing. I feel happy and at peace here.”

Walter taught his six year old son Walter Jr. to play the guitar, and the family enjoys playing together in the evenings after their work is done. 

With the help of Global Giving partners like you, Agros is helping families like that of Yamilla and Walter to change their lives for the better. Thank you for walking beside our families as they move from poverty to prosperity.

Links:

• Our Plans to Move Families from Poverty to Prosperity