SRF Newsletter No.

43, June/July 2014, page 1

Registered Charity No. 1028085

Supporting educational initiatives and projects in Nicaragua
www.santarosafund.org

SRF NEWS No 43
J une/J uly 2014

Little Cobblers at Play


Thanks to a bequest made to the Santa Rosa Fund, the Fund has been able this year to extend its
support of educational projects and initiatives in Nicaragua by granting funding for the purchase of
necessary and basic educational materials to The Little Cob library in Matagalpa. The picture shows
some of the little cobblers in enjoyment mode on the road outside The Little Cob.

More on both the bequest and The Little Cob inside.
SRF Newsletter No.43, June/July 2014, page 2

REPORTS FROM SRF PARTNER ORGANISATIONS
FOR 2013

Communications between the Santa Rosa Fund and the organisations and institutions whose work we
support in Nicaragua seem to be improving all the time. At the beginning of this year we received
reports of their work in 2013 from:
The Centro Recreativo (Youth Centre) in the town of El Viejo the Fund supports the Centre
through the Berriz Sisters who manage the finances of the Centre
The Santa Rosa School in Managua especially regarding usage of the computers which the
Fund has provided
The Little Cob library in Matagalpa
On the following pages, we present just a few extracts from these reports. The full reports can be
found on our website at: www.santarosafund.org

El Viejo Youth Centre
In January this year the SRF received the Report on 2013
Educational Activities produced by the Youth Centre in El Viejo.
Through the Berriz Sisters in El Viejo, the Fund has supported
the Youth Centre for a number of years and pays the salary of the
coordinator of the Centre. Since the beginning of 2013, when
William Vargas moved to other pastures, the work of the
coordinator has been shared between Ftima Sierra and Elizer
Ortiz. Elizer is shown here with Sister Abdontxu Viar of the
Berriz Sisters. Elizer wrote the report for 2013 and we include
here just a few short extracts, translated for the newsletter.

Scholarship groups
The youths who receive grants are funded by the Friends of Holland Foundation. They are trained in
issues of non-violence, sexual health, gender and masculinity, environmental care and protection and
spirituality. A particular issue we have dealt with this year is migration because of its great importance
in this country. 70 per cent of families have somebody working abroad. This has repercussions for
family and social life. It is especially important to address this issue because many youths are unaware
of the risks and consequences of migration.

Interventions with secondary school students
In 2013, we worked with students of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd years of secondary education, although this
depended on permission being granted by the schools. The methodology used was simple in that it
consisted of seminars and discussions based on distinct and specific questions or issues. Video forums
were also used. The following issues made up the specific themes:
Boyfriends, girlfriends and sexual relationships
Pregnancy avoidance in adolescents
Gender discrimination
School violence
Sexist violence
The media and violence
Inappropriate use of the internet
SRF Newsletter No.43, June/July 2014, page 3

The consequences of viewing pornography
Dangers associated with social networks

The young people who were involved said that the
activities were valuable and informative about their rights,
particularly because in the schools these issues are not
addressed.

Sons and daughters of migrant families a new group
We are aware that migration is a phenomenon which
affects not just those who migrate but also the relatives of
those who stay, especially the children. Migration impacts
the family negatively through family disintegration, and it
is important to consider the welfare of family members left
behind as well as the isolation of those who migrate.

In the Youth Centre, we want to ensure the integration of these children into our initiatives and
projects. Throughout the year we have worked with a group of 40 sons and daughters of migrant
families and we want this work to continue its support of these children. It is worth mentioning that in
our town there are no other projects which work with these children.

The work with them included issues of self-esteem, values, personal growth, the importance of the
family, emotions and attitudes as well as sports and games.
Eliezer Ramn Ortiz Medina

[Please note that Elizers report also included sections on The Culture Group and Sports Leagues.]


The Santa Rosa School Computer Report
The Brothers and Sisters of England computer laboratory in the Santa Rosa School has five
computers all with Office 2007 software.

In 2013, classes in the use of the computers were given to 52 students in second grade (approx. 7
years old) using the programme Cuenta Cuentos [Tell Me a Story].
38 sixth grade students learnt to use the software Office programmes of
Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The computer laboratory caters for two
students at a time, twice a week for each pair of students. Older
secondary students who may soon be going to university are also
allowed to use the machines, and there are 56 of these students. This
means that a total of 146 students have used the computer laboratory in
2013.

This year, our goal is to continue with these programmes but to try to
extend their usage to three times a week for each pair of students.

Our use of the internet through the dongle [a device like a USB
memory stick which allows the computer to connect to the internet] has
helped greatly in the students learning. Several teachers also make use
of the computers for their lesson planning but also to improve their
research from the internet. The picture shows new teacher Xavier
Rivera Carrin at one of the machines in the computer laboratory.
The Youth Centre in El Viejo
SRF Newsletter No.43, June/July 2014, page 4

The Little Cob Library, Matagalpa
After the small donation we made to The Little Cob Library at the end of 2013, we received the
following card from Dominique Olney who runs The Little Cob Library:



Since then, Little Cob has produced its first ever newsletter, which includes news of some of the
volunteers who have worked there, including Kit Lambert from Bristol who heard of the project
through the Santa Rosa Fund. We urge our supporters to pay a visit to The Little Cobs website where
they can see a fascinating display of photos of workshops and see the role played by Kit at the library.
Visit: http://littlecob.wordpress.com/

The photo shows Kit demonstrating how water can defy
gravity in the librarys Magic and Science workshop.

In May this year, the SRF trustees agreed to use $790
(US dollars) from the bequest we had received to
provide for the purchase of materials required by The
Little Cob Library. The next SRF newsletter will
include a report on a visit to The Little Cob Library to
be made in July by four SRF trustees. The next
newsletter will also include more information about the
bequest and the extra assistance that it has enabled the
Fund to provide to educational projects in Nicaragua.

The projects supported by this extra funding will all be visited by the four trustees who will be
travelling to Nicaragua in July and August. We wish to make it clear to all our supporters that the
Fund does not pay its trustees or its supporters and volunteers to make these visits. They travel and
subsist entirely on their own resources.
SRF Newsletter No.43, June/July 2014, page 5

An Acrostico for SRF members

In February this year, deputy headteacher at the Santa Rosa School, Marcia
Isabel Ordeana Rivera (shown here in the photo), sent an acrostic to the
trustees and supporters of the Santa Rosa Fund. [We also had to look up the
meaning of acrostic.]

Acrostic (Oxford English Dictionary): A (usually short) poem (or other
composition) in which the initial letters of the lines, taken in order, spell a
word, phrase, or sentence.

The initials of each line in
the acrostic are obviously
lost in translation, but the
English version translates roughly as follows.

Warm regards to the trustees,
We feel such pride in this friendship,
Nicaragua is thankful for this gesture of love,
Shown by our English brothers and sisters,
From the Foundation.
You will forever be our brothers and sisters,
Unconditional friends to the college,
Boy, girls, teens and young adults,
We carry you in our hearts forever.
To all the friends and families of the Foundation,
In grateful memory since 1988,
Could we ever forget you? Never; because you are
forever in our hearts.
Santa Rosa wishes to express its many thanks,
Friends, brothers, colleagues, family God bless you.



Street Child World Cup 2014

In March and April this year, The Street Child World Cup was held in Rio, Brazil. Casa Alianza
Nicaragua entered two teams for the event. All the Casa Alianza group are shown in the photo on the
left and the girls team is shown on the right. You can find out more about the event at:
http://casaalianzauk.wordpress.com/2014/03/30/reunion-in-rio-street-child-world-cup-2014/











SRF Newsletter No.43, June/July 2014, page 6

Use of the Santa Rosa Fund money in 2014

The page opposite shows the Santa Rosa Fund accounts for 2013. The SRF trustees believe that it is
important that the Funds supporters know what their donations are used for, and we also hope that
they will be pleased to see such a high proportion of our income being transferred over to the projects
we support in Nicaragua, rather than being spent on administration over here in the UK.

The 9,809 balance at the end of 2013 enabled the Fund to meet its core commitments to projects in
Nicaragua, and the following amounts were transferred to our partners in January this year.

$7,000 (USD) to the Berriz Sisters in El Viejo for the educational projects that they administer.
$1,000 (USD) also to the Berriz Sisters, but specifically for the costs of education of the
children of the remote rural village of Los Pozitos.
$3,460 (USD) to the Santa Rosa School in Managua for the monthly purchases of materials,
computer costs and a small monthly payment for the two teachers who run the computer
laboratory and the computing programmes.
$500 (USD) for the Quincho Barrilete Association which runs education programmes and
programmes of care and protection for abused children in Managua.

Although not part of our annual core commitments, we also sent 200 to The Little Cob Library in
Matagalpa see page 4.

As mentioned on our front page, the Santa Rosa Fund has received a bequest which amounts to
5,000, and the Funds trustees decided to treat this as a separate amount from our core funding
commitment. Accordingly, we solicited applications from a number of organisations in Nicaragua for
specific educational purposes.

We received applications for funding from the following.

The Berriz Sisters for sufficient funding to keep open the much-used and treasured resource of
the El Viejo library whilst they search for new funding to take over in 2015 - $2,740.
The Quincho Barrilete Association for funding to help 70 of the children they deal with to stay
in school by providing them with materials and equipment which their parents cannot afford -
$1,931.
The Xochilt Clinic in the town of El Viejo for a series of workshops on sexual and
reproductive health for young people and adults in a number of barrios of the town - $2,030.
The Little Cob Library in Matagalpa for materials required to run their range of workshops for
children outside school times - $2,120.
The Council of Women of the West [of Nicaragua] based in the city of Chinandega to run
workshops on the mitigation of natural disasters and the reduction of their vulnerability to
disasters - $1,500.

At their meeting in May, the SRF trustees decided to grant the funding for the first two of those listed above
along with $790 for a specific part of The Little Cob Library application. Granting these leaves approximately
$2,000 of the bequest as yet unspent. On behalf of the Xochilt Clinic in El Viejo, the SRF has submitted an
application for funding to the Discovering Latin America Foundation, and we are currently waiting to hear the
result of this application. The final application listed above arrived in our email Inbox just one hour after the
end of our meeting, and so it will be considered in our September meeting.

Four of the SRF trustees will be visiting Nicaragua (at their own expense) in July and August and will report
back on their visit to these new projects in the next newsletter of November/December 2014.

SRF Newsletter No.43, June/July 2014, page 7

SANTA ROSA FUND, ACCOUNTS TO YEAR ENDING 31.12.13

(All figures are given in pounds sterling unless otherwise stated.)
INCOME

Balance from 2012 9585.59
Current account as at 31.12.12 9561.14
Petty cash as at 31.12.12 24.45
Donations from supporters 5717.37
from Katie Mile's and Doug McMillan's wedding 500.00
from a supporter's birthday 560.00
in memory of Joan Butler 160.00
Fund Raising Events 525.90
Represented by: Quiz Night 268.10
Oct Information Evening 257.80
Sale of Mobile Phones 25.00
Gift Aid 1406.96
Bank Interest 7.28

Total income 18488.10

EXPENDITURE

Donation to Little Cob 200.00
Donation to Los Quinchos 200.00
Donations to projects in Nicaragua in 2013* 7672.30
*Please note this indented section only is represented in $ (US dollars), equivalent to 7672.30 shown above.
These monies are transferred to Nicaragua as dollars.
Santa Rosa School
Purchases of School Supplies $1500
School Fund $750
Computer expenses and running costs $1060
Purchase of dongle (internet facility) $150
Fees for disbursement of funds in Nicaragua $90
Associacion Quincho Barrilete $500
Los Positos $1000
For Berriz Sisters' Projects $7000
Total $12050

Affiliation to the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign for 2 years (2012 and 2013) 100.00
Fund-raising costs 143.00
Printing of three newsletters 204.48
Postage 104.00
Stationery 9.40
Bank Charges 45.00

Total expenditure 8678.18

Balance on December 31
st
2013 ( 18488.10 8678.18) = 9809.92
Represented by: Current Account 9785.47
Petty cash 24.45

Pat Mayston, Santa Rosa Fund Treasurer
Rick Blower, Auditor

SRF Newsletter No.43, June/July 2014, page 8

Quiz Night report

On Friday 14
th
March this year, we held our annual and now famous well, relatively Quiz Night. Their fame
relates to our Quizmaster and his family, now renowned for their creativity, inventiveness and intricacy of
knowledge, not to mention their difficulty. Malcolm, Judy, Jim and Kate Medhurst deserve our greatest thanks
for the efforts they put into the annual event. This year, the event raised 472, a 432 profit after paying for the
hire of the hall. 432 can go a long way to assist small-scale educational projects in Nicaragua.

Our thanks also go to Seth Robertson for donating a 20 voucher for a meal at Robertsons Restaurant; Lorna
for running the raffle; to Pat, Jacky and Eileen for their cakes and for mobilising others to produce cakes; to Pat
for being on the door; and Pete for compering the event; and to all who attended and helped in various ways.

The winning team this year was Bere Mates (from Bere Alston). Of the 17 teams, other team names included
the Scrambled Eggheads, Los Guardabarrancos, Bere Alston Dollies, The Undecided, Los Locos and Superior
Finish. A great night was had by all, and we have a year to unscramble our brains before the next one.


A date for your diaries:
SATURDAY 8
th
NOVEMBER, BERE ALSTON

The SANTA ROSA FUND presents.............

GYPSY TRAIN
(clarinet/violin/guitar/accordion/sax/bass)
playing an eclectic mix of east european klezmer and smooth gypsy jazz with a
little hint of salsa.

Dance, chat or just chill out in a cafe-style setting

Bring your own bottle and snacks. Tea and coffee will be available together with the
usual range of Santa Rosa cakes!

All proceeds will help the Santa Rosa Fund to continue its work.

BERE ALSTON PARISH HALL Saturday November 8
th
at 7.30 pm

TICKETS 5 Available in advance from Pat Mayston 01822 840297 or on the door


SANTA ROSA FUND CONTACTS www.santarosafund.org

Chair: Pete Mayston, Rose Cottage, Tuckermarsh, Bere Alston, Yelverton, Devon PL20 7HB
Tel. 01822 840297 Email: mayston@waitrose.com
Secretary: Jacky Rushall, Culliford House, The Down, Bere Alston, Yelverton, Devon PL20 7HG
Tel. 01822 841676
Treasurer: Pat Mayston as for Pete (above)
Twinning links representative: Rick Blower, Cloberry Cottage, Brentor, Tavistock, Devon PL19 0NG
Tel. 01822 810600 Email: r.blower@btinternet.com
Membership secretary: Martin Mowforth, 51 West St., Tavistock, Devon PL19 8JZ
Tel. 01822 617504 Email: mmowforth@plymouth.ac.uk

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