May

Mother Day’s month. 
The date differs in different countries, but May is the common factor. In Nicaragua shops draw attention to the fact that it is Mother’s Day on 30th May and have all kinds of offers for attractive gifts for Mother. We therefore hope to open our Mira Mira optician’s shop earlier in May to benefit from a probable upsurge in consumer spending. More about that later.

Community house
Good news is that since I last wrote the staffing situation in the Community House has stabilized. Of the three new employees Jennifer has earned a permanent contract, and Mayela will be offered one this week. And we are happy with Damaris’ commitment and enthusiasm. The one remaining vacancy in the team of 4 supervisors will be filled by Neydi on the 1st of June. Neydi has worked in the Activities Club up till now. This is great for the peace and quiet in the community house, because half of the core members who go to Activities Club already know her, and vice versa. Neydi knows pretty well what to expect as she has been in and out of the house for months already.
Last week we had the interviews for a new supervisor of the Activities Club. Maria was recruited and next week she will start her induction period. She has a brother with autism, which gives her a certain sensitivity to the target group.

Visit
This week we had a visit from Daniella, my daughter, and Jonathan’s sister therefore. She lives in Ecuador and is very involved with our work. We were not able to visit Daniella during our January holiday due to COVID-19 and related travel restrictions, but she succeeded in comnig to us instead, albeit with visa problems on the way which meant she was with us in Juigalpa for one instead of two weeks. These days travel is not quite the same fun as it used to be.
At her first lunch she was welcomed to a special gift, a pottery ‘Ruach home’, to thank her for her good work in producing PR materials and maintaining our Facebook page. The President of the Board made her an honorary member of the Fundación by presenting her with a special certificate.

Outing
We also used Daniella’s presence as an excuse to organize an extra trip to the beach. The timing was perfect as we wanted to be ahead of the rainy season which can start any time now. Normally we make a trip to the sea once a year, but a friend generously paid for an extra trip mid-year. We were also blessed that a friend who always drives us to the pool for free every Wednesday did not want money for her van and her driver for this trip to the beach!

So last Wednesday we visited La Boquita. It looked abandoned and dilapidated. Because of the political and economic crisis, even fewer Nicaraguans can afford the luxury of a holiday. And foreign tourists stay away because of corona virus- related flight restrictions to and from Nicaragua.

So we all enjoyed a relaxing day away: the peace, the sea, and the food which Doña Mayra had prepared at home to limit the costs. It was a long day away, from 7 am to 8 pm, but the 4 hour journey to La Boquita was well worth it!

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Jonathan and DaniellaDaniella is back home again in Ecuador. We had a good time together. Jonathan also enjoyed his big sister. He certainly needs to regularly meet his nearest and dearest. Time will tell when we will be meeting next, and where!