** Welcome home to Carolyn Penta, who returned after a good and productive trip. Much was accomplished including: extension of the scholarship program for an additional year to 8 students who are in high school, the birth of an adult reading program for the many adults who have not yet learned to read,  and the purchase of songbooks for the church. The 4H Club bags were delivered and much appreciated, and the children wrote postcards to the preparers of each bag. Carolyn returns with 15 lbs. of homegrown and roasted coffee which is available for purchase!

     Once again, the annual trip to Nicaragua will be taking place January 16th to the 31st.  This year the delegation will be Carolyn Penta and Mayra Garcia Gibson.  Mayra is now living in Springfield, Delaware County and is part of the Garcia family.

     There will be a send-off and fundraising celebration on January 6th at Pebble Hill.  Please plan to attend.  We will have photographs introducing the people living in the area served by Pebble and a  presentation of 40 bags filled with school supplies that the 4H Club of Buckingham have made for the one room school house.

     Since December 2002, we have sent $500.00 every 6 months to the extended family and have never missed a payment, and don’t intend to.  This contribution to their lives has helped over 40+ people, improve their lives, keep the kids in school and provide medical care when needed.

     In addition, Mayra will be speaking of a new project we are now envisioning, the beginnings of a pre-school, possibly starting during the Sunday church service when the whole community of farm families comes together.

The Start of the Pebble Hill Nicaraguan Project

     The project started in 1988 when some members of the Pebble family went to Nicaragua during the Contra War with an organization called Witness for Peace.  This was followed with several more members going on another delegation the following year.  Gary Culp requested us to find a community that we could "sister" to help through the war.  We found such a community, a resettlement camp.  To try and remove families from the war zones they moved them to such camps for safety.

     That began a long involvement that continues to this day.  We have supported the camp with clothing, supplies and visits.  Then we added a Women's Cooperative located across the river and the main commercial center of the camp.  This was founded by 7 brave women who in the dark of night lead rural people from the hills down to the town of Paiwas.  The center has flourished and today is supported by social justice groups in the United States and Germany.

                                                                       The Project Continues and Changes

     One member of our delegation, Jack Gibson, left his job and moved to Nicaragua to help  the poor communities during the war, and that connection led us to the Garcia family. Jack and Mayra married, had two children and eventually moved to Springfield. A small health station was established in the village of the family and is supplied with medicines from International Direct Aid.

     Then the disaster occurred, a terrible massacre of 2 members of the family by a band of delinquent youths. By the way, these same youths were very young when they saw their fathers, uncles and older brothers killed during the war. The family moved to a far distant area of Nicaragua, a very fertile land of rolling hills and sufficient rains to make farming produce a generous food supply for this extended family.

And they are there now, we visit yearly and assist in any way we can.  With our help, they have added cattle to the farm, horses, some new crops, and an addition to their houses. We have supplied a solar lighting system with a battery that allows them to have light in 4 rooms for about 2 hours a day.

     In addition, we have been able to help the small rural school house. There is one room and one teacher for children in the first through sixth grades.  With the help of  "Lantern Projects" out of California, we have supplied a library, school supplies, and maps to this school that had no supplies.  Now, there is also a small chapel in this rural community, and this year we intend to extend our attention to this very important gathering place of the community.  This area is rural; there are no roads, no running water, no electricity, and no mail delivery.  Driving the 4 wheel truck up the steep muddy horse trail is a feat in itself. There are beautiful hills, lots of stars, wonderful people and a place I love visiting every winter.

                          The Garcia Family

     This extended family of over 40 people has been our mission for over 10 years. It is headed by Christobel and his wife, Dona Luisa who are now grandparents, and great grandparents.  We have known and loved all the children since they were born.  A family with a significant spiritual base, Christobel has been a lay leader in his community ever since we have know him.

     At the time we approached them with the organized financial support of $500.00 every 6 months, they formed a “directiva” (board of directors) to determine how the money would be allocated. There is a president, treasurer and communication person.

     You may remember Experanza when she came to Pebble to speak on “On Overcoming,” a tale of perseverance, faith, and moving forward.  The family that lived and died in the “Contra War, where many of their young men and women served, the terrible massacre they suffered with the loss of a brother and son-in-law.  And yet with their spirit and togetherness they are moving on.  As Experanza said, no matter what "we sang."

     The family community is a compound with 4 houses now completed. With our help, they have improved there houses, their farm products, their cattle and can now sustain their families from their land. This year, Jose Luis tells us the coffee harvest is in and by supplying bags and labels, he can market this retail. We will be bringing some home.

                                        The School of Sabalo

       When the Garcia family moved to Sabalo, many new areas where we could be of assistance to them opened up.  The first was the “one room schoolhouse," serving 1st through 6th grades. This schoolhouse is not even part of the government’s education program, in this forgotten part of the world.  The local parishes opened it and manage to pay the teacher a small stipend.  We have supplied notebooks, pens, pencils, charts and last year, thanks to Chris Engelhart, harmonicas.  This year, thanks to Julian Bence, handmade cloth school bags filled with school necessities.  Two years ago, we established a 60 book library which is unheard of in this part of the world, especially in an elementary school.

     A large part of the continuing success is Santo, the remarkable teacher. We love to sit in the classroom and watch him go through the paces of teaching 6 grades at once.

                          The Chapel

     Perhaps you remember the great Pebble Hill effort 2 years ago to create an “altar cloth” for the table in the one room community chapel. What a great gift it was, and it fit the table exactly. How amazing. We also selected a very special Bible that was familiar to them.  When the “President” of the chapel saw it, he hugged it to his chest and had no words.  The only Bible they had ever had at the chapel was Christobel’s.