CDCA Celebrates 15 Years in Nicaragua

Last Friday we celebrated the CDCA’s 15 years in Nicaragua with more than 90 people who have been part of our lives and work since 1994. Photos of the past 15 years were showing on a big screen all night and everyone enjoyed looking at them…and commenting on how skinny we all were back then! Juan and Blanca from Las Parcelas were there… Fidel from Roberto Clemente…María Cano from Nueva Vida and her grown-up daughter Iliana…Dr. Emilio from FUNDECI…César, who has been with us from the very beginning…Henry who worked as a cobrador when our propane-run gray bus was on the 115 route and has been the medic at the Clinic since it first opened…Peter who was a volunteer with FUNDECI when the CDCA first began…Julia who was a member of the cement block co-op when Nueva Vida first started…many members of the Genesis spinning co-op, all so proud to be included and to see themselves on the big screen…Yolanda from the women’s cashew co-op…Adela from the women’s agricultural co-op…and so many more. They came all that way (in a rain storm!) to celebrate with us!

During the evening we enjoyed music from Guitarra de Madera Azul and wonderful food from the Centro Kairos, where the event was held. We showed for the first time our video about our work! People were thrilled to see themselves in the video and to have all their hard work recognized, it was an inspiring moment (thank you Paul for putting the video together in English and Spanish!).

This celebration wasn’t about us, it was about the people who have made the work we do possible…people from the communities we have worked with, people who bring their delegations to visit our projects, people who speak to our delegations, people who have supported us from the US and have advocated for Nicaragua and its people, people who’ve helped us hold on to our land, people who help us import medicine, people who receive loans from us, people who give loans to us, our amazing, hardworking staff…all these people came together to celebrate 15 years of the CDCA. We were honored to have them there. We are so grateful to them and to all of you for the support you give us in so many ways.

For more on the past 15 years in Nicaragua see our newsletters from 2009 at: http://www.jhc-cdca.org/current.html

You can see more pictures of the event on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=314667&id=99841275343&ref=mf