What Your Money Can Buy

$50: Lorena Stove

The vast majority of Nicaraguan homes are one room homes. That is, the kitchen, dining and living rooms, as well as the sleeping quarters are all in the same area. This leaves an entire family exposed to thick black smoke, which makes them susceptible to a multitude of respiratory infections, such as asthma, bronchitis and more. The families we work with who have personally built their own earthen-made Lorena stove are now free of this health hazard.

$100: Tailor Shop

There are 35 communities that are now managing this project. We provide a group of 5 to 10 people with a sewing machine and tailor's manual. They organize in a cooperative fashion in order to purchase materials as well as to maintain the machine. Within the group, some teach and some learn this great art; and they also are able to organize in such a way that the rest of the community is able to use the machine for a number of hours per week. They are able to repair shirts, trousers, and perform many other services that allow them to not only save money, but also to make money through the sale of new and used clothes.

$110: Community Health Worker Health Kit

Every commmunity health worker we train needs the tools to provide primary health care to their community. Your donation will finance the cost of a “botiquin”, or health kit, that each of the Community Health Workers (CHWs) will receive at the beginning of their training. It will also provide the initial supply of the 21 basic medicines that the promoters will have at their disposal as they serve as their community’s primary health care provider. You should also know that your donation toward the cost of a botiquin will be sustainable: this is possible as a result of the low cost medications APS purchases, as well as the nominal amount the CHWs charge their patients for the medications.

$250: Chicken Farm

This has been our most astonishing project. With very little investment, communities receive many benefits. Forty communities are currently benefiting from a chicken farm. Each one was organized in a cooperative way and involved an average of 7 heads of families. Each family has an average of 5 members, for a total of 840 people, 60% of whom are children (504). Each farm has anywhere from 15 to 25 birds, and produces an average of 10 eggs a day, which are distributed among the families. Some communities are beginning to sell some of the eggs, but most keep the eggs in order to have more chickens.

$500: Agricultural Project

At this time we have 10 agricultural projects that were funded through Doctors for Global Health, and involve an average of 5 families. Two are on Ometepe Island, as well as 2 in each of the following areas: El Crucero, San Francisco Libre, La Conquista and Mulukuku. With the assistance of an agronomist, they grow vegetables (carrots, onions, radish, etc), fruits (papayas, bananas, etc.), and medicinal plants (mint, albahaca, cilantro, etc) in an area of half a hectare. Despite the knowledge and experience of the average Nicaraguan farmer, they still need the resources (fences, tubes, seeds, etc) to realize their dream of better health through local agriculture.

$500: De-Worming Project

APS just completed its' first de-worming project in three urban neighborhoods in Tipitapa, a large urban area 35 km from Nicaragua’s capital city, Managua. The majority of Tipitapa’s residents work 6 days a week at the local “Zona Franca”, or “Free Trade Zone”, making clothes, shoes, etc. Many of the children in Tipitapa suffer are infected with parasites, which severely limits their ability to take advantage of the already little nutrition they take in on a daily basis.

$1000: Water Project

APS has just begun its first two water projects, one in El Crucero and the other in Tipitapa. Drilling a well or capping a spring in order to provide clean water for a rural Nicaraguan village is an important step toward the realization of better health.