Nicoya, Guanacaste, Costa Rica 

We have partnered with a small poor church in Nicoya, Guanacaste in Costa Rica.Though this church may lack in resources, it abounds in love for Christ and people. Our partner church in Nicoya has decided to engage a small community adjacent to Nicoya called San Martin. An estimated 13,000 people live in the community. This is an area of great need: hunger, homelessness, extreme poverty, lack of running water, unemployment, drugs, lack of education, lack of faith in Christ, etc. Where do you start when there are so many problems?

Community Center | Engaging Needs

It is our hope to establish a community center through which we can meet many of the needs – everything from hygiene classes to recreation activities to discipling people in their faith. One of the first steps before actually establishing the community center is meeting some of their immediate needs: feeding children.

Feeding Program | Engaging Needs

There are many families who cannot afford to feed themselves. The equivalent of “Child Protective Services” in Costa Rica, El PANI, takes its job seriously. If it considers a child’s caretaker (mother, father, grandparents, etc.) as “unfit” to care for the child, it will remove the child from the home. In the community of San Martin, EL PANI has threatened to remove many children from their home, because their caretaker is unable to provide food for the children on a regular basis. Once a child is removed from the home, he/she is taken to an orphanage in San Jose (4 hours away). It is very rare for the child to be returned to the family, because in most cases, the situation at home does not improve.

This has already happened several times to some of our families. In light of this need, we started feeding 70 children (40 girls and 30 boys, ages 2-12) in our feeding program. Though the parent/caretaker may not be able to feed their children directly, they can show the state that their children are receiving a full nutritious meal so-many times per week at a given location. This simple service will help many families stay together. 

We began our feeding program on March 9, 2011. As of right now, nearly 100 children are participating in our feeding program. . These children receive one meal per week. As funds become available, we will increase the frequency of feedings and number of children. Weekly contact with these children and families is a wonderful opportunity to gain the trust and respect of the community. We must steward these relationships with great care.

As other needs arise, we will properly equip the leadership and empower the people to effectively engage them. We don’t believe the answer is to simply provide immediate solutions to their problems. After all, many of their “problems” are only symptoms of very deep and systemic issues. Though we engage immediate needs, we are also committed to addressing the underlying problems of this community. We are seeking ways to create sustainable models that will benefit not only the local church, but also the community as a whole. This is why we are having conversations with individuals, churches, ministries and organizations to partner with us in creating a space for a sustainable transformation to take place in the community of San Martin of Nicoya for the glory of God. Together we can make an eternal difference and further the kingdom of God.

 Micro-Finance | Empowering People

More details coming real soon!