Hitting the Ground Running

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CEPAD is based on Managua the capital, but their work is done in the rural areas. They are focused on regions that are arid as that makes their life of farming more difficult. In these areas residents normally grow corn and wheat, but CEPAD is helping them to expand their crops to include more nutritious items like veggies.

When I am not visiting rural areas I am staying in Managua. I have a cute little studio casa in a safe neighborhood that has a place to part my tiny white rental car (that I have nicknamed pipsqueak). The sun is up by 5:15am so I rise early to walk different neighborhoods to learn the area.

I had my first rural visit yesterday to an area they work in that was about an hour from Managua. One of the staff members with good English joined me to interpret as well as answer general questions about the organizations work.

We visited with 4 women that CEPAD has been working with for the last 3 years. These women happen to all have existing businesses they were looking to expand, but others have started new businesses.

When I was in Bangladesh they were being severely affected by climate change. They were experiencing this by having excessive rainfall. There they were working on techniques to grow crops or poultry in top of water. Nicaragua is also being affected, but they are experiencing decreased rainfall that they need for their crops. This has driven CEPAD to help community to successfully grow nutricious crops with limited water.

The first woman is raising piglets. She is able to sell them after they are weaned from their mother meaning she can receive her profits sooner. The second woman has a bakery at her home that people visit by horse back to buy her goods. The third woman had a very small shop that she has now expanded to include hardware items like rope, electrical switches, and light bulbs. The last woman had been raising chickens but they all developed a disease that killed her entire flock. She is speaking with neighboring communities to learn what might have caused it so when she starts again she can avoid this problem.

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