When the 2012 school year began in late February, a long-standing prayer was finally answered and it’s an indescribable blessing to the school, our teachers, and especially our students. Eight years ago when we opened the doors to Oasis de Esperanza, we barely had room to turn around and certainly no way to prepare meals onsite. As the school continued to grow and even after moving to a larger location we still faced the same old problem.
For seven years all meals were prepared in a home on the other side of Managua and delivered to the school each day by taxi. Not only was it costly to pay for transportation but also very inconvenient and because of traffic the food was not always as hot as we would prefer. One of the advantages we saw of relocating to a larger and safer location was the opportunity to have everything within the walls of the facility and all that was missing was the on-site kitchen.
I am so happy to report that with the first day of school, we now have an on-site kitchen and everything necessary for the school to operate is now inside our walls!!! With donations from a missionary friend from Missouri, we have refrigerators, freezer and an industrial stove. We also have a deep basin sink and a storage area for our food.
Now when our little ones have their morning breakfast and when the other students have their lunch each day it’s as fresh as it can possibly be. Our three kitchen employees arrive at 7:00 each morning and begin preparing hot, fresh, nutritional lunches for approximately 450 students and staff. The food quality and freshness have gotten rave reviews. It may not have happened as quickly as we would have liked, but God does answer prayers and His timing is always perfect. Buen provecho!!