When God planted the vision for a Christian school, His vision did not stop with 
simply Christian education, it included spiritual as well as physical feeding. years ago, I recall hearing a couple of sayings that have since become very personal to Elaine and me: “hungry bellies have no ears” and “it’s hard to tell someone Jesus loves them when their stomach is growling.”
With approximately half our enrollment living in or in proximity to the Managua dump ground, a nutritious meal is a rarity. When Oasis de Esperanza opened – 80% of our students were below the average height and weight for their age group and most of that was due to lack of a steady and nutritious diet.
We began each day with a breakfast of oatmeal or crackers with juice and lunch was a high protein meal of rice or pasta with meat, bread and juice.
Often, the children would only eat half their lunch, saving the remainder to either share with a sibling at home or their dinner and more often than not, it was the former.
I’m so happy to say that since our first year the numbers have been reversed, now 80% of our children are at or above the average height and weight for their age group.
I’m pretty sure that a hungry belly or a growling stomach is a rarity at Oasis de Esperanza. Many of them still take a portion of their meal, but their bellies are full.
