You’ve heard the phrase “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” A part of the Savior’s Tear vision for the Nicaragua schools is to help in teaching them to become more self-sufficient. Oasis de Esperanza Salinas Grande is the smaller of the two Savior’s Tear schools. It is located in a rural area approximately two miles from the Pacific coast with the primary industries being fishing, farming, and salt. It’s a small school, about 65 students, and shares property with a small church in an extremely poor area of the country. Their Pastor was instrumental in helping Savior’s Tear open the school in 2007.
Salinas Grande Salt Project
For the past two years Savior’s Tear has provided seed money, literally, to plant and harvest chiltomas, or bell peppers, to sell and help supplement unbudgeted costs for the school. It has been a good project and profits were used to drill a water well for school, church, and community usage. When I visited with Pastor Jose about another chiltoma crop he asked that I consider helping the school expand from chiltoma to salt processing. He wanted to lease land near the Pacific, build evaporation ponds, and harvest sea salt for sale to processing companies. He presented a business plan with expenses and expected profits, putting a lot of time, effort, and prayer into the vision. We looked at it, prayed about it, and dedicated the project to God. Savior’s Tear provided seed money and construction of the evaporation ponds, lining the ponds with high-density plastic, and pumping sea water began in January. These pictures were taken in mid-February and represent the first harvest of sea salt, very exciting. With the onset of winter (rainy season) in early June the season will end. So far it has been blessed, successful, and everyone involved feels a great sense of accomplishment. Profits from the project will be used to help build another
Salinas Grande Salt Project
classroom for the school, one that’s needed for additional growth and grades at Salinas Grande.
This is more than a project to help build another classroom. Its purpose is to help the school and church have a degree of ownership in Oasis de Esperanza Salinas Grande. Instead of waiting for others, in this case Savior’s Tear, to provide full funding for the construction the school and church will now have ownership of the new facility. Instead of “eating the fish” they will have learned a lesson in fishing. This is a big step of progress for the school at Salinas Grande, the families and students are very poor. This accomplishment and confidence opens the door for more vision. Obviously God has blessed this project and deserves all the credit for the accomplishment. We are blessed to be a part of what God is doing in Oasis de Esperanza Salinas Grande.
