Christian Aid Week 15–21 May 2011

Help people in poverty out of poverty

For the people of Jinotega, Nicaragua, coffee isn’t just a caffeine kick – it’s a means of transforming the lives of entire communities. Five years ago, Eladio Simeón Pineda’s community was a group of poor farm labourers. Then Christian Aid partner Soppexcca (pronounced so-pecks-ka) offered them credit to establish themselves as coffee
farmers and supported them to work together as a cooperative. Even though the coffee farmers of La Paz del Tuma have only been working with Soppexcca for a short time, their lives are already changing for the better. The cooperative has a community fund that will be used to achieve the dreams which Eladio and his fellow farmers once thought were out of their reach. ‘I hope one day we will have a school on this land, clean water and latrines,’
says Eladio. (Pictured standing on the proposed site) Eladio knows that transformation is possible. He is driven by the example of a nearby community, where, supported by Soppexcca, members of the Los
Alpes cooperative have successfully worked to establish a school and a health centre for their community.

By getting involved in Christian Aid Week in your own community, you can help to turn the hopes of communities in Nicaragua and all around the world into realities. You can be part of a movement which is transforming lives.
Frodsham Methodist Church has a set collecting area around our village which a number of collectors do year after year. As they say ‘many hands make light work’ and as such we are always looking for extra volunteers to
deliver and collect envelopes in Christian Aid Week.

To find out how to help or to volunteer please speak to Vicky Jones.

• £14 could buy enough coffee seeds to plant a 0.7 hectare plot of coffee and start one farmer on the path out of poverty.
• £2,170 could pay for a processing plant, allowing farmers to process the coffee they have grown and then sell it for a better price.