The Help Los Ramos Rebuild donation website has been extremely successful. Thanks to YOUR support for this lovely indigenous community, you have given them hope and encouragement to rebuild their community of 125 families who were affected by the October 8th landslides on Ometepe Island.
We collected $ 2,188.
The first $800 purchased food and basic supplies for the community. Goodie Bags for Los Ramos.
The community purchased a second round of goodie bags for 125 families with $200.
The flashlights were a big hit!
The bags included toilet paper, coffee, powdered milk, a flashlight, laundry soap, Clorox, bread, and dish soap.
Ever’s family made an assembly line to pack the bags and they were ready to be distributed in the blink of an eye. They are experts at organizing.
Their community church was damaged in the landslides, so they decided to spend $500 to build a wall around the church and patch the church walls.
The remaining $688 will be spent on rebuilding their cultural tourism programs. They are going to make brochures, order t-shirts for their community guides, so they all look professional, and buy needed items for the host families, such as several solar-powered lamps and water filters.
The mayor of Altagracia sent the big bulldozer to Los Ramos and their road is passable, now. Their water and electricity has been restored. I continue to marvel at the strength, faith, and fortitude of this amazing community. Poco a poco their lives will improve.
They wanted me to tell the world how grateful they are for your loving kindness and support.
Many hugs from me and the Los Ramos community. Your help and support has touched many families. Thank you again, my friends, for everything you have done to support Los Ramos.
Hi Debbie,
I know that, through your fund-raising efforts some time ago, Los Ramos was able to get water piped into their community.
Also saw photos of the recent landslide which looks as though it destroyed much of that hard work and financial effort.
Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté (Freedom Guy from Montreal!) has a long established NGO called The One Drop Foundation.
“The foundation’s mission is to fight poverty worldwide by supporting access to water and raising individual and community awareness of the need to mobilize so that safe water is accessible to everyone.”
The NGO has already completed a project in the Esteli region of Nicaragua.
http://www.onedrop.org/en/projects/projects-overview/nicaragua.aspx
Perhaps this organization can also help the people of Los Ramos?
Can’t hurt to ask…
Millie, you are amazing. I’ll check this out when I return to Ometepe. Plans are in the works to relocate the community of Los Ramos. The government is building 238 small houses closer to the lake. I need to write a post about this. There are pros and cons about moving Los Ramos. Thanks again.
Reblogged this on FindingMySelfinPanama and commented:
Thanks for all your help! Here’s what you dollars have done….
Wonderful, Joel. Many, many thanks for reblogging.
Reblogged this on The Panama Adventure and commented:
An update on what is happening in Los Ramos, Nicaragua, the town worst affected by the mudslides. The people want to say thank you for all the help, and I want to personally thank my friends and blog followers who helped.
Kris, thank you for reblogging the post about Los Ramos. I have tried to post my thanks to everyone who supported Los Ramos, and since we received much help from your blogging community of friends, I am so glad you are reaching out to them so they know how their donations have been spent.
Heart-warming to see your efforts be rewarded in such a big communal thank-you.
Yes, it is so heart-warming. This community has become my family. We are Godparents to one of their daughters and we will do all that is possible to help this incredible community.
Reblogged this on Living It Up in Ecuador and commented:
A big thank you from the people of Los Ramos for your donations and your prayers.
Thank you so much for reblogging this.
thanks for the update, their faith lifts me up 🙂
Their faith and resilience lifts me up, too. 🙂
Reblogged this on Loca Gringa and commented:
A little bit of help goes a long way in Nicaragua! Pass this on please!
So true! A little bit of help goes a long way in Nicaragua. Thanks for reblogging this, Loca.
So wonderful Debbie the work you have done to help! I am inspired! Is anything else needed?
Thanks, Nicole. They have an NGO group that is providing support, materials, etc. for the elementary school and another NGO that is going to help them build a landslide shelter far removed from the path of the landslides. There is another group that is going to install solar panels and train some of the community members how to repair solar panels. I think this is a brilliant idea because many people have solar panels on Ometepe, but when something goes wrong with them, it’s difficult to find someone who can repair them. I know this community is well-loved because they have received so much support. 🙂
That is great!
Thanks for this update and the video.
We know our donation was put to good use!
Cheers,
John & Susan
I am so glad you liked their video. It’s always nice to know exactly where your donations go, right? And the community really enjoyed making the video for my friends of the world. lol
Debbie, I probably won’t have a lot of room for supplies this particular trip. But can you or Ever think of anything special I might bring for Los Ramos? Hoping to visit there with a couple team members on probably Dec.6. Might you be around? Jon
On Sat, Nov 8, 2014 at 7:07 AM, Rewired and Retired in Nicaragua wrote:
> Rewired and Retired in Nicaragua posted: “The Help Los Ramos Rebuild > donation website has been extremely successful. Thanks to YOUR support for > this lovely indigenous community, you have given them hope and > encouragement to rebuild their community of 125 families who were affected > by the October “
Thanks for the offer, Jon. I’ll ask Ever when he comes to our house next week. I told him that he should run for mayor of Altagracia because he is so good at organizing and distributing supplies and donations. He accounted for every singe cordoba…with official Los Ramos receipts!!! Can’t wait to see you! It’s been a stressful and crazy couple of months here.
They made such wise choices in how they would use the donation. Beautiful people, humble, hard working and grateful. I’m particularly glad the road is passable and that power is restored. That is up lifting.
Lynne, I am in awe of this community. They decide everything together and prioritize their needs in the best interest of the community. I think the U.S. Congress could learn a few helpful things from Los Ramos.