Sending Nicaraguans to College in 2013

Nicaraguan students at a public schoolIn 2010 I got the chance to speak in five Nicaraguan schools and look into the faces of little girls and boys like these.  Faces that beamed with promise and potential if only they could be given the chance of a better life.

Imagine growing up in a dump, fending for yourself against adult predators, hoping just to make it through another day.  You're under ten years old and this is the only life you know.  Suddenly you find yourself rescued by this man named Carlos, who, moved by the compassion of God, and with the help of some people from America make it possible for you to leave the dump, live in a loving environment and begin going to school.  You experience the love of this amazing God and it transforms you.

Fast forward eight years and you are graduating high school, a young man with the dream of going to university and becoming a doctor.  You have been the recipient of unfathomable mercy and want to give back.  But how will you get there?

Nicaraguan SchoolThis is Jorge's story, and we have decided we want to help him and others like him take that leap with the hopes of them becoming nation-changing young men and women.  The rescued becoming rescuers in a nation desperate for a generation of young people to rise above the cycle of poverty they have been born into.

This past summer I was struck by Psalm 82:3 which states, "Advocate for the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy."  Our desire is to advocate for those who do not have families who can help them as a way to help create sustainable change in Nicaragua. Like Jorge, God has put dreams in their hearts that require a higher education.

In the spirit of this verse we are going to begin helping three Nicaraguan students go to university this coming year.  We estimate this will cost about $6,000 per year over the next four years, for a total of $24,000.  We are partnering with Luis Alberto Balladarez, who is giving us 1500 pounds of his coffee for free each year.  By taking the combined profits from the sale of that coffee, we hope to begin making this dream a reality.

We trust that, as Carabello Coffee continues to grow, we will be able to fulfill this commitment and extend the same opportunity to many more young people in time.  Drink with confidence that, as you do, you are a part of helping to change a nation.  We will never know the full value of what one rescued, transformed Jorge can do for his nation over the course of a lifetime.  But it will be worth every penny!