Fifteen women in La Flor recently completed a class in sewing, sponsored by the municipality of San Ramón which provided the teacher and sewing machines for the duration of the course. With these new skills, the women are in a position to contribute even more to their household economy.

Torrential rains in La Flor cause damage to staple crops and infrastructure.

On September 15, Nicaragua celebrates its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821. Children in La Flor and across the country help their communities celebrate and remember the legacy of their ancestors.

The women who are involved in the La Flor microcredit program continue to strengthen their small businesses. They have faced many difficult situations over past few years, but they move forward in supporting their families through their business.

Maintaining the road to La Flor is a community project for young and old alike.

Students in La Flor receive "a lot of encouragement to continue studying."

As the pandemic lingers on worldwide, La Flor reports that 94% of families have been vaccinated.

Several lean years have given way to an historically big harvest with record profits for La Flor's coffee growers, like Donaldo.

By raising pigs and growing corn made possible by the Microcredit Program, Sonia has become "a woman who has reached her dreams and will reach many more."

Make your own rosquillas, an Easter tradition from La Flor.

The triplets in La Flor are doing well, and have a new house.

Cooking with Martha

Martha shares the benefits of "green" stoves and her recipes for gallo pinto and tortillas.

Nicolás's Coffee: "Growing, Improving and Being Better Each Day"

Nicolás tends his coffee plantation, focusing on "growing, improving and being better each day."

COVID vaccine campaign runs at the clinic in Chacraseca for 2 days.

Quick News is JustHope's new weekly news tidbit. In this inaugural issue, you can learn about how JustHope has supported a family from La Flor who welcomed triplets born this spring.

La Flor has a miracle harvest after the hurricanes devasted their crops last year. Ramona has an incredible story of her successful business made possible by microcredit lending. Plus two event announcements and a social media video highlight.

When you hear from JustHope, you usually hear about Nicaragua. Most JustHope news addresses the work we do on-the-ground in our Nicaraguan partner communities and how those communities are impacted by our Education, Agriculture, Health and Social Enterprise programs. But there’s another side to JustHope. JustHope’s mission starts with “creating global partnerships,” and creating global partnerships starts with informing, educating and cultivating a sense of global citizenship in the next generation.

JustHope remains in regular contact with and supportive of, our partner village in mountainous La Flor. What follows is an update we received from their community leader.

Women in Nicaragua cannot access traditional loans without presenting significant assets for collateral and, traditionally, Nicaraguan women do not own such assets. Therefore, it is extremely difficult for them to get seed capital to start their own businesses and supplemental capital to continue to grow them. JustHope’s Microcredit Coordinator explains, “What we want is that women have the resources to live their lives without depending on other people.”

With help from SpiritBank and DoubleShot Coffee, this project raised the funds needed to start a microbank in La Flor, a small, coffee-farming community in the mountains of central Nicaragua. Access to the loans made available by this new microbank enable small-scale coffee farmers to prepare their coffee fields for the coming season without having to engage a loan shark (which is often the only option for small farmers).

JustHope partners provide scholarships for primary school children and college students from our partner communities.

La Flor means "the flower" and the beauty of the area is true to the name. La Flor is a small community of farming and coffee-picking families, all of whom live on less than $2 per day. Situated at the top of a mountain in Nicaragua’s cloud forest, there is no vehicle access, making life in La Flor a challenge.