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Sheep Not Goats, a 501(c) (3) charitable organization, helps people in a very poor Nicaraguan town through employment and by meeting other basic needs, including housing. Here you'll learn our plans to provide our worker Maria with a home of her own, and how you can help.
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Helping through Housing
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As we reflect on the future of Sheep Not Goats (and the fact that we won't be here on this planet forever), we think more about how those we've been helping will earn in the future and where they will live after we are gone.
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Recently we built, with help from some who received this communication), a small house for Alejandra, who had been kicked from place to place after her husband died and his family threw her out. We bought a (very small) piece of land and built the little house you see below. It's in her name and nobody can ever take it from her.
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This was the second time we'd been involved in house-building. The first was way back in 2014 when friends came from the US and helped build a house for Bismarck and Martha.
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Maria
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Maria is perhaps our most trusted worker. She oversees the Sheep Dreamzzz knitting and handles all of the money (cash) in Nicaragua.
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Maria is also in charge of the weekly breakfasts that are cooked for and delivered to older members of the Malpaisillo community. She watches for additional needs and brings them to our attention, such as when Doña Juanquina needed a wheelchair.
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What We're About to Do
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Once we arrive in Nicaragua next Monday, we'll sign the papers to give a small area of our farm to Maria and begin building a house there. We've already had the survey work done and planted fenceposts to mark off the area.
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The plot is 55 meters wide and 39 feet deep. She will have room to expand (front porch, back patio) if she wants and to have a garden. Her entire front faces the driveway leading to the farm, which enhances our security. And while she will connect to city electricity and water, we plan to offer power from our solar energy system to make things more affordable for her.
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More about Maria
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Maria has 2 teenage daughters, which is the reason she will need a little more space than Alejandra (living area, 2 small bedrooms, and a bathroom). But since we don't need to purchase land in Maria's case, the overall costs should be similar (about $3000). Maria's daughter, Lizbeth, is one of the 30 youths from Malpaisillo who attended the recent Swamp Camp near Managua.
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Maria and her daughters currently live with her mother, Rosa, after being forced to leave their previous 2 residences. This house will give Maria a permanent place of her own, further connect her to our farm, and reduce the chance that in the horrible economic environment that is Nicaragua she will ever feel the need to leave for another country. We can't control that part - just do what we can to improve the conditions and make things survivable.
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How You Can Help
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If you can help financially with the home for Maria and her daughters, please make a donation here. Donations received between now and when we leave Nicaragua on May 9 will be treated as donations for Maria's house. If we receive more than we need, it will be set aside for future housing-related needs.
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This project will also provide much-needed work for our brother Paulino, who built Alejandra's house.
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