KATHY SHARES HER BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS AND STORIES FROM TIERRA NUEVA

The Agros donor community is gracious, inspiring and supportive; we couldn’t do the work we do without them. And Kathy Robertson, an elder at Presbyterian Church of Jackson Hole, is no exception. After getting involved with Agros through her church, she has become deeply invested in the Tierra Nueva village of Nicaragua.

Kathy’s skills don’t stop with her selfless disposition. She is also a professional photographer that has blessed Agros with her phenomenal pictures. And we are about to bless YOU with the images and stories from her latest trip to Nicaragua this last November.

The pictures below represent the type of forward momentum taking place everyday in our Agros communities. It’s the small things that matter; the little successes that give hope; that build upon one another to generate big changes.

#1. Quinceañera dreams come true.

This radiant young lady has just entered her 15th year. Feliz Cumpleaños! A week before this photo was snapped, she was celebrating her Quinceañera surrounded by family and friends. This is a huge milestone, not only as a coming of age but also for her family’s journey out of poverty. They were able to afford the simple luxury of throwing a birthday party, which is a powerful sign of their evolving financial situation.

She is on the path to success, in part because her mother is a powerful role model. She’s an entrepreneur who rents out electricity from her solar panel to her neighbors to charge their cell phones.

#2. Keeping faith alive.

This beautiful photo is of a church service in the community. Kathy’s team and village families alternated opening each day with a devotional. On this particular day, members from the village led a Catholic service and the melodic sounds from the guitar, bass and trumpet were accompanied by the loud pitter-patter of the pouring rain. In Tierra Nueva, there’s a diverse array of coexisting faith communities who share worship spaces, and for many families, faith is a powerful source of strength in the face of poverty’s mental and emotional strain. Rain or shine, our communities radiate hope.

#3. Cultivating prosperity through coffee.

Pictured above is a coffee bean grinder, which is cranked by hand to separate the pulp from beans. Once the pulp is removed it can actually be used as fertilizer. This is impressive for two reasons. For one, it highlights the fact that Martin, the man who bought this de-pulper, is business minded and creative in his pursuit for success. But it also shows the trend for Tierra Nueva as a community to utilize new technology in order to advance the process of coffee production to yield a more-profitable and consistently high quality product. Recently, Agros partnered with Engineers without Borders to build a large coffee processing mill on the other side of Tierra Nueva, which will allow families to depulp, dry and sort beans – the further they process the beans themselves, the more they earn for their harvest.

“We’d been there when they were first planting the coffee. We knew the work they’d gone to, to get to the stage they were at. And to see them bursting, just bursting with coffee beans, it was so exciting.” – Kathy Robertson

#4. Horsing around.

Horses are becoming a common sight in Tierra Nueva, which is great news for the tired backs of our partner-farmers, and exciting for Kathy, who loves to ride. It also shows the steady progression that has been taking place in the village over the last few years towards more efficient production. The ability to feed and care for an animal is marker of economic success for a farmer like this man. It takes a business-minded approach and extra saved income to invest in animals and other technology that ease his labors and increase his profits.

#5 Boys get to be boys.

This last shot tells its own story. Sadly, for many impoverished youth there’s little time for play. Their hands are needed in the fields and their bellies are rarely full. But these little guys are a true testament to the joy and freedom that prosperity can create; it can literally bring back childhood. We are thrilled to see their gleaming smiles and hear their joyous giggles!

These pictures are just a sample of the many images and stories we receive on a daily basis. But we know there are many more stories to be told. If you would like to share your photos or stories with us, we’d love to hear from you! Please contact us or a leave a comment below.

   Carly Boyden

Marketing & Communications Intern