Through prayer, financial assistance, solidarity and building community, The Friends of Batahola supports, sustains and promotes the work of the Cultural Center of Batahola Norte to develop art, cultural and educational opportunities for the most vulnerable in Managua, Nicaragua.
When Fernanda Membreño was just eight years old her mother passed away of a brain tumor. Both she and her sister were entrusted to the care of her maternal grandmother. It was a traumatic and uncertain time in Fernanda’s young life.
"My older sister was the person who took the responsibility for my care. She played the role of mother in my life. I am so grateful to have the sister I have. I am indebted to her and to my grandmother," Fernanda said.
After her mother’s passing, Fernanda heard children from her Acahualinca neighborhood talking about the Center. She took the initiative to get more information, and her teacher encouraged her to apply for a scholarship to continue with her education. She applied for that scholarship and was accepted into the scholarship program. Now she is finishing her last year of high school!
To Fernanda, receiving a scholarship is more than ongoing financial support. It is a blessing that allows her to continue with her education and to achieve her dream of becoming a teacher. When she was younger, she said she struggled with her studies, and that struggle motivated her to want to help other young children like her.
The scholarship is also a blessing to her grandmother who receives only a small monthly retirement benefit. It helps her grandmother put food on the table for herself and her two granddaughters.
We are inspired by the mission and vision of the Cultural Center of Batahola Norte of “sharing who we are and what we have to help transform society into the Kingdom of God”. So we are committed to support them through prayer, financial assistance, solidarity and building community, thereby responding to the call of the Gospel. In the same way we ask you to support this community in need of friends and partners in living the Gospel of God.
The Cultural Center’s priority is to work with the women and children who most bear the weight of social and economic inequity, to break the cycle of poverty and restore hope in a better tomorrow. That objective is at the heart of the Center’s mission to empower and transform its students and community through access to education, arts and culture. Since 1983, the Center has helped thousands of women, children and youth to defend their rights, finish their schooling, find and develop new sources of income, and improve their standard of living.
Partners in Support of CCBN
