October, 2020
Erik the flutemaker here. One of the things I love to do other than make flutes is help our fellow human being in need. Linda, my wife and I have an amazing team on the ground in Nicaragua doing the work. Flutemaker Ministries tries to bring dignity to special needs kids, many who are stuck in extreme poverty.
Update: In July of 2020 we noticed many needs with our 266 mercy kids and since July 15th we have been helping to provide those needs. This can be seen at my Blog called the 2020 Provision Campaign in detail with many pictures.
Pastor Carlos at the Kids of Cascabel Children's home 2012
Early 2020 news from Pastor Carlos the executive director of A Heart To Love who we support: "Brother, there is much hunger and fear. I need more food for the children in the mountains. I came upon a small hungry village called San Antonio Monzonte near Ocotal in great poverty where most of the people sleep on the floor. 5 elderly have starved and 3 children died of malnutrition. We started feeding 30 children there and now 85 are being fed. For breakfast and lunch these people only had plain coffee. And for dinner only a cooked banana. Many of these people don't have pots to cook or spoons, cups and plates. Or a bucket or bowl to hold water. Some ladies want to learn to sow others to plant and some to bake.
I gave 15 pounds of rice and soya to many families. We want to buy beans and corn, oil, soap, oats, toilet paper, tooth paste, and children's shoes and underwear and school supplies. And for 5 families we want to give beans to sow along with fertilizer as they have no way to plant. We will have to buy kitchen utensils too.
There is also a water pipe that goes through their village with good water from a source 8 Kilometers away, put in 5 years ago during a construction project by Spain. But the people don't have the $90 to pay for hook up and maintenance. Once hooked up it cost $1 per month for good water. 77 families are drinking water from the river."
Flutemaker Ministries' response: We sent $5,333 on May 28th to help this village.
Pastor Carlos: "In the village of las Lajas the people have not had water there for 100 years. A truck comes every 10 days and the families get 10 gallons. We want to help them bring water from 40 Kilometers away (almost 25 miles distance)."
Flutemaker Ministries response: We sent $ 2,906 to help make that dream come true. The men of the village worked hard and now have water. And said thank you for your help!
Pastor Carlos: "The poor hamlet of El Cielo where we are feeding children needs 10 latrines, and a water system also.
Flutemaker Ministries response: The towns people dug the holes and we put in the latrines. And funded the water system $3,666 too.
Homes in El Cielo
Boy enraptured by his balancing a stick in El Cielo.
Sweet people in El Cielo
Torivio's Well
Flutemaker Ministries was able to buy a nice 1/2 acre lot for $1,200 and gave it to Torivio our agriculturalist of the Monte Carlos Farm who needed a place to live. He then organized the digging of a well for the village. 45 men began to take turns digging the well. He asked if I could send funding to feed the workers while they worked. For $18.88 each family could receive cooking oil, sugar, soap, salt, and beans. Work stopped when they hit a boulder. We are waiting for a company to come and break it up with their machinery.
Flutemaker Ministries response: We sent $850 to feed the workers and their families.
Pastor Abel (President of A Heart to Love) mentioned his church members wanted to build a humble wood house for a family living under black plastic. It took them 5 days with 30 men and women who cooked.
Flutemaker Ministries response: We sent $2,000 to buy the wood and nails and food for the workers. They also got a bed and table and chairs.
Pastor Carlos: "We are asking for prayer and our people are now praying for 40 days walking the streets as the pandemic has hit hard. 3 pastors have died in Managua and in Leon. The police and army are burying the dead at night. Our denomination secretary is now very ill. Pastor Abel has a few doctors in his church who said the local hospitals have a lot of respiratory cases and other hospitals are full of virus cases."
Flutemaker Ministries response: We sent funding to buy masks, gloves and a temperature gun. And have been insisting that they take precautions. We rethought the feeding centers so they can safely let the kids take their food home. The food from this year's 2 containers is now about used up. We now will buy food as containers are not moving due to the virus.
Pastor Carlos: "There is a need for 20 beds for mercy children in Rancho Alegre y Palacawina."
Flutemaker Ministries response: We were helped by a grant from The Zimmerman Foundation as well as beds from Faretto Children's Foundation. As 18 more beds were needed in El Cielo we also were able to send $3,000 for beds to get kids off the dirt floors.
Pastor Carlos: "The head of our denomination mentioned there were 80 pastors and their families that are experiencing hunger. Some care for our mercy kids some oversee our feeding centers."
Flutemaker Ministries response: We sent an offering to help at this time.
Pastor Carlos: "We have given food to more than 640 families apart from the 5,000 at the feeding centers. But the food has just about run out and we are praying."
Flutemaker Ministries response: If you would like to make a special gift at this time I invite you to our donation button below.
Flutemaker Ministries, we love what we do.
