This month: News from Christian Aid.

Disaster-planning in Nicaragua

Take three determined women, their painful memories, their fear of repeating disasters, a pot of paint and a handful of banana leaves and you have the beginnings of a community contingency plan.

Step one:

The community works together to build a brand new, sturdy community centre.

Step two:

Lucila, Maritza and Lilian set about mapping the community and its risks.  Their findings are recorded on carefully hand-painted maps illustrating which houses are most at risk from drought, flood and landslides - along with outlining planned escape routes.

Step three:

Make sure that every member of the community donates a sack of grain each harvest.  This is left in the community centre until needed, ensuring food in times of need.

Results in:

A community working together in the knowledge that they are better prepared to face any disasters that come their way.

Nicaragua trivia:

* Spanish explorer Gil Gonzalez de Avila first settled in Nicaragua in 1522, naming it after a local Indian chief, Nicarao.
* October is the wettest month of the year in Nicaragua.
* Do you like eggs for breakfast?  In Nicaragua you might have them with tortillas (a kind of flat bread) and refried beans.
* Nicaragua, the largest country in Central America, is the same size as England.
* It has 12.1m acres of farmland - more than any other Central American country. This means lots of beef, one of the country's main exports.
* Nicaragua also exports coffee, shrimps and lobster, cotton, tobacco, sugar, bananas and gold.
* In Nicaragua, 5,600 people aged between 15 and 49 are known to be living with HIV/AIDS.  It is thought many more people are living with HIV but have not been tested - so these figures are incomplete.
* More that 1.7m people are living with HIV in Latin America.
* Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the western hemisphere - after Haiti.
* Almost half of the population of Nicaragua lacks access to safe water and the illiteracy rate is high.
* In January 2004, the World Bank cancelled 80 per cent of Nicaragua's debt to the institution.  The president at the time, Enrique Bolaños, said it was the best news the country had had in 25 years.  Jubilee 2000 campaigners celebrated, along with Nicaraguans, as their hard work paid off.

  Christian Aid Week begins this year on 14th May, involving more than 300,000 Christian Aid collectors who will encourage their friends, colleagues and neighbours - almost two thirds of UK households - to put some of their hard- earned cash into the famous red envelope. What each person adds, Christian Aid will multiply - and so will help more people to live life to the full.

  It is unlikely that those of us in the UK and Ireland will experience the extreme devastation caused by droughts, floods, landslides and hurricanes that many Nicaraguans face.  But, through Christian Aid Week, we can support MCM and stand in solidarity with those whose lives are characterised by upheaval and struggle, contingency plans and evacuations.

  By supporting Christian Aid Week, you are among millions of people who think poverty is a scandal that we do not have to accept.  Your actions, commitment and contributions will bring about a better life for people in poor communities all over the world.

  To find out more go to or call 08080 006 006.

 Supplied by Christian Aid.