Healthcare for Pregnant Women in Nicaragua

Dear Friends and Supporters:

Last year we started a TeenSmart club at Clinica Verde, and we're excited to share with you how it's going. First of all, Our Teen Club is comprised of more than 20 teens from the region we serve. These teens are trained to be peer counselors to other young people in surrounding communities, encouraging engagement, self-esteem, and responsible behavior around smart sexual health and wellbeing. They have a special space at Clinica Verde that they fixed up to be their place for brainstorming, meeting and supporting one another.

Recently, we visited the homes of adolescents in our TeenSmart program. We got to meet their mothers and siblings, and share personally the work we're doing with their young leaders. A couple of our teens also developed the idea to visit an elderly care center. A couple of the students, who are studying nursing, performed blood pressure checks and general health assessments for the elderly in the nearby community of San Nicolas. Other students participated in community service by cleaning windows at the center, served refreshments to the elderly and spent time building new friendships. It was a wonderful day.

This work is guided and overseen by TeenSmart International, a non-profit organization that promotes self care and self-empowerment among teens with the goal of reducing or preventing risky sexual health behavior. Providing peer support and engaging in community service opportunities is key to building self-confidence. We wanted to share photos of some of this work with you. We'll keep you updated as we have more information and data on the program and curriculum. In the meantime, we wanted to share some photos of our teens and action and simply thank you for your ongoing faith and support. We couldn't do our work without you!

Gratefully,

Betsy