Belen Rae

It's a little overdue for us to be introducing our new daughter today, but exactly one month ago we welcomed Belen Rae to our family. She was born by c-section on January 20th, here in Nicaragua, and was welcomed home by two very excited little boys, as well as Grandma Jonker, who we were blessed to have with us for three weeks. We are so thankful for good doctors and a beautiful, clean hospital here in Managua. Belen means Bethlehem in Spanish, and our Nicaraguan friends are so excited that they are familiar with the name and can pronounce it. Our North American friends and family, on the other hand, continue to say "Congratulations! (pause)...How do you pronounce that?" The best way we can describe it is that it is pronounced as Bay-len, with the accent on the second syllable.

She may not look Nicaraguan, but she is! Having a baby abroad means that first she needs to get a Nicaraguan Birth Certificate, then go to the U.S. embassy to get a Certificate of Birth Abroad, and then she gets two passports! We will be busy doing these things in anticipation of a visit to Michigan and New York this summer. We are also excited for Belen to meet her Starkenburg Grandparents next month in March.

Spiritual Emphasis Day

At Nicaragua Christian Academy, January 28 was our annual Spiritual Emphasis Day in high school. Spiritual Emphasis Day is a day full of guest speakers, praise and worship, special interest seminars, games and prayer, designed to allow students in grades 7 to 12 to take time away from their regular academic routine and focus on their spiritual walk with the Lord.

Our theme this year was "I Believe in You", and focused on how God believes in us (our identity in Christ), our parents, teachers and families believe in us, and how we can believe in others (make a difference). Our students enjoyed attending four special-interest seminars that they selected from among 18 guest speakers. One highlight of the day for many of the 140 middle school and high school students who attended was opening personal letters their parents had written to them (as a surprise) along the theme of, "I Believe in You."

Our main speaker this year was Jeremy Havlin, founder and director of One By One Missions. Jeremy was born in Cochabamba, Bolivia. He spent his subsequent years living in various countries throughout South America- where he developed a love and compassion for Latin American people. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Intercultural Studies and Spanish from Taylor University, and spent five years as the start-up youth pastor and missions director of Discover Church in Greenville, South Carolina. He and his wife Jessica have been serving as missionaries in Nicaragua since 2008.

Teachers Needed

Nicaragua Christian Academy is currently seeking interested individuals to fill the following positions for the 2011-2012 school year (orientation begins July 20, 2011):

• Preschool Teacher
• First Grade Teacher
• Third Grade Teacher
• Fourth Grade Teacher
• Sixth Grade Teacher

NCA Summer Camp is also currently seeking volunteer teachers for Summer Camp 2011 (June 16 to July 22).

If you are interested, please contact our director, Liam Starkenburg (director@nca.edu.ni) or visit our school website (http://www.nca.edu.ni/Employment.shtml).

Education in Nicaragua

Did you know?

• There are about 2 million school-aged children in Nicaragua.
• Only about 1.6 million are actually attending school; 400,000 do not attend for various reasons, mostly related to finances.
• The country only has classroom space for about 800,000 students; most schools have two "shifts" of class. Some students attend in the morning and others attend in the afternoon. The school day is shortened to less than 5 hours.
• The classrooms are overcrowded. The law permits up to 40 students per classroom, but many times this is not achieved. Classrooms with 50, 60 or even 70 students (or more) are common in Nicaragua.
• Most schools do not have sufficient resources to provide a good education to the students. Teachers are inexperienced, underpaid, and overworked. They do not have the classroom and textbook resources necessary to achieve academic excellence.