New Mexico Tour: Speaker to Present Overview of Catholic Relief Services' Programs for Farming Communities in Nicaragua

"Mini aqueducts were constructed in five communities in the Pueblo Nuevo municipality, thanks to an investment 2.5 million córdobas (US$94,000) from the international organization Catholic Relief Service (CRS) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which provlded the financial assistance. Jorge Brenes Abdalá, director of the ACORDAR project,  in which CRS is a participant, visited the communities to verify the benefit of the project for 200 families, who previously had to travel long distances to haul water in order to conduct their daily chores."  Read full article in Spanish in Nicaraguan daily newspaper La Prensa.

Photo from La Prensa

With the assistance of projects sponsored by Catholic Relief Services (CRS), some 12,000 families in Nicaragua have been able to increase their income and achieved self-sufficiency. Nicaragua is one of the five countries featured in the 2015 CRS Rice Bowl Lenten catechetical program.

The CRS efforts in Nicaragua are led in part by Jorge Brenes Abdalah (sometimes spelled Abdalá), who coordinates CRS' agricultural business promotion efforts in the Central American country via the alliance to Create Rural Business Opportunities through Agroenterprise Relationships (ACORDAR).

Brenes Abdalah, senior chief of agribusiness for CRS in Nicaragua, has helped put together some important studies on agriculture issues in his home country. "ACORDAR municipality investments have bolstered the farmers’ supply chain competitiveness and created powerful synergies with municipal government investments," he said in a 2012 report.  

Photo: CRS

The CRS specialist, whose family fled Nicaragua during the war in 1985, dedicates his life to helping poor, small-scale farmers in his country.

Brenes Abdalah will share his experiences and discuss the programs that CRS offers in Nicaragua during his speaking tour in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Las Vegas, N.M., on Jan. 24-25, 2015, sponsored by the Office of Social Justice and Respect Life of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

Here is a list of events open to the public where Brenes Abdalah will speak.

• Saturday January 24, 11:45-12:45. Presentation in Spanish- Ascension Church, 2150 Raymac, SW, Albuquerque (map), (Open to all Spanish speakers, includes lunch—please register by calling Leslie Farías 505-918-4447) 
• Saturday, January 24,  1:30-3:30 p.m., St. John XXIII Catholic Community, 4831 Tramway Ridge Dr., NE, Albuquerque (map). The event is cosponsored by the local graduates of the JustFaith program in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe
• Sunday, January 25, 10:45-11:45 a.m.  Adult Formation Class  St. Therese Catholic School, 311 Shropshire, NW, Albuquerque (map)
• Sunday, January 25, 2:30-3:30 p.m.  Newman Center (New Mexico Highlands University), 901 8th St., Las Vegas, N.M. (map)  For more info contact Adrellita Chavez, Campus Minister, Newman Center, (505) 429-3310
• Sunday, January 25, 5:00 p.m. Mass—Speaking after communion (Spanish), Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, 417 Agua Fria, Santa Fe (map)

For more information about these events, please contact the Office of Social Justice and Respect Life, 505-831-8167 or justice@archdiosf.org or the contact person listed for a particular event.