This is my beautiful new friend Giaconda, or Gia, as the kids call her, and her family. She is technically our neighbor’s nanny, but she is now the kids’ favorite person. She is like a celebrity when she arrives, the kids flocking to her, yelling, “GIA!!!!!” There is something magical about her. She also speaks no English, so the fact that everyone loves her, even if they can’t understand what she’s saying, really does say a lot, doesn’t it?

In my conversations with her, I learned how much she lost from her home when the two hurricanes hit this area in November 2020 - as did many Nicaraguans.

As a mom who cooks all the time, when I learned she had no oven, I wanted to replace it. Especially since she is also the lunch cook where the kids go to school. She literally prepares fresh cooked meals for the kids each day and brings the food over herself!

She was actually saving to replace her oven (they are about $200), but she had emergency gall bladder surgery a few months ago and was in the hospital for 18 days - which wiped out her savings and then some. Thanks to my amazing clients and business, we were able to replace her oven last weekend, which was an incredible blessing for us to do so! Here she is with her new oven and a picture of it after the hurricane on the right.

Now, I am on a mission to help her with one thing she really wants in her home: a bathroom. Gia’s family (and many other local families) don’t have indoor bathrooms - they have what they call latrines, also called “plop-plops” (you can imagine why they call them that). Toilets are holes in the ground that have a tin shed or walls around it.

These latrines become sanitary issues during storms like the hurricanes, because so much water comes through, that the holes fill and the contents are spread out wherever the water collects. Many Nicaraguans were advised to get rid of their mattresses due to the water contamination, but many cannot afford to replace them. Gia was fortunate that some were loaned to her.

Gia’s family had to choose whether to build a bathroom or buy a motorcycle for transportation to and from Gia’s job as a nanny. Due to the pandemic, her husband is out of work, so Gia’s income as a nanny is the only current source of income for her family. That income is used to pay for her home utilities, the motorcycle payment, gas, schooling fees for her daughters, and food. There isn’t much leftover to save, to be honest.

When I asked her how much it cost to build a bathroom, I was kind of shocked! To build a bathroom, she needs bricks for the floor and walls, cement to cover the bricks, and then the sink and toilet. Pretty simple bathroom. Guess how much that will cost? Somewhere between $1600-$2000! My goal is $2200 to offset donation fees and to provide a little cushion for their family if costs are more than anticipated.

When my kids had a tummy bug last week, I was up all night helping them go to the toilet. Can you imagine having to go outside every hour for a sick child, or if you were sick, or any other reason? I would absolutely love to share the generosity of my friends and family at home with her, to send her some of the love she shares so freely with all of us.

Would you consider helping Gia’s family build an indoor bathroom?? A donation of any amount goes a long way, and of course sharing this link helps, too. Imagine her reaction, and knowing you contributed! Thank you so much for considering being a part of this incredible blessing for her family. <3

Help Gia Get a Bathroom!

By Elisa Pool

Help Gia Get a Bathroom!

(Because it's hard to keep it in when you have to go outside!)