About Bedales
Dunhurst Supporting Education in Nicaragua
Summer 2011 Update
Dunhurst teacher Louise Banks attended a reception at the Nicaraguan Embassy to launch Martina Gruppo’s ethical coffee business under its new name Hada del cafe. Louise was invited on behalf of Dunhurst which has raised money to support the Miraflor Farming community, through building a new school (staff and pupils have raised over £10,000), as well as supporting Coffee sales from the region. These sales are generating a better income for the Nicaraguan producers. Bedales HR manager Jo Hunter also went to the reception having visited Miraflor with Martina two years ago (and helped with Miraflor classroom renovations)
In this picture Louise is talking to Bianca Jagger who was at the reception, about Dunhurst’s involvement in this ethical business initiative - she was particularly interested in the Nicaragua Week the school ran in conjunction with the trade/aid project and took a booklet about this event away with her. Having been born in Managua , Nicaragua and spent her life working on Human Rights issues this project caught her attention. She told Martina she would like to accompany her on a future visit to Miraflor.
Martina addressed the guests, (which included commissioners and diplomats from Honduras, Belize and El Salvador) in Spanish about the coffee business and its work with the Coffee farming community.
A feature on Radio 4’s Food Programme about Hada del Cafe, last month has generated a lot of interest in the project.
Introduction
The Dunhurst project to support education in Miraflor, Nicaragua was introduced to Dunhurst by Martina Gruppo. Martina is Founder of a social enterprise and ethical fairtrade initiative. The company sells coffee produced by farmers in Nicaragua, of which a percentage of the profits goes towards helping children of the coffee farming communities continue onto secondary education.
Dunhurst teacher, Louise Banks, invited Martina to Dunhurst to talk about her work for the Esquela Vincente Talavera School in Miraflor, Nicaragua, which inspired Dunhurstians to set up the Miraflor campaign. Since then Dunhurst has raised £10,000 for the project. At the School’s Summer concert, staff organised a huge raffle and rose £4000. The raffle was a wonderful gesture towards their much loved colleague, Louise Banks, following the death of her son, Sam, particularly as Sam was so passionate about the Miraflor project.
Louise Banks said: “Supporting the development of the school has improved the local community’s quality of life in so many ways. In the past many children did not go on to further education because they did not live close enough to the nearest secondary school (which is now an even longer, two hour journey away due to recent floods) consequently they left after Primary school and earned a low wage with no career prospects. They are very excited at the chance this gives them for further education – at the same time their attachment to the community and their families is strong and many hope, in the long term to bring some of the benefits of their education and training back to Miraflor.”
Thanks to the hard work of Martina with the support of Dunhurst, the Nicaraguan Government have recently granted the Miraflor school with secondary school status, which means 200 pupils will now be able to further their education, including adults, from this remote mountain community.
At a recent assembly Dunhurst invited Martina to give pupils an update following her latest trip to oversee the building works in Miraflor. She was delighted to receive a cheque from Dunhurst for £912.50 raised following Dunhurst PE Teacher Ryan Walsh's 'Great South Run' Team challenge, which included Bedales Headmaster Keith Budge and his wife Moony.
Dunhurst pupils and teachers continue to lend their support for the project's future plans through various activities in addition to fundraising, these include:
Clothing
Martina said that after a poor coffee harvest last year and general hardship in the region there is a need for clothes in Miraflor which are very expensive in Nicaragua. Although families put much of their earnings towards school uniforms, they have very little other clothing. Dunhurst is therefore setting up a seconds clothing collection for Miraflor.
Dunhurstians take action
There are plans to set up a Spanish language/Miraflor activity for Dunhurst pupils so that they can learn to write letters to the Miraflor children in simple Spanish.
Every term Dunhurst pupils get together to devise new fundraising initiatives for the project. For example, Dunhurst pupil, Cameron Cross, has started a collection of old ink cartridges and mobile phones to be recycled through a scheme called ‘Money for Schools’. Last year he made £100 for Miraflor and is hoping to raise even more this year. 
