horseback and loving it

On a Horse in El Progreso

It's already mid-April and this year is flying by.  It's been a challenge to find time to pound out a blog, but at some point you just have to push everything else aside and get it done, right?  Below, I've got it broken down into groups.  Here's a taste.  RedProCom focused last month on learning tools for teaching media. We're nearing the end of the video project in El Progreso.  Things went really well and we ended up going back for an extra 4 days to film more.  First stages of Nehemiah Center website redesign have concretized, and we have an initial goal of a working site in 1 month!  I'm also working on planning an internship for Scott, an IT student from Covenant College in Georgia.  Lastly, catch some pictures of my most recent motorcycle adventure to Rio San Juan and El Castillo.  Read on to get the juicy details!

RedProCom

Last month we met Diriamba, at the Baustista Emanuel school.  With a focus on media creation, a member of our group led a session introducing us an photo-editing program that's known as the GIMP (a program similar to Adobe's $700 Photoshop, but free and open source).  We then learned about creating stop-motion videos using a camera and open source software Luciole.



Following the stop-motion presentation I gave a lesson on video editing in Linux--the options and trends in the free and open source world.  As part of the presentation we made a short video together to practice a few things and make ourselves disappear.  We also talked about how we could use videos in our classes to promote something good or educate others.  Here's our practice video:



Yesteray I visited a local round table where any local NGO or community organization is invited.  Podcasts for Peace presented their work of "facilitating creative and intellectual expression through digital media to empower youth leaders and promote social justice..."  I have already invited them to come and share what they do with our teachers to encourage them to use the technological tools that they have not just to teach the tools to the students, but to use the tools to encourage creativity and expression.  I'm excited about them coming!

I've also created a basic facebook page for this group.  Feel free to pass on by and give it a "like" or just peruse.  There should be a "translate this" button somewhere in the posts that are in Spanish.  Link is here: facebook.com/redprocom.

Participatory video
At present, we're just finishing up a video about a community called "El Progreso".  Maybe I should say Farid is finishing it up.  He's been working more and more independently on these projects, which is exactly my plan.  This project went really well, and I actually sent him back to the community by himself for an extra 4 days to give the community members additional time to organize and present their thoughts in the video.  He is doing a great job, and next week he'll be on his own with a new project for the first time.  His confidence has been building and with the last four days alone under his belt, I think he is well prepared for this next step.  The video he's finishing up may be translated into English as well.  I'll let you know if it is so you can watch it.

In Other News...

This past week we concretized plans to redesign the Nehemiah Center's website, making it more social and more interactive.  We're working with Andrea over at curlyhost.com through a connection with a friend here.  She's offered to donate much of her own free time to creating the site--charging us a small portion of what we would pay elsewhere.

Also, I'm in the planning stages of organizing an internship for June and July with Scott, an IT student from Covenant College in Georgia.  He heard me speak at Brookside about a year and a half ago and he said was really inspired about how God could use his gifts as an IT specialist.  I'm looking forward to having him here to learn and serve, and I'm enjoying the planning process. He'll be working on some internal projects with the Nehemiah Center, shadow a Nicaraguan computer teacher, and lead some trainings with the teachers of RedProCom.  He also wants to learn some Spanish and see what life is like as a missionary.

Mauro and Breyling are well into their first year of "secundaria", which is Nicaraguan high school.  It starts at grade 7.  Mauro has been moved to a school known as Loyola, which is one of the best private schools in Managua.  It seems that they're both doing pretty well in school.  I have an oustanding trip to the beach with Breyling and two friends of his choice, as this was my gift to him on his birthday.

Another video project is also on the horizon, as Hand in Hand Ministries would like me to update their promotional video.  It's the organization that sponsors Breyling and Mauro.  If you'll recall, I created this video for them about 4 years ago.  It was one of my first videos and I learned a lot through the process.  They're still using the video on a regular basis, and have told me "it was the best $300 we ever spent".  At the time I thought it was very expensive, and felt bad asking that much...but as it turns out I should have asked for more!  By the way, that amount goes towards covering the costs for making the film (maintaining and replacing the equipment and software, paying for basic utilities, and overhead at the NC like accounting and housekeeping).  Part of the vision of the studio is being able to create good videos for ministries and to be able to offer our services at cost.  It's been a while since I've done one like this.  The target finish date is July 15.

Prayer Items:

• Pray that the next few months go smoothly and that I'm able to focus on the projects at hand--which are many as you can see--and do them well, delegating everything that I should be delegating!  I am kind of feeling stressed as I start to consider all of the different directions I'm being pulled;
• Continue praying for the local leadership in RedProCom;
• Pray for Farid as he goes out for his first solo project;
• Pray for Scott and myself as we prepare for his two months in Nicaragua--pray that God uses this time to impress his will on Scott.
• Praise God for the successes of the various projects I've been working on.  They are only successful because of Him!