This is “Izzy”. She is 7 years old and lives in North West Nicaragua. We are trying to prevent the amputation of her leg. Can you help?

My name is Margaret Boren, a nurse by background, the Founder and Director of a 501(c)(3) registered in the USA, “Circle of Empowerment”, and work with this organization in NW Nicaragua. I have served in Nicaragua an average of 9 months a year for the last 18 years. This is not just a job, but rather my life’s work, as I serve as a volunteer. I do this to give back to the people here that I have fallen in love with. In my opinion, when we have been blessed- and I have- we need to pass it on.

Izzy suffers from chronic osteomyelitis, an infection in the bone, which is difficult to treat. She has had this for 9 months, which was caused by a severe bump by children at play. The skin was not broken, but an infection ensued. She has gone through 4 separate surgeries in the medical system she has access to, but the infection persists, and further treatment consists of either an amputation or continuing the present treatment regimen for the rest of her life. She develops abscesses in the thigh every two weeks, resulting in severe pain, inability to function, and usually needing local incision and drainage, and medication, only to start another two weeks later.

Some dedicated medical specialists from an excellent private hospital are willing to try and address the problem at its source one more time, but it will be an expensive proposition, with as much as 40 days in the hospital, and proceeding with regular cultures to ensure we fight the correct pathogen. I expect the costs to be in the area of $10,000. I will fight for a discount and give you the hospital’s name if I am successful!

There are no guarantees, but with prayer and support, we might save her leg! For all of you that help and all of you that pray, we provide progress updates on our Facebook page and Circle of Empowerment website. Circle of Empowerment does so much good here in the areas of Health Education and Community development, but we are not funded to take on this big of a challenge without outside assistance. Our philosophy is to help the people help themselves. We are a brotherhood group that provides a hand up, and not based on hand outs. To donate, click any of the “Donate” buttons throughout our website which will direct you to our PayPal, or go to paypal.me/circleofempowerment.

This month’s testimonial comes from a local Nicaraguan who has been blessed to personally benefit from the power and beauty of this organization.

"Hello, dear reader, my name is Diana Margarita Hernández Somarriba, I am currently 25 years old, I have a degree in Business Administration, but this would not have been possible without the help of God and the Círculo de Empoderamiento project, represented by Margarita Boren in the community of Aposentillo.

I came to this project when I was only 12 years old, I lived in a family of seven, my two parents, my four brothers and I, we were very low-income, we lived in the community of Aposentillo, owned by Danilo Monzón , where my parents worked taking care of and maintaining their house, there I met Sonia Monzón, sister of the owner of the house where my parents worked, who had acquired affection for me, she had contact with Margarita Boren and she told her if I received and trained as a health brigadista, Margarita gave a positive response to this request. I did not know anything about this, until I was informed and with the approval of my parents I accepted and began to attend the Nancy Lund clinic, in reality at that time I did not know what I was going to, I had no idea what I was going to do. I was a girl without any experience in this area.

Upon arriving at the clinic I began to receive the training course to be a health brigadista, in which I graduated, then I continued attending the clinic to help in everything that I was assigned to do, I also supported in the community census In being aware of whether there was any sick person who needed to be transferred in the community, he supported the medical brigades specialized in some area that came to serve in the clinic and in days of talks to the community regarding diseases.

When I joined as a brigadista, I was also admitted to the project with school help, at that time I was going to start my high school and I began to receive school supplies every year until I reached my high school diploma. At the end of my high school I did not want to continue studying, I had decided to do other things, but Margarita persuaded me to continue studying and do other things at the same time, I followed her advice and with the help of the Lord and the project, I managed to enter the University Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua, where I studied my degree in Business Administration, always receiving financial support from the project, without this financial support I would not be able to pursue my degree, since my parents did not have the resources to finance it. Then I also began to support as a volunteer teacher in the school reinforcement that is given to the children who are benefited by the project.

It has been thirteen years since I started attending the Nancy Lund clinic, I did not know what was coming, but today I thank God, Margarita and the Empowerment Circle project, since in addition to receiving financial aid, I learned to help people, to serve in my community and this is something that fills me with satisfaction and I feel that it makes me a better person."
- Diana Margarita Hernández Somarriba

Happy New Year!
This month’s testimonial comes from a local Nicaraguan and the accountant for Circle of Empowerment.

"My name is Oneyda Lopez. I am the result of the development of the Empowerment Circle here in Nicaragua, becoming a professional accountant in Finance, I currently work for the COE. And I want to express to you that all my experiences have been and will continue to be fantastic because through the benefits that we receive from the COE project, many people are helped who are infinitely grateful to the COE for all the help that the program executes, such as in Health, education. special help through delegations of beautiful and friendly people and that the interactions that we have experienced are based mainly on respect and helping others as a main objective is the COE. All these 17 years have been a great and beautiful experiences and I hope to continue giving my best for many more years and above all with a lot of love."
- Oneyda Lopez

I'll keep this short and get straight to the point-
Circle of Empowerment needs your help!
​
​Our old truck was on its last wheels, so to speak, and as a matter of safety and necessity, we were forced to sell it and buy a new truck. ​

This isn't the way we normally like to go about our purchases. Typically we like to fundraise the money up front and then purchase what we need, however it was no longer safe to continue to drive our truck, and this needed to be done quickly.

​ Go Fund Me Link: gf.me/u/v2n643

Here at Circle of Empowerment we are always excited when new connections come our way.
Our new dental clinic has brought so many wonderful people in to our "circle", including an exciting partnership this August. For six days, we were so blessed to have been able to partner with a delegation of dentists from Italy. These dentists provided wonderful services to the people of Aposentillo. While partnering with Circle of Empowerment, these dentist completed the following:
     - 91 consultations
     - 29 dental extractions
     - 42 shims,
     - 6 cleanings
     - 1 endodontics
     - 5 referrals to a private clinic
     - 2 sutures
     - 2 stitches 
Without the support of our donors, the dental clinic would never have been built, outfitted, or staffed. And without the initial support of our clinic, amazing collaborations like this would not be possible!

As I reflect on the positive changes of the past year, adequate words of thank you escape me. ​

Our sponsors and donors have made an incredible impact on the children in Nicaragua. My job is to gift all of your generosity into the hands of the poorest of the poor; to make the biggest impact. In my area is where I find parents that move to find work to support their families; parents that are illiterate and unable to provide education for their children or make it a priority within their hardships; and it is here that the difference starts! Despite the socioeconomic status, the community and familial support for our Student sponsorship program has been outstanding and our successes have been huge!

We are empowering those with the most limited opportunities and passion; and what we have witnessed will impress!

- Some of our sponsored children are the first to graduate from Grade School.

- Many are the first in their families to graduate from high school.

- In the past 10 years, we have seen 8 of our sponsored students be honored as High School Valedictorians!

At COE, we pride ourselves on holding our students to high expectations. We require attendance and competency testing for all of our grade school students. Furthermore, high school and University school students are held to a grade standard to continue to receive sponsorship. The schooling is rigorous and the results impressive.

Our mission is to provide not only for the youth of our Nicaraguan community but empower the people of the community. All of our tutoring, programming, on site health care providers and clinics are all operated by Nicaraguan staff, that are overseen by me. I am immensely proud of my staff and the students; as this is one of the only educational programs of this quality and this success in a developing country!

May God Bless you Abundantly!
Meg Boren

For more details about 2018 with COE, check out our Annual Report: 
Page 1: annual_report_2018_page_1.jpg​
Page 2: annual_report_2018_page_2.jpg