Mango Books

Every Thursday I drive 45 minutes out of Managua to teach English classes in the rural schools of California and San Diego. I often give rides to people along the way, and most of the time have at least one rider in the back of my truck.

One day after class I stopped for a woman who had some large bags. She immediately threw the bags in the back, jumped in the front with me, and began chatting my ear off. I learned that she was quite the entrepreneur selling clothes on Thursdays, tacos on Tuesdays, soup on Friday, and doing laundry out of her house on Mondays and Wednesdays. Normally I drop riders off at a road or bus stop near their house. This wonderful woman began giving me directions to get all the way to her house. As I found myself winding through Villa el Carmen where 'er she bade I was invited to have a mango at her house.

Upon arriving at her house I was invited inside and introduced to her daughter and granddaughter. She then handed me a large bag full of mangoes and insisted that I take them ALL. We're talking a bushel of mangoes! I graciously accepted - after all, turning down her offer would have been supremely rude - and wondered what in the world I would do with so many mangoes.

With the help of a roommate I struck upon an idea. Make mango jam! We spent the better half of a Sunday chopping, cooking, and pouring. Neighbors' kitchens were raided for glass containers and word was sent out regarding a one-time-offer of Hitch-hiker Farms Mango Jam. Within a week we had sold nearly our entire stock.

With the proceeds of Jam sales I was able to do a little shopping! A dozen or so books and a plastic container later I was dropping the books off at the school in San Diego where I had first met the Mango lady. The students were thrilled with the donation of books for their school and ravenously began reading. The delight on their faces was a joy to behold.

I love this crazy country of Nicaragua where picking up a hitch-hiker can turn into donating books to children who have none, and where a bag of mangoes is payment for a ride home.

**To see pictures of the students with their new books go to the Hope and Development Foundation page on Facebook**