Aleyda Hernandez told us that, as a young school teacher many years ago, she was nervous to speak up about a problem that the Rainbow Network had not yet addressed.

Leaders in her community were meeting with Keith Jaspers, founder of the Rainbow Network, under a mango tree near her school. As the meeting ended, her concern for her students overcame her worries about asking for too much.

“I got courage to speak, and I said to Mr. Keith ‘Some children in my classroom are passing out from hunger, and I want you to help us. Can you help us?’”

Thus was born Rainbow Network’s program of feeding centers. In April, I was privileged to attend a celebration of 25 million meals served through that program—and to see Aleyda point to the mango tree where she found her nerve.

Seeing Aleyda at the celebration, speaking before hundreds of her Nicaraguan neighbors, American executives and government officials from Nicaragua and the United States, it is difficult to imagine her being fearful of anything.

She was one of many Nicaraguans whose refusal to give into poverty blew me away.

When I first saw their homes—dirt-floor shacks where crooked tree limbs support scraps of sheet metal, fragments of old boards and plastic tarp—I thought I must do more to help these poor people.

By the end of the first day, I realized how much I have to learn from the Nicaraguans whose dignity, resourcefulness and courage are absolutely inspirational.

If I had to walk miles on dusty roads in 95-degree heat to attend the “25 million meals” celebration, would I arrive with a beautiful manicure, hair neatly arranged, my best clothes on display?

If our family “closet” was a rope strung between two trees, would my children go to school in spotless white shirts?

For that matter, if I lived in a country where nearly 50 percent of the people are underemployed, would I bother to seek a scholarship to attend high school?

Would I be willing to guarantee the repayment of microloans granted to my fellow entrepreneurs?

Would I be able to parlay the profits from operating a Xerox machine into funding for my law school education?

Would I seek a loan to start a poultry business if I had to deliver the chickens on a bicycle?

To be honest, I doubt it. But I saw people in Nicaragua doing all that and much more.

I thought I might come home wanting to give more support to the Rainbow Network’s work, and I did. But mostly I stumbled away from that life-changing experience wanting to take more from the inspirational examples of courage shown to me by the people I met in Nicaragua.