by Jon Bishop

I visited Santa Teresa and the Sister City Project for the first time from July 9 to July 14, 2006. I joined the SCP Board in February, 2005, so I was delighted to get the chance to see our project first hand. I have been to Nicaragua several times, and I am quite familiar with the country. I managed a microfinance loan fund that was focused on Nicaragua, and I did an internship between the two years of my MBA program, in which I worked with Fair Trade coffee cooperatives in very rural parts of the country. Thus, the plight of the rural poor in Nicaragua is something I have seen at close range. Moreover, my wife and I have a house in Panama, and we lived there for five years full time, which means I am no stranger to rural poverty in Central America. Because of this background, I was not shocked by the poverty in Nicaragua in the same way that someone visiting the country for the first time would be.

Sewing co-op member Maria Felicita
works at a treadle machine in the
church at La Palma.

All the same, I still have not gotten truly used to the level of poverty in Nicaragua, and I hope I never do. My reaction to seeing poverty is to want to do something about it. A very typical emotion of those who want to alleviate poverty is to want to help those who are poor and have no opportunities. This is certainly understandable, but my response is slightly different. I want to change the system that allows the poverty to exist in the first place. This is the reason why joining the SCP Board was so attractive to me. The project aims to improve the infrastructure so that the poor in Chacocente have a chance of forging their own path out of poverty. I am an avid environmentalist, so the environmental aspect of the SCP project was icing on the cake when the opportunity to join the Board was presented to me. This trip gave me the chance to get truly connected with the SCP project in Chacocente.

My flight arrived into Managua in the early afternoon, and I was met at the airport by Cristobal Conrado, the mayor of Santa Teresa. He was accompanied by Ivan Dinarte, the treasurer of Santa Teresa, and Hassan, a financial expert who assists Ivan. I stayed at the house of Yamileth Fonseca, the vice-mayor of Santa Teresa. Yamileth is a very kind and generous person who always has a couple of young people staying at her house who have nowhere else to stay. The reception and hospitality of the people from the Alcaldia (mayor’s office) show how much they value the efforts and achievements of SCP over the years.

The first day of my visit to Santa Teresa was dedicated to meetings with the various people who are our counterparts. In February of this year, we hired two part-time facilitators, Alma Susana Chavez and Marlon Palacio. My trip was the first visit by any member of the Board since Alma and Marlon began working for us. I was extremely pleased with both of them. They are both very dedicated to both poverty alleviation and environmental protection. They work very well together and have become good friends. Both of them are university educated and very articulate. They live in Santa Teresa, and it becomes quickly clear walking through town with them that they are both very well liked. The dedication, intellect, and social skills of Alma and Marlon have been invaluable to us.

SCP facilitator Marlon Palacio (r) at a meeting in
La Poma.

The second day of my visit, we went to the Chacocente Reserve. The reserve is about 10 miles south of the town of Santa Teresa. The vegetation is tropical dry forest. In the wet season (June – November), the forest is very green and muddy. In the dry season, the trees lose their leaves, and the ground is extremely dry and dusty. Because of the long dry season, there are many species of cactus that grow in the forest. The wet season was just beginning the week I was there.

The most striking feature of the reserve to me was the amount of land that has been cleared of vegetation recently for agriculture. I was also struck by how many cattle there were roaming free in the reserve even though this is not permitted. I took this as a sign that we need to increase our level of impact on the communities. The bright spot in all this is that there was little evidence of burning of slash. After talking to the residents of the reserve, it was clear that the SCP training programs aimed at discouraging burning have been very effective.

We visited a school and met with a group of women who were part of the SCP sewing training program. It was good to see classes taught in a school built by SCP. Several of the parents said to me that one of their biggest desires is for their kids to have access to secondary schooling. The closest middle school and high school are in Santa Teresa, which is prohibitive for the families in the reserve. The real eye-opener for me was to talk to the women in the sewing group and see the benefits of that program. Until I met with these women, I considered the sewing
project to be something of a side show for SCP. Five minutes into that conversation, I did an abrupt about face. I now consider the sewing project to be our most successful project. The pride that the women showed at being able to make clothes for their family was truly inspiring. The women talked about making school uniforms to sell to residents of the reserve. This would mean that the money spent on school uniforms would stay in the communities. The women were very honest about what skills they lacked to be able to carry out such a project.

Perhaps the most important meeting of my entire trip was with Dr. Wilford Quintanilla, who is the doctor in the community of La Pita, in the buffer zone of the Chacocente reserve. The medical clinic in La Pita serves all of the communities in the reserve and all of the communities in the buffer zone. Most doctors in Central America consider being posted in a rural community with no electricity and no running water to be the result of drawing the short straw. Dr. Quintanilla, on the other hand, is very dedicated to his communities and takes great pride in being able to improve the lives of the residents there even though he does not have adequate resources to do so. He has a very simple clinic, but he is able to make a little go a long way. He has a photovoltaic panel and a battery bank so that he can run lights and a pump to fill the water tank. He has also installed a water chlorination system.

Dr. Wilford Quintanilla, with a patient, at his clinic
in La Pita

In the summer of 2005, SCP committed to providing $40 per month so that Dr. Quintanilla could train volunteer health promoters and provide them with the supplies necessary to give simple health care to save people a long horse ride to the clinic when they don’t feel well. This project never materialized, but I assured him that SCP is now eager to support his efforts. He gave
me a long wish-list of things he needs and projects he would like to do. He also gave me a list of health concerns that he thinks could be integrated into the other SCP projects. We parted as good friends, and it is my sincere hope that we can give him the support he needs to give the folks of Chacocente access to good health care.

Marlon and I had some motorcycle adventures after that meeting. We got our feet soaked in a river that turned out to be a bit deeper than it appeared from the bank. When our motorcycle had a flat tire, we commandeered the motorcycle that Alma and the fellow from FFI were riding, and they got a ride back to Santa Teresa on the back of a truck. Soon after leaving them, we were climbing south out of a muddy river crossing when our rear wheel went west. We both ended up sitting down in the mud as the motorcycle slid out from under us. Somehow, the motorcycle managed to end up on top of us.

We were not hurt at all, but the sight of two guys sitting in the mud with a motorcycle on top of them provided excellent entertainment to some amused onlookers. The mud was so slick, I don’t think it was possible to get through that stretch upright.

We showed up to a meeting with the community council of a potential new community for our project called El Terrero a bit muddy, but we learned quite a bit about this community. It is very well organized and may be a good candidate for expanding our reach.

I was very pleased with my first trip to Chacocente. I feel that I now have an excellent understanding of the communities, and it is obvious that SCP is making a difference. I was very pleased with the efforts of Alma and Marlon. With their help, I am very optimistic SCP can have a positive impact on Chacocente.

Actions the Board has taken to follow up on issues raised during my trip:

1. SCP has committed to extending the sustainable agriculture program through the end of 2008.
2. SCP will provide $40 per month to Dr. Quintanilla so that he can go ahead with the training program for health promoters that got derailed last year.
3. The Board has communicated that we welcome a request for funds necessary for the women in the sewing groups to make school uniforms to sell.
4. The Board has asked me to explore ways to make secondary education available in the reserve.

Jon Bishop is a member of the SCP Board

Beekeeping is a new project this year. People from the four
villages work together to take care of the hives. Some of the
honey will be used for making natural medicines.