El Porvenir in Nicaragua

The rope pump, a local solution

2012-01-17T13:51:00.000-08:00

New year, new post. Here at El Porvenir, we wish you a Happy New Year!

Well and rope pump in Puente Ocho, Sauce, Nicaragua, photo credit: Nile Sprague

El Porvenir is well-known (where we work in Nicaragua at least) for its hand-dug wells. Even on the machine drilled wells, however, we use the rope pump - the standard for water pumping in rural Nicaragua.

Rope pump in Tule Oriental, Camoapa, Nicaragua, example of a machine drilled well.

The rope pump was invented by the Chinese thousands of years ago. Local stories say that the Nicaraguan version of the rope pump was invented by a Belgian technician, Jan Haemhouts, with Nicaraguan campesinos in the early 1980s. The rope pump caught on widely in Nicaragua and is the standard, as mentioned above. The rope pump technology has been exported to India and Africa as well.

What is the rope pump? From ropepumps.org: "The Rope pump consists of a wheel that pulls up an endless rope with cone shaped high precision washers that pass through a PVC pump tube, in this way lifting the water." A picture is worth a thousand words, so this diagram may help: http://www.akvo.org/wiki/index.php/File:Rope_pump_cross_section.jpg

Rope pumps are basically a bicycle wheel with a crank. Photo credit: Nile Sprague

Data from a few years ago showed more than 70,000 rope pumps installed in Nicaragua. Why did it catch on so well? The technology is fairly simple in concept and in fabrication. Thus it is easy to understand and repair. It is cheaper than most handpumps in terms of upfront costs and maintenance. In Nicaragua particularly -since it is our local standard - it is easy to find someone in a community or a nearby community that can repair a rope pump if something needs fixing.

12 year old boy repairing rope pump, photo credit: Lynn Gleason

For El Porvenir, it is part of the sustainability of our projects into the long term. We make sure the people install the rope pump with our staff so they know how to fix it. Parts are available in each rural town. Let us know what you think.

Further reading:

http://www.ropepumps.org
http://www.akvo.org/wiki/index.php/Rope_pump

Site visit to La Rinconada, Achuapa

2011-07-29T15:33:00.000-07:00

It's been on the busy side here in Nicaragua at El Porvenir, but I had a wonderful visit to the community of La Rinconada, Achuapa this week; I thought it was worth sharing. Our valued partner Global Water was here to visit the communities and schools they have been supporting.

We drove up from visits to schools in Cuidad Darío and Terrabona the day before and stayed in the new hotel in El Sauce. The following morning, Kathleen and I had an early breakfast then joined Erick for our trip. We took the "highway" to Estelí about an hour drive up - literally - for the most part uphill. We left the vehicle in Campamento and met Chepe from the community of La Rinconada, who had brought down 3 horses for us to ride up on.

Chepe leads the way as Erick, Kathleen and I follow on horseback.

We rode for about an hour, across a river and through very muddy tracks - the horses were fantastic, although there were a couple of spots they had trouble getting through. We were pleased to arrive though to a very welcoming community. We saw the well, but also where these families previously collected water.

This is where Chepe and the nearby families got their drinking water previously.

The above natural spring was unfortunately open and unprotected and not a good, healthy source of drinking water. The community members told us of the problems they faced with diarrhea and parasites in previous years. Since there was a stream right beside it, any rain overflowed it into the spring; also the animals often bathed in the spring as well, contaminating it. However, what choice did the people have, but to drink the water there?

The community members proudly show their latrines, nicely decorated with flowers.

With help from our partner Global Water and others, we were able to provide some of the materials for the project for the community members to build. The community members contributed the labor, sand and rocks for the construction. The community members dug the latrine pits and the well. Then they did all the masonry involved. The well took 18 months (140 person days) to dig and complete.

The families kindly humored us in holding the banner for the photo.

Hearing the stories of how the community was before and how they felt now, it reminded me why our work is so important. There is still more to be done, for example, they are requesting 2 more wells in the area and a washing station, but they have made an excellent start. If you can help, please consider it through our web page or mailing a check. The future is a little brighter for these families and we hope it will continue to get brighter.

Of course, we are in the rainy season, so we got very wet on our way back to the vehicle. It was still worth it though.

Truck Cab Donation

2011-05-26T12:16:00.000-07:00

Just for fun, we had a very generous donation of a truck cab to El Porvenir from Johan from Canada. It was a bit of work for Gabriel (shown below) to get it through customs though. Although we cannot use it, we will be selling it and putting the money in our fund for a much needed new pick-up truck. We are very grateful to Johan and Gerdy who brought it down.

Rob pretending he knows how to drive the cab. (photo as per request)

The truck parked outside our office.

Rob and Gabriel - Gabriel did all the work to get it into our parking lot.

Water is Life. Passing it on.

2011-04-14T13:58:00.000-07:00

We had a pair of fun visitors here at El Porvenir last month: Canyon and Forest Woodward. Excellent people and excellent photographers.

Check out Canyon's photos and thoughts on his experience here:

http://canyonsage.blogspot.com/2011/03/water-is-life-pass-it-on.html

One of many photos from Canyon's blog

Why Double Pit Latrines? Continual Improvement

2011-04-01T12:45:00.000-07:00

Sneak preview of an article from our next newsletter:

Our philosophy has always been one of continual improvement. If we can do it better, then that's what we try to do. Since I started at El Porvenir, there has been a problem with our sanitation program, but we didn’t have a clear solution until now. The official latrine choice for the government and most groups working in Nicaragua has been the single pit VIP (ventilated improved pit) latrine.

Single pit latrines work well. They eliminate open defecation, contamination of water sources, smells and fly proliferation; they improve the community’s health. However, the problem is that they have a finite capacity. The usual depth of our latrines and the government latrines was about 3 meters or 10 feet deep. These usually filled up in 5-7 years with a typical family. After that, if the family didn’t take the initiative to build another, then they often returned to open defecation. Or, another organization came along and built another latrine, contributing to what we call “latrine cemeteries”. Resources were being wasted and trash created.

Latrine cemetery: This photo shows 3 different sets of
new and abandoned latrines at a school in Terrabona.

So, we did some research and discovered another option from Africa, the double pit VIP latrine. We have been piloting double pit latrines in a few communities since 2007, building 200 to date. A double pit latrine is the same as the single, but has two pits. The beneficiary can use one pit until it fills, then can move the superstructure to the second pit. Once the second pit fills, then the first pit can be emptied as the bacteria will be dead by that time (likely 2-3 years for the pit to fill, although at least a year is needed for it to be safe). Then the superstructure can be moved back and forth between the pits, with luck endlessly.

Note the second pit on the left. Latrine from El Sauce.

So far, the results from the pilots are promising: 2 families have switched to their second pit. Seeing that the families are accepting the technology so far, we decided to eliminate single pit VIP latrines from our project portfolio in 2011. We’ll keep you up to date on how it is working with the double pits and other technologies but we are excited about this new, more sustainable initiative.

p.s. Here is the technical design of this latrine, if you are interested, although it is a little faint (if you are having trouble seeing it, email us at info@elporvenir.org and we can email this to you):

World Water Day activities in Nicaragua

2011-03-23T09:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, El Porvenir celebrated World Water Day both in the US and Nicaragua. All 6 of our regional offices had activities. There were radio programs with hygiene messages, piñatas and celebrations in several communities. We happen to have a group visiting from Bellingham, WA and they were present at the celebration in San Lorenzo and witnessed the water drop piñata as shown here:

Small boy dances as he attempts to hit the water drop piñata

Don Álvaro's story - watershed recovery

2011-02-14T09:26:00.000-08:00

Hurricane Mitch, back in 1998, caused a landslide and destroyed many of the trees in the area of Palo de Agua, where Don Álvaro lives. There was a small spring that provided water to the community; unfortunately, after Mitch, the spring dried up. By 2002, when reforestation was first contemplated, Don Álvaro's lands and the surrounding area were still treeless and without much vegetation. From the first trees planted back in 2002 from a small El Porvenir-led nursery, Don Álvaro started working on his dream of the reforesting the area. Those first trees were planted in the area surrounding where the spring had been.

Don Álvaro is now 63 years old and has 6 children. He received literacy training back in the campaigns in the 1980s, but can only write his name. He is proud that all his 6 children finished primary school.

Don Álvaro showing off one of his many trees.

Don Álvaro is dedicated to his trees and farm. Over the years he has planted more than 2,500 trees. He also has planted pineapple, grafted fruit trees, banana trees and built living fences and barriers to protect the area. He makes a living selling corn and beans—and extra income from selling fruit in town. His land has regained fertility, and most importantly, the spring that dried up has begun to flow again! The spring even has more water than they remember.

Don Álvaro, proudly showing the preliminary structure he has built around the recovered water source.

Thanks to your support, we will continue to help more people like Don Álvaro return a vegetation-less field to productive land with a gushing spring.

Happy New Year - new educational materials

2011-01-19T11:44:00.000-08:00

It's a new year, and a good time to look at renewals... So late last year, we at El Porvenir looked over some of our educational materials and especially at our "10 commandments" of latrine use. We have renamed it in recent years to the 10 norms of latrine use, but it still has the same basic concepts. The main focus this year was to add an equivalent set of norms for well use, double pit latrines, pour flush latrines, washing and bathing stations and improved stoves. Here are a couple of them, so you can practice your Spanish...

The suggestions try to go from most important to less important, so the local Water Committee was given importance in this case (#1).

Hand washing is #2, right after, always use the latrine!

We are glad to see stoves included in these now, and keeping it clean and hygienic is important!

We are optimistic that 2011 will be even more successful than 2010, so keep tuned for more news... Thanks for your support!

WFP visit to Wiwilí

2010-12-06T12:59:00.000-08:00

Last week, El Porvenir had a visit from Diana Betancourt from Water for People (WFP) Honduras. We drove up to Wiwilí, with its improved roads (over previous year); it probably took just 7 hours this time. We saw several new pilot projects that the staff are working on. The double pit VIP latrine is nothing new perhaps for El Porvenir, but this was the first year we built them in Wiwilí. Here is one in Corrozal.

Although completed just a week before, Doña Dominga had already planted flowers around the latrine.

Then we visited Corriente Lira, on the Coco River (although we drove, then walked 3km to the community - no boat ride this time), to see the pilot of the pour flush latrines. This is a first for El Porvenir and very exciting for us. They were not quite complete, but they are close. Pour flush latrines are a good option for communities with an abundance of water and good soil absorption.

The leader, Don Balvino, explains to Diana the construction process in great detail.

The pour flush is similar to a toilet, but 1 liter of water is poured in to flush it.

These pour flush latrines are double pits.
The small box in the foreground allows for a switch between them.

Staff was particularly proud of this new handwashing station in Las Vueltas.
School is out for the year, so no kids around right now.

Photos from World Toilet Day (or World Latrine Day)

2010-11-26T12:59:00.000-08:00

We changed the name to World Latrine Day for our regions

In Nicaragua, as I mentioned in the last blog, our regional El Porvenir offices held events to celebrate World Toilet Day (WTD). We invited local communities to come to our Open Houses, held in our offices, to discuss methods to rehabilitate their old latrines. It was a successful day and we plan to repeat it again next year. Some people did get the impression that we were going to give away new latrines, but most people seemed to understand what we were getting at. Several students from a nearby school also came and a couple of local NGOs. Here are some photos from the event in Darío.

Marlon gives some latrine rehab tips to people that dropped by the Open House

Mayra explains our 10 hygiene "tips" for using the latrine

Staff decorated the office outside with hygiene messages.

Tomorrow is World Toilet Day!

2010-11-18T11:17:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, El Porvenir will celebrate World Toilet Day (WTD). Our regions will hold open houses, inviting local communities to discuss sanitation in general and in particular to discuss the rehabilitation of their old latrines.

Pilot double pit latrine in La Calamidad, Camoapa, Nicaragua

The vast majority of communities in Nicaragua, if they have latrines, have single-pit VIP (Ventilated Improved Pit) latrines. Many built over the years are now full. Here at El Porvenir, we have been piloting double pit latrines (also known as Fossa Alterna) where the superstructure (the slab and enclosure) is moved to the second pit when the first fills. By the time the second pit fills, it is safe to dig out the first pit and start the cycle again. We plan to stop using the single pit VIPs in 2011 as the double pits are working. The photo above is an example. However, looking back, we plan to work with communities that already have single pit latrines to develop ways to rehabilitate them, converting them into double pit latrines of sorts.

Those are my WTD thoughts... I welcome yours...

"Reforesting Today to Ensure our Environmental Future in our Community"

2010-11-11T07:39:00.000-08:00

I have talked a lot on this blog about water and sanitation, even hygiene to some extent. However, I have been remiss in not highlighting our very important reforestation program. We are working with one of our great board members to morph our reforestation program to a watershed protection program. We already have a lot of the components of this in place, but some changes will be coming. For example, the staff (and I) have been learning that all reforestation is helpful, but there are areas where planting a tree can be more impactful - such as higher in the watershed where the streams tend to spring up, along stream or creek banks, etc. We are learning to work smarter.

In English: "Reforesting Today to Ensure our Environmental Future in our Community"

Part of our work in the reforestation program has always been to try to change attitudes and practices amongst the people we work with. Burning the fields to prepare them for planting is a common practice in Nicaragua. Unfortunately, it is not a very environmentally friendly practice. This new sticker that the staff created is being distributed in our communities as part of our recognition that we need to do even more in environmental education - helping people to recognize the connection between those trees and their water in the watershed. We hope to revamp our education program along with the reforestation program to get more people on board with "Reforesting Today to Ensure our Environmental Future in our Community."

Handwash-a-thon on Global Handwashing Day

2010-10-31T16:22:00.000-07:00

On October 15th, Global Handwashing Day, El Porvenir held handwash-a-thons in many schools. 22 were planned, although it looks like at least 30 were carried out. Here are a few shots:

Handwashing in a school in Terrabona

Teacher showing the kids how to wash their hands.

Kids gather to wash their hands in the handwash-a-thon

Two girls show off their mural that they helped make for GHW Day

Many schools had cultural events, like this school in Ciudad Darío

The children line up at this school to wash their hands.

Other children watch as a young girl learns to wash her hands.

Blog Action Day/Global Handwashing Day/Clean Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

2010-10-15T06:57:00.000-07:00

New well photo by Jon Polka

Happy Global Handwashing Day!

Although the Blog action day is about clean water, often a topic on people's minds, I think 2 related topics are equally important: sanitation and hygiene.

For an organization that works in clean water, like El Porvenir, it becomes imperative to include sanitation, often through latrines and other facilities to ensure that the clean water installed stays clean. Check out Rose George's excellent book on Sanitation.

Also, on Global Handwashing Day, it seems appropriate to talk to the hygiene piece. Even with the infrastructure in place, if the families aren't washing their hands after using the latrines, the health impact is not as great as we'd like to see it.

I am traveling today, so these are my brief thoughts to contribute to the Blog Action Day.

El Porvenir's 20th anniversary celebration in Nicaragua

2010-09-25T14:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was El Porvenir's official 20th birthday as an organization. The staff in Nicaragua planned a big event in Cuidad Darío, El Porvenir's starting point all those years ago. I was away in the USA until just the night before at a board meeting, visiting supporters and attending the 20th anniversary event in San Francisco. (The event in San Francisco was very successful, by the way.)

So I was very impressed with all the work that the staff put into the celebration. Here some shots of the exposition stands they set up outside the hall.

Staff put a rope pump on a barrel, just like our US friends do

They even built a miniature slow sand filter

And a model showing a healthy and an unhealthy watershed

However, most pleasing for all of us was the arrival of El Porvenir's founder, Carole Harper.

Carole Harper speaks about EP's key to success, community participation

Overall, it was a fun event. We had musicians from each of our municipalities, from communities we have worked in. Who knew there was so much talent in our areas?

These talented musicians had everyone clapping and dancing.

El Porvenir attends WFP Country Coordinator meeting in Guatemala

2010-09-02T23:42:00.000-07:00

In August, El Porvenir (well, Rob) was able to attend a very productive Country Coordinator meeting with WFP in Guatemala. We had a chance to visit a few projects and see how they are doing things, as well as sit down and discuss different topics such as Integrated Watershed Resource Management (IWRM) (or Watershed Protection, if you will), long term monitoring and evaluation, a methodology of Projects Implemented by the Community, and sustainable Sanitation. It was a packed and tiring week, but well worth it.

IWRM was perhaps the area where we have the most to offer to share, and I did do a presentation on our work in Nicaragua that was well received. Here are a few photos from that week.

Tank with hand-washing station beside the school latrines

It wasn't all fun and games, but there was some with Steve Sugden.

Exchange session with WFP staff from Denver, India, Rwanda, England and Guatemala.

Field Supervision in Sauce

2010-07-20T12:25:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to visit El Sauce and some current projects last week. It's always a pleasure to be in El Sauce as we have a high quality team there. They have won the best team award internally for the last 2 years running.

Here is a happy family with a double pit latrine. You can't see the second pit, it's just off to the right.

Ana Cecilia shows us the new well at Agua Fria in action. Very good quality work on this one.

A nice stove. Actually stoves are probably were we need to do more work to improve quality, but this one was nice! No smoke is visible (just steam from the pots) and still pretty clean even a year after construction.

And a well in Armenia...

Inaugurating Project with the Red Cross, Camoapa

2010-07-08T07:39:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, Rob attended a project inauguration in La Embajada, Camoapa with the Nicaraguan and Canadian Red Cross, municipal representatives, church representatives and local community members. La Embajada is quite a distance from the town of Camoapa, about 1.5 hours driving. Luckily the road has recently been repaired. They say it used to take up to 4 hours!

The high school kids did a few dance numbers for us which was cute, as shown above.

Although that was nice, it really was all about the 50 latrines that the community built. Here is Flor below from the Red Cross, cutting a ribbon with the latrine owner.

This project was financed by the municipality of Camoapa, the Red Cross and El Porvenir (through donations from several private donors).

EP Presentation at Bay Ridge Church, NY

2010-07-05T12:13:00.000-07:00

As advertised, El Porvenir made a presentation at Bay Ridge United Church during the coffee hour. The church made a generous donation of $500 to El Porvenir afterwards. Here is a shot of some of board of the church with Rob Bell, Executive Director. Thanks to Bob A for organizing the event.

EP Presentation in Ottawa

2010-06-30T16:57:00.000-07:00

El Porvenir made it's first Ottawa presentation this month. Hopefully the first of many... Here is a shot of some of the attendees with Rob Bell, Executive Director. Thanks to Tom M for organizing the event.

Success Story - Las Vueltas

2010-06-29T13:21:00.000-07:00

Dona Arcadia de la comunidad de las Vueltas, es una madre soltera que tiene 3 hijas adolescentes. Antes, ellas debian ir a traer agua hasta la quebrada, esto era peligroso porque el camino es solo y la distancia muy larga.

En la actualidad Dona Arcadia y sus hijas tienen agua en su casa a traves de una puesto domiciliar.

"Ahora ya no me preocupo por lo que les pueda pasar algo a mis chavalas en el camino y sobretodo el agua es mejor: - Dona Arcadia

In the community of Las Vueltas is a single mother named Arcadia who has three young daughters. Before EP's project, they would journey to get their water from a river gorge. It was dangerous because it was a very long isolated path to the river.

Now, after working with EP, the family has water in their house.

"Now, our water is better and I don't have to worry that something could happen to my daughters on that journey to get water" - Arcadia

Watch us live on You Tube!

2010-06-10T13:44:00.000-07:00

Click on the link below to see the new EP video that shows how our projects create change and joy in the lives of the villagers we partner with! www.elporvenir.org/page/video

El Porvenir Comes to Brooklyn- Join us on June 25th or 27th

2010-06-04T10:11:00.000-07:00

El Porvenir Comes to Brooklyn- Join us on June 25th or 27th

World Water Day 2010 in Wiwilí, Jinotega, Nicaragua

2010-04-27T13:55:00.000-07:00

As we mentioned earlier, we carried out some activities to promote World Water Day (March 22) in some areas, such as Wiwilí where we coordinated with local government and our partner Water for People. In Wiwilí, the staff got some schoolkids involved to do a little parade around town.

This banner talks about World Water Day and how clean water will make a healthier Nicaragua and a healther world.

This other banner talks about the importance of nature and trees, and how without trees, there is no rain. The water we have tomorrow depends on how we conserve today.

An important message from Nicaragua to all of us. Don't forget to check out the new look for our web page as well.

Costa Jill's trip to Nicaragua

2010-04-26T13:06:00.001-07:00

Since I haven't had time since the vacation to post a blog, I will point you to another blog about El Porvenir instead: Costa Jill's blog

World Water Day events in Nicaragua

2010-03-24T11:19:00.000-07:00

I am on vacation, but I couldn't resist sharing a couple of pictures from events here on Monday.

We put up banners in the main towns with the World Water Day slogan - Clean Water for everyone and several regions had events. There was a good turnout at this event in Terrabona, with water drinking races and a piñata for the kids.

Everyone had a good time. How did you spend your World Water Day? Let us know at info@elporvenir.org.

OK, now I will go on vacation. Back in a few weeks.

World Water Day coming soon; St. Patrick's Day Parade

2010-03-19T12:50:00.001-07:00

World Water Day is close, and we will be celebrating here in Nicaragua with several communities. I will put up some photos in the next few weeks once I get them. In the meantime, these photos are too great not to share. Our Colorado Friends of El Porvenir (CFEP) group put together a float in the Denver St. Patrick's Day parade, complete with a latrine and a working rope pump.

Maybe you have a fun promotional idea? Email info@elporvenir.org and let us know if we can help!

First School Handwashing Station Piloted

2010-03-08T10:27:00.000-08:00

As the School Water, Sanitation and Hygiene movement (SWASH) takes off, El Porvenir also has gotten involved. While we have always built wells and latrines in schools, for the first time in 2010, we have built a handwashing station in a school for the children.

This first handwashing station is in the San Francisco school in the municipality of San Lorenzo. This was financed by Global Water. This will help get the children in the habit of washing their hands (with soap!) after using the latrine and in other crucial moments. This is key in bringing the health impact full circle.

While we have often done school projects in the past, our health education material is more geared towards communities, so one focus for us in the next period is to create more materials that specifically focus on school groups. We do have our coloring books, but we want to do more. That's the challenge for 2010, as well as fine-tuning the new infrastructure such as the handwashing station.

In these photos (especially below), you might notice the large tank above the taps. This school/community has access to a local water system, but with water rationing, they only receive water for 2 hours a day. So, we built this small tank to collect enough water to last all the school day for the children.

Coco River - Ulwasking - Day 2

2010-03-01T06:28:00.000-08:00

The next morning, we woke up bright and early in preparation for the community meeting at 8am. We crawled out of our mosquito nets, which probably saved us many bites, and slowly got into action. I went to get my soap from the ledge of the school, which I had used to wash my hands before dinner the night before, and it was gone. It looked like the kids visiting us last night had taken it. I was a little frustrated, but it is hard to begrudge them - they need it more than I did.

The culture is definitely different than the usual Nicaraguan "Mestizo" culture. We weren't there long enough to get many of the nuances, but one thing I did notice was that they had no qualms about asking for things. They asked for our flashlights, money, food, knives, you name it... In the Mestizo culture, this is also true that some people will ask for gifts, but it was much more the case here than I am used to. The male domination seemed more prominent as well here, although in the meeting, the women weren't shy about speaking up, and we did make a point of asking them. When we had to reschedule the meeting, it was only the men that came to talk to us and make the decisions. Perhaps it was because we were all men as well in the group this time, but it did seem that men made most of the community decisions.

We did learn a couple of words in Miskito (not enough for the meeting though): "Nakisma" is hello, "pen" is well or good and "tinki" is thank you. Even so, I may not have these exactly right.

Right side of the crowd

We had the meeting in the same school where we had slept. We ate breakfast around 8am, but somewhat fortunately, this community was typically Nicaraguan and arrived late, giving us a chance to eat. It was standing room only in the schoolroom, there must have been 40-45 people. It was a tri-lingual discussion, as I introduced Mark and James, although we mostly spoke in Spanish and Miskito afterwards as we got into a very interesting discussion. The community seemed very interested and willing to put in the sweat equity into the project - of course, we'll see when the project construction phase starts. It was positive sounding though; they built their own homes when they returned from the evacuation.

We heard the need for water and that was where the interest lay. The women from the area around the school told us of the problems carrying water and how there is now only one spot where they can get the water. The women from the other area beyond the military base told us they drank water directly from the stream. We explained to them our policy of giving priority to the latrines first and that we had already budgeted for 20-25 latrines here in Ulwasking. They argued that the water was the priority, but I think we more or less convinced them that having the latrines was equally important, especially before working on the water project, so as not to contaminate the water. Then we explained, if all goes well with that project, then we can do the rest.

This is the creek the children cross, calm now, but when it is rainy...

After some long chats with the community leaders afterwards, we took the boat over to the other sector beyond the military base to see where they got their drinking water (it was on the way back anyway). They explained to us that they also needed a bridge over the creek, as one of the children almost died last year crossing it in the rainy season. Since the school was in the other sector, they wanted to build a bridge, or a school for their sector. I explained that we don't have any school or bridge building expertise, but that I would mention the need to another NGO that I knew...

Top view of the stream crossing

Mark shows us where they collect water for drinking

We went to the stream and saw where they gather water - and also noted some women washing just upstream from there. Obviously, this was contaminated water they were drinking. Hopefully, we can build one project that can serve both sectors, or else do 2 projects. We will send our new engineer, Marlon, out here soon to see what ideas he comes up with...

It may be hard to tell, but this woman is washing upstream from the water collection point.

So, after some last words of parting with the families, we got back in the boat for the return trip upstream. It was a little longer returning, but other than that, very similar to the day before. One difference was we stopped for lunch in Honduras this time. No border control and you can pay in córdobas or lempiras - no problem.

So after that international stop, we continued and went on towards Terrabona, León and Managua...

I will update you on Ulwasking in the future as we get news. By mid-year we hope to have some news on the first latrines...

Coco River - Ulwasking - Day 1

2010-02-26T11:20:00.000-08:00

As the boat pulled up to Ulwasking, we saw many people in the river, in the shallows. At first I thought they were all washing clothes, as many other people were during the trip east; but I was mistaken. They quickly explained to us that they were panning for gold! The one advantage to the dry season and current drought is that the river is shallow enough to allow for panning. They said they can pan about 1 gram per day, and can get about c$500 ($23.80US) per gram. Not bad.

Difficult to see, but there are 15-25 people panning

Many community members and children came to meet us and help carry the gear up to the school. Fermin had sent a message previously that we were coming, but apparently they didn't receive it. So we set a time for a town meeting for an hour later, although by that time we realized that not enough people had heard, so we rescheduled for the next morning.

The children seemed to enjoy our antics

James in particular was a hit with the kids, entertaining them while we set up. We brought cots with us for our luxury accommodations.

Having a rest

Since the meeting didn't go as planned, one of the community leaders took us to see their existing water system, which had been working, up until a few months ago.

Existing spring capture, not clean water!

The water system had been built some years ago by another organization, but it looks like the community had not been involved in the construction, as is our policy - so, when Hurricane Felix destroyed several parts of the system, they were unable to repair it.

Fermin: "Should this be connected?"

After Hurricane Felix, the Mayor's office had some emergency funds and did some repairs, but unfortunately they did not seem to take much care in them. The PVC pipes were just laid on the ground, not buried, and were susceptible to animals stepping on them and other mishaps. They had 2 plastic tanks, and they seemed in good shape though. It was interesting to hear how they got the tanks to the community. They drove to Las Piedras, then threw them in the river and guided them in a small canoe. No expensive transport in that case...

The poverty in the community was fairly evident. During the civil war, the Contras were based on the Honduran side and often came across through this region. The Nicaraguan government evacuated the community to Jinotega, which is why many of them speak very good Spanish, as well as Miskito. During the evacuation, they were only allowed to take 2 bags with them. The homes were all burned down, so the other side could not use them, I suppose. The homes have been rebuilt for years now, but they are fairly simple, mostly wood with zinc roofing. The roofing was given to them when they returned from Jinotega.

This home had just 1 wall

In total, there are 45 homes, 27 in and around the school, and another 18 on the other side of a small military base. There were no latrines, except one in the school that was full and one other.

School latrine in Ulwasking

That evening, we ate our dinner and talked to some of the community members and enjoyed the stars. With no electric lights for miles, the night sky is very impressive. During the chat, we learned that the community name was not Ulwaskin as we had previously thought, but Ulwasking. Apparently, the indigenous people in this area had called themselves Ulwas, and this particular area belonged to the king. Thus, Ulwasking. I only heard the latter part of the tale after star gazing; perhaps I can get more details in the next visit...

Coco River - getting there

2010-02-26T07:32:00.000-08:00

We had a couple of good friends come to visit, Mark and James. They were interested to see our newest area where we are carrying out projects with El Porvenir (www.elporvenir.org).

They arrived in Managua on Wednesday, and we spent a good portion of Thursday (about 5-6 hours) driving to Wiwilí, the town where we have our newest office. We checked into the hotel and met Fermín, our local staff member, for dinner. After a filling meal of beans and rice (if you've ever been to Nicaragua, then you know this is the meal of choice), we got to bed to prepare for an early start.

On Friday, we met our guide, Pico and then we drove up to Las Piedras, where we caught the boat. Normally, one can catch a boat in Wiwilí, but 2009 was a drought year for Nicaragua, and the river is lower than usual. Las Piedras offered a better starting point. I think Mark and James were impressed by the roads, which were generally good, until the last 20 minutes or so, when the road disappeared into more of a cattle trail.

Mark, Pico, Eddy and Fermin waving

Still, we made good time (less than 1.5 hours), and the boaters (Eddy and Carlos) were waiting for us. The boat ride took about 3.5-4 hours, but it was well worth the time and sunburns (no shade for 4 hours!). I wish I could say we saw more wildlife than anything. Although we did see an enormous amount of birds, including herons, cranes, eagles and lots of turtles; we saw more cattle than anything else. Not that I mind seeing cattle, but seeing them in the river helps drive it home why the river water is not safe to drink...

Cattle taking a break from the heat

A blurry turtle

Herons

It is a beautiful country side, which perhaps you can gather from the photos, although it doesn't give the same feeling as you get riding down the river in the valley, surrounded by green. The Coco River is the border between Honduras and Nicaragua, but the cattle and people don't seem to notice. We did stop at the "border control" point - a small Nicaraguan military base. Two guys, with large guns, asking who we were. Eddy gave them the story, and the foreigners weren't asked anything - no passport checks thankfully, since most of us didn't have them on us. It seemed a little odd; they probably assumed we couldn't speak Spanish.

We stopped at a small "waterfall" for a snack. Still no shade. We planned on 5 loaves of bread for the 7 of us for 2 days. Unfortunately, 2 people bought 5 loaves so we had 10. I think we overdid that part.

Although the trip was beautiful, we certainly did note the effects of agriculture and deforestation on both side of the border.

Cattle grazing on the left, forest on the right

On the positive side, we saw petroglyphs right in the river. I had seen them on Ometepe Island, but had no idea they were out here on river as well.

Petroglyph on the Honduran side

Coco River

2010-02-18T14:59:00.000-08:00

Rob Bell, our executive director, just got back recently from visiting a community on the Coco River on the border with Honduras. We are planning to take on our first project in the Miskito area in this community, called Ulwasking. Once he catches up on some things back here in the office, he will post a little about the trip...