In February, March and April of 2012, nine teams will travel to five sites in the areas of Chinandega, Nagarote, Matagalpa and Granada in Nicaragua. There, students will work to build pre-fabbed homes, schools and a footbridge. Together, B3 and partner organizations are taking on these important and challenging projects to build a better world.

Jump to Project: El Espavel / Pablo Antonio Cuadra / Samulalí / San Ignacio/ Sonrisa de Dios

El Espavel: Chinandega, Nicaragua

Current housing in El Espavel

Un Techo Para Mi Pais is an organization that has worked throughout Latin America (19 countries) in social development since 1997. UTPMP opened its office in Nicaragua in 2008, starting the process of building justice in the second-poorest country in this hemisphere.  Last year, B3 worked with Un Techo Para Mi Pais in Ecuador in the small town of El Cercado providing 10 temporary homes for families there. Their plan is simple and is designed with 3 phases. The first is to provide temporary housing for those in desperate need of safe, clean homes.  The second phase provides training and development of skills needed for employment while the third phase helps families acquire and build a permanent home.

Builders Beyond Borders will work with Un Techo Para Mi Pais (A Roof for My Country) again this year… in the small town of El Espavel located north of Chinandega, about 90 miles northwest of the Managua Airport. Along with these needy families, B3 will construct 10 prefab homes in this small poor community that is close to several sugar cane plantations.

The families in El Espavel live simply in this town that is very green in the rainy season and hot and dry the rest of the year.  The community of El Espavel is about 35 years old and the families struggle economically. Many of the people toil in the sugar cane fields and factories when there is work.  Both Un Techo Para Mi Pais and Builders Beyond Borders are anxious to assist these needy families to move to more substantial housing as the first step to becoming self-sufficient.

Pablo Antonio Cuadra: Granada, Nicaragua

Children that attend the Pablo Antonio Cuadra school

Builders Beyond Borders will partner with a local organization, La Esperanza Granada, to construct several classrooms that will allow students to finish their final years of high school.  This is a large compound that houses a primary school and middle school for 680 students. Currently there are classrooms for only the first 3 years of high school (high school in Nicaragua is a 5 year program).  The students in this community are able to complete the first three years but have no rooms or opportunity to finish their last two years. Once these rooms are completed, every student in Pablo Antonio Cuadra will have the ability to graduate from high school for the first time in over 40 years. Builders Beyond Borders and La Esperanza Granada’s philosophy are very simpatico; both organizations believe in giving a hand up, not a handout.

La Esperanza Granada is an organization that was started nearly 10 years ago to end the cycle of poverty through education in the poorest of barrios on the outskirts of Granada. The contrast is startling…Granada is a relatively rich city both economically and historically; Pablo Antonio Cuadra is extremely poor with most families living in houses that have been cobbled together from discarded plastic sheeting and corrugated metal.

La Esperanza Granada works with the Ministry of Education to provide teachers, maintenance, and sustainability once classrooms are built. Local university students volunteer at La Esperanza Granada projects as tutors, mentors and support for the teachers.  They receive a small stipend in addition to tuition and book/fees assistance for their own studies in an area college.

Samulalí: Matagalpa, Nicaragua

A young family crosses the dangerous river where Builders Beyond Borders teams will soon build a bridge.

Samulalí is a small, rural community about 50 miles north of Managua and 10 miles southeast of the city of Matagalpa.  This area of Nicaragua is most famous for its coffee and cattle – it is hilly, perfect for raising both.  Nicaragua is also known for its 5- month season of rain, which impacts Samulalí on a regular basis by making roads and paths impassable.

Builders Beyond Borders will work with Peace Corps and another NGO, Bridges to Prosperity, to construct a 60 foot “Indiana Jones” style bridge to connect the 700 people in Samulalí with schools and work on the other side of what often becomes a raging river.  About 40-50% of the year, the river rises leaving the community unable to have access to schools, medical attention, food, work, and other family members. We recently witnessed the high water and the “rapids” created by the quickly rising water. Watching an elderly woman trying to navigate this treacherous path was frightening; the water was high and fast, the rocks slippery and uneven. We were told that the water would still get much higher; the current would become deceivingly strong and has carried not only animals away but also the elderly and the young.

Bridges to Prosperity was founded in 2001 when one of the founders saw a photo in National Geographic. That photo showed men pulling each other across a rather large broken bridge span in Ethiopia and moved he and his family to action. We have worked with the Peace Corps over the last 4 years – our teams tell us collaborating with the Peace Corps is a phenomenal experience. Working with these two established organizations to build this much-needed bridge is a wonderful way of not only connecting these communities but for B3 to connect with other organizations whose focus is simpatico with ours – working together to create something together.

San Ignacio: Granada, Nicaragua

When these children are a little older, they will be able to attend high school thanks to Builders

Builders Beyond Borders will partner with a local organization, La Esperanza Granada, to construct several classrooms and a small “technical” building to provide a high school within the same compound that currently has a primary school for over 600 children. There is no high school nearby – these families live outside the main city – the walk to the nearest high school is not only dangerous (they would need to walk on the highway) but also long and arduous. Public transportation, while not impossible, is simply too expensive for most families. Sadly, after primary school, education pretty much ends for the children of San Ignacio. Builders Beyond Borders and La Esperanza Granada’s philosophy are very simpatico; both organizations believe in giving a hand up, not a handout.

La Esperanza Granada is an organization that was started nearly 10 years ago to end the cycle of poverty through education in the poorest of barrios on the outskirts of Granada. The contrast is startling…Granada is a relatively rich city both economically and historically; San Ignacio is extremely poor with most families living in houses that have been cobbled together from discarded plastic sheeting and corrugated metal.

La Esperanza Granada works with the Ministry of Education to provide teachers, maintenance, and sustainability once classrooms are built. Local university students volunteer at La Esperanza Granada projects as tutors, mentors and support for the teachers.  They receive a small stipend in addition to tuition and book/fees assistance for their own studies in an area college.

Sonrisa de Dios: Nagarote, Nicaragua

Children from Sonrisa de Dios

During the mid 1980’s, communities throughout the United States began forming Sister City relationships around the world. In 1986, Norwalk, Connecticut became a Sister City to the town of Nagarote, Nicaragua.  Nagarote is located about 30 miles northeast of Managua, about an hour and a half from Managua Airport. Sonrisa de Dios is a small barrio just outside of Nagarote consisting of about 250 families and is considered the poorest of the five barrios there (all of which are already well below the severe poverty level). Families struggle here financially but have placed a high priority on education.

Several years ago, Ronnie Maher, a native of Norwalk, CT and a professional photographer, began traveling to Nicaragua to work with the Sister City project in Nagarote, engaging the students in an after school program focusing on the arts (NicaPhoto).  Ronnie now runs her own full-time program that gives the students (ages 9 and older) an opportunity to be a part of something bigger – a place to study, be part of book groups, learn about photography, computers, martial arts and the value of an education. Most of the students in this program are from Sonrisa de Dios and live without electricity and little water (from one of several “taps” in the community). NicaPhoto is filled to capacity and is looking for a more permanent facility that would be able to accommodate more students in the future.  Their first priority, however is to begin to build a school right in Sonrisa de Dios.

Builders Beyond Borders will work with Ronnie and NicaPhoto to build a preschool in Sonrisa de Dios as the first phase of a school that will ultimately include classrooms for both an elementary and high school students.  Currently there is a small preschool with 40 children and one teacher in a single, small room. The walk to the nearest school (elementary and high school) is not only dangerous (the students need to cross a very busy highway) but also long and arduous. Public transportation, while not impossible, is simply too expensive for these families. Builders Beyond Borders and NicaPhoto’s philosophy are very simpatico; both organizations believe in working together with a community to create something together, not a just providing a handout.