Our speakers on April 2 were President Gerry and his wife Anne along with member Martin and past member Warren Hamp to talk about their recent trip to Nicaragua to assist in a residential project supported by our club. Pictured is Gerry and Anne with Martin in the back of the cart.
Rancherias Nicaragua is on the Western side of the country on the slopes of a 6,000’ semi active volcano that goes boom occasionally. Our team was there to build two homes out of block complete with latrine (which is basically a 10’ deep pit) for needy families as chosen by a lottery run by the mayor. The budgeted cost of this project was $5,000/ea home. Our club has a link to this community as in the prior year we had an approved project to assist in building a medical clinic that failed because of socialist government intervention. One of the complications of building a home as a project is the “who owns it and what are they going to do with it” issue. Gerry had several conversations with the Mayor of Rancherias and received a letter stating that homes are precious in Nicaragua and are not generally sold but passed down thru generations. Overall it is estimated that 60 people will benefit in some way from our project.
The political situation in Nicaragua is tense and the economy is hurting. The main source of foreign support had historically been Venezuela who is struggling under its own economic woes and was forced to pull its foreign aid in 2017. This loss of support forced 4th term President Daniel Ortega (former Marxist revolutionary now deemed by most to be a corrupt dictator) to make significant cuts to social security. The outrage that followed these cuts manifest itself in the public taking to the streets in protest demanding Ortega’s resignation which prompted a violent crackdown by the government resulting in hundreds dead and many others injured. While the mortality rate is in decline, currently it is estimated that there are ½ million unemployed out of a 6 million population. Beaches (which are quite beautiful) are desolate, business are closing. Wages are very low with $50US being the wage for a 40-hour work week.
Our project was to build 2 homes out of block to replace the current ones made of plastic and tin and the total cost was budgeted at $3700US per home. The final cost came in at $8517US total with the overage being mainly due to unexpected welding. The project was success due to many factors but the most important was the on-site support of the mayor Jose. Additionally, the honesty and faith of local businesses like the hardware store owner who advanced $700 of their own money to the brick manufacturer several weeks before the build (to put it in perspective, our build was the largest order this business had received since the beginning of the “troubles” 2 years ago) who was also involved in the failed medical clinic project and returned every dollar without deduction when the project didn’t go ahead. Also critical was the tradesman and labourer support like the guy with the horse (who really liked Gerry) who worked for 3 weeks on the project for $100 and the other labourers who were paid $10/day or the blocklayers who got $13/day. The economics of this region seem very foreign to us in our circumstances.
The homes were allocated in a lottery run by the mayor. Nine needy families entered and only two were successful. One of the families that was a recipient of a new home is a widow (8 years) and her three children. The lady makes tortillias for sale 3 days a week in one of the larger cities and as such is up at 2:00am on a work day. Along with a new home, they received new beds and a lady that is the local laundress received a new concrete wash tub to replace the broken and unsafe one that she had available previously. Anne reported that the homes that she spent time in had no books or toys nor pencil and paper showing the bleak existence that is available to families.
As evidenced by the pictures in the slide show, the environment is very bleak. Currently a dry, dusty time of year (the dry season runs from Nov-May) with temperatures in the 40-44⁰F range and animals ranging everywhere looking for food and water. Gerry told a delightful story about how he drank water continuously all day while digging a trench in 41⁰F yet never needed to take a break…
The need in this community is quite large. Having a home built out of block is life changing for the recipient families. The commitment of our members to this project for 2 homes and hopefully for future phases was clearly evident in the presenters. Thanks to Anne, Gerry Warren and Martin for committing their time and money to make sure our club supported project was a success!
Gerry and his trench:
Out with the old.
In with the new:
Martin working hard:
Gerry and Anne and their new choice of transportation:
