Laguna de Apoyo

NICA is entering into a new partnership with Brian and Nancy Davis to improve the quality of life in two communities at Laguna de Apoyo, outside the city of Granada. Over the past year Brian and Nancy have been working on the infrastructure of the two schools in these communities and improving the quality of education in conjunction with the Hotel Con Corazon in Granada. This Hotel, founded by Dutch social entrepreneurs, donates all profits to improving education. The new partnership with NICA will expand the scope of work beyond education into the areas of health care, provision of basic utilities and the establishment of micro and small businesses.

The names of these communities are simply, Comarca de la Laguna Uno and Comarca de la Laguna Dos. We believe that change and community development can best happen from the inside, and that community improvements must be initiated and have the wide support of those living in the community. We can provide some of the resources and technical assistance, but those living in the community must “own their projects” through the provision of ideas, interest, labor, and some of the needed resources.

Each comarca has its own school and small Catholic church. They share a single dirt road from Granada that splits off to the entrance of each comarca, and when it isn’t raining, they have sporadic mini-bus service to the entrance of the comarcas. There are water pipes to many of the houses, but others get their water by way of barrels in ox carts. Some of the houses have electricity, providing them with a light or two and possibly TV. That is the extent of the infrastructure in the area. The men are primarily subsistence farmers and some of the women work in Granada selling fruit or as domestic help.

Escuela San Pablo is the name of the school in Comarca Uno. When we started work on this school, there was no water, the roof leaked badly in all rooms, the outhouses which faced onto the central play area had no doors or roof, there was no playground equipment and the walkways and entrances to the classrooms were all collapsing from erosion. There were few workable desks or tables and chairs in the classroom. The school did have an electric light in one or two of the classrooms. There was also no security for the school, animals and people wandered through the grounds at all hours and one of the buildings was being used by a local gang of kids.

San Pablo School now has a solid roof, potable water, desks and chairs, a fence around the grounds, stable sidewalks, doors on the outhouses and play equipment.

We are currently working with Hotel Con Corazon a Dutch hotel in Granada that is using its profits to improve the quality of education in the Comarcas. They are providing afternoon tutoring, a lending library and athletic activities for the schools.

Our future plans include bringing potable water to all the households in the commarcas, bring health services to the commarcas with an emphasis on preventative care and urgent care, and starting a small stove factory in order to bring some additional money into the community and to provide jobs.

The people living in the comarcas are our neighbors. With just a little effort on our part and a lot of participation from those living in the comarcas, meaningful improvements are happening.

Brian meeting with some of the community leaders in the comarca to plan what should be done at the schools and other projects.

Girls in front of the doorless outhouses at the school. There is no available water to wash hands.

One of the more together and affluent houses in the comarca.

In addition to our work at the schools we have begun laying pipe to bring potable water to additional households and, with the help of an American neighbor, we have provided baseball equipment to the adult league baseball team in the comarcas.