March 2008
Issue: 2008 - 2
Nica - Newsletter
- Charity Workers Gear Up for Trip to Nicaragua
- WFU group to help Nicaraguan businesses
- Gran Pacifica shareholders and homeowners at Calle Nueva Rural School
Humanitarian Works
Charity Workers Gear Up for Trip to Nicaragua
Southlake Times Star Community Newspaper
By SARAH BLASKOVICH, Staff Writer
(Created: Thursday, February 14, 2008)
Last time Westlake resident Debbie Dickey was in Chinandega, Nicaragua, she saw first-hand why her international efforts were useful, she said.
A visit to the local children’s hospital revealed rooms of sick kids sleeping in beds without sheets, with a snoozing mother in a nearby chair. The town clinic had a single, dim light bulb, forcing the female doctor to do her work outside in the hot air, Dickey remembered.
“It’s little things that make you realize the contrast between what we have here and what’s not there.” Dickey said.
Dickey and about 15 or 20 Southlake, Denton and Flower Mound residents who are members of several nearby Rotary Clubs will return to Nicaragua in March to continue building a medical clinic. Last year, volunteers erected a two-room building from the ground up, made of cinder blocks. This year, the local group hopes to build another three rooms.
“It’s just about helping people out that have less than you do,” said Phyllis Catton, international director for the Southlake Rotary Club. “They have nothing.”
The country was ravaged by two separate hurricanes since 2005, Catton said, and the third-world community is in need of medical supplies and housing. The clinic will aid residents of La Florida, an annex of 8,000 people who live in a poor neighborhood near Chinandega. Each room in the clinic costs about $10,000 to build, so the Rotary groups are hoping to raise at least $30,000 to build the three rooms. About half the money has come in so far.
Dickey is hopeful — even the $16,500 raised can help the tropical community, she said.
What she remembers best about last year’s trip is not the scorching heat or the long days hauling equipment from sunup to sundown. She can’t wait to return to those barefoot kids, she said, each a reminder of why she went.
Dickey remembers one 6-year-old who latched on to her as she and others collected garbage near the building site last year. Among the broken glass and debris, the child found a 2-inch copper wire, barely long enough to sell for money.
“You would have thought he found an iPod,” Dickey said, who can speak fluent Spanish to the residents and children. “His face lit up, and he picked that up like it was a treasure.”
When the Rotarians arrive to Nicaragua, they are greeted by a small group of fellow Rotary Club members who live in Nicaragua. The kinship among Rotary groups can be seen across the world, Catton said.
Rotarians pride themselves on perfect attendance, and Catton said she hasn’t missed a weekly meeting in her 20 years in the club. When she visited Istanbul, she found a local meeting. Tokyo too.
Catton recalls visiting the Japanese group more than 15 years ago, comprised of only male members. Though women were invited to join the international club in 1986, her trip in 1991 proved that the custom hadn’t reached Tokyo.
“They were gracious, and they brought me in,” she said. “This is why I love it.”
Catton will be going to Nicaragua for the first time this year. She hopes to get a glimpse of the few Rotary symbols already branded on Nicaraguan landmarks — such the photos she saw of the icon on a water well in a far-out suburb. There was also the Rotary brand on a medical cabinet at the local hospital, she said.
The Southlake groups plan to take an extra suitcase filled with clothes, kid’s toys and medical supplies, including CPR equipment that they will leave for the residents to use and continue to teach others.
To raise the extra $15,000 or so for the trip, the Rotary Clubs in Southlake, Metroport (which is also a Southlake club) and Denton County will host a Texas Hold ‘Em tournament Saturday. For the more timid gamers, there will also be dominoes and blackjack, Catton said.
For information about the fundraiser or to get involved with a Southlake Rotary Club, contact Debbie Dickey at 817-905-9528.
Contact Staff Writer Sarah Blaskovich at 972-628-4074 or SBlaskovich@acnpapers.com..
WFU group to help Nicaraguan businesses
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Sixteen students and at least two faculty members from Wake Forest University will spend spring break helping Nicaraguan business owners, while also learning about business.
The March 7-14 trip will be the fourth made by students from the Babcock Graduate School of Management in a little more than a year as part of the Project Nicaragua program.
"They are going to offer two simultaneous business seminars, making it possible to keep the intimate classroom environment, but serving twice as many people," Sherry Moss, the project's faculty adviser. "They are also going to work one-on-one with several of the returning participants before and after the seminar in an effort to sharpen their consulting skills while helping the entrepreneurs with their specific challenges."
Chris Yuko, a Babcock student, one of the project's founders and the Nicaragua program director, said the two seminars will allow the students to work with 40 Nicaraguan business leaders.
"We are very proud of the impact we have had on these business leaders," he said. "Now we desire to take it to the next level and find a way to quantify the impact we are having. We are looking to establish a video conference center in our partner organization's office here in Managua. This will allow us more continued direct contact with the network of businesses. Student teams at Wake Forest will be able to speak directly with their businesses and continue the two-way learning and transfer of knowledge that takes place during the trips to Nicaragua."
More than 30 individuals at Babcock are working on the project, which was in fall 2006 by several Babcock students.
In addition to the business seminars, the students plan to launch the first children's activity day at La Chureca, the city dump. It is home to approximately 1,500 people.
For more information about Project Nicaragua, visit www.mba.wfu.edu/nicaragua.
Gran Pacifica shareholders and homeowners at Calle Nueva Rural School
Ligia Diaz, CHESS Project Coordinator*
This is the second time we hold a social event with Gran Pacifica’s shareholders in one of the CHESS schools. The first time was at Osneida Medrano School (48 students) in January 2007 and this second time at Calle Nueva School (60 students). At Calle Nueva the event was very special because we were also inaugurating our first mini library project in Villa El Carmen. An old unused classroom was transformed into a clean welcoming space for children to read in groups or alone.
On Sunday January 13th, Gran Pacifica shareholders, homeowners and friends donated 250 books as a total for the five mini libraries we plan to finish by mid 2009. They also painted swings, tables, chairs and bookshelves.
Franco Harris, former Pittsburgh Steeler and Hall of Fame, who recently joined Gran Pacifica was especially involved in teaching students how to paint their own furniture.
We enjoyed wonderful performances from the students: a Folklore dance, a poem by Ruben Dario and most importantly we were able to confirm that students are learning English by hearing them sing.
The event ended by hitting the Piñata and by children receiving gifts from Las Perlas staff members, Fred Ulrich Jr. Las Perlas is the first condominium ready at Gran Pacifica Beach and Golf Resort.
Thanks to the contributions of so many Gran Pacifica friends and the CHESS project working with Alliances Program for Education and Health, Pittsburgh Rotary Clubs and Gran Pacifica, the mini library was inaugurated and small repairs in the school were done.
For more information about our project you can visit us at www.chessnicaragua.com
*Ms. Ligia Díaz is our In country Coordinator and Education Program Manager of Gran Pacifica Children, Health, Education and Supporting Services (CHESS). She is a Master of Education (MEd), University of Pittsburgh and has large experience in education programs. She worked for the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Pittsburgh as Coordinator of School Visit Program and also as the Academic Affairs and Outreach Assistant. She worked as a volunteer for UNESCO’s Associated School in Pittsburgh in teacher training.
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