Download Nicaragua Now Issue 4

Issue 4 Spring 2015

Renewable energyNicaragua’s example

Fairtrade gets fairer: women’s unpaid work recognised

Nicaraguan waste and the London Fashion show

First ever UK – Nicaragua hospital twinning

UK – Nicaragua solidarity

2 NICARAGUA NOW SPRING 2015

The first months of 2015 saw two contradictory actions by the US government: on the one hand there was the long overdue opening up of

diplomatic relations with Cuba, a welcome recognition of the dismal failure of 56 years of attempts to destroy the Cuban revolution.

On the other hand, US aggression against Venezuela has escalated dramatically. On 9 March President Obama declared that the ‘policies and actions of the Government of Venezuela, constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States and [I] hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat.’

For older Nicaraguans this declaration evoked painful memories of an almost identically worded declaration by Presi-dent Reagan on 1 May, 1985 when the US administration imposed a trade embargo on Nicaragua as part of their determination to strangle the Sandinista Revolution.

However, 30 years on, the balance of power across the Americas, as well as global-ly, has shifted dramatically. Condemnation of Obama’s action by all countries across the region was swift and unanimous. As Nicaragua’s representative to the UN, Maria Rubiales, pointed out: “ we cannot permit attacks against a sister republic, wherever they are from … because today it’s Venezue-la, and tomorrow it could be anywhere else, as history has demonstrated.”

In New York on 25 March, the Group

An end to US meddling

Contents

3 Nicaraguan rubbish makes it to the London Fashion Show Liz Light finds out how this contributes to empowering Nicaraguan women.

4 Nicaragua’s record on conversion to renewables is exemplary So what are the country’s demands leading up to the UN Climate Change Summit?

5 Solar-powered irrigation for an ‘off grid’ community John Perry reports on a British Embassy financed project.

6 How is it possible to quantify the unpaid work of women and recognise it in the pricing of products? Felicity Butler explains.

8 Wales NSC talks to Florence Jaugey (Camila Films) about the challenges of film making in Nicaragua and their latest film La Pantalla Desnuda (The Naked Screen)

9 UK – Nicaragua solidarity News from Wales, Bristol, Oxford, Sheffield, London

12 First ever UK – Nicaragua hospital twinning promoting mutual solidarity

of 77 (G77) and China rejected the US action as a violation of international law. Their declaration went on to underline the positive contribution Venezuela has made to strengthening South-South Cooperation; to express solidarity with the government of Venezuela; to urge the international commu-nity to eliminate the use of “unilateral coer-cive measures against any state” and to call upon the US to repeal the Executive Order.

The following day, the 33 member coun-tries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) also unani-mously expressed their rejection of the US measures. Their declaration went on to call for the Executive Order to be withdrawn and for the US to dialogue with Venezuela, guided by the “principles of respect”.

In the UK, as a result of the excellent work of the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign, 114 politicians signed a statement condemning US intervention and urging support for regional initiatives for peace and dialogue in Venezuela.

It is time for the US to recognise that Latin America is no longer its ‘backyard’ but an integrated region asserting its right to determine its own future. Destabilisation on the part of the US is counterproductive, and constitutes a threat not just to Vene-zuela, or any other single nation, but to the whole region. It’s time for US destabilisation in its many forms – economic blockades, assassination attempts, sanctions, political interference – to be consigned to the deep-est recess of the dustbin of history.

Published by Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, 86 Durham Rd, London N7 7DT

www.nicaraguasc.org.uk 020 7561 4836

Editorial and contributors: Felicity Butler, Jeremy Dear, Gill Holmes, Liz Light, John Perry, Amy Porter, Georgina Rennard, John Wallace, Wales NSC, Helen Yuill

Cover photos:

Women from the Juan Francisco Paz Silva Cooperative in Achuapa. Credit: Felicity Butler

Norma Gadea, Fairtrade coffee farmer and member of the UCA SOPPEXCCA, dehusking coffee beans

Design: Tom Lynton

The articles in this magazine should be taken as having been written in a personal capacity unless otherwise stated.

Get in touch, get involved

NSC www.nicaraguasc.org.uk NSCAG www.nscag.org Nicaragua-Solidarity NSCAG_UK

Wales NSC www.walesnicaragua.wordpress.comTwin towns and other groups with projects in Nicaragua www.nicaraguasc.org.uk/solidarity/twin-townsBriefings on the Nicaraguan interoceanic canal: www.nicaraguasc.org.uk/resourcesWeekly bulletins of news from Nicaragua: www.nicanet.org

The Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign (NSC) and NSCAG work with Nicaraguan organisations and social movements fighting for social and economic justice by promoting and seeking support for their activities. We carry this out through speaker tours of the UK by representatives of our partner organisations

facilitating mutual solidarity between UK and Nicaraguan trade unions organising events to raise funds and awareness about Nicaragua and our partners’ work publishing news, briefings, articles and online updates providing support for Wales NSC and 12 towns and communities in the UK with twinning links in Nicaragua

NICARAGUA NOW SPRING 2015 3

Virginia Castaño Díaz spent seven years living on “La Chureca”, Nicaragua’s biggest rubbish dump where, along with 900 families,

she used to eke out a living by recycling the city’s waste materials. She moved there with her four children after fleeing a violent partner. Virginia still makes a living from recycling but her situation is now very different. She has her own home and is employed at the Earth Education Project (EEP). In a small house, roughly 2km from the old dump, Virginia and 19 other women are making beautiful objects from recycled waste. Chureca Chic is the EEP’s line of fashion jewellery which is providing them with an opportunity to leave poverty behind.

EEP’s founder and director, Andrea Paltzer, ran a pilot project at the dump in 2009 which has now expanded to accommodate 20 women a year.

“Our 12-month programme gives women in disadvantaged communities the opportunity to be educated, employed, and empowered. We know that through access to income and skills development women can break poverty cycles - not only for themselves, but for their families and communities,” says Paltzer.

The women are trained in paper recy-cling and artisan skills, and at the same time take part in an education programme where they learn to read and write, as well as basic computing and social development skills. This helps them to acquire the necessary vocational and social skills to find gainful employment. EEP has also made alliances with local companies who have agreed to employ some of the women upon comple-tion of the programme.

Launched in 2013, Chureca Chic

jewellery exhibited at London Fashion week in 2013 and 2014, and online sales are already funding 25% of programme costs. Now Andrea aims to expand the programme’s reach to communities outside of Managua, to offer double the number of places, as well as offering more permanent jobs in Chureca Chic.

She states: “EEP wants to teach the women how to manage their own business-es, creating designs under the EEP umbrella, and connect them to local and international markets”.

Producing high end jewellery has allowed EEP to communicate about development in a different way and reach new customers: “Three months after launching the Chure-ca Chic Facebook page, we got more likes than EEP did in 3 years! The whole point of Chureca Chic is to show people the social development work we do by reaching them through the artistic side. We start with a piece of jewellery that you can trace back to

A load of rubbish: creating beauty out of wasteThe Earth Education Project (EEP), with its Chureca Chic line of recycled jewellery, is lifting women out of poverty and enabling them to find jobs. NSC representative in Nicaragua, Liz Light, explains how.

how it empowers women, whereas an NGO might begin with the message of empower-ing women and go on to say and we recycle to make jewellery. So it’s kind of vice versa.”

With Chureca Chic, EEP has found a unique way of empowering women in Nicaragua and raising awareness in the UK. Today, Virginia speaks proudly of her work: “EEP has helped me economically and with my self esteem. The workshops have been really helpful especially for women like me who have been physically and psychological-ly mistreated by partners. I now know about my rights and what laws protect me, we are learning much more here than just the recy-cling skills we are being taught. Now I feel different, I feel very content; I’m a women entrepreneur, a fighter.”

Yorch S

ans

www.eartheducationproject.org The Earth Education Project Chureca Chic www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YqHOmIwluw

EEP workshop in Managua making jewellery from recycled rubbish


equipped with its own solar plant. In 2007 only 40% of the population had

access to electricity. According to the Minis-ter of Energy and Mines, this figure will rise to 90% access by 2016.

The Ministry is also working to eradicate another source of carbon emissions – the use of firewood for cooking. Policy makers hope to reduce its use by 60% by promoting solar ovens, biogas stoves and similar sustainable options.

According to the Germanwatch 2014 Global Climate Risk Index, Nicaragua ranks fourth on a global index of countries suffer-ing the most as a consequence of extreme weather. So what does the country hope will come out of the UN Paris Summit?

Nicaragua supports the position pre-sented by the countries of the G77, China, and Bolivarian Alliance of the Peoples of our America (ALBA). This states that the Paris declaration must contain all elements: miti-gation, adaptation, compensation for losses and damages, financing, technology transfer and capacity building. The declaration must also recognise historical responsibilities and contain legally binding commitments by developed countries to provide developing countries with financing, technology trans-fer and capacity building.

The Paris Summit or United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will be held from 30 November until 11 December this

year. Of the 196 countries set to attend, Nicaragua is arguably among the forerunners in implementing clean energy projects.

In 2005 the government introduced legislation that recognises the development and exploitation of renewable resources as being in the national interest. The law also offers tax incentives for carbon neutral projects. Ten years on, seventeen renewable energy projects generate around half of Nicaragua’s power capacity, double that of 2007. The government plans to expand this to 86% by 2020.

Nicaragua’s clean energy generation is well balanced: five windfarms (21% of total renewable supply); three geothermal power plants (12%); four sugarcane biofuel plants (10%); and five hydroelectric plants (5%). The record generation was on 2 November 2014 when 82% of national energy demands were from clean energy, the National Energy Dispatch Centre (CNDC) figures reveal.

However, to stabilise this percentage and reach the 2020 target the challenge for the government is to guarantee that all the hydroelectric projects planned become a reality, especially the delayed Tumarin mega project with a projected capacity of 253MW. At least six more hydroelectric plants are

in the pipeline. Along with Tumarin, these will have a collective capacity to generate 563MW. Together with other carbon neu-tral sources, Nicaragua could be generating clean energy well in excess of the 639MW of national energy demands. This will enable the country to increase exports of electricity to its neighbours through the regional initiative the Central American Electrical Interconnection System (SIEPAC).

Surprisingly, solar power does not yet feature in government figures as there is only one small solar energy project connect-ed to the national grid. However, Minister of Energy and Mines Salvador Mansell announced in March that feasibility studies have been commissioned for a 100MW solar park in Chinandega. Plans also exist for the installation of 1,500 solar panels on the Caribbean coast.

Outside the state sector, small-scale solar projects are prolific. About one in five Nicaraguans are still “off grid”. Many rural communities therefore turn to photovoltaics to provide lighting for homes and schools, as well as powering water pumps for drinking water and irrigation. (See opposite page). Private enterprise too is taking advantage of Nicaragua’s solar potential. For example, the Astro Free Trade Zone in Tipitapa will be

Combating climate change: the renewable energy revolutionIn the Autumn 2014 issue of NN we reported on how climate change is already affecting Nicaragua. Liz Light, NSC’s representative in Nicaragua, describes Nicaragua’s contribution to mitigating climate change and hopes for the UN Climate Summit.

UN

/Mark G

arten

Sun, wind, water and steam

Camilo Ortega Saavedra wind farm and power plant, Rivas


Although only about 20km from Nicaragua’s international airport, the area lacks trans-port connections even to the nearest town. Into this featureless, windy zone, families from northern Nicaragua were relocated when the US-sponsored contra war ended in 1990. All were families of demobilised contra soldiers who were each allocated 3.5 hectares of land on a former sugar plantation confiscated by the Sandinista government in the 1980s. Among these is a community of some 20 families in an area known as Cuadrante 81.

The partnership between ADIC Masaya,

Nicaragua’s policy is to transform energy supplies to renewables, to prioritise efficiency, and to achieve universal access to energy.Vice President Moises Halleslevens, UN Climate Summit, New York, September 2014

John Perry lives and works in Nicaragua including doing voluntary work with the Association for Community Integration and

Development (ADIC) in Masaya and the Leicester Masaya Link Group. He reports on a British Embassy financed project that will provide a 24-hour water supply for domestic use and for irrigating crops in a community not connected to the national grid.

Nicaragua’s official figures on renewable energy almost certainly underestimate the part played by solar PV. This is because many small projects exist, often in remote areas, which aren’t registered with government agencies. One of these, Proyecto Sol, is run by ADIC in Masaya with support from the Leicester Masaya Link Group. Proyecto Sol was initiated in 2005 and helps farming families by installing basic solar panel kits to generate electricity. In the past seven years this project has brought solar electricity to well over 200 rural homes in the areas around Masaya and in the zone between the Lakes Managua and Nicaragua. For these families cooking on a wood fire in the dark in a kitchen filled with choking fumes from a kerosene lamp is a thing of the past.

At the beginning of 2015, a British Embassy financed project called Agrosolar extended the benefits of solar energy to an almost forgotten area called El Timal situ-ated between Nicaragua’s two large lakes.

the Leicester Masaya Link Group and the British Embassy has enabled the community to make proper use of a well which used to serve the long-gone irrigation system for the sugar plantation.

The well has a narrow bore which only allows a small bucket of water to be drawn – enough for drinking and a shower – but inadequate for irrigating crops without a pumping system. A pair of solar panels was installed to drive a pump inserted into the well. This feeds a large header tank that not only gives the community a 24-hour water supply but will also enable ADIC to install an irrigation scheme for six of the fami-lies. They have already planted trees which should be producing fruit within two to three years.

The whole project should transform the lives of this very isolated, poor community. Some of the houses already have solar-pow-ered electricity systems through ‘Proyecto Sol’, but a constant water supply will help all twenty families and should enable them to produce more crops and augment their incomes.

What happens next depends very much on the ability of this community to work together and make the most of the new resource with the support of ADIC.

John P

erry

This article first appeared on the following website on 8 March, 2015

http://twoworlds.me/latin-america/ solar-powered-irrigation-system-starts -to-pump-water/

Solar-powered irrigation system starts to pump water

Installing solar panels in the community of Cuadrante 81


This initiative, the first of its kind, started in 2006 after initial research on women’s unpaid work and involves Nicaraguan

cooperatives, the Body Shop, the ethical trading and investment company ETICO, and UK academics. Within fair trade, paying a fair price and a ‘fair wage’ is equated with empowerment. Yet there is no agreed definition or price calculation of what this actually means. Neither is there a fair trade standard that defines the true cost of sustainable production in relation to gender or unpaid work.

The contribution of unemployed and underemployed women takes various forms: assistance in agricultural production and family businesses; labour that contributes to a family’s income such as making meals and washing clothes; and labour that contrib-utes to household and community stability, including cooking and looking after children and elderly relatives. A pilot study of time use carried out by Catherine Hoskyns, a gender advisor with ETICO and the Juan Francisco Paz Silva cooperative (CJFPS), found that unpaid women’s labour contrib-utes 22% of total labour inputs in sesame production.

What difference does the premium make?The CJFPS in Achuapa, northern Nicaragua, was set up in 1990 and has 275 members. Since the mid-1990s the Body Shop has been importing on average 70 tons of Fair Trade and Community sesame seed and oil annually from the Cooperative which is used in manufacturing of skin creams. The pricing model that incorporates traditionally unpaid work by women started in 2008 and means that the Body Shop is paying a premium of US$5 per 100lb sack.

To date this has generated addition-al income for the cooperative of about

Pushing the agenda: valuing the unpaid work of women In Nicaragua Now, Issue 1, Autumn 2013, PhD student Felicity Butler from Royal Holloway, University of London reported on a new initiative that looked at practical ways of valuing the invisible, unpaid work of women in coffee and sesame production in Nicaragua. Two years on, what has changed?

Felicity Butler

For centuries we have been marginalised in the coffee and other rural industries. Paying a premium for unpaid labour humanises the work of those women who are involved in the entire coffee chain, whether they be a producer, a producer’s wife, a partner or daughter or any other worker.Fatima Ismael, UCA SOPPEXCCA

US$30,000 (£19,000). Since 2010 the num-ber of women involved in the scheme has risen from seven to ten groups: 98 women in total. Women members of the coopera-tive take decisions about how these funds should be used. Vocational training in eight communities has benefited not only co-op members but also women who are marginal-ised in the communities. Some funding has also been used to develop small businesses selling dairy products, handicrafts, natural medicines and to build eco-efficient ovens to bake goods for sale locally. As well as this plethora of small businesses, the number of women members and their participation in the CJFPS has increased.

The preliminary results of the research carried out by Felicity Butler with the coop-erative and The Body Shop show that the initiative has the potential to shift resources, ideas and choices within families, house-holds and cooperatives. This can lead to an increased sense of well-being and in some

Women members of the CJFPS Cooperative, Achuapa


instances a shifting of power within these households. Recognising, reducing and redistributing unpaid labour within families can happen once it is named and made visi-ble, but further research is needed. Some of the women have spoken of positive changes in how they see themselves, which demon-strates the potential impact of the initiative on the imaginative capacity of the women and men. Pilar, a member of the CJFPS cooperative, explains: ‘To have our own funds and to be able to spend the income on what we want, to be able to say for example, “I am going to buy something for myself” is a big change. Now we no longer depend on our husbands or have to ask him for money. I earn my own money, I am in charge of my own life and I can go where I like, so for example if I get called to a meeting, I go and why? Because I now have money to pay for the bus.’

Fatima Ismael, UCA SOPPEXCCA, will be visiting the UK in July to attend a Global Fairtrade Cities conference in Bristol and to speak at meetings in London, Sheffield and Cardiff. Speaking to members of a Wales NSC delegation about her visit Fatima said: ‘The message from UCA SOPPEXCCA, and indeed from Nicaragua, is that we really need to promote, grow and multiply the number of Fairtrade consumers

The Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (UCA) SOPPEXCCA, founded in Jinotega in 1997, is made up of 650 small farmers organised into 15 cooperatives. Fairtrade coffee from SOPPEXCCA is marketed in the UK by ETICO.

Since 2010, SOPPEXCCA has been receiving a premium of 5 cents per lb for their coffee in recognition of the unpaid work of women. With these funds SOPPEXCCA has set up a cooperative of 42 women who have no land and earn a living from seasonal work in the coffee dry processing plant. This cooperative provides them with another source of income from running a shop that stocks good quality basic provisions which are sold to members and the general public at slightly lower prices than other outlets. In order for the women them-selves to feel ownership of the process they contribute 100 cordobas (£2.45) a month into a savings scheme which will enable them to access loans.

www.womenincommunitytrade.org

UCA SOPPEXCCAsupports women’s coop

because our producers are once again in a deep crisis caused by the effects of climate change. Climatic changes have affected our cooperative’s growth. Fair Trade has made such a positive impact – we have grown and improved – but we need your continued solidarity and for more people to be aware of and support the Fairtrade concept so that we can continue to support small-scale producers.’


You spent many years making documentaries, but made the switch to feature films in 2009 with La Yuma. What were the reasons for this? I come from feature films. I was an actress, and my first films were short features. The difference is that features are the re-constitution of reality, whilst documentary is filming the reality.

I’m very concerned with social issues. The job of the film maker is to reflect our vision of the world where we live.

Your first feature length film, La Yuma, was very well received. It took me ten years to make La Yuma. I thought that after winning the Silver Bear in Berlin [for her 1998 film Cinema Alcázar in the Berlinale] I would have a lot more opportunities, but nothing happened. I wrote the script, and tried to find the funding, but failed.

But I had to film, I wanted to make films [Florence made a string of documentaries during the early 2000s, including La Isla de los Niños Perdidos, Historia de Rosa and Managua, Nicaragua is beautiful town]. Finally I re-wrote the script, and began to find the money. It took six weeks to shoot, and then another year as I scrambled to find the money for post

Lights, camera, action: an emerging Nicaraguan film industry

production. [La Yuma went on to gather a best foreign film Oscar nomination in 2009.]

La Yuma is still alive. For example, it’s still shown in the UK, in universities, in colleges. Next week I am doing a Q&A on Skype with the United States. It’s a film with a long life, and I’m very happy with it.

How did you finance your latest film? With my new film it was easier to raise US$500,000. La Yuma helped me a lot. It wasn’t a commercial success, but it was well received. Crowd funding has become available, which didn’t exist when I was making La Yuma.

La Pantalla has been shown in the Santa Barbara Film Festival, and travelled to Panama, Austria, back to Chicago, and is currently at the film market in Berlin, look-ing for international buyers. We also have distributors for it in Germany, Switzerland and the Benelux countries.

What was the reaction at home? They have been raised on telenovelas [soaps] and Hollywood blockbusters. I don’t do happy endings. They say they like the film, but add “Oh My God, the ending....!”

Camila Films [which Florence established with her partner Frank Pineda] can look like Nicaragua’s film industry. Besides your own films you’ve provided facilities for foreign film makers in Nicaragua, and Frank has also worked as Director of Photography for other directors. There are other companies. A new generation of film makers is emerging with good projects and features. Maybe in ten year’s time we will be able to speak of a Nicaraguan film industry.

I hope the film industry here will grow. We have plenty of locations, six months of the year without rain, two oceans – it’s easy to work here, and the government is inter-ested in attracting film-makers. At the mo-ment there are no tax incentives for films, but we are lobbying them at the moment to change this.

Do you feel part of a wider Latin American film movement? The film makers in Latin America all know each other. There is solidarity between Central American film makers. We are so small that we need each other. Camila Films employs technicians from El Salvador, Honduras, and Costa Rica. We’re all very excited because a Guatemalan film has been chosen in competition in the Berlinale (Ixcanul by Javro Bustamente won a Silver Bear days after the interview).

In February Wales NSC interviewed Oscar-nominated director Florence Jauguey (La Yuma, 2009) about her latest film (La Pantalla Desnuda) and the embryonic Nicaraguan film industry.

La Pantalla Desnuda (The Naked Screen), 2014, 93 minutes, Camila Films.

All over the world, love stories are writ-ten on the screens of mobile phones, but what happens when your privacy becomes public? Filmed in Matagalpa, the film tells the story of a couple whose most intimate moments are made public on social networks and the effect it has on all concerned. The DVD, with English subtitles, will be available from NSC in May. We will contact groups with details of conditions for organising local showings.

www.nicaraguasc.org.uk

Cam

ila Films

Scene from La Pantalla Desnuda (The Naked Screen)


NSC solidarity with VenezuelaWith the intensification of US destabilisation of Venezuela (see editorial, pg 2), NSC has encouraged members and supporters to get involved in solidarity actions coordinated by the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign. As Nicaragua’s representative to the UN, Maria Rubiales stated during the 59th session of the Commission on the Status of Women: “we cannot permit attacks against a sister republic, wherever they are from ... because today it’s Venezuela, and tomorrow it could be anywhere else, as history has demonstrated.”

www.venezuelasolidarity.co.uk

Wales NSC support for Bluefields’ music sceneThe Bluefields Sound System (BSS) is a project which has grown over the past decade to become one of the most important cultural institutions on Nicaragua’s Caribbean Coast. Run on a shoe-string, and staffed mostly by volunteers, it supports young people and musicians to develop multi-media skills, as well as enabling the recording and promotion of Bluefields’ vibrant musical scene. So far it has survived on donations, but is moving towards becoming self-sufficient by generating income through activities. Wales NSC has been visiting the BSS since the mid 1990s, and is trying to create partnerships between musicians in Wales and on the Coast, as well as providing a small sum of money to help with the Centre’s running costs.

www.walesnicaragua.wordpress.com

NSC ‘Gift for Nicaragua’ supports women’s bakeryThe Women in Action Bakery Cooperative in Managua has used the £950 raised through the Gift for Nicaragua (NSC sales catalogue and marathon sponsorship) to buy large-scale kneading machines and new ovens. The Cooperative is a member of the Confederation of Self Employed Workers (CTCP), a trade union with tens of thousands of members working in the informal sector.

The women sell their goods on the street which is particularly hard and can be dangerous. However, they are growing in confidence and no longer feel isolated as a

UK-Nicaragua Solidarity

Our congratulations to Guisell Morales who has been appointed Nicaraguan ambassador to the UK. Our thanks to Guisell for all her support and encouragement for our work since her appointment as chargé d’affaires at the Embassy in 2009.

result of the support of the CTCP. On receipt of the funds from NSC supporters they wrote: “We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your donation for purchasing baking equipment. Our cooperative has benefitted from a government programme called “80/20”, whereby we received 80% financing if we raised the remaining 20%. The donation from the NSC has enabled us to pay off our loan so that we now own the equipment outright. We will be able to improve sales, our business and therefore our standard of living, all thanks to you.”

www.nscag.org

Women in Action bakery coop

CT

CP

Hailey Holl-Valdez (pictured with friends) and Matt Bishop ran the London Marathon on 26 April, raising funds for NSC and for the Women in Action bakery in Managua, featured above


Circus time once moreOn what has become an annual visit, Performers Without Borders (PWB) visited Nicaragua for three months delighting, entertaining and training hundreds of children in circus skills. The seven person international PWB troupe continued to work with their long term partners Proyecto Barrilete, Los Quinchos and the School of Comedy and Mime. All projects work with children who have been abandoned or who live in precarious family situations. The skills the children develop enable them to explore their potential, build their confidence and develop creativity and team work. NSC also organised for PWB to perform at Colegio Los Pollitos and Colegio Santa Rosa, supported by the Islington Managua Friendship Association and Santa Rosa Fund in Tavistock, respectively.

Yahoska from Los Quinchos com-mented: “They taught me not to say I can’t do it. It might be difficult, but if I try, I can. I can apply that to life too”.

Twin Café takes off in SheffieldTwin Café is a social enterprise set up by three students who visited Estelí as part of an annual exchange run by the University of Sheffield’s Students for Estelí Society. Having seen the value of creating direct links between communities, the students returned determined to find a way to contribute. Twin Café imports green coffee beans from the UCA Miraflor co-operative which are roasted in Sheffield and sold online to cafes and shops. The profits are used to support social projects with young people in Sheffield and Estelí. In Estelí, Twin Café is supporting the music project Los Angelitos, which works with young people building their skills and confidence through music.

www.twincafe.org twincafe12

Thirty years of friendship between Sheffield and Estelí One of the highlights of Estelí Week (23 February – 2 March) was the planting of a liquid amber tree to commemorate the twinning. Horticulture students dug a large hole and everyone helped to fill it in, including local people, politicians, students from the Twin Café, members

Supporting communities to improve living standardsThe Amos Trust, a small, creative, human rights organisation, partners with and runs trips to visit development projects in Nicaragua. The Trust’s Nicaraguan partner is the Council of Protestant Churches (CEPAD) which enables rural communities to overcome poverty through training and equipping local people with practical project development skills. Projects such as community banks, livestock share schemes and farming cooperatives teach sustainable agriculture and enable farmers to sell what they grow. One such successful initiative is the Women’s Patio Project that recognises women’s vital role in looking after themselves and their families. Each woman receives ten hens, one rooster, seeds and training.

Amos Trust supporters visited Nicara-gua in March and witnessed what differ-ence CEPAD projects can make. The group first visited a community in Jinotepe who, through their own hard work with the CEPAD’s support, now have full water tanks, access to electricity, thriving schools, a great-er variety of crops, healthier diet, and more sources of income.

The delegation then visited the commu-nity of Los Ranchos, Teustepe, in Boaco, a dry, barren, unproductive area along a gravel road, half a kilometre from the nearest water supply. As they embark on a five year CEPAD training programme, members of the community described their hopes and dreams for a better future. The Amos Trust will walk alongside this community for the next five years encouraging supporters to join this journey through creating a resource pack to help people tell others about Nica-ragua, the people, the culture, the sense of hope and the amazing work of CEPAD and others.

Further information and resource pack: www.amostrust.org [email protected]

PWB at the Santa Rosa School, Managua

Paddy McCrae from Bristol, a member of the PWB group stated: “It’s an amaz-ing experience to be able to bring such happiness and opportunities to children who otherwise wouldn’t have access to it. It’s also a chance to pass on the skills I’ve learned and give back to those less fortunate than myself.”

www.performerswithoutborders.org.uk

of the Sheffield Estelí Society and Nicaraguan ambassador Guisell Morales.

The week ended with music from local group Forever Young and Latin American dance from Son de América in their colourful costumes.

www.sheffieldestelisociety.org.uk sheffieldesteli

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Councillor Pat Midgeley, Councillor Peter Rippon, Lord Mayor of Sheffield, and Nicaraguan ambassador Guisell Morales Echaverry plant a tree to celebrate the twinning.


New home in Leon for after school activitiesThe Nicaragua Education Culture and Arts Trust (NECAT) has purchased a building for its ‘school reinforcement’ project in Leon. This was made possible through a legacy and means that NECAT will be more sustainable by no longer having to pay the rent. The building is a purpose built community theatre ideal for NECAT’s after-school club, mobile library, school meals programme and teacher training workshops. NECAT is seeking UK based trustees and would welcome contact with anyone who has an interest in Nicaragua and education.

www.necat.org.uk [email protected]

School linking, Fairtrade, and football in BristolIt has been a busy and rewarding time for supporters of Bristol’s link with Puerto Morazan and Nicaragua.

Nicaraguan ambassador Guisell Morales joined the launch of celebrations to mark the city’s status as European Green Capital 2015. The event provided an excellent opportunity to network with city politicians and officials, and raise the profile of our Puerto Morazan link.

This year also marks Bristol’s ten years as a Fairtrade City, a welcome chance to celebrate ongoing work with the Bristol Fairtrade Network. Over this period, Nica-raguan women Fairtrade coffee, honey and sesame producers have participated annually in Fairtrade Fortnight, an initiative that has reached over 15,000 local school children.

This February Nicaraguan producer An-gela Jarquin spoke about the huge benefits

to her community of Fairtrade cocoa produc-tion. She also spoke at an International Women’s Day event alongside fairtrade and solidarity groups. Several impressive performances by young musicians (one was only 12!) made the event a roaring success – possibly also in part thanks to the Bristol Link with Nicaragua (BLINC) – organised “rum bar” with their Morazan Mauler cock-tail (a heady mixture of rum and a Bristolian alcoholic cordial Shrub). Angela also watched Bristol win at rugby, saw some urban art, met the Mayor and visited Brunel’s Buttery for a bacon butty.

Continuing the Fairtrade theme, BLINC was honoured to win a Gold Award at the South West Fairtrade Business Awards, initiated and sponsored by the South West TUC. This was welcome recognition of the tireless work of volunteers dating back to 1986 when we brought over the first Nicara-

guan solidarity coffee (which has thankfully improved in taste!).

Our ongoing work with Puerto Morazan has enabled us to deliver £1,000 worth of equipment to the regions’ Montessori pre-schools. BLINC was delighted that longstanding member and tireless supporter of pre-school education in Puerto Morazan, Roz Payne, was awarded the Bristol Lord Mayor’s Medal for her outstanding contribu-tion to international twinning.

Activities for the rest of the year include the annual five-a- side football tournament – Copa Sandino – in May and the visit of Fatima Ismael, the general manager of the UCA SOPPEXCCA in July. Fatima will be participating in a Global Fairtrade Cities Conference in Bristol. (See pages 6-7)

www.bristol.gov.uk/twinning blincistas

Jon C

raig

Nicaraguan Fairtrade producer Angela Jarquin speaking to 150 business representatives at the South West Fairtrade Business awards ceremony in Bristol.

Performance of the Misa Campesina in OxfordOn 1 March, members of the Oxford León Association and Trust (OLAT) sang La Misa Campesina (Nicaraguan “Folk Mass”), an annual event at Blackfriars Chapel for the past 20 years. The Mass describes a God living with the Nicaraguan people who is ready to join in the struggle for liberation. We were delighted that the Nicaraguan Ambassador, Guisell Morales, was able to attend. A review in The Oxford Daily Info commented: ‘The normally sombre atmosphere of the church was instantly lit

up with the rhythmic and exciting music, including birdsong, whoops and clapping. What the choir lacked in professionalism was more than made up for by their obvious enthusiasm and commitment.’ How could we not be enthusiastic singing such joyful music?

OLAT also ran Café León as part of the Oxford International Women’s festival. Through selling home-made cakes and deli-cious Nicaragua Fairtrade coffee the group raised over £300. OLAT’s main fundraiser, an annual sponsored swim, takes place on 6 July in Oxford’s lovely outdoor pool – swimmers, helpers and sponsors are all very welcome.

www.oxleonlink.org.uk


NSCAG will have stalls at the following trade union conferences: PCSBrighton, 18-21 MayGMB7-11 June, DublinBFAWU7-12 June, SouthportUNISON National Delegate Conference14-19 June, Glasgow

www.nscag.org

The programme for the delegation, coordinated by the Nicaraguan health union FETSALUD, included visits to maternity centres, women’s

hospitals, children’s hospitals and rural and urban health centres. Although Nicaragua remains the second poorest country in the Americas after Haiti, Nicaraguans enjoy free health care and have benefitted from the advances made in health and education

First ever UK – Nicaragua hospital twinningThe signing of a twinning agreement was the culmination of the visit of a delegation to Nicaragua in February by representatives of UNISON West Midlands and the George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, Nuneaton, Warwickshire.

Signing the twinning agreementThe culmination of the delegation’s visit was the signing of an agreement between UNISON West Midlands Region and the Nicaraguan health trade union FETSALUD and between the George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust and the Nilda Patricia Hospital in Ciudad Sandino, Managua. The agreement affirms solidarity between the two unions and hospitals through mutual learning, sharing expertise and working to improve the quality of care for patients and staff. A return visit, coordinated by

NSCAG, took place in April when two representatives of FETSALUD, Carlos Molina and Heysel Medina, visited the UK as part of a UNISON funded capacity building project. In addition to attending UNISON’s national health conference, Carlos and Heysel had discussions with UNISON and George Eliot Hospital representatives about the implementation of the twinning agreement. A signing ceremony, attended by the hospital’s Acting Chief Executive Kath Kelly, took place during the visit.

The twinning is not just a symbolic gesture. It will not only recognise the support our organisations can give to our Nicaraguan partners, but will also provide us with an insight into the Nicaraguan health system, so that we can also look at their ideas which might work here.Dawn Downes, UNISON branch secretary, George Eliot Hospital

since the return to power of the Sandinista government in 2007. Delegation member Roy Emblen, UNISON deputy convenor at the George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust, commented: ‘In terms of health care it is an impressive example of how a good structure, cooperation and teamwork, coupled with heaps of enthusiasm, works. We were particularly impressed by the emphasis placed on health education, preventive

medicine and integrated care.’One unique feature of the Nicaraguan

health system that impressed the delegation is the incorporation of 30,000 brigadistas de salud (health volunteers), aged from ad-olescence to 40 years. These volunteers are pivotal in engaging citizens at a local level. If someone becomes ill, a brigadista assesses them and calls for help if necessary. They decide whether the patient needs a review and whether they can travel or request a home visit. If a healthcare team is coming to their municipality, brigadistas identify peo-ple who could benefit. They also participate in regular campaigns such as immunisation of children and fumigation to eradicate certain diseases.

BACK ROW Roy Emblen, UNISON deputy convenor, George Eliot Hospital; Andreas Zamora, finance secretary, FETSALUD FRONT ROW Dr Elba Silva, Nilda Patricia Hospital; Dr Sebastian Yuen, consultant paediatrician, George Eliot Hospital; Dr Camila Mejia, Nilda Patricia Hospital; Mark Glover, Solihull branch of UNISON

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