CELL Nicaragua - Sustainability Through Community

During the last two weeks in February, CELL is partnerning with Grupo Fenix, a non profit community based organization in Nicaragua building the capacity of local people to help themselves: to become economically, socially, and environmentally self-sustaining. We are working with the beautiful community of Sabana Grande nestled in the mountains of the Totagalpa region near the Honduras border. People in Sabana Grande are learning how to start their own businesses, install simple solar systems to light their homes, build solar cookers, install solar pumps to water their crops with drip irrigation systems, etc. We are learning how a poor, rural village is striving to achieve ¨sustainability through community,¨ to support each other in overcoming their many challenges, and to free themselves from the need for external support.

Nicaragua is the second poorest nation in the western hemisphere, and Grupo Fenix is assisting poor rural communities in developing sustainable lifestyles fueled by renewable energy technologies. Their guiding principles are community participation, respect for the environment, and human dignity.

Grupo Fenix is working to achieve its mission through the creation of a center for research, innovation and sustainability and through facilitating a knowledge cycle between universities and the rural community. Through a dynamic exchange of ideas, sustainable practices are brought from the university to the community where the ideas are applied and tested against the reality of daily life. The ideas and processes of the university are perfected in the community by local people in conjunction with outside researchers and volunteers. Once the ideas and processes are improved, they return from the community to the university where they interact with other ideas to form new understandings. These new understandings return to the community once more to be tested and continue along the knowledge cycle – improving the lives of people and increasing their commitment to sustainability. A key emphasis is on renewable energy.

CELL is working with Grupo Fenix in Sabana Grande for two weeks on the following activities:

· Building solar ovens that will enable local families to cook meals using clean renewable solar energy and reduce their dependence on wood resources. Cutting trees for fuel for cooking is resulting in severe erosion problems in the Totagalpa region of Nicaragua. So the work we are doing building solar cookers is having a direct impact on preventing soil erosion and reducing the negative health impacts of rural women breathing harmful smoke from open-flame wood fires in poorly ventilated kitchens.
· Installing a photovoltaic solar power system for a rural family that has never had electricity.
· Making adobe bricks that will be used in the construction of a water pump house powered by a solar photovoltaic system.
· Building solar powered battery chargers.
· Living in homestays with local families.
· Learning about the rich culture and history of this beautiful region of Nicaragua.

Below are some student reflections on the land, environment, and people of Sabana Grande.

Carmen: Sabana Grande is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. It is very inspiring to see all that is going on here to help the people of this community. The well at my house was just put in 6 years ago as part of an aid effort. My host-dad´s brother lives just up the hill, and his house was built by aid groups that have also built other houses for families in the community. They do it on a need basis, so that families struggling with inadequate shelter get the help first. The interesting thing about bringing about change in the U.S. compared to Nicaragua is that in the ¨first world,¨ the need isn´t (always) as obvious to people as it is here. When you are working with people in rural communities like Sabana Grande, you are working with people who have to live with the effects they have on the environment on a more intimate level. If they cut too many trees, they have to live with the effects of erosion. They are breathing in the smoke of the open-flame fires in their kitchens. Yet still, it can be very difficult to get the people to change their practices because one of the greatest challenges is to change people´s mindsets.

Living with a host family here has definitely gotten me out of my comfort zone because of the challenges of communication and interaction. But there is something about getting out of my comfort zone that I love because I can feel how it is making me a stronger person. Also, you can´t beat where my family live – up on a hill: I get to eat breakfast and dinner looking out over the hills and valley of Sabana Grande. At night, cool fresh breezes come through the hills. My family doesn´t have a TV, but they listen to a lot of radio, so there is almost always music on the porch. If I didn´t stick out as such a foreigner, and if there wasn´t still danger of land mines (supplied by the U.S. during the 1980s Contra War), I might consider moving here someday!

Sarah: First day - We all piled off the sardine-packed yellow school bus into the desert-like surroundings of Sabana Grande. As the bus roared its engine and pulled away, I looked across the road to a white adobe building and my attention was immediately drawn to the ubiquitous vibrant blue painted solar cookers sitting outside the Solar Center building. As our feet crunched the gravel in the pathway, sun rays glistened off the shiny glass of the solar cookers. When we reached the building and turned around, the beautiful mountains of Sabana Grande greeted us. It was not lush and green (this is the dry season in Nicaragua), but it was a distinct beauty of its own.

It was a contrast meeting the people of Sabana Grande after traveling through the bigger cities of Managua, Granada, and Leon. I have found the people here in the country to be quieter and more reserved. At first I was having trouble communicating with my host family – finding them very quiet and shy. Tonight, however, I was able to penetrate through my host sister´s shyness with lots of hand motions and universal card games. No matter where we go, laughs and smiles and the love we have in our hearts can communicate. Most people here have family members or friends that are land mine victims – land mines that were funded by the U.S. government during Nicaragua´s civil war in the 1980s. Marco, a Grupo Fenix employee, lost his leg to a U.S. funded land mine and struggled for many years feeling useless and unable to work or help others. Through the work of Grupo Fenix, Marco has become interested in solar power installation and is now the community´s solar technician earning a regular salary and helping others. When Marco first met us, he smiled and greeted us warmly, not caring that we were from the U.S., a country that had funded the land mine that had caused him so much pain. I love how the people of Sabana Grande are not biased against the U.S. even though the U.S. has done so many awful things to the people and country of Nicaragua. I have found people so loving and accepting which has moved and inspired me to be aware of how I accept and judge others. When approaching people in life it is so important to love and accept them for who they are as individuals and leave behind social, cultural, and geographical baggage that can get in the way…

Max: The first reflection I can make about Sabana Grande is the stark contrast between the landscape here and any other place we have been. The sharp bluffs contrasting with the smooth hills. The pine trees seem to pierce the wet, heavy clouds giving this place a unique charm and presence. The diversity of all life, and the ways in which they survive are truly a testament to the name ¨Sabana Grande.¨ I have seen plants hold on in blistering heat. I have experienced the black smoke pour into my lungs and eyes that my (homestay) mother cooks with every day. I have experienced smells and textures that my body has been yearning for. The ability for all life to exist in this place makes me think a little more critically about my own. The sun shines the same all over the universe, the intensity may change, but fundamentally it is the same. And what I have seen the sun produce has been nothing short of amazing. The same sun that shines in the U.S. has given people here in Nicaragua hope. It has given them a reason to organize and take charge of their lives. The Solar Center is a testament to the ingenuity and faith of humankind. Here I have seen more people smile than anywhere else I have been in Nicaragua, yet the hardships they face surpass those of others. It is time for people of the world to reexamine their role in the daily processes of our dynamic planet. We need to see the possibilities, live simply, know our neighbors, learn the flowers, and respect all life.

Dave T: My first thought of being here in this community is: This is how most of the people live in Nicaragua. I no longer feel like a tourist seeing the historical and cultural sites of the cities, national preserves, beaches, etc. I am now living as real Nicaraguans do. My barnyard of a front yard exemplifies this perfectly. Jonas and I have a flock of chickens, 2 ducks and ducklings, a pig, a cow, a donkey, and turkeys. Not to mention 3 dogs and maybe a cat (not sure who it belongs to). I have been welcomed in and have already built trust… The people here are strong in a way we as Americans don´t even know: little girls carrying 40 pound buckets of water on their heads, and everyone is able to do so much on so little. This area is so beautiful. I really enjoy the pines, they remind me of home. Not to mention there are mountains to climb in my backyard. Yesterday, I climbed to the top and sat on a rock out-cropping overlooking the pines in the valley and listened to the birds sing and fly about. It really showed me how unique this area really is and all it has to offer, like the bat cave. While running, I´ve noticed how friendly everyone is, saying ¨adios¨ with that farm town feel. And tonight how people were outside watching the lunar eclipse. I just felt like there was a connection still found here between the natural world and society. The natural curiosity of humans with the great unknown. Even though this process (eclipse) is understood now, it still has a lure of exotic and strange (here in Nicaragua). The community of people at the Solar Center are so nice and so welcoming. I´m so glad to be a part of Grupo Fenix. I feel like we are really making a sincere difference in the world by being down here.

Jonas: I´m very glad to be in Sabana Grande because the people are so friendly. People seem genuinely happy to be saying ¨adios,¨ a greeting everyone says when passing each other on the dirt roads and paths that weave their way through this village. Many people here are quite shy like I am, but some seem glad to have a chance to talk with us. I love seeing the different ways of living. Everyone wakes up very early in the morning which makes so much sense – taking advantage of the natural light. You can get so much more accomplished and feel better about it. I also love how people come and go (spending time just sitting and chatting). I definitely feel that we have lost too much of our sense of community in the U.S. Another thing I have noticed while here is the difficulties faced by organizations trying to help these communities. Changing the ideas, beliefs, and customs of people is difficult. (This is what needs to change, however, if people are going to learn to live sustainably). I am very glad to be here because it makes me feel like this is the type of path I would like to choose when I graduate from college. I love being able to help people; it gives me so much pleasure!

Dana: The people of Sabana Grande are completely amazing. Some of the men that I have observed do much less than the women. The women seem to hold this whole community together (with an exception of a few men like Marco and Maulro who are actively involved with the women´s solar cooperative and with other sustainable initiatives). It seems to me that the women do most of the work. My home stay mother is the first one to awake in the morning to make everyone food and the last one up at night chopping firewood. Through self-reflection, I see a lot of what I used to be in the people here, and a lot of what I would like to become. I used to lean on people all the time and expect them to do things for me, especially by family. I now see the full error of my past. The people here in Sabana Grande, having little, look to the future with anticipation and hope. No matter what the conditions are of the past or present, these people seem to be running uphill at full-speed (with hope and expectation). If I take anything away from this place, or these people, I hope it is this example!