Hi out there!
To all of you reading this blog, please let us know what you think! Remember that you can comment after each entry, and the comments are sent directly to my email. They aren't posted publically. So let us know what you think!
-Elizabeth and Kai
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Doctor and Family that Funded this home
El Menco is between Rivas and Granada, near Lake Nicaragua
Chronicles of our Human Rights Fellowship in El Menco, Nicaragua. Fellowship Dates: October 23-January 22 2008. Partner Organization: American Nicaraguan Foundation
Elizabeth and Kai in La Chureca city dump
About Me
- Kathleen Morgen
- United States
- I am a director of a national environmental leadership and social justice program for high school youth entitled Lake Superior Pathfinders. My son, Kai is 4, and will be turning 5 while on this trip on January 8.
More information about El Menco
EL MENCO COMMUNITY
El Menco is located at the
BASIC INFRASTRUCTURE
This community does not have electricity or any kind of telecommunication.
Healthcare is poor. There is a tiny health center located at the entrance of “El JenÃzaro” at the east side of the community, but it is always undersupplied. In case of emergency people have to travel 20 kilometers to Rivas – a long trip taking into consideration that there is not an ambulance or vehicles in the community.
There is only one primary school in the area, but it is too small to educate all of the children in the area.
There is no potable water on this community; forcing the people to drink untreated lake water or water from questionable hand dug wells.
Many of the homes in the community don’t have sanitary facilities, and most of those that do are saturated with solid waste. Most of the people do their necessities on land.
One hundred percent of the estimated 200 homes in the community are made of impermanent materials that allow the rain and critters to come into the house at all times. There is a high level of respiratory and urinary track infections in the community due to the poor housing and sanitary conditions.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Most of habitants don’t have a permanent job and live of fishing from the
The average income of a family in el Menco is less than $40 per month.
Due to the desperation, the community is selling lake sand to survive, creating an ecological problem.
POTENTIAL
- Relatively good all weather roads to access the community
- Availability of water for irrigation and human consumption.
- Young population
- Low possibilities for natural disaster
- High possibilities to receive specialized services
- Recognized agricultural abilities
- High tourism potential
PLAN FOR DEVELOPMENT OF EL MENCO COMMUNITY
Goal: Reduce extreme poverty and hunger
- Create a sociological study and census of the community.
- Build homes and latrines for all needy families in the community.
- Provide basic nutritional support for the families for one year
- Build a community center that can be used as a technical training center or a local market.
- Bring in technical assistance to create jobs or some sort of economic development in the community that can include a fishing village, small animal farms, or farming resources with a market component.
- Create a small micro credit fund that can be tapped by each one of the home recipients.
- Increase average salaries to over $1.00 per day
Goal: Achieve primary education
- Increase the size of the school to allow all children to attend classes.
- Provide meals and basic educational supplies for the students in the community as an incentive for parents to send the children to school, thus increasing the attendance rates and decreasing the drop out rates in the schools to ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling.
Goal: Promote gender equality
- Build homes titled to the women.
- Create jobs with the women in mind.
- Create a small micro credit fund that can be tapped by the women in the community.
- Increase the learning opportunities for girls in the community and the ratio of gils in school
- Create awareness of the importance of education for the girls.
Goal: Reduce child mortality and combat basic diseases
- Dig 5 wells to provide potable water to the community.
- Build homes and latrines for all needy families in the community.
- Create prevention campaigns to reduce the incident of the top 5 diseases killing children under 5.
- Deworming programs.
- Improve healthcare availability with donations of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies as well as hiring of permanent doctors for the community.
- Healthcare prevention training programs
Goal: Improve maternal health
- Improve healthcare availability with donations of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies as well as hiring of permanent doctors for the community.
- Create maternal care awareness programs and availability of doctors in the community
- Impelmentatio of a local IMCI (maternal and child care) program.
Goal: Ensure environmental sustainability
- Train the community to properly care for their homes and latrines.
- Create clean jobs
- Study solar power possibilities
- Create f community forest or plant 5 trees around the new homes
Our Nicaragua Home
Doctor and Family that Funded this home
Nicaragua Map
El Menco is between Rivas and Granada, near Lake Nicaragua
3 comments:
I have been reading all your updates. Quite a challenge to deal with this culture. So many differences than what USA citizens deal with here in the states. Even the poorest have some advantages. But help being sent down where you are has a difficult time getting to all those that need it for so many reasons. It isn't an all-at-once thing for one. It takes effort to build with what you have. As you build this for one person, another still goes without until it's their turn. All in all, it is great work that you and these organizations do to try to help people to have a little more and a better life. Thanks for that.
A lot of snow here. more than a foot on the ground, getting colder too. All is holding together really well.
Take care and be well
Peace to All.
Elizabeth,
Hello! I just came across your blog today while searching for information on El Menco. I had a chance to meet you a couple of weeks ago with the Rotary group from Ohio/Iowa. I really enjoyed seeing and learning about the lifestyles in El Menco as well as the entire country. I am now in the process of seeing what I can do to make a difference down there. I work at a Hospital in Ohio, our healthcare facility can certainly can do something to assist.
I am excited about making another trip to Nicaragua next year. Send me an email if you get a chance to let me know if you need anything.
Dan Selby
dan.selby@gmail.com
This is a great blog. It is really interseting and great how you are working so hard to helpl El Menco. Beautiful pictures, beautiful stories, keep up the great work!
Post a Comment