Global Day of Action in Solidarity with Honduras

Participating in a global day of action in solidarity with the Honduran people, 75 individuals gathered in front of the U.S. embassy in Managua Tuesday afternoon. Participants included U.S. citizens, Nicaraguan social organizations, Christian Base Communities, and others.

News in brief:

• The Bucknell class left on Sunday and had a good experience.
• Sarah is home from a successful speaking tour…thanks to all.
• Becca, Paul and the girls are in the Northwest of the USA.

• The roof of the spinning plant is up except for a cap to go across the top. It is quite impressive…see photos.

• We now have three volunteers working in the clinic: a public health intern (a rising 2nd year medical student from Alaska) and two students who are pre-med and pre-dental from Georgia (the state)... see photos.


• We are taking surveys of people in Nueva Vida and patients in our clinic in an attempt to better our services and learn from the neighborhood.
• Our Shared Risk Investment Fund is getting a new name, logo, and tag line as well as a brochure and a description of the process plus answers to questions people have asked…more on that in a few weeks.


A brief thought:

As it is said about the first missionaries to Hawaii, they went to do good and ended up doing well. This can often be said re the Church…congregations and denominations are established to do good and then they do well. Afterwards they find it low in their priorities to do good. In other words maintaining themselves is more important than helping the poor.
My favorite news source on the television is Fareed Zakaria’s GPS. Last week during an interview with Michael Lewis, Liar’s Poker, Lewis commented about people in finance and financial institutions. He stated that they needed to consider “Doing good not just doing well.” We wouldn’t have such a disaster now if finance worked for the betterment of society as a whole.
It’s hard…so many institutions fall into this trap: governments, NGOs, religions, clubs, etc. But seeing the poor struggle like the Genesis cooperative (the spinning plant) it is easier to stay focused. -Kathleen

Roof going up at Genesis spinning plant

Yesterday afternoon, the Genesis co-op began roofing their building – this is such a huge step for the co-op. Members talked with students from Bucknell University who are working with them about how excited they were, how relieved, how now it felt like their dream is becoming a reality.

It’s a particularly bittersweet moment for the folks at Genesis, because it comes at a time with the co-op is struggling internally with differences among co-op members, and they’re not yet sure what the result will be.

After the Cone Denim factory shut down in April, a few of the Genesis members began to doubt that the cooperative would ever be operational – with the economic crisis worldwide, if the largest textile plant in the country can’t make it, how could a small co-op like Genesis ever have a chance?

At that time the co-op had stopped construction to have a serious of organizational meetings within the co-op, sorting out legal agreements, powers of attorney, and bank accounts. During those meetings some members began to say that the co-op didn’t have a chance of making it – and they were persuasive. Other members began to lose faith in the project.

After weeks of dealing with differences among co-op members, the folks at Genesis are worn out and saddened. There are now there are two groups within the co-op: 1) those who want to get back to work on the construction and move forward and 2) those who want to dissolve the co-op (and expect monetary remuneration for their work, which is a real bone of contention). The first group has the majority.

Genesis has made the very wise decision to try to work out its differences through mediation carried out by INFOCOOP, the government office in charge of cooperatives. Yesterday both groups attended mediation, but were unable to resolve their differences. They are now in a process of presenting arguments and evidence to INFOCOOP, and then that body will make a decision as to how the co-op is to move forward.

Rosa, one member of the co-op who wants to move forward, told the class from Bucknell University yesterday “we have followed the law, we have tried to allow everyone to express their ideas and tried to respect one another throughout this process. Now we want to move forward.”

This morning Rosa was twenty feet in the air with her compañera Jamileth, passing sheet metal up to put the roof of her cooperative. Rosa and Jamileth believe in their project, and they are doing what it takes to make it become a reality. “I’ve lasted more than two years here,” Jamileth told the Bucknell group. “And we’ve got to get this building up this year and get to work, because to be honest with you, I don’t think I can last another year working without pay. I keep telling my kids ‘I don’t have anything for you now, but by Christmas we’ll be working and I’ll buy you a really nice present.’”

Water running uphill at the El Porvenir Coffee Co-op!

When we began to work with the El Porvenir coffee co-op in 2001, one of the problems the co-op asked us to help them resolve was their water problem. The co-op, with 43 families is perched on the top of a hill, has little access to potable water for its 286 people.

FINALLY, last week Rogelio, Pedro, Rito -- the electrician -- and our volunteer coordinator, Ben, went up to El Porvenir to test the water system which pumps water from the co-op well UP 3 kilometers (with a 300 m rise!) to the co-op. The pipes were flushed out from above and below, then reconnected, and the guys went to the bottom of the mountain to turn on the pump. It didn’t start.

The switch was faulty, and luckily Rito was able to disconnect it and wire it directly to the breaker. Since there are no telephone land lines and unreliable signal for cell phone communication, those at the bottom of the hill used a little appropriate technology and flashed mirror signals (we couldn’t make this up if we tried!) to the folks at the top to let them know the pump had been started, then the top of the mountain flashed a mirror back to say they’d started timing the process. After watching the pump’s pressure, they began walking the line back up the hill, checking for leaks and wondering if there was water at the top yet.

About two thirds of the way up the hill, Ben’s cell phone suddenly got a signal and a call came through. It was Felice from the Gettysburg-Leon sister city project which participated in funding this project along with Pangea Giving and Bucknell students and engineers. When Ben answered the phone, Felice – who was two hours away in León – said “Congratulations! The engineers at Bucknell were so pleased to know there is water at the top of the hill!” René, the co-op’s vice president, was at the top of the hill with cell phone reception, and when the water hit the top of the hill, he called Mike at the CDCA in Ciudad Sandino to let him know. Mike called the engineers at Bucknell in Pennsylvania, who called Felice in León. Felice then called Ben and was the first to tell those on the ground that they had running water up at El Porvenir!

Thanks to a whole lot of work from a lot of people, the folks at El Porvenir now have reliable access to potable water…something which will make a huge difference in the everyday lives of these folks, especially in their health. -- Becca

Loan approved! Need a building for all that machinery!

Friday May 1^st is International Worker’s Day which commemorates the Haymarket Massacre in Chicago in 1886, when Chicago police fired on workers during a general strike for the eight hour day, killing a dozen demonstrators. Unlike the United States (where Chicago is located), we in Nicaragua will be joining much of the rest of the world in observing Worker’s Day by closing down our places of work and going elsewhere!

Which makes it a very appropriate time to talk about work…and what a privilege it is to have steady work. With unemployment reaching 8.5% in the US last month, it’s safe to say that work is on the mind of a lot of people around the world. In Nicaragua last year, under- and un-employment was 53% nationally, and where we work, it was 80%. Those kind of numbers are hard for most of us to fathom, but with Nicaragua losing one quarter of all jobs in the free trade zone industry in the past six months, the situation here is going to get a lot harder for a lot of people.

In the face of this desperate situation, our natural reaction is to feel afraid. But as Kathleen keeps reminding me, we cannot react out of fear. And this week we had a good lesson in this from a place I didn’t expect it.

As many of you know, we’ve been waiting to hear news about a possible loan for the Genesis Spinning Co-op, for the $300,000 they need to purchase machinery and get their co-op to work. The institution considering the loan is not big – they’ve never before loaned more than $100,000 at one time. Not only do they have their own financial problems with the current economic situation, but they also have to worry about whether or not Genesis is a good investment – will Genesis be able to sell its yarn? Will any companies still be around to buy it when they finally get up and running? To make matters more scary, on the first day their Board of Directors sat down to discuss the loan, the free trade zone across the street from us announced its closure and the loss of another 800 jobs. With all these closures of big companies, how can little Genesis possibly survive?

But instead of reacting out of fear, and telling us (as 13 other institutions have in the past six years) “Our Board of Directors has a low appetite for risk”…they chose another way. And they did their homework: they spent hours with us pouring over numbers and projections until they were sure that any way you look at it, Genesis will be a profitable business. They contacted our clients, partners, fair trade certifiers and did their own market research. And after all that…they approved the loan!

What a step of faith...even in the face of so much fear. What a shining light for the 35 members of Genesis who so desperately need sustainable jobs! With this loan, their cooperative can now move forward.

Of course, once the machinery arrives, we have to have somewhere to put it! So the race is on, folks. We have GOT to finish that building! And we still need about $85,000 to do it! Please help us by putting your faith in this project doing what you can to make it a reality.

Many of you have heard about the Stone Soup Fund, and so far we’ve raised more than $3,200 this way! We’re asking people to donate just $10, and ask 10 other people to give just $10 each and also ask 10 other people…but in order for this to work, you’ve really got to ask your friends to give. Many people find this hard, but we’ve been surprised at the reactions from those who’ve done it. One friend wrote us:

“I heard in an email today from a friend who is disabled and has minimal money – she wrote me that she was so glad to contribute $10 (she said that was her speed) to such a good cause and she was going to send the email to all her friends and hope at least 10 of them would contribute $10 too...she was so thrilled to be part of the solution!! Just thought you'd like to know the givers are also benefiting.”

Please click here to copy and paste a message to send to your 10 friends.

We are also asking people to invest in our Shared Risk Investment Fund. In this economic climate, many people are finding that their social investments are a better investment, they’re still getting a return, while those invested in Wall Street have lost big time. We are asking people to loan for 5 years and you set your own interest rate 0-5%. Please put friends and family who can invest in contact with us -- To invest in the Shared Risk Investment Fund click here or email jhc@jhc-cdca.org.

Together, we can get this building built and fill it with that spinning machinery! As the inscription on the workers' statue in Managua (pictured above) says: Solo los obreros y los campesinos iran hasta el fin! Only the workers and the peasants will go until the end! Happy Workers Day!

To join our Cause on Facebook click here
To give on Facebook click here
To give online click here
Send checks to made out to the CDCA (and in the memo line write Stone Soup)
Mail checks to: 352 Carly Lane, Rock Hill, SC 29732

-- Becca