BAKAHNO PAWANKA WOMEN'S COOPERATIVE

In 2008, the Foundation facilitated the formation of the Bakahno Pawanka Women's Cooperative (United for Progress) in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, with 76 members. The Cooperative provided small individual loans of $100 to $200 (one hundred to two hundred dollars) to women members for small businesses. 42 women benefited from loans. Around US$8,000 was invested in marketing businesses in the Puerto Cabezas market. The members received training in business administration, civil rights, health and domestic violence.

HOME BUILDING.

In 2007, Hurricane Félix left 198 thousand victims and 120 thousand homes destroyed in its passage through the RAAN.

The Friends and Brothers of Nicaragua Committee, from the Parish of San José, Austin, Tx, mobilized and raised funds, managing to build nine homes, at a cost of $4,000 each, in the communities of Santa Marta and Auhyapihni, two towns severely impacted by the hurricane.

EDUCATION

Between 2011 and 2015, a project was carried out in the RAAN to strengthen the capacities of secondary school teachers who needed to reinforce their knowledge in order to transmit a better quality education. About 40 primary and secondary school teachers from six communities in the northern plains: Sisin, Santa Marta, Sangni Laya, Krukira, Panua and Auhya Pihny as Headquarters, with a budget of approximately US$5000 per year, were reinforced in the areas of English, Spanish, physics, chemistry, mathematics and also in teaching methodologies. The classes were taught by experienced and recognized teachers in the area.

Community participation was high. A local committee composed of Dr. Roberto Rodríguez Gaitán, Fr. Roger Dixon Baker and Mrs. Cora Antonio Matamoros developed the project. Mr. Bernabé Waldan Braulin, a highly respected professor in Bilwi and with the support of Prof. Liche Francis coordinated. It was coordinated with the regional secretary of Education and the San Pedro Parish of Puerto Cabezas.

Professor Inocenta Castillo, Departmental Technician of the MINED, considers the work done to be excellent. She has been following up for three years and says that she has perceived that the participants have improved in oral expression and in their teaching methodologies.

COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT FORUMS

Community discussion forums are held periodically on topics of interest to the Miskito community. The last forums have been held about three times a year and participants average 40 to 50 people.

The achievements of these projects are mostly qualitative in that they get the community used to giving their opinion and mastering knowledge about each topic, which in the long run strengthens community empowerment and management capacity.

The last forum was held on February 18-19, 2014 and was about the importance and problems of education. Five speakers addressed education from various angles, the importance of preserving the Miskito culture, and the problems of educational quality.

Help for victims of hurricanes ETA/IOTA

In December 2020, together with deacons from the different Catholic parishes of Bilwi, as well as some elderly people, donations were offered to supplement the shortages caused by hurricanes ETA / IOTA that left devastation that would take years to fully recover.

They were two large-scale tragedies that left thousands of families in panic, nervous breakdowns and broken hearts.

Thanks to the humanitarian gesture of the Orlando Espinoza and Teresa Espinoza families, to the Catholic community and supportive friends, for the support to serve 66 families with packages of basic grains, three families with cash to cover medical expenses and one family with zinc sheets and zinc nails for a total of 70 families benefited.