With an office staff now firmly rooted in Altagracia, BOSIA projects and delegation proliferated: “Geek” delegations worked on bringing free e-mail to the office and local schools. Teenaged “Hep Cats” swung their partners to salsa and taught swing dance to Ometepe dancers. Melissa Young and Mark Dworkin returned to film their sequel, “Islas Hermanas.” Former high school student delegates returned to spend more
With several delegations each year and increasingly more projects to keep track of, the Board decided to open an office on Ometepe. Dorita Gutierrez Traña was hired as office coordinator and she was aided in the logistics of getting set up by volunteer Brett Clifton followed by Brooke Mattocks. Dorita’s diplomacy, knowledge of Ometepe, hard work and her gracious guidance of her Bainbridge
Inspired by the Sister Islands’ model of cooperation, Carlos Mairena of Balgue organized his community to collect donations for northern Nicaraguan victims of Hurricane Mitch. BOSIA supported Balgue’s efforts, supplying money for transportation while the community generously shared 2,300 pounds of rice, beans and clothing from their own homes.
Expanding the focus beyond water systems, BOSIA supported Rosario Paisano’s workshops empowering Ometepe women through education about contraception, AIDS, domestic violence and other topics. New types of partnerships began to develop. For example, contractor Steve Deines led a small delegation that worked alongside community members from Sintiope to build a classroom with funds from Bethany Lutheran Church. The ensuing relationship was so strong
Long-term volunteers chose to experience Ometepe in all her seasons and possibilities. Jim Starrs spent 7 months teaching English in Balgue’s high school. Jim insisted that his volunteering not deprive a Nicaraguan of a job. The community, in turn, insisted that they contribute to the arrangement by housing and feeding him and doing his laundry. Kim and Ela Esterberg lived in Balgue
Drawn by the lush cloud forests of Maderas and a desire to help protect Ometepe’s fragile ecosystem, the “Eco-delegation” brought binoculars and bird books to equip local guides. Delegates helped harvest the coffee crop and identified song birds that thrive in the Coop’s shady cafetales before migrating to the U.S. The Coop’s recent development of eco-tourism accommodations and its members’ enthusiasm to
The Sister Islands contingent, the majority of whom were Ometepinos, was the largest at the U.S.-Nicaragua Sister Cities conference. Also, BOSIA health activist Trisha Hennessy participated in the Annual Colloquium on Nicaraguan Health in Managua. Hennessy and Esterberg both returned to share a picture of contemporary Nicaragua that was hopeful – based on grass-roots efforts such as the Coop and the autonomy
When Alice Mendoza’s class at Wilkes Elementary saw slides of Ometepe, they were touched by the material poverty, yet how happy the children seemed. As the third graders discussed their own fund-raiser for a class field trip, student Andy Kelly brought up an idea immediately embraced by all: “We already have so much; why not send the money we raise to Ometepe
Bainbridge coffee aficionados savored the first shipment of Ometepe coffee that Pegasus roasted for the Association. In late 1991, Asha Esterberg and David Mitchell returned to negotiate the purchase of some of the ’91 crop, then being picked. In the course of the negotiations, the Northerners learned a stark lesson in Nicaraguan economic reality: it was not possible to determine the price
Early on, medical assistance to Ometepe was a high priority of the Sister Islands Association. Though the Sandinistas had established community health clinics, ably supported by Cuban doctors, the US trade embargo left Nicaragua without medicines and supplies.
