The following was written by Hannah Conroy, one of the travel team members for the EWB Latin America Chapter, during their January assessment trip to Nicaragua:
The Communities of Villa El Carmen
We woke up and ate the most delicious breakfast I have had in a while. A full plate of fruit, juice, crepes filled with sugar and cheese, honey, and granola. Going to dream about those crepes!
After breakfast we headed out our first community in Villa El Carmen. We met the leaders at a church off the main road. We learned that the mayor sponsored a project to build a well but did not finish it. The community has a well with no pump or tank. Right now they get their water from a neighboring community about 1-2 km away and wash and bathe in a lesser quality community well. The people were very sweet, organized, and good at advocating for themselves.
We then travelled to the second community. A lot of people from the community showed up to the meeting including lots of kids! The community is very dry and only has a small hand dug community well. They wash and bathe in a small stream that is polluted by farm animals. The leadership of the community is brand new (only a week old!) but we were again impressed by their enthusiasm.
We had a delicious lunch at the Reserva and traveled to our third community in the afternoon, La Ceiba. The water projects and leadership of La Ceiba is more established than the other communities. They have a CAPs, a water council recognized by the government, and have already completed a project with a 480 ft well and a 9,000 gallon tank. They are looking for a distribution system for the community.
After the meeting, we went back to the second community to look at a wall of fossilized shells next to the river. It was really cool and we all agreed it could be a great tourist attraction.
We headed back to the Reserva and relaxed before another yummy dinner!