The El Porvenir Project

El Porvenir is a village of 270 people, located east of the city of Léon, in the Central American country of Nicaragua. The village center is about 14 kilometers from the nearest paved road. El Porvenir is devastatingly poor. The people live in crude shelters with no electricity, very little water from a few wells, and hardly any food.

The El Porvenir Project began in September, 2001. Two volunteers from Western Massachusetts were in Nicaragua working for The Polus Center for Social and Economic Development, the Massachusetts nonprofit which had recently established the Walking Unidos prosthetics clinic in Léon. These volunteers wanted to help with the food relief effort in the area, which had been ravaged by a prolonged drought. They asked Dr. Benjamin Barreto Baca, the Vice Mayor of Léon, for his advice on where their efforts would be best spent. He drew their attention to the struggling village of El Porvenir.

The drought had hit this village particularly hard because El Porvenir depends on farming as a source of food. The volunteers went there and met many families who had only a pan of dried corn and a bowl of salt as their food supply, and whose children hadn’t eaten in days. The children were emaciated and ragged, and the people were losing hope. No government, local or international agency was assisting this village in any way.

The nearest primary school is a 5 kilometer walk away. A crude structure used as a preschool for children 3-6 years of age is located in the village. It is built from chicken wire, tin, tree branches and cinder blocks. The teacher told the volunteers that no children were coming to school because they were too hungry to pay attention. The two volunteers made the immediate decision to help these people with their own funds. They purchased food for distribution the next day. With this act of compassion, the El Porvenir Project began.

The support is simple and direct. Every child who comes to preschool receives breakfast and lunch. Food is purchased in Léon from the donated funds, brought to the village by volunteers and delivered to the mothers, who take turns preparing the meals and bringing them to the school. This program has been very successful and feeds 15 to 18 children every weekday.

The teacher, who was previously a volunteer, is now paid a small salary by the Project. Attendance has increased, and now, 4 years later, the children look healthy, happy and bright. They come to school in clean clothes. The school is a busy place of learning. All the people of El Porvenir have been encouraged to try harder to improve their conditions, and to make a better future for the entire community.

An expanded team of volunteers from Western Massachusetts is now working on this project, in collaboration with the Vice Mayor's office of the City of Léon, and a group of Nicaraguan volunteers.
Their mission is to encourage self-sufficiency among the inhabitants of El Porvenir in several ways:

• by supporting the health and education of its children;
• by promoting plans for community improvement that El Porvenir and Nicaraguan partners will oversee;
• by establishing commitments and programs that are long-term and sustainable;
• and by actively seeking out collaboration with local government and other NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations)

Current Goals

The specific goals of the project for 2005-2006 are:

• To dig a well to provide clean water for the children and those villagers who don't have access to water.
• Expand the food program to include meals for all the preschool, kindergarten and first grade children who attend school
• Supply the school and first aid center

Progress Toward Our Goals

• A new, expanded school was constructed by a collaborative team of villagers and Polus Center volunteers, and has opened for the 2005 school year!
• The villagers cleared the land, prepared it for building, and worked on the contruction along with Polus Center volunteers.
• Grading and site work was completed by the City of Léon, which has pledged to bring electricity to the village.
• A local Nicaraguan architect volunteered to design the school.
• Land for the construction project was donated by a local farmer.
• The Northampton Massachusetts Rotary Club donated funds toward the preschool food program.
• The Ministry of Education agreed to commit funds for 2 full-time teachers.

More details
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Donate

To help the village of El Porvenir with the school building project, you can make a tax deductible donation to the project.

To donate now online with a credit card
or via PayPal, click here.

Or, please mail a check to:

The El Porvenir Project
The Polus Center
for Social & Economic Development
255 Park Ave,
1st Floor Suite D
Worcester, MA 01609

(Make checks payable to: Polus Center/El Porvenir)