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. No government, local or international
agency was assisting this village in any way.
The nearest primary school was a 5 kilometer walk away. A crude structure used as a preschool for children 3-6 years of age was located in the village. It was 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 continued 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
- by actively seeking out collaboration with local government and other NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations)

A new, expanded school was constructed by
a collaborative team of villagers and Polus Center volunteers, and opened for
the 2005 school year. The villagers cleared the land, prepared it for building,
and worked on the construction 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 committed funds for 2 full-time teachers.
This is the structure originally used as a preschool
in El Porvenir.
Thanks to the work of the El Porvenir Planning Committee
in Massachusetts, our fundraising goal for the first phase was met on schedule.
This the new school that
the Polus Center has helped the villagers of El Porvenir to build on land donated
by a generous farmer.