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.

For the past three years volunteers have been working to provide clean water to the school, address health needs of the children and begin a program that will provide economic progress for the village. Providing water has been a very difficult task. Four test sites were dug and clean water has been difficult to find.

We continue to work on the water issue and are exploring the possibility of connecting to a water provider a few kilometers for the village. We have had medical teams go to the village and provide emergency medical care and a small fund was established to purchase medicine for the school children. In November of 2009 a team from the University of Massachusetts Medical School went to the village to perform a medical needs assessment, work on building latrines and provide medical care. In January of 2010 an agronomist from Western Massachusetts went to the village with student volunteers to start a small agricultural project with the hopes of finding a project that will begin to address the economic needs of the village.

This is the structure originally used as a preschool in El Porvenir.

At first, not many children came to school. After we started the food program, this grew to 18 students ages 3-6, with 1 teacher.

The mothers take turns cooking beans and rice to bring to school for their breakfast and lunch.

The students' families are glad for them to go to school now, and believe they will learn how to make the future better for the whole village.

Thanks to the work of the El Porvenir Planning Committee in Massachusetts, our fundraising goal for the first phase was met on schedule.

Materials have been purchased, and construction of the new school is now offically underway.

The entire village is very excited about this project, and many people are participating in the building.

This the new school that the Polus Center has helped the villagers of El Porvenir to build on land donated by a generous farmer.

It is not fancy, but it is a big improvement, and it includes enough space for preschool, first and second grades.

It can also be used as a community meeting place and health center.