Tipitapa, Nicaragua: Dos Pueblos

I took a break from Belize rural community development to return to my roots of 25 years in Nicaragua by joining the Dos Pueblos: New York-Tipitapa Sister City Project delegation for 4 days of the week-long exploration of projects and hands on construction of a library and community garden. Its partner organization run by Rosa Lillian Gomez is the model of community organizing. These pictures show various aspects of the program and include two new opportunities: meeting with the National Water Commission to understand the community-based fight against water privatization and a possible partnership with Peace Corps-Nicaragua.

The Peace Corps agriculture expert, Felix, became an informal consultant--advising on a tree planting project and discussing the implications of working with a Peace Corps response unit volunteer. I am hoping that there will be help in the area of teaching, library organization, community gardens, and empowering women through such projects as microfinance. Note each of us taking a turn pumping water in the community of 15 de septiembre. It was so inspiring to see new U.S. faces and new Tipitapa community activists. The New York folks brought many, many, many books and supplies for the new library in Ciudadela. Note this young girl who picked up one of the books after the comprehensive inventory.

One really exciting development was a visit to the newly constructed Tipitapa hospital/clinic which after a decade of visiting a sad, poorly maintained, poorly supplied hospital/clinic was quite impressive. That is Felix on the left and Rosa on the right at the meeting.

Finally, here is Lupe, Dos Pueblos' Executive Director, in the "container" office of the Ciudadela Water Committee with its state of the art equipment.