Would you like to join a Hartford/Ocotal Sister City Project delegation to Ocotal, a small city in the beautiful mountains of northern Nicaragua? We are planning to be in Hartford’s Nicaraguan sister city from August 15-18, 2012.
Benifiting from the years of friendship between the two cities and the areas around them, we will meet with a diverse group of citizens to learn about their lives. A major goal of the delegation will be to learn about FUNAFAM, the microloan project that H/OSCP supports there. We will meet with staff and clients and visit clients at their places of work. We will also meet with government and other community leaders, students, educators, social service and health providers, artists, farmers, and revolution and contra war participants, among others, including people of all ages. Visits to health facilities, farms and community organizations, and other sites can be arranged. Delegates will stay in simple motels or in homes.
H/OSCP does not charge a fee to participate in delegations. Each delegate will arrange her or his own plane transportation to and from Managua and will probably need to spend a night there at the beginning of the trip. A delegate should expect to spend between $300 and $500 for the ground expenses for about seven days. This sum would cover transportation within Nicaragua – from the Managua airport into the city, bus to Ocotal, bus back to Managua, taxi fare back to the airport, possibly a couple of bus fares near Ocotal, and taxis in Managua and Ocotal. The sum would also include seven nights of housing in Managua and Ocotal, the cost of which varies according to choice – for example, family home or motel, single or double room; and air conditioning or none. In addition the sum would include modest meals, water, an interpreter in Ocotal, and a few other expenses. Delegates often choose to extend their stay to visit other places in Nicaragua at additional expense.
Many previous delegates to Ocotal have found the experience life-changing with its many opportunities for experiencing the different culture and natural surroundings amd for learning directly from the people. If you are interested in going on this delegation or learning more about it, please contact us as soon as possible so that we can arrange to speak by phone and to meet.
Contact Brigid at rballen92@att.net for more information or mail:
H/OSCP
PO Box 270290
West Hartford, CT 06127-0290
Report of H/OSCP 2010 Delegation to Ocotal
Delegations to Ocotal strengthen sister city friendship and understanding and motivate visitors to get more involved in the Hartford/Ocotal Sister City Project. Delegates return to tell others about the trip, updating those already active in the Project and promoting interest in people previously uninvolved. The 2010 delegation, which benefited from Ocotal’s hospitality and strong sister-city ties of more than 20 years, focused on FUNAFAM’s microloan project that H/OSCP supports there. Eight people ranging in age from 20 to 75 traveled to Ocotal for the official visit from Jan. 11 to 13. Three delegates stayed in the city longer, and all eight visited other areas of Nicaragua.
Delegates spent much time with FUNAFAM staff all three days and its clients at their places of work two days. Staff arranged discussion, supper, and dancing with the Junta Directiva (Board of Directors) and staff the last evening. H/OSCP visitors learned that by providing microcredit to women with fewer economic resources, FUNAFAM has helped many women unable to get loans elsewhere develop their small businesses. The loans of no more than $60 to $300 to each member of a solidarity group of four to six clients do not require collateral and support businesses such as making tortillas, selling coffee, and sewing clothes. All members of a group are responsible for repayment of all members’ loans. Delegates who visited clients’ places of business heard about positive effects of group microloans on the clients’ small businesses and on the quality of family life, for example in violence avoidance or reduction, children’s attendance in school, and women’s larger decision-making roles, all conducive to poverty reduction. For several years, FUNAFAM has also administered larger individual loans to people with more established businesses, but the emphasis is still on women with fewer economic means. In 2008, group and individual loans went to 860 women and 38 men.
The delegation learned of FUNAFAM’s strong efforts to deal with recent adverse economic conditions and the No Pago (No Pay) movement of debtors that started in the Ocotal area. Under the leadership of Esperanza Rodriguez, staff have worked extensively with clients experiencing hardship, trimmed administrative expenses, established a store, and increased capital funds.
At the Alcaldia (City Hall), delegates heard from longtime H/OSCP friend and Nueva Segovia Administrator Felipe Barreda, Mayor Carlos Norori, and other city officials about efforts to sustain the ecosystem and improve life for all people by addressing needs in employment, nutrition, water supply, education, forestation, and the library. In a tour of the hospital and physical therapy center, doctors explained initiatives to ameliorate problems of infrastructure, personnel shortage, and supplies. At the Casa Materna, delegates learned about this temporary home for women with high-risk pregnancies who live far from a hospital. Haydee Castillo, a delegate to the Copenhagen climate conference and leader in projects to further the environment, employment, democratic participation, and equality of gender, class, and race, discussed current issues with H/OSCP visitors. She arranged an expedition for delegates high up into mountains near the Honduran border to visit a tree conservation project where members of a cooperative work to improve forestry practices critical in pine bark beetle control, fire prevention, health, the environment, and the economy. At a nearby coffee cooperative, the H/OSCP group saw coffee producers’ efforts to resist harmful outside economic pressures and become more self-sustaining by incorporating all the processes of production – growing, picking, washing, roasting, packaging, and selling beans.
In numerous impromptu encounters in hotels, restaurants, Internet cafes, church, the park, taxis and buses, and even the street, delegates found Ocotal residents willing to talk with outsiders. Two delegate families enjoyed sharing experiences with Ocotal families through home stays. Club Rotario members offered insights and camaraderie. Despite the omnipresence of cell phones, computers, and other such devices reflecting the explosion and globalization of telecommunication, personal communication thrives in Ocotal.
Visitors in January, who paid their own way, had an opportunity to learn about Ocotal in a time of global economic crisis, form friendships, and see people striving for a stronger and more just society as well as a sustainable environment. The experience also helped visitors understand their own country better.