Category Archives: Nicaragua

bicycles, InGear - The Newsletter of P4P, Nicaragua

Nicaragua 2018: a Pause in Our Longest-running Program

Fall 2018 InGear

1. A 27-Year Partnership

 
By Dave Schweidenback

In the 1970s and 1980s there was a civil war in Nicaragua. Violence and destruction were widespread. The warring sides would burn the crops of their enemies, so hunger was also widespread. Many bridges and roads were impassable.


U.S. religious groups were sending humanitarian aid such as food and medical supplies to Nicaragua. A couple of these groups were in New Jersey, including a group at the United Methodist Church in Plainfield. I asked if I could put some of my bikes into the containers they were shipping to Nicaragua. That’s how our first bikes went to Nicaragua in 1991.

After a few of these containers had been shipped, the church groups invited their Nicaraguan partners to a meeting in New Jersey to talk about our projects. One of the Nicaraguans was Wilfredo Santana, head of the Association for the Community Development of Rivas, a town in southwestern Nicaragua. Wilfredo was talking to the group about his programs and the shipments from the U.S. and he said, “Forget all that other stuff, just send us bikes.” Gasps all around. The roads and bridges were in such bad shape, and gasoline was so scarce, that a bike was an incredible advantage in Nicaragua at that time.

The group had a picnic where I had a chance to talk with Wilfredo. He said that he didn’t have any money for the first shipment, but that if I could ship him a container of bikes at no charge, he could make enough money on the bikes to pay for the next shipment. Each shipment would pay for the next, and this could go on indefinitely. This was the origin of what we call the revolving fund idea, which we have used ever since.

To ramp up my production and to have more control over where I sent bikes, I was determined to make P4P-only shipments, independent of the other groups that were sending aid to Nicaragua. I went to the SeaLand shipping company and told them that if they would donate the cost of the first shipment, I would become a long-term customer. They made the shipment at no charge and I became a long-term customer. Since then, it has sometimes been a struggle to fund the first shipment to a new partner. But we’re still in business, we’ve shipped more than 155,000 bikes, and we’re still using our revolving funds to pay most of our international shipping costs.

End of an Era

There are several reasons a program might end: the local market for bikes can become saturated; the business might not be well run or might lose key people; the government might impose prohibitive import rules or fees; the local economy might collapse. Despite all these unhappy possibilities, our P4P program in Nicaragua has had an amazing run.

Between 1992 and 2016, we sent more than 40,000 bicycles to Nicaragua, including more than 20,000 to Rivas. Now seems like a good time to pause the program. Demand for our bikes is down because we’ve shipped so many and because of the terrible political and economic times in Nicaragua in 2018.

Given the right circumstances, we may revive the EcoBici program down the road. For now, though, we’re making the Rivas program inactive. Goodbye for now and good luck to our good friends in Nicaragua.


Gary with EcoBici Staff, February 2014

2. ECOBICI, Rivas, Nicaragua

 
By Wilfredo Santana


In the 1990s, after the war in Nicaragua, the impact on Rivas of the arrival of bicycles was very great. The country was economically destroyed, public transport was insufficient, and the unemployment rate was high. So for people with scarce resources it was extraordinarily helpful when we started selling bikes at modest prices. We call our bike business EcoBicicletas, EcoBici for short.

Our organization, the Association for the Community Development of Rivas, developed several programs in Rivas and the nearby communities of Veracruz, Buenos Aires, La Chocolata, and Tola. Our programs benefited single mothers, mothers who lost their children or husbands in the war, teachers, and workers. We had programs to build rope pumps for water wells, transport drinking water, build latrines, and build roofs for houses.

We established bike shops where we sold and repaired bikes and bike parts, and we trained bike mechanics to work in the shops.

Rivas has become somewhat more prosperous over the last couple of decades, so the use of motorcycles and autos has increased. We do not have the same demand for bikes that we had years ago, but we still sell many bikes, mostly to young people, women, and some elderly people. And the bicycle is still an economical means of transport for many.

Besides providing affordable transportation to thousands of adults and children in Nicaragua, EcoBicicletas has, for almost three decades, offered steady jobs for the three women who run the organization.

Now, in late 2018, Nicaragua is in the middle of a socio-economic crisis, including violence in the streets. The deterioration of the economy has impacted the sales of bicycles to such a degree that we fear for the survival of our business. We hope that the situation will normalize and the pace of product sales will resume.

bicycles, InGear - The Newsletter of P4P, Nicaragua

Nicaragua Success Story, 2017

Summer 2017 InGear

Alexander Mora was born in Tola, Nicaragua, eight miles west of the town of Rivas, home of our P4P partner EcoBici.

Alexander has been interested in bikes since he was 10. From a very young age he learned bike repair from Guadalupe, the former lead mechanic at the Ensembladora de Bicicletas, the EcoBici bike shop. Guadalupe taught Alexander everything about repair and maintenance of bicycles: lubrication, wheel alignment, cable replacement, …

When Alexander got his first 20-inch bike he became even more interested in bike repair.

When he was 23 an Atlas bicycle came into the shop from a Señor Miguel Ríos. Señor Rios used to deliver newspapers in Rivas on his Atlas. Señor Ríos passed away but his son gave the Atlas to Alexander. Alexander still has this bike.

After he got the Atlas, Alexander would ride it from Rivas to Tola. From Tola he would ride another five miles to the village of Gasper García to repair taxi trikes. Overall, Alexander maintains about 100 of these bike taxis.

After work he would ride a few more miles to the Pacific coast for fish and whatever else he could find. To survive he would carry a machete, a liter container of water, and a pump and patches for tire-repair.

In 2011, Alexander met Joaquino Bando and they met Carlos Santana at EcoBici. They began to assemble beach cruiser bikes.

Alexander seemed different from other workers. He worked closely with Carlos. Then when head mechanic Don Lorenzo retired, Alexander joined the EcoBici permanent staff, earning a fixed salary. He works on new and used bikes, and has become one of the best bike mechanics in the country.

Alexander now restores badly damaged used bikes, making them almost like new. Besides the Atlas, he has restored a classic 24-inch bike that he uses to run errands for EcoBici: making bank deposits or doing anything else we need him to do. Alexander has great skill as a bike mechanic and has been an excellent addition to the staff at EcoBici.

bicycles, Nicaragua

It’s Not Just Any Bike That Will Do

by Patricia Hamill
Spring 2016 InGear

When requests for donations are made, it’s often assumed that any item, no matter how worn or outdated, is better than none at all. That is correct—for the most part—because old and unwanted cycles definitely can be resurrected, recycled, and repurposed. We have taken even the most well traveled bikes and turned them into viable and reliable transportation for many new owners. But here is the catch: What if the recipients have special requirements or requests? Is it enough to send what happens to be donated at a particular time and let those at the receiving end figure out how to manage from there?

The bikes we send are in good shape and ready to be purchased, so it’s not like anyone has to repair anything before they get rolling. So maybe that is good enough. But who is to say what enough is? There is a story that Gloria Steinem tells about a turtle she found near a road. She was sure the turtle was in danger and in need of help. She made a point of returning it to the river it “belonged” in only to find out later that she had interfered with the turtle’s arduous efforts to travel to her nesting spot. Steinem took that lesson of assumption to heart and began to apply it to all she does when she helps others. Basically she admonishes us all to “Always ask the turtle.” So, we at P4P find ourselves in a similar situation except the turtle has come to us. In other words, we have found out that the concept of what is good enough is relative and our assistance is needed not just for access to jobs but to athletic ambitions that can offer opportunities for life improvement. There are recipients that know better than us what they need and we should pay attention to that.

2016springNicaraguaSergioIn 2014, we introduced a young man named Juan Carlos Jimenez based in Rivas, Nicaragua. The article, “For the Love of Bicycles” shares Juan’s ambitions to become a competitive bicycle racer. It was the donation of a carbon fiber Motobecane bicycle that made this possible. In fact, his daily employment was in a bicycle shop, so his financial and professional aspirations were both enhanced by his association with P4P. Today we reflect on Sergio Ramos Antonio Quintero, a 25-year-old living in the Nicaraguan municipality of Diriamba. A textile worker by trade, his great interest is in racing bikes and he hopes to do this full time; but he lacks access to the kinds of cycles that can propel his goals into reality.

So far, he has participated in a number of long-distance races in Nicaragua, winning many second places and bronze medals. His ambition is to be able to have more time to hone his skills; but this means less time at the textile plant and less income. If he becomes good enough to participate consistently and, of course, win, he could merit financial backing from local sponsors. If Sergio leaves the textile mill, his spot will go to another who is in need of work. It’s a winning situation for more than one person.

So, returning to the example of the turtle, we all probably should work on shifting our perceptions about who is in need and what our contributions can really do. It’s not just one bike, one person. It’s about the person as well and what he or she really needs. Their locations, their terrain, their employment or lack of, and their personal ambitions and desires are all part of one large equation that we may not be able to know, but we can offer the widest range of options for them to make use of. If our recipients can thrive better with high-end competition bikes, then let’s make it happen! The good old cruisers have their place and it’s a given that children’s bikes are valued, but if you aren’t spinning past the finish line these days, there is someone out there who is working hard to earn that honor!

Let’s ask our activist and philanthropist selves not just who we can donate to but what they best need. If you don’t know the answer, ask this turtle: P4P.

bicycles, Nicaragua

EcoBici, Rivas, Nicaragua

by Carla Bello Mejia
Spring 2015 InGear

During the year 2014 EcoBici received two containers of bicycles for a total of 1062 bicycles, 971 of which were sold from January to December. During the first half of the year sales flow was very good but from July to November sales dropped greatly.

This year EcoBici will increase slightly outlays for wages which is due to the increase of wages mandated by the Ministry of Labor. It is mandatory to increase wages and social insurance and the top rate assumed by the employer is 16%, just as the payment of social benefits is increasing (compensation for years of work, vacation, thirteenth month). The importation taxes on the bicycles have increased also.

It is for all these expenses the bike’s price increases, but it is still sold at attainable prices for the population. Local shops are selling new bikes but of poor quality and quite high prices. It is true there are shops that offer very good bikes but their costs are very high for poor people in Managua, so they always prefer to come to Ecobici because bikes have good quality and good prices adjusted according to your income.

We believe and are sure that it is always important to send bicycles. People need access to a good bike for commuting to their workplaces and students to their schools. We hope P4P will have successful collections so that we may receive three containers of bicycles in 2015.

That’s why we deeply thank everyone involved in P4P collections for their work and dedication of their time to this cause that has sent bicycles to Rivas. Thanks, Thanks.

bicycles, Nicaragua

For the Love of Bicycles

IMG-20141128-WA0006Even from the earliest days 25 years ago, not too long after we began to deliver bicycles, some young person who wants to race is hanging about, often willing to work for free just to be around bicycles. At first I really discouraged racing clubs because our real goal was income generation, workers getting to work. The love of bicycles and the love of racing have always won out. The people who work in the bike shop and the people who hang around there are always great bicycle enthusiasts.

Juan Carlos Jimenez is such a young man. 18 years old, he works in a bicycle parts shop in Rivas, Nicaragua. In his spare time he is preparing for upcoming competitions racing up and down the steep jagged foothills of western Nicaragua. Thanks to the donation of this beautiful carbon-fiber Motobecane bicycle to Pedals for Progress, Juan Carlos has an exceptionally good bike to race.

I have often been asked, Is this bike too good? No bicycle is too good. There is a purpose for every bicycle. We seek to ship the highest quality bikes possible and when we can obtain such a beautiful racing bike, there is a great demand for that bicycle overseas.

bicycles, Nicaragua, Turtles

Paso Pacifico Turtle Rangers

by Michael Sabrio
Fall 2014 InGear

The Spring 2014 InGear newsletter introduced the turtle rangers of Paso Pacifico. The rangers patrol beaches in southwestern Nicaragua to try to protect the turtles that nest there. Through a happy collaboration of Paso Pacifico, the Turtle Conservancy, and Pedals for Progress, the rangers now use P4P bikes for commuting and patroling.

DSCN0753ostionalPlayaAnimaRangersGaryRmsNoSalvador

In February Gary Michel and I visited the Paso Pacifico rangers and got a first-hand look at what they do. The Paso Pacifico staff in California and Nicaragua were extremely helpful in arranging the logistics. (Thank you, Kate Dolkas!) Paso Pacifico driver Don Meyer Roderíguez picked Gary and me up in Rivas for the 35-mile ride to Ostional Beach, where we would meet the rangers. Claudia Perla, a Paso Pacifico forest ecologist, came along for part of the ride.

Besides their work with turtles, Paso Pacifico has projects on monkeys, reforestation, and “felinos grandes” (big cats) among others. (In 2010, a Paso Pacifico camera trap got photos of a couple of jaguars in areas where jaguars were thought to have been extinct for many years.)

About half our ride was on excellent paved roadway. We passed through the beautiful Pacific Ocean resort town of San Juan del Sur, then headed south on rough unpaved roads. We were there in the dry season, so we had only the bumps, ruts, potholes, and dust to deal with. We wondered how much worse it is in the rainy season and how far the rangers had to travel to get to their patrols. Claudia rode with us to a site near Ostional where she planned to spend a few days with a local family setting up a monitoring program to help determine food resources for spider monkeys. We said goodbye to Claudia and continued down the road to Ostional.

Coco Beach

We stopped at Coco Beach, where Paso Pacifico has one of its turtle hatcheries. A hatchery is a rectangle in the sand near the beach with wire fencing and a covered top to provide shade. Inside, individual plots of a few square feet are marked with the date the eggs were found and estimated date of hatching. Here at Coco Beach, there were no turtle eggs. A sign said that there was lodging and a restaurant here; if you want a vacation truly off the beaten path, this is the place for you.

Refugio del Flor

Our next stop was at Refugio del Flor, a national reserve famous for massive influx of Olive Ridley turtles. Nicaraguan soldiers were posted here when we visited. A board that shows counts of nesting turtles by month and by year has some big numbers – between 23,000 and 30,000 turtles from September through November of last year – but any relief you feel is tempered by very high mortality rates for newborn turtles – at least 90%.

Ostional

DSCN0722ostionalViveroEmpleadaAndRangersOur final destination was the beach at Ostional. Salvador Sánchez, the Paso Pacifico turtle coordinator (how’s that for a job title), lives right here with his family in a spectacular isolated spot on the beach. We met the rangers on duty that day: Daniel, Eliezer, Erick, Felix, Jairo, Jorlin, Marcos, and Salvador. They had their trusty P4P bikes. Gary and I mounted a couple more P4P bikes that Meyer had picked up from our long-time contacts in Rivas, the Santana family. We left these two extra bikes for the rangers at the end of our ride. Salvador, some of the other rangers, Gary, and I rode our bikes a few hundred yards south to another of the Paso Pacifico turtle hatcheries. Paydirt!

DSCN0717ostionalViveroTurtleRmsA batch of a few dozen turtles had just hatched that day. A Paso Pacifico employee was tending them, keeping them safe and healthy. They were to be released that night into the Ocean, which was a few dozen yards from the hatchery. Because of predation by gulls and other shoreline animals, the first few minutes of a turtle’s life – from the time they emerge from the nest, crawl across the beach, and plunge into the ocean – are hugely dangerous. The Paso Pacifico program saves the turtles from at least this threat.

We rode our bikes back to the beach at Ostional and took a boat ride to a nearby beach that is a popular turtle nesting site. One of the rangers dug up a nest where the turtles had recently hatched and counted several dozen eggshells plus 4 marble-sized eggs that had not developed. We hoped that the turtles hatched here had made it safely to the Ocean. Because the turtles come ashore at night, the rangers’ schedule must accommodate them. A couple of the guys on our ride were getting ready to start their 6pm to 6am shift. They explained that their jobs are sometimes routine and sometimes dangerous. Sometimes there is nothing to report. Rangers have no official authority to confront or stop poachers, who may be armed. The rangers rely mostly on their ties to and respect from the community. It also helps that Paso Pacifico pays compensation to local people who help with its conservation programs. People who find a turtle nest get money when they bring the eggs to a Paso Pacifico hatchery. Families who lose livestock to predation by the big cats and even people who can show evidence of the cats (such as cell-phone photos) are also paid.

Besides being incredibly interesting and beautiful, our trip gave us a better appreciation of how much a bicycle can help people do their jobs where transportation is unreliable and expensive. We also have a better appreciation of how hard it is to balance the preservation of ecosystems and rare animals with the day-to-day survival of very poor people.

bicycles, Nicaragua, Turtles

Bicycles Become Instrumental in Saving an Endangered Region in Nicaragua

Spring 2014 InGear

An enormous amount of our work here at P4P is based on reaching out to people and organizations for the support we need to keep our bike collections a success and our partners supplied with cycles and parts for maintenance and repair. When an organization initiates the contact, it tells us our efforts are working and we are making a difference. Most recently, it was Fumiji Aoki of the Turtle Conservancy offices in New York City who contacted David Schweidenback to arrange the collection and shipping of bicycles to rangers working for Paso Pacifico in southwestern Nicaragua. The difficulty in navigating the rough roads and changing terrain over long distances on foot or in the rarely available buses in this region make reliance on bicycles essential. P4P immediately got to work filling this need.

Rangers and bicycles for Christmas[3] We reached out to Kate Dolkas, a conservation associate based in Paso Pacífico’s offices in Ventura California, to fill us in on who is going to be using the bikes and how they will fit into the overall mission of their organization: “Our ranger teams comprise 20 men and women, 12 Forest Rangers and 8 Sea Turtle Rangers. All Paso Pacífico rangers are local residents of southwestern Nicaragua and many of them work as farmers or 2-3 hours away in Managua in addition to their employment with us.

“The rangers work in the Paso del Istmo, a narrow isthmus of land in southwestern Nicaragua between Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific ocean. This area is characterized as dry tropical forest where an intense rainy season is followed by extremely dry conditions every year. Rich in biodiversity and a crucial corridor for birds, mammals and amphibians, it has been devastated by extreme deforestation, resulting in habitat destruction and migratory corridor disruption. Tourism is also increasingly affecting beach areas.

“Our forest rangers hike through dense dry tropical forest to monitor sites for signs and sightings of spider monkeys, migratory birds and parrots, amphibians and small mammals. They collect and analyze population data to provide us with baseline information about each species and help us understand how to better protect them from deforestation and climate change.

“The sea turtle rangers are instrumental in protecting the declining sea turtle populations that rely on Nicaragua’s beaches year after year to lay their eggs. They are responsible for patrolling beaches that are prime nesting sites for Olive Ridley, Hawksbill, Leatherback, and Green sea turtles. Turtle egg poaching is a common illegal activity in Nicaragua, and the rangers help to combat against this practice by patrolling the beaches at night when turtles lay their eggs and by implementing our incentive program in which poachers receive money in exchange for the eggs they attempt to steal. Sea turtle rangers also care for nests in Paso Pacífico’s sea turtle hatcheries, where they record the number of eggs that successfully hatch and the baby sea turtles that then make it to sea.

“Having the bikes is so special because all of our rangers live and work in the rural communities of the Paso del Istmo and many of them do not own vehicles or bicycles, causing them to rely on unreliable buses for transportation. The long roads that take them from home to monitoring and patrolling sites are primarily dirt roads that become mud pits in the rainy season and then dry into deep ruts carved out by large trucks and livestock.

“Prior to the P4P bike donations, rangers traveled to monitoring sites on foot, trudging through the mud and dust. Now that they have the new bikes, they can focus their energy on what’s important: Protecting the wildlife of Nicaragua. Thanks to Pedals for Progress, life is easier for the rangers who can now do their jobs more effectively.”

This is the kind of partnership P4P hopes to continue to develop and sustain across the globe. As long as we keep up our efforts and can respond to the growing need internationally for economic and ecologically viable transportation and employment options, we know we are making the right kind of mark on the planet.

Nicaragua, Peace Corps, Sewing Partners

Island Co-op Begins to Grow Roots

by Noelle London
Fall 2013 InGear

Last year as I sat at the high school graduation in the rural community of Balgüe, Nicaragua, I counted that a third of the girls in my class were either pregnant at the time or already had a child. I know I am failing to count a few as I was unaware they were mothers and that many other girls failed to make it to graduation day, dropping out previously due to teen pregnancy. Aside from this obvious problem, many other young Nicaraguan women choose to drop out of high school due to the pressure to provide for family needs within the household. Many may feel a need to be at home to complete daily chores like patting tortillas and cooking beans, looking after the men’s needs in the household, or caring for young children. While many urban communities may see a different situation, this is still the reality of a Nicaraguan woman in a rural community.

The island of Ometepe, Nicaragua
The island of Ometepe, Nicaragua

You see, this takes place on Ometepe, an idyllic island where at any point you look up to find two looming volcanoes within a freshwater lake. It’s considered the pearl of Nicaragua. Mark Twain has been known to write of it and a couple years ago it was shortlisted for the seven great wonders of the world. It is essentially a little slice of paradise. But, on the other hand, this paradise falls short of providing many opportunities for youth to plan their futures. Employment opportunities that allow islanders to stay on the island are hard to come by.

With the brightest students, you often see that a “brain drain” syndrome is ever present. Usually if youth come from families with resources they will study in the university in the capital, pick a career that makes it hard to find work on the island, and are forced to stay in the capital to find employment. I was proud to see many of my last year’s high school seniors go on to study advanced careers, but the reality is—how many dentists do you need on a rural island when dental care is still viewed as a luxury? For those that do not or cannot choose higher education, employment is still a challenge. Last year when I asked a young woman what she would do following high school, she told me that she would most likely emigrate to Costa Rica to find work. Many feel that more opportunities lie abroad than in Nicaragua.

Hopefully, as the economy shifts from agriculture to tourism, the diversity will bring more opportunity and islanders will realize the necessity to focus on the training of trades. With tourism, there is a need for some push from government and educational institutions for programs like business education and English training. With sustainable employment opportunities, more islanders will be able to stay closer to home while also allowing tourism to develop in a sustainable manner where the benefit is felt in more island communities.

Girasol Members in Ometepe, Nicaragua
Girasol Members in Ometepe, Nicaragua

A recent donation of six sewing machines by Pedals for Progress has helped to improve the lives of one particular group of women, Girasol Sewing Cooperative. (A girasol is a sunflower in Spanish). This sewing cooperative on the Island of Ometepe was started to provide an opportunity to learn the trade of sewing to improve their personal economic situation as well as that of their families and community. Sewing provides an income-generating activity for the women of the community of Balgüe, where employment opportunities for women are virtually non-existent.

Creating a self-sustaining sewing cooperative on an island can be difficult, as resources like sewing machines and materials still have to be imported by boat. This in turn drives up the prices of basic goods like school uniforms. However, what is beautiful about the Nicaraguan entrepreneurial spirit is that these women can view opportunities when many others view challenges. For Girasol, these challenges bring opportunities as tourism grows, and there is opportunity to break into a market where the majority of souvenirs come from the off-island departments of Masaya or Granada.

In March of 2012, these women were sitting in a classroom as we reviewed what a basic fraction and decimal were, as none of them were able to finish high school due to circumstances beyond their control. At the same time, the women participated in sewing classes led by the designer Kim Farrugia and began laying the foundation for their very own sewing workshop. Currently, in a little over a year, they have begun selling in multiple locations on the island and preparing their first international orders.

Pedals for Progress has continued to lend a helping hand promoting economic development in Nicaragua as well as many other countries around the world. It is notable what a couple hundred cordobas extra a month can do for a women. However, less talked about and equally important is the role of this cooperative in the personal lives of these women. The majority of these women are single mothers and have also never had the opportunity in their lives to earn a peso for themselves. Many still have to ask permission from their spouses to buy basic household necessities like toilet paper. With learning the trade of sewing, these women are allowed to see the potential of their own two hands, develop their creativity in a society that does not always nourish it, and understand the pride that comes from being able to contribute a small income to their families.

With P4P’s donation, the current cooperative will be able to formalize. More importantly, these sunflowers will be able to grow. With the new machines, there are plans to hold a new sewing course and to allow new women to be incorporated into the group as it expands. This means more women within the community are given a reason to get out of the house to go to triweekly meetings reminding them that they are strong, creative, and smart women. This is women’s empowerment, and it would not have been possible without the help of P4P.

Pedals for Progress has improved the quality of life for many Nicaraguans in the department of Rivas, with currently over 22,500 bicycles donated. In addition, P4P’s new partnership with Girasol Sewing Cooperative and donation of sewing machines has helped to lay a foundation for sustainable economic development on the island of Ometepe. Girasol’s transition from a project to a sustainable, independent business would have been difficult without the help of David Schweidenback, his team, and the contributions from Pedals for Progress’s supporters.

Noelle London
Peace Corps Nicaragua
Small Business Development 56
London.noelle@gmail.com

bicycles, Nicaragua, Peace Corps, Sewing Partners

52nd Container to Rivas

May 18th, 2013, marked the shipment of the 52nd container of bicycles to EcoBici in Rivas, Nicaragua. Our relationship with this organization is the longest in our 23 years of partnership building. This current delivery contains 580 bikes that add to the 22,044 cycles already in circulation in the region and will contribute to the organization’s goal of community development and focus on enabling much-needed reforestation in the region.

P1030868P4P is also pleased to add 6 sewing machines to the container shipment. Our readers are of course already familiar with the Clif Bar Family Foundation’s steady and generous support of our programs and so it is not unexpected that the shipping and import taxes have been covered by them. What is new here is that the sewing machines are destined for a different locale in the region. In April, we were contacted by Noelle London, a Peace Corps volunteer who is involved in small business development in Nicaragua. London wrote that she lives on Ometepe, an island close to Rivas. This island, situated on Lake Nicaragua, is steadily becoming a tourist destination and she informed us that, currently, most of the souvenirs visitors purchase there tend to be made in Granada or Masaya.

London informed us that, with reliable and efficient tools, the local women could develop a thriving base of manufacture in their community of Balgüe: “They have begun to sell in a couple of locations on the island and even in a fair in Managua but are unable to keep up with the current demand as they only have 3 working machines.”

942817_168081573356090_1040016389_n
This region is ideal for building a tourist trade in local crafts as there are many attractions to draw steady crowds yearly. The beaches on the island of Ometepe are black volcanic sand, and the lake, long separated from the ocean by an earthquake, is an ideal location to observe the many species who have adapted to this environment. Lake Nicaragua is the only lake in the world with very large freshwater sharks. Tours of the island include trips to Altagracia and its Pre-Columbian stone statues and to Magdalena Farm in Balgüe where organic coffee is grown. It is a lush land with fertile soil fed from the Volcano Maderas.

London included this statement in her e-mail to us: “I have normally been the one to shy [local women] away from donations, as they have to eventually [establish] a fully sustainable business as opposed to a project. However, after working with them on productivity countless times, I have come to understand that they simply lack the sufficient resources to really take off.” What stands out to us at P4P is London’s very realistic take on the development of self sufficiency. Charity does not build business infrastructure. Long-term goals, reliable tools, and ongoing training programs are the only hope for people in places like Ometepe to foil the existence of questionably sourced “authentic” souvenirs of their own region and take control of the industry for themselves. This is a beneficial situation for visitors of the region as well, of course. Value is added to the experience of visiting a country where the textiles and other mementos are made by local people and cooperatives. Even better if a visit to the places of manufacture are part of a tour itinerary.

“It has been a pleasure to work with these motivated and talented women. They have dealt with countless obstacles and have continued to fight to keep their business afloat,” states London. P4P is very happy to see the contents of one container contribute to an old reliable partnership in Rivas and a new and promising one on Ometepe.

bicycles, Nicaragua

Country Update: Nicaragua

Spring 2013 InGear

In the early nineties, Pedals for Progress founder and current president, David Schweidenback, met Wilfredo Santana of Ecobici, a low-income bicycle distributor based in Rivas, Nicaragua. Together, they developed the concept of revolving funds in order to sustainably pay for the cost of transporting bicycles from the United States to Nicaragua. In 1992, Jose Dolores Hernandez purchased one of the first bikes shipped to Ecobici by Pedals for Progress.

Jose Dolores
Jose Dolores

The bicycle was a Raleigh 26” mountain Bike and proved to be a highly dependable vehicle for Jose. He, his wife, and his three sons made varied use of the bike for fifteen years. Throughout this period, Jose, a mason and general contractor by trade, made countless trips transporting tools and materials between his home and multiple worksites.

Unfortunately, in 2007, while riding the Raleigh, one of Jose’s sons accidentally landed on it in such a way that he broke the bicycle’s frame. It was therefore that Jose was forced to buy another bicycle. He managed to get another bike of decent, though not quite as good quality as his first one. Regardless, Jose, now 65 and a grandfather of three grandchildren, continues to take great care of his second bike and uses it for work daily. Furthermore, Jose’s son eventually managed to repair the original Raleigh and that bike, originally purchased in 1992, has now become an indispensable tool to another generation. Pedals for Progress’ partnership with Ecobici was the organization’s first, long-lasting major program and is still currently in operation. Since its inception, Pedals for Progress has shipped 52 containers, or over 22,000 bicycles, to the small town of Rivas, Nicaragua with still more to come.