AUTHOR: Nancy TITLE: Nicaragua DATE: 10/09/2009 08:38:00 AM ----- BODY:
October 9, 2009

The van arrived at 8am for our trip to Leon, and after collecting everyone at Beatriz and Fred’s home we were off. The Leon Rotarians had responded very quickly to our request for a meeting and we had an extremely informative meeting with them at the factory where Don Juan is producing Eco Fogon stoves. I had met Don Juan nearly three years ago when he worked for Proleña and again last year when Ken, Ethan and I had had an initial meeting with the Leon Rotary to judge their level of interest in our program.

The meeting went extremely well, and despite the Rotary funding having dropped from $56,000 per grant to $16,000 for this grant, the club was extremely interested. They proposed a tree-planting program in conjunction with stove production and distribution, but the difficulty of implementation at the same time as implementing a stove program didn’t seem to make sense.

Susie played a big role in explaining the intricacies of the grant, Beatriz served as a bi-lingual translator, and the rest of us chimed in as necessary. The Board of Directors of Leon Rotary had already approved the project at a meeting the night before and they had very specific questions. We were able to address their concerns and all that was left was a bit of time for “official Rotary photos” of the signing of the documents.

We had hoped to meet with attorneys here in Nicaragua, but as we hadn’t heard from anyone, it seemed only appropriate to go to the beach where we again suffered from traditional StoveTeam over-eating. Who could resist a deep-fried entire red snapper accompanied by a plate of six lobster tails……….a fish and lobster tail for each person!

The lovely outdoor café was a perfect respite from the heat, a walk on the beach followed. We returned to the van and to Leon at Roberto’s home where we were presented with Rotary Leon polo shirts, hats and bags of the most delicious smelling Ben Linder Organic Coffee you can imagine. It was especially touching since Ben Linder was originally from Portland and is revered in Nicaragua for his work to build dams.

The return to Managua was uneventful as we returned to our new home away from home with Beatriz and Fred.

October 10, 2009

It was an early morning with a typical Nica breakfast of tortillas, home-made cheese, and pickled onions accompanied by cafe con leche and some cinnamon toast. Beatriz' mother complimented us as she said many of her previous guests had turned up their noses at typical food, but we had tried everything. I'm still not sure that has been a good idea as the food here is so wonderful it's easy to put on the pounds.

Marlyng joined us for a meeting with Don Franz of Managua Rotary this morning, and it's always a challenge to find a place to meet as there are no street names or addresses used in Managua. It's still a matter of saying, "Oh, behind the cathedral, next to the post office, in the beige house with flowers that is two blocks to the west." If you don't get it right the first time, it can be a real challenge.

We did, however, make the meeting and learned that the reason our grant request had been denied was not due to lack of acceptance of our work, but rather that the Managua Rotary had sponsored a water project in the north and the non-profit had absconded with the funds. Now it's a matter of straightening out all of the paperwork and getting their club back in the good graces of Rotary International.

Marlyng showed up from Proleña, and Don Franz indicated that if Marlyng approved of the project, he was satisfied. He was, however, a bit concerned that in Nicaragua the wood is extremely hard and the people don't have any tools other than machetes, so he worried that people would not be able to find wood in small enough pieces. We assured him that branches, twigs and corn cobs could be used for the fire, so we hope it won't be a problem. It's the reason we are starting with small projects to see about acceptance of the stove.

Proleña had tried to produce a household stove in the past but couldn't produce one for less than $100, so if the people here can learn to use twigs and trash wood, we have a winner the inexpensive Ecocina.

Gerry and I are off to LAX this morning and Don and Susie have another day before their four-legged return to Portland. Hey, the airfare was cheap, so we'll see how they like it!

We will be back on the web at the beginning of November, so look for more news then!

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