VOLUNTEERING IN SAN JUAN DEL SUR
San Juan del Sur has been a center for hands-on activism for over 20 years. Sincere volunteers are welcomed in the community. This is a wonderful town in which to develop your skills, improve your Spanish, and work closely with local community activists.
The Newton/San Juan del Sur Sister City Project (SCP) will be glad to
help individuals or groups arrange a volunteer experience in San Juan del Sur.
While you will not be our official representative(s) and while we can accept no
liability for anything that happens to you in Nicaragua, we can give you tips on
transportation options from Managua (or elsewhere) to San Juan del Sur; help
you arrange a homestay with a dependable family; direct you to reputable
Spanish language schools; and finally, put you in contact with interesting
community service placements.
NOTE: Unlike some organizations, we don’t charge anything for making arrangements for volunteers to have a pleasant and productive stay in San Juan del Sur. We do, however, ask that you to make as generous a contribution as you can to the Newton/San Juan del Sur Sister City Project. We understand that students may only be able to give a little. For adults, we ask that you Do The Right Thing. Go to http://newtonsanjuan.org and click on “contribute” or simply send your 100% tax-deductible contribution payable to “Newton/San Juan Sister City Project” to: Don Ross, Treasurer, 211 Winslow Road, Waban, MA 02468. If you wish to support a specific project, such as Appropriate Technology, or the Free High School for Adults, specify that on the memo line of your check.
There are three main areas that people typically volunteer in: Public
Health; Appropriate Technology (including water purification, smoke‡free cook
stoves, composting toilets, sustainable building techniques, etc); and Adult
Education (helping out at the Free High School for Adults, Battered Women’s
Shelter, Biblioteca (Library and Bookmobile), etc.)
FOR VOLUNTEERS INTERESTED SPECIFICALLY IN PUBLIC HEALTH
There are two clinics in San Juan: the government-run Centro de Salud
requires that you bring with you a letter IN SPANISH on official stationery from
your medical school attesting that you are a student in good standing who
wishes to “ayudar y aprender” by volunteering at the Centro de Salud. It can be
addressed to “Estimados colegas de MINSA.” They do standard clinical care in
the areas of general medicine, emergency care, OB/GYN, Pre- and Post-Natal
care, chronic diseases, PT (mainly diabetes and renal failure), and make weekly
trips to rural communities.
The other clinic, Servicios Medicos Comunales (aka La Clinica ) is run by
Dr. Rosa Elena Bello (nicaraguanismo@yahoo.com); no special letters are
needed for that. Rosa Elena’s clinic has recently (2010) undergone a massive
building project: they’ve adding a second floor for a battered women’s shelter,
above the doctor’s office, dental clinic, laboratory and computer lab for the Free
High School, which also has its office in the clinic. There is a variety of things you
might get involved in: helping the in-house MD, Dr. Jennys Lopez with
her consultations, help test water from rural wells for contamination by
pathogens, take part in a cervical cancer screening program, or a child nutrition
program.
Those with skills in psychology or social work may be able to find a niche
at the Battered Women’s Shelter. E-mail Dr. Margaret Gullette
(mgullette@msn.com) or Dr. Bello.
If you want to volunteer in Public Health at the non-governmental clinic, you should e-mail Dr. Bello well in advance and give her the dates of your stay on San Juan, and the sorts of things you like (and are able) to do. To volunteer at the government-run Centro de Salud, see Dr. Colleen Harrison’s notes on the main Volunteer page.
FOR VOLUNTEERS INTERESTED SPECIFICALLY IN
APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY
First, click on the Appropriate Technology page at http://newtonsanjuan.org
Here you will find an overview of the various Appropriate Tech projects
we are currently involved in. In 2008/2009 we concentrated on manufacturing
and installing over 600 BioSand Filters in rural homes throughout the scattered
villages of the township. In 2010/2011 we will be doing follow-up visits to these
homes, and for those who are following the correct protocols for filter use, we
will be offering a cost-sharing program for getting an EcoStove (for cooking with
wood without filling house and lungs with smoke). We are also cooperating with
a local NGO, Fundacion Tierra (Antonia Mendoza, Director) to use sustainable
green building materials (starting in 2011, with Compressed Earth Blocks) in such
projects as school construction in the countryside.
Fidel Pavon (josefidelpavon@yahoo.com, cell 8632-4008) at the Newton
Workshop on Appropriate Technology is responsible for manufacturing the
components for the EcoStove (cement top and bottom plates for the cooking
box and mold-cast cement chimney tubes. Fidel can always use help, and
especially if you have only a few days to volunteer, this is an easy and popular
destination. He might also put you to work processing our special volcanic sand
for (re)installing in BioSand Filters.
The Appropriate Technology Workshop is in Barrio Las Delicias, a cheap
ten-minute taxi ride from the market. Ask the driver to take you “donde Pavon y
su Taller en Las Delicias.” It is on the main road that goes past the baseball/soccer
field toward the beaches to the south (Yankee, Coco, Ostional, etc.)
To help install EcoStoves, talk to Fidel, or call Antonia Mendoza (8439-8075).
FOR VOLUNTEERS INTERESTED SPECIFICALLY IN
HELPING OUT WITH ADULT EDUCATION
Two main opportunities: Teaching English or computer skills, or working
with children at the Saturday Daycare Center. Contact Maria Dolores Silva
at Dr. Bello: email:nicaraguanismo@yahoo.com.
Those interested in working with children should also drop by the
Biblioteca Movil (Free public lending library and Bookmobile) located across
the street from the Catholic Church).
The Biblioteca allows you to do arts and crafts and reading aloud to kids in the afternoons,
as well as weekly trips in the two pick‡up trucks packed with books for kids in rural communities.
Check with Heidi or one of the other staff people at the front desk.
IMPORTANT GENERAL INFO FOR VOLUNTEERS:
We can help set you up with ground transportation, housing and
volunteer placements, but we otherwise accept no responsibility for your health
and safety. If you live with a family, please be respectful of their customs.
Although you do not represent the Newton SCP officially, unofficially your
behavior reflects on us and on your home country. Staying out late, heavy
drinking, and drug use are rude to your hosts and can be dangerous.
BASIC INFO: A valid passport is sufficient to enter Nicaragua (be sure to
carry a Xerox of the front page of your passport and keep it separately); you
purchase for $10 a 90-day visa at airport; don’t take travelers’ cheques, but do take
a debit card and don’t forget the password; there’s an ATM on the patio of the
Hotel Casablanca on the waterfront; gives either dollars or cordobas (a little over
20 to the dollar; but everyone accepts dollars). There are at least six internet
places in town where you can do your e-mail and/or call home using Skype and
earphones they supply. If you want to work on your Spanish, there are several
good Spanish schools in San Juan that offer one-on-one tutoring. Take along
doxycycline or cipro etc. for tummy bugs. Protect yourself from the sun!
If you want to live with a family experienced in giving hospitality to
foreigners let me know:david.gullette@simmons.edu
($20 a day gets you private room and bath and all your meals taken care of;
please pay families at the start of the week, not after the week is over).
In an emergency talk to Jane Mirandette at the Hotel Isabella or Kathy
Knight at the Hotel Piedras y Olas; also take along the number of the your
Embassy in Managua.
Flying into Managua, book a flight that gets you there as early in the day
(before late afternoon) as possible. You SHOULD NOT travel on Nicaraguan highways
after the sun goes down (5:30pm) and San Juan is 2.5 hours from the airport. We have
a dependable taxi driver who will take an individual or small group to San Juan
for $60 per carload, 2-5 people. His name is Marcos Bermudez: (505-8878-2080).
There is also a shuttle run by www.adelanteexpress.com. This is about $40 per
person. Marcos will wait if your plane is late; Adelante Express won’t.
DO NOT just grab a taxi at the airport, or in San Juan del Sur to return to
Managua. Here is a news article from July 2010 that makes clear why:
Nicaragua:
The U.S. Embassy in Managua reported that nearly a
dozen taxi kidnappings occurred in the past month in several areas,
including some around the international airport, along bus routes to
and from San Juan del Sur, San Jorge, Granada, Managua, Esteli and
Masaya, and in the city of Managua. In all cases involving U.S. citizens,
the incidents involved a local befriending the American and offering to
share or help find a taxi. Once inside the taxi, the victims were held at
knife- or gun-point, threatened with violent assault, robbed, driven to
ATMs to empty their bank accounts, then abandoned in remote areas.
The incidents often occurred after strangers befriended the victims on
a bus and the bus arrived at its destination. The assailants have had
many profiles, including a young pregnant woman and women and
men of various ages. The embassy recommends using only officially
registered taxis bearing registration numbers on the door, license plate
and trunk or radio-dispatched taxis.
