In 1524 Spanish conquistador Francisco Hernández de Córdoba named Granada after the city of home country. One of the oldest, if not the oldest, colonial cities in Latin America, Granada once rivaled León for the title of Capital. For more than 300 years the city was repeatedly attacked by pirates, burned and rebuilt several times. … Continue reading
Choices. How many are we fortunate enough to make every day? And how can we maximize someone else’s ability to afford a life that allows for more choice? Someone like our lovely homeowner Tania. Tania is a 32-year-old single mom with two children ages 11 and seven. She only went to school through grade nine, … Continue reading
Nestled among the mountainous hillsides of the central highlands near the Honduran border, Estelí feels like an honest blue-collar city, a sports town with devoted fans, a place where locals worship and shop the huge Saturday produce market, where students learn and where expats can buy sunscreen and lattes alike. Dotted with language schools, tobacco … Continue reading
Located on the Pan-American Highway about 90 miles north of capital city Managua, Estelí is Nicaragua’s third largest city, and one of four cities in Nicaragua where Habitat focuses it’s mission. Surrounded by forested mountains, Estelí has a pleasant climate most of the year, and we were grateful for it. A slight breeze and cooler … Continue reading
Habitat for Humanity began working in Nicaragua in 1984. Since then, Habitat Nicaragua has served more than 5,000 families. Astonishingly about 75% of Nicaragua’s population is under age 40. This presents some challenges for the country, but also ground level opportunities to have a positive impact on future generations. With the help of a local NGO … Continue reading
Over the course of nearly 24 hours everyone on the team, all 16 volunteers, arrived in Managua – safe and sound, even if some were short on sleep. On Sunday morning, after a thoughtful, and very thorough hour long orientation by Habitat Nicaragua staff, it was time for the three hour drive to Estelí (pronounced … Continue reading
You may not think five days of manual labor goes by as quickly as it did for our team of 16 Global Village volunteers, at least if you aren’t used to digging ditches, back-filling foundations and mixing concrete by hand. Let me assure you, not one of us does any of these things as our … Continue reading
A few facts you may not know about Paraguay. The country is the world’s sixth largest exporter of beef; Paraguay has twice as many cows as people. The cows are so special they are sold and flown live to Peru! It also exports soy, cotton and hydroelectric power. It’s a low-key country that flies under … Continue reading
Growing up in a blue-collar middle class family in western Pennsylvania, leaving home meant visiting my grandparents who lived about a 20-minute car ride away. Their small home in the city was my favorite place to be and if felt different enough from my split level suburban house to satiate my desire to travel. Leaving … Continue reading
Crafting an interesting and worthy end-of-build post has become increasingly difficult. Looking back I realize they sound the same. Not a bad thing, but perhaps teetering on boring. The countries are all so different, the culture and the homeowners too, but the emotions remain the same. Each time I want to tell you that we’ve … Continue reading
