Monte Hermon and more

Buenos dias from Escuela Monte Hermon – my temporary home, Nica HOPE's current Nicaraguan headquarters, and the proposed site for a new vocational school. It's already bright at 7:20am but still cool in the shade. The students are in the classrooms going through their morning lessons and can't wait until the afternoon. Today is the last school day before Semana Santa, Central America's most anticipated holiday, and everyone has plans. I'm leaving for a kayaking trip on the undeveloped Rio San Juan, a perfect opportunity reflect on what we've accomplished here so far and what we're heading toward in the near future.

Most of our in-country work has been done here at Monte Hermon. For those unacquainted, a brief history: Pastor Daniel Aragon and his wife Darling opened Escuela Monte Hermon in 2001, accommodating 46 students between 1st and 3rd grades. Monte Hermon now educates 220 students from preschool through “high school” and next year will graduate its first class. Based upon early projections, however, the administration expects less than 10% of the graduating class to continue at a university. Most will accept traditional roles in the home or search for an opening in the unskilled employment sector, which provides little potential for self-improvement through hard work.

This, of course, is where Nica HOPE comes in. Two weeks ago we helped form Junta Bezaleel, a partnership between Nica HOPE, Monte Hermon, and various local employers and consultants. The association intends to create a vocational training program at Monte Hermon with an emphasis on product-creation and job-placement in order to provide economic opportunity for local families and, eventually, economic self-sustainability for Monte Hermon. The vocational school is to be named Pavet and will provide official certification to all graduating students upon its successful operation and inspection by INITEC, the local vocational school sanctioning organization. Here's a picture from one of our meetings:



Each party involved will have specific responsibilities based on strengths and experience. Nica HOPE's role will consist of fundraising, curriculum design, general management, and business development. Monte Hermon will provide land and students, while Eduard Guardian – a local employer – will provide expertise in curriculum design and job opportunities. Don Carlos Sam, a local economics expert, will teach basic math and accounting and will help design the school's money management system, and Eli Covington, a volunteer from the US with years of vocational training experience, will help design curriculum and may teach classes as well.

So the all-star team is assembled and ready to play. Fundraising has already started, and classroom construction, vocational training, and economic opportunity is just ahead. It's a bright morning and everyone's excited about the future.

Jordan Hooper
Managua, Nicaraguan


Visit often for future blogs: Dia de Luz in La Chureca; Vocational School in Los Brasiles, A Day in the Life of a Nicaraguan Laborer; Pablo's Story – to the U.S. and Back; and more.

Going Home...

...in August (as always) but now with a purpose. The Stone Center for Latin American Studies at Tulane University has accepted fully me into their master´s degree program. Good thing considering I´ve been telling everyone about it for months. Looking forward to going home and taking a little Central America with me.

Jordan Hooper
Managua, Nicaragua

Washington D.C. - February 23-26, 2007: "All for one and one for all"

It wasn't quite that dramatic, but the first of many face-to-face encounters of Nica HOPE co-founders was nonetheless a productive meeting and an important symbol of our commitment to one another and the future of the organization. Deanna hosted Ben and I (with the help of some friends – thanks again Wade and Rod), and we began on Friday afternoon by reaffirming our shared vision for the development of Nica HOPE. We reviewed past accomplishments, including the project proposal, organization formation, and the creation of www.nicahope.org. We also addressed the status of pending tasks, such as bylaw creation, tax-exemption application, fundraising stratagems, and in-country development. The three-hour session was a much-needed leap in the right direction.

On Saturday morning we began another productive day by officially establishing ourselves as bank account signatories. Then for lunch we met with Eric Lungren, a good friend of Deanna's who worked two years with Safe Passage (www.safepassage.org), a successful non-profit founded eight years ago in the Guatemala City dump. Eric played a vital role in the development of the fledgling organization and the formation of a new vocational training program. We watched the documentary “Recycled Life,” which exposes the lamentable living conditions of the Guatemala City dump residents, their joys and pains, and the relief efforts of humanitarian organizations. Specifically highlighted is Safe Passage and the successes of its recently-deceased founder Hanley Denning. We highly recommend the film (which received a Grammy nomination this past year) to those of you interested in learning more about the lives of those living amongst a country's waste and the positive change that can be made by just a few motivated individuals. Thanks, Eric, for the guidance – past, present, and (hopefully) future.

Late Saturday night came the snow and when we woke (late) Sunday morning it was piled in fluffy heaps atop roofs and cars and sidewalks and anything or anyone stationary. Movement was all but restricted, which canceled the D.C. tour but gave us plenty time to reassess the weekend and prepare for the near-future. By Monday morning Deanna was studying away for graduate midterms, Ben was leaving for Chicago to continue working on the website, networking, and fundraising, and I was heading south to a capital city far, far removed from our own.

Thanks everyone for the support and please check back regularly for the new blogs (with pictures) that we'll be cranking out once or twice a week.

Jordan Hooper
Managua, Nicaragua