Sag Harbor, NY: Hamptons Spotlight: Sag Harbor Lends a Helping Hand…Nick and James Dwoskin, residents of Sag Harbor, have just returned from Nicaragua. They had the opportunity to visit the village that is the beneficiary of the money raised by SHINE, Ulwasking. SHINE stands for Sag Harbor in Nicaragua Enterprise. The mission of SHINE is to assist campesinos in rural, Nicaragua to improve their living standards through sustainable development in clean water and sanitation. This project allowed the people and community organizations of greater Sag Harbor to support El Porvenir’s work in the village of Ulwasking, Nicaragua.
In 2010 and 2011 several fundraising events were organized by local Sag Harbor residents, including our own Hamptons Mouthpiece, Vanessa Leggard. Since 2011 there have been a series of mishaps and false starts before completing the Ulwasking project. The original targeted village was unable to secure the source of the water to pump into the community and had hydrology that prevented a simpler well from being dug. After a careful study of Ulwasking and securing the villagers participation in the construction and maintenance of the project, construction began.
Ulwasking is an extremely poor community even by Nicaraguan standards (Nicaragua is the 2nd poorest country in the Western Hemisphere). The population of the village is primarily Miskito Indian, a marginalized indigenous group, similar to the Native Americans in our own country. The Miskitos have their own language and culture. The Spanish conquest only tangentially reached the Miskito population in Eastern Honduras and Nicaragua. For this reason the Spanish language was not adopted by the Miskito. The balance of the village is Mestizo, Spanish speaking of mixed European and Native American decent. Until recently the village was entirely Moskito. The Mestizo have moved to the area seeking better locations for subsistence farming distant from larger more populated areas. Ulwasking is in a remote location on the Northern border directly across the Rio Coco from Honduras. One side of the river is Nicaragua and the other is Honduras. To reach the village they drove eight hours north from Managua to Wiwilli and then floated six hours east on the Rio Coco in a motorized dug out boat similar to a canoe, but longer.
I am pleased to report that thanks to the money raised by SHINE and the planning, coordination and supervision provided by El Porvenir (www.elporvenir.org), an excellent charity on the ground in Nicaragua dedicated to providing sustainable water and sanitation projects to impoverished mostly rural Nicaragua, life has been improved for the residents of Ulwasking.
Ulwasking has a new functioning water system that pipes water through a filtration system to approximately thirty faucets distributed throughout the village. These spigots are in relatively close proximity to the villager’s homes. Before the completion of the system the women collected the water for drinking, cooking, washing and sustaining their animals from distant, tainted sources. Ulwasking also now has approximately forty latrines, outhouses. Prior to their construction, there were no latrines in Ulwasking.
The following is a link to a video that describes El Porvenir. El Porvenir (EP) is an international non-profit organization that assists people in rural communities in Nicaragua to improve their living standards through sustainable development in clean water, sanitation, reforestation, and health education.
The people of Ulwasking send their sincere thanks. For more information on how you can help, visit website: (www.elporvenir.org),
Images Courtesy: James & Nick Dwoskin