OUR STORY
Linking Hands for Learning Inc. is a 501(c)(3) foundation that collaborates with organizations based in Nicaragua such as the Ministry of Education and a non-profit, The Enlace Project. As a result of our fundraising efforts, one or two room school houses are constructed for children, in preschool through sixth grade, who live in remote mountain communities outside El Sauce. We take great pride in working hand-in-hand with benefiting community members and stateside volunteers to construct the schools. Efforts are made to develop relationships with communities, evaluate our impact on student engagement and implement a maintenance schedule to keep all schools built since 2011 in good condition.
Children in these mountain regions begin their educational journey at five years
old, traveling across great distances to attend schools. Some of these students
walk for hours each day, across extremely rough terrain to attend. In the end,
for many of these once eager learners, their educational journey comes to an
abrupt halt before it even has a chance to flourish. The promise of a bright
future, which can be realized through learning to read and write, quickly dims
as the realization sets in that such daily travel is much too difficult to overcome.
Very few of these children persevere through this difficulty.
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Over the past twelve years, a group of concerned citizens in the Rochester, NY area have partnered with a non-profit organization called, Enlace Project, to begin addressing this issue. This group focuses on economic development in the town of El Sauce, Nicaragua and the surrounding mountain region of Ocotal. Creating opportunities for its citizens and developing self-reliance is the objective of this Nicaraguan based non-profit organization. The concept of building schools was initially not part of their plan, until they were approached one day by someone who had a dream for his community and its children.
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Gustavo Martinez, a subsistence farmer and the elected leader of Las Minitas,
asked the governing board of Enlace Project for their assistance in building the
first ever permanent school structure in his community. The money required to
build such a structure was well beyond the means of the citizens of Las Minitas,
and the Nicaraguan Ministry of Education had no plan to provide such a school
for the community. Many of the citizens who live there, located at the top of
the Ocotal mountain range, and a four hour hike from El Sauce, scoffed at his
dream and believed the request was foolish and would only lead to bitter
disappointment for the children of their community. His cousin, Emilano, was one of those in a chorus of others who proclaimed that his dream would never be realized. “I never believed that this day would ever come. That we would be building a school like this for our children,” he would later say.
Groundbreaking took place in early December of 2011, and the school was
completed and ready for the start of the new school year in February 2012.
The construction project was a collaborative effort. Community members of
Las Minitas, who included men, women and children, were active in assisting
with the construction effort. Since that time, through on-going efforts, eleven
additional schools have been constructed in the communities of LaFlor, Buena
Vista, San Cayetano, Piedra de Agua, Las Mercedes, Taquezal, El Papalon, San
Miguelito, El Chote, Los Jobitos, El Carrizo, and our newest school, El
Borbollon. A pre-school was also constructed in Piedra de Agua.
This philanthropic work continues to grow as additional volunteers take up the cause. Each school construction project is a collaborative effort between supporters in the United States, Enlace Project, the El Sauce mayor’s office, and the Nicaraguan Ministry of Education.
