Home  I  Who We Are  I  What We Do  I  Where We Work  I  News   I  Projects   I  Contact Us   I  Donate Now   

Hope and houses (at last) at La Palmerita

When a group of former coffee workers moved onto the land at La Palmerita in October 2001, hope was all that they had.  Displaced from the northern highlands of Nicaragua by the slump in the global coffee market, they started to settle on this abandoned cotton plantation on the flat, dusty plain in León after a presidential decree had promised land and houses to the worst affected.  But, camping out under black shelters for over five years, these coffee ‘refugees’ saw their hopes alternately raised and dashed as the different organisations involved tried to secure a legal agreement over the land and approval for a housing project.

It was perhaps fitting that, after such a long wait, it was the combined forces of Nuevas Esperanzas (New Hope) and the Peace and Hope Trust that were finally able to bring to fruition the long awaited housing project.  In February, as the construction of 112 houses neared completion, the coffee refugees could at last see that the days and nights living under black plastic shelters were over.

The Peace and Hope Trust first became involved with the project in 2003 when their charity shop in South Wales was a year old.  The interest in Nicaragua had begun when the people of Llantwit Major started to donate funds after Hurricane Mitch in 1998.  Gordon and Heather Taylor, who run the shop, decided to keep the link alive by donating part of the profits to Mercy Ships Nicaragua, the predecessor of Nuevas Esperanzas which had been working with the community since they first arrived at La Palmerita in 2001.

During the four years of their involvement at La Palmerita, Peace and Hope have donated over $45,000.  These donations enabled Nuevas Esperanzas to keep the hope of permanent housing alive, financing all the surveys, soil investigations, designs, feasibility studies and legal work which finally brought approval, and funding of over $260,000, from the Nicaraguan government and the American Nicaraguan Foundation.  The green light came late in 2006 and it was an emotional day for everyone at the community on January 11^th when an inauguration ceremony was held to mark the start of the construction.

The end of 2006 saw new beginnings for Peace and Hope too as they opened a second charity shop in Barry.  They plan to move into bigger premises in Llantwit Major later in 2007, and their support for the community at La Palmerita is continuing as they are now raising funds for the water and sanitation project.  Peace and Hope are not just distant donors, though, and Gordon and his colleagues have visited our projects on several occasions to see the work for themselves and to learn about the communities they work so hard to help.

05/03/07