Denver to Nicaragua

Saturday, November 12^th, 2011

The shuttle picked me up at 4 in the morning. I am heading to Costa Rica and Nicaragua with a pink suitcase, a backpack and two boxes containing a giant bouncing castle, which is a donation for a project started by Russ Blacker, one of our volunteers in Nicaragua, a couple months ago.  Russ worked for four weeks at a microfinance program in Granada to help a small group of housewives start a business that could sustain itself over time and generate enough income for the women to support their families.

The women’s group was integrated by Lola, Cristina and Liliana. They had a small workshop where they made piñatas and sold them later, mostly to friends and family. Russ not only taught them how to commercialize their product, manage money, and to get organized, he created a whole strategy where this organization could turn their work into a full party service.

Russ tried to get a micro loan for the project, but since they were not well organized, the financing institution couldn’t grant them this benefit. Instead, Russ got a donation from his parents and other volunteers that had been in Nicaragua earlier this year, and with this money created a loan that would have to be repaid and reinvested in the same organization for future projects. He bought a bouncing castle that could be rented out for children’s parties and made Lola, Cristina, and Liliana commit to the progress of their business.

Since the inflatable jumping castle was in the United States, somebody had to take it to its final destination; that is how I ended up traveling with this uncommon package from Denver to San Jose to Granada.

Russ’ task was far from easy. He had to deal with a bureaucratic system, an underfunded organization, and the individual problems of the people participating in it; all of this in only four weeks at Latin-American speed…a real challenge. Hopefully all his dedication will pay off and change the lives of these hard working Nicaraguan women. My plane is about to leave. Here I go!!