Nicaragua: San Jose, L____, Managua

8 julio San Jose, L____, Managua

Juan Manuel is the Committee chair in L____; the Committee numbers five. we got to Vicente’s house, who is the mayor and the only one at this time with electricity, which comes from solar panels on the roof. he has a TV radio, 1 light, a refrigerator, and two outlets. their house doubles as a pulperia. the school also has solar electricity. 33 families live in this community with 6 more families outside the community. the Committee is looking to get micro hydro power from the nearby stream. Anna, Jaime and i went to the falls after Jaime had begged some coffee and tortillas for us. the falls were many but the altura small, so Juan Manuel took us a bit farther upstream where the caudal was larger. they informed us there was a larger falls farther up, and Jaime asked them to get the height and flow of the falls in the next few days. we headed back to Vicente’s house.
Anna asked what other ONGs worked in the area.
members of the Committee asked why solar could not be used instead of micro hydro. if i were to hazard a guess as to why, i would say that they have seen that solar power can be installed on individual houses without the community infrastructure needed to design, implement and maintain a micro-hydro system. Anna and Jaime answered that micro hydro generates electricity 24/7 as opposed to solar which only generates power during sun hours.
Anna and i asked Vicente’s wife about her children’s graduate pictures. Her daughter graduated from secondary school in Teustepe and is currently a secretary in Managua. She comes back frequently, in part to help around the house and assuredly to see her 3-year old son who stays in Lagunas with the rest of the family. Vicente and his wife have three daughters and one son. The son is currently attending school in Teustepe. Even during planting and harvesting seasons, he goes to school on Sundays, which is a sacrifice for the family. We asked her about women’s roles in the community and then whether there was a women’s Committee, as well. the Committee, which deals primarily with matters of health and education, is comprised of 5 women. they are hoping to create a clinic by December 2007 with a health promoter (there is not a nurse or practitioner in the area at this time). It seemed that the clinic would benefit from electricity, and they seem excited by this. The Committee meets always in the afternoons. when asked about health problems in the area, she mentioned calenture, diarrhea, and brijules.
back with the Energy Committee, Juan Manuel came with a clipboard of all the houses, names and numbers of their residents.
We went back to Managua after this to Hotel Los Felipes. Rather expensive for the hotel (though I always think everything is expensive). Plenty of smaller hospidajes for future reference. We met up with H,B, and R in short order.
For dinner, H, B & R had found a swell eatery during their walk. The best fritanga ever! Dona Pilar, look no further. Overarching topics of conversation: availability of water generally, Georgia v. Oregon in terms of conscientiousness, etc.