Spain addresses the "La Chureca" problem
Submitted by fyl on Wed, 2013/02/20 - 09:43.
The La Chureca garbage dump is possibly the most talked about social problem in Nicaragua. There are many aspects to the problem because it has created a community of people who pretty much live in the dump. An article in Latin America Herald Tribune talkes about how aid from Spain has addressed this problem.
The La Chureca project included not only sealing the previously open-air dump, but also the construction of a recycling plant where the trash collectors work, as well as homes and a school for the more than 250 families who inhabit the area.
I recently talked to two
I recently talked to two Canadians in Managua who were going to the dump to meet a child they'd been sponsoring for five or six years. When they came back, they said folks there had told them a couple dozen families were recently given new houses and new jobs (i.e. relocated).
There's also apparently a school and soup kitchen there run by two retired evangelical Americans who, in addition to standard education, make a big fuss of having the kids there memorize scripture. I'm glad they're there making a difference, but I also find it ironic that so many gringos I meet here are anti-religious groups, anti-missionaries, etc. but don't even come close to investing the time and resources into helping people that these religious folks do.
That said -- yes, I'm aware -- there are also larger, more organized missions that seem to be built more for the edification of idealistic youths and for lining the pockets of the few people who run them.
How do you know that?
..."so many gringos....don't even come close to investing the time and resources into helping people that these religious folks do"...
You mean they don't "sing it from the mountains".
Because I've met "so many
Because I've met "so many gringos" who don't.
I know plenty of Americans (and other expats) who don't make the kind of concerted effort to help people that, for example, the two retired soup kitchen owners I know do.
I include myself among those "so many gringos." I'm not criticizing expats for not doing more. Rather, I'm just pointing out that plenty of expats I know are happy to complain about religious volunteers but don't put in any Herculean effort themselves.
If an expat lives here, contributes to the economy, occasionally contributes their talents or a bit of money to the poor or whatnot, that's great. I know plenty of people who do that, and maybe even a little more. I just wish those people weren't so cynical and quick to criticize.
That's all.
There are two sides
to every story.
I won't touch the argument about the benefits of teaching religion or "memorizeing scripture" but there is an obvious benefit from "a school and soup kitchen." But the problem here is that many will drop out of that school, many teenage girls will get pregnant with no responsible father in sight, and many boys will become adults with no employable skills.
Consider the contribution of a completely self serving gringo who comes here and builds a house, develops a farm or starts a business. Most of the Nicas he hires learned from grandpa so they have few skills.
The gringo is gonna have to teach a few of them to how to correctly lay out a plumbing job and complete it. I learned this when we smelled sewer gas had to go into the floor of a shower they built to re-install the trap because they thought it was OK to had put it in horizontally.
The block/brick/ceramic tile laying techniques and skills here produce a result at about 10% of the rate of a US tradesman - They need to be taught that too. They have never used "wonderboard" which I saw the other day in Rivas. With it you can do kitchen & bathroom tile work in a fraction of time compared to the way they have been taught.
Learning basic woodworking and building simple cabinetry is another skill they will learn.
The gringo will have to teach them to do the complete job of the 110/220 V electrical wiring for that house or business including wiring for a generator & transfer switch. This includes troubleshooting with volt/ammeters. Also installing and testing connectors on Cat 5 network cable.
AC installation and maintenance is a skill that very few have here. Troubleshooting AC problems like blown run/start capacitors or rebuilding a fan motor with new bearings is something that they can accomplish. Measuring high/low side pressures with gauges may help find a faulty compressor and leak detection and repair & then adding the right amount of freon is also something they will have to learn after the construction is finished.
Undoubtedly I missed a bunch of other things they will learn from that gringo.
So after the soup kitchen feeds them & allows their young bodies to mature and after you have helped the poor there is still a lot of necessary work to be done to help the people develop here and much of this will have nothing to do with philanthropy. The "anti-religious groups, anti-missionaries" gringos here who spend their own dime teaching skills to their Nica employees perform a very valuable service here as well.
Call centers and clothing manufacturing sweat shops bring in a few dollars but probably offer little in the process of education or personal development. So I don't see an obvious solution to the poverty here. But it will require a lot more than closing dumps and charity work although those are a good start.