The Condega Homemakers Project (CHP) is a volunteer-run organization of women based in New York City and formed in response to the crisis caused by Hurricane Mitch. Since its inception in November 1998, CHP has helped several women and their families rebuild their houses in the poor, rural town of Condega, Nicaragua. We work in partnership with the Women's Construction Collective of Condega, a 10-year-old non-governmental organization leading this relief effort. CHP has assisted the Collective by raising money, sending volunteers, and supplying tools and machinery, such as a cement mixer and generator. CHP is sponsored by MADRE, an international women's human rights organization with 501(c)(3) non-profit status, which acts as the Project's fiscal agent.
The severe flooding brought by Hurricane Mitch in October and November 1998 destroyed 550 houses and seriously affected 10,000 people in Condega. Immediately, the Collective began to plan the reconstruction project: they identified the women and families most in need of housing and secured land from the town council on which to build. The recipients of the houses are women and their children, left homeless by the floods or as the result of domestic violence. The priority of CHP and the Women's Construction Collective has been to reach out to those who have been overlooked by existing relief efforts while working towards the goal of sustainable development.
With the help of CHP, the Collective rebuilt more than 27 houses last year: CHP funded 10 of these houses. Six of these houses were built by women learning to build from other women. The construction began with the arrival of six CHP volunteers in February 1999. Three more CHP volunteers worked in Condega during the summer. In September, the volunteer forewoman from the first CHP brigade returned to Condega; she will begin a one-year teaching post in March 2000. In October, the second CHP brigade brought three CHP volunteers back to Condega along with two new volunteers. CHP provided the additional funding, tools, and volunteers the Collective required to finish the construction. We will continue to provide tools, supply building materials and machinery, and organize future brigades of volunteers.
CHP has succeeded in its goal to build housing for women and female-headed households overlooked by other relief efforts in Condega. Perhaps more importantly CHP has helped to provide essential job training for Nicaraguan women in non-traditional occupations such as carpentry, plumbing, ironwork, and building construction. Furthermore, we have helped to entrust women in Condega with property ownership, still unusual in Nicaragua. As we enter the new millennium and begin Phase II of the construction, these combined accomplishments will have the lasting effect of shifting the power balance and promoting long-term development and social justice.