1. Assist the Women's Construction Collective, building a lasting partnership with women's organizations in Condega.
The Condega Homemakers Project sent 11 volunteers to Condega on two volunteer building brigades and helped to coordinate 20 volunteers on two brigades from the United Kingdom. We publicized the project on the Internet, through direct mail, and at fund-raising events in New York and Boston. Brigade volunteers raised more than $10,000 through personal appeals.
We will continue to assist the Collective in raising funds for future projects. Several CHP volunteers plan further volunteer work in Condega; four have already returned. The volunteer forewoman from the first brigade has accepted a one-year salaried post beginning in March 2000 to lead Phase II of the construction.
2. Help to provide immediate housing for women-headed families in Condega.
CHP sent money and volunteers to help with the construction of 27 houses. By June 1999 we raised more than $66,000, surpassing our goal. This paid for building materials for 10 houses; tools, work gear, and construction equipment; and travel assistance for four returning volunteers.
3. Help to improve living conditions for women in Condega.
Twenty-seven Nicaraguan women will own the houses that they helped to build. Thirty-five others were trained in carpentry and construction, and they now have valuable work experience to help them gain employment in non-traditional professions.
4. Provide a model for women worldwide to form building brigades and assist in relief efforts.
CHP reached out to women's trade organizations in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, publicizing the project and trying to involve more skilled women as volunteers in the brigades. We made presentations to community organizations in New York and Boston to help educate people about Nicaragua, Hurricane Mitch, and the long-term development efforts of our building brigades.
As our project continues to be publicized on our Internet web page and through word of mouth, we have had the opportunity to share the Women's Construction Collective's economic development model with community development and women's trade organizations, such as Pro Mujer and Chicago Women in Trades.
5. Broaden the experience of CHP volunteers.
We must not underestimate the ways in which participation in this project has changed the life of each volunteer. Learning Spanish, finding out about the experiences of women in Condega, working longer days and harder than some of us have ever worked before, witnessing first-hand the disparity of the world-wide distribution of wealth, being challenged to think more critically about waste brigadistas return home personally transformed and committed to working for further social change.