The Condega Homemakers Project: Sending Women's Building Brigades to Nicaragua

June 23, 1999

Dear friends,

I just want to take a moment to thank you for your thoughtfulness and your support of the Condega Homemakers Project. The women’s groups in Nicaragua also express their appreciation for your generosity. I am enclosing a copy of their messages.

Our first brigade of eight volunteers – including two forewomen from the U.K. and myself – returned from Condega a few months ago. The second brigade will be returning soon, and the third group, consisting of 15 women builders from the U.K., will arrive in Condega in one week. We are still searching for women with building experience who can help teach and lead the construction this fall, so please help us to spread the word. Indeed, working on a brigade is an amazing and fulfilling experience.

During the four weeks that I was in Nicaragua, we finished preparing the foundation and began laying the blocks on the first house, which now belongs to a wonderful woman named Beatriz. The work was grueling, and the weather was hot! We did all of the digging by hand, and we poured the footings with concrete that we mixed with shovels. To make the concrete, we collected water, stones, and gravel from the river – in fact, the same river that had swept Beatriz’s adobe house away last November. In April, the brigadistas finished laying the concrete block walls, and the Women’s Construction Collective finished the roof soon after. Beatriz and her family have settled into their new home, and several of the remaining 30 houses are nearing completion.

Through your generosity, in February we were able bring much-needed tools and money to purchase building materials to pay for the first house. What’s more, your confidence and support of our project have helped us to secure a number of foundation grants totaling over $50,000. This money, along with over $10,000 in private donations, will be used to pay for the equipment, gear, building materials, and travel expenses needed to build seven more houses. We have already purchased a concrete mixer and generator, which have proven to be invaluable time-savers especially in the rush to beat the rains this rainy season.

If you want to follow our progress, you can find photos and more information about the project on our web page – including how to order a limited-edition Condega Homemakers Project T-shirt and how to donate women’s work boots and other needed items.

With best wishes and deepest gratitude,

Margarita M. Suarez

Coordinator, Condega Homemakers Project