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

September 30, 1999

Dear friends,

Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness and your support of the Condega Homemakers Project. As a result, the project has been a great success: our women's building brigades have helped rebuild 31 houses for Nicaraguan women and their families left homeless last year by Hurricane Mitch.

Tomorrow, I will return to Nicaragua with four other women for the month of October. This trip is especially exciting for Sonja, Cyndi, and me as we finish the project we began earlier this year. Earlier this month, Isis, the Welsh forewoman from the first brigade, also returned to Condega, bringing along another woman builder. The overwhelming number of brigadistas choosing to return to Condega is testament to the fact that our women's building brigades are an enriching experience for beneficiaries and volunteers alike.

In February the first Condega Homemakers Project brigade broke ground in Santa Teresa and began building Beatriz’s house. In May, another group of volunteers helped with several houses on the urban site, where a new satellite community is now taking root. When we arrive in Condega this weekend, we will see a neighborhood beginning to thrive where once was an empty field. You can imagine our excitement!

With your generous support you have helped us reach our goal to send women’s building brigades to Condega and to fund the building of eight houses. Only a handful of houses remain to be finished, and soon we expect to be laying blocks, roofing, erecting interior partitions, and tiling floors. After a summer of constant hard work, the Women’s Construction Collective of Condega is already planning the next project: to build houses for elderly people in the community. I have great respect for these women whose dreams and dedication did not end with the passing of a hurricane. I feel honored to have the opportunity to work with them.

Again, thank you for your generous support, which has helped to make all of this possible.

With best wishes and deepest gratitude,

Margarita M. Suarez

Coordinator, Condega Homemakers Project