By SHELLY SCRIBNER

I could tell you about the money raised by Merced-Somoto Sister City for a water project. I could tell you about money raised for the rebuilding of homes destroyed by Hurricane Mitch. I could tell you of books donated to the library of Somoto. But I want to tell you of Ometepe located in Lake Nicaragua.

Warm Lake Water
Up to your shoulders
Swim with volcanoes in your peripheral vision
or look straight ahead here you stand
Do not Drink!
Is it raining?
Only the wind warming the winter air
Only the clouds talking to G-d.
Only the soft sounds of Spanish lyrics.
It started as an SOS call, but Plaza Paradiso tamed our unwashed anguish.
Awash, awake, aware

Beckoned us with the warm Lake Nicaragua water, the booze and comfort of home.

Except for the ice showers which warmed our spirit and made us tough.

Like the 83 year old woman with us who insisted she be part of us as she trailed behind us with her cane and limited vision. Yes, I want to see the petroglyphs guided by her, by her son up the muddy trail with rocks and slippery terrain. Ah, yes I see it, I feel it and now take my photo so my friends can see what I have accomplished. The many pictures and photos that I cannot see will be my souvenirs of my trip. The memories will fill my being, my brain until the next trip.

The young among us, the almost 19 year old princess and the pure knight of 22 flirt with life and each other while her mother looks on with wonder and her own idea of a good time is talking to the parrots three and monkeys four. And I? Watch from far and near and long to hear the Spanish tone coming from my mouth and binding my spirit to the soul of Nicaragua. And the birds chatter on and call us to be attentive and remind us to sing. To find the sound, that makes us glad to be here. Glad to find the unknown. I am free to be at peace and long for this when I am at another home — my real home in California. But this is my spirit home. Where I wonder at 57 where the years have gone and wish I had been here at an earlier time but then the experience would have been different And would I have been ready? Open? I don’t think so. But, then this is today and I am in the present tense. And these are all things I want to tell you.

By MIKE RHODES

I was surprised on the road to our Nicaraguan sister city when our vehicle was stopped by a road block. Looking over the cab of the truck I saw about a dozen students with a rope across the Pan American Highway. They were stopping traffic and asking for donations so they could pay their school tuition, now demanded of them by their government. Education in Nicaragua is no longer free! The children who want to go to school are desperate!

Ten years ago during the U.S. sponsored "contra war", an intrepid group of Fresnans traveled to Nicaragua to help build a school. They held fundraisers to buy building materials, paid their own way there, and poured concrete walls so that the children would have a place to study. To them, support for free quality education seemed like a better foreign policy than supporting mercenaries (which was the official U.S. policy at the time). They were putting their lives on the line as an expression of International Solidarity.

The spirit of this people-to-people aid project is apparent in the improving lives and conditions of the people in our sister city, Telpaneca. The school we helped build has been expanded and now includes three buildings and running water. The children that attended this school when it was first built have graduated and were able to continue their education - some are now attending college.

The Fresno/Telpaneca Sister City Association, keeping with the theme of free quality education for all, started a scholarship project in 1993 to assist motivated students who wanted to continue their education. I found out just how motivated some of these students are at a meeting with parents and teachers last month. Some of these children, we were told, get up at 4 a.m. for a 3 hour walk to school where they stay all day and get back home just before dark. How is that for dedication?

The scholarship project currently supports about 50 students from Telpaneca and surrounding hamlets. With the assistance from the project they pay tuition and purchase school supplies like backpacks, notebooks, pens, uniforms, and shoes. We were told by parents that many students would not be able to attend if it were not for the scholarship project. In fact, one of the unexpected issues that came up at the meeting was that there are many more students that would like to attend but simply can’t because they don’t have the money. They would gladly walk the 12 miles to school and back each day if they could only afford the tuition and school supplies. We told the parents that we would try to find more support for the project so their children could start school next year.

It costs about $75 to sponsor a student for one year. We know that about 90 cents of every dollar received by the Scholarship Project goes directly to help the children, and there is no lack of deserving and needy students. All the project needs is your help.

ACTION: contact the Fresno/Telpaneca Sister City Association, P.O. Box 4496, Fresno CA 93744, (559) 226-0477, email: clr2@igc.apc.org

By MIKE RHODES

When I was in Nicaragua in 1986 with the Fresno Latin American Support Committee, one of our group’s big concerns was that the U.S. military would invade the country. We visited this Central American country during the time of the US sponsored "contra war" against the popular Sandinista government. We were in Nicaragua to express our solidarity, give material aid in the form of medical supplies, and work for peace. I wanted to see for myself what conditions were like in Nicaragua. I was there to see the free medical care system, quality education for all, and the look in people’s eyes as they struggled to build a new society based on social and economic justice.

This year I returned to Nicaragua to find dramatic changes. US military aggression against Nicaragua was responsible for ousting the leftist Sandinista government and replacing it with a president who was much more sympathetic to the interests of US corporations and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Special economic zones (better known in the US as sweatshops) are now operating here, medical care was privatized making it impossible for the poor to afford treatment, and schools began charging tuition.

The shift to a "market economy" has been at the expense of the poor and appears to benefit only the rich. Nicaragua is now the 2nd poorest nation in Latin America, just ahead of Haiti with unemployment at about 50 percent. The outright invasion of Nicaragua with US troops that we feared in 1986 never happened. But, interestingly enough, as I walked through Esteli (in Northern Nicaragua), I ran into US Army personnel. They were stationed in Nicaragua and were extremely evasive about US intentions in the region. I don’t think its any great mystery what they are doing here. Their presence protects US economic interests and sends the message to anyone thinking about social or economic change not to get their hopes up.

The economic and political interests in our country have forced a market economy down the throats of the people of Nicaragua and we back up the threat with US military might. The system works for those few people at the top who can sip cappuccino at the Intercontinental Hotel and fly back and forth to Miami. But for the vast majority of the population the current economic system is a macabre joke that forces them to work in sweatshops or sell trinkets on the street corner. Children can’t afford to go to school and the sick can’t afford to see a doctor.

I believe each of us can do more to work for social and economic justice. It is important that this work is done on issues of local concern but we can’t forget about our relationship and connection with the rest of the world. The poverty in Nicaragua is a result of US policy in the region and the greed of corporations who close factories in the US and reopen them in special "economic zones". We pressure our government to develop a foreign policy that meets the needs of the poor. Tell Wal-Mart, Disney, and The Gap that we demand a change in their manufacturing practices.

One project that I am involved with is providing scholarships to students in Fresno’s sister city of Telpaneca, which is near the Honduran border. For $75 a year/student we make it possible for them to continue their education. We currently help over 50 students.