After 30 years of striving “to make good things happen in San Ramón” and “building ties of peace and friendship,” our life as a powerful and loving force in this large rural county is coming to a close. We are heartbroken, as you probably are, too, incredulous that something so positive and life transforming for so many, cannot find a way to continue. Because of the instability of the country at this time, we closed our tourism business, which was the source of much of our income and generated support and additional donations. In addition, the Board of Directors is aging and not able to be as active as is needed to handle all the challenges that are part of running an NGO from afar.
Our wonderful Executive Director of 9 years, Anjie Price, retired in April to home school her two sons and to run a chocolate shop and café that she and her husband own. Since then, our two remaining staff have done an excellent job running the organization.
Richard and I were recently in San Ramón, inaugurating schools and classrooms and working to see if we could enlarge the town’s water system. (The town has tripled in size since we and the water company rebuilt the water system in 2006.) People here wonder why Sister Communities hasn’t been closed down yet, like most of the other nonprofits and private universities across Nicaragua. The Center for Children with Special Needs (Los Pipitos) is still open because of our annual support. They had the facility we helped build confiscated. The conditions of the current, rented classrooms are a sad reminder of the vibrant place it used to be before it was forced to leave the well-equipped space it occupied.
This fall Sister Communities is not asking for donations, because we are closing our bank account. Over the past 30 years your donations, along with the sale of coffee, honey, and handcrafts, have provided $2 million for projects such as schools, water projects, improved stoves, latrines, teacher training, and commercial ovens.
At the end of October, I stood before the Santa Lucia Primary School students to inaugurate their new preschool classrooms. It was very hard not to cry. The children are not aware of the worries of the world. They had hope in their eyes and determination to be good students so they could improve their lives. Our project manager, who made over 10 trips to Santa Lucia with building materials and to check on construction progress, said that he could see the improved attitude of the students after they moved from their former deteriorated school with rotted siding and leaking roof to this new space. The teacher said she no longer has to move desks from one side of the classroom to another throughout a rainy day to avoid getting drenched. The children’s parents completed the construction of the school under the direction of our building contractor. He moved to the village during construction because the school is located so far out in the mountains, he couldn’t get home at night. Everyone involved is as proud as they can be. They, like all the parents from the many other school construction projects we have funded, never imagined they could build something so beautiful for their children. There have been at least 20 other school projects your donations have funded. These schools are part of the public school system of some 80 primary schools and all will continue to operate.
Sister Communities of San Ramón is forever grateful to you, our generous and loyal donors and ecotour travelers to San Ramón, for your confidence in us to deliver. We are grateful to the dozens of dedicated board members and staff, without whose commitment and hard work we could never have succeeded. We are also grateful to our local partners in San Ramón, who helped Sister Communities discern what projects were viable and a priority. If you would like to talk about this, please send me an email.
With endless gratitude, good wishes, and a fond farewell,
Lonna Harkrader
Founder and Board Member
Along with Board Members: Sandy Williamson, Chair; Carolyn Barrett, Secretary; Richard Harkrader, Treasurer; Joe Daniels, and Peter Aitken.
