FH and El Ojoche

For the community of El Ojoche, the five months of the dry season historically represented scarcity, malnutrition, and even death. Starved of rain, the fertile soil of the rolling hills of northwest Nicaragua ceased to yield a harvest and the 87 families of this small village relied on rationed corn and beans grown during the rainy season in order to survive.

Community Health Evangelism program leader Ivania Rios explained, “Rising food prices in the local market compounded the problem, making even needed food unaffordable. To address the food shortage, villagers received training in various areas, including patio gardening at a teaching farm. But realizing that these projects required water, a group of about 18 families began to look for a solution.”

Water tank hole In 2008, FH/Nicaragua began the process of addressing these annual water shortage and foodsecurity problems in El Ojoche by collaborating with Nuevas Esperanza (UK), a Christian NGO with expertise in water projects. Community leaders decided on the construction of two large rainwater collection tanks in strategic locations in the village, and asked FH for support in the first phase of the project. FH staff member and Rotarian Mike Coberley worked with the Leon Rotary Club to become the channel for a donation from the Albina Club (Portland, OR). These funds, together with additional support from St. Rafael’s Catholic Church (Wisconsin), enabled construction to begin.

More than 100 people from the community participated in the construction, which began September 22, 2008, for the first 13,200 gallon ferro-cement tank located near the Baptist Church. In late October, a team from New Song Calvary Chapel (Southern California) came to help the community with the construction, and the first tank was completed November 11^th.

“The team’s presence in the community was a huge encouragement to the community members, while the team was amazed at the high level of involvement and commitment to excellence shown by the community. It was a beautiful example of the global church coming together; the North American church being blessed by the hard-working, faithful Christian witness in El Ojoche, and the Nicaraguan church being blessed by the solidarity and love expressed by the team through working, worshipping, and sharing life together,” commented FH/Nicaragua Teams Coordinator Andrea Kamouyerou.

Rosa and Ivania Nestor Adraden, a local tradesman who was trained during the construction of the first tank, organized a group of community volunteers who built the second tank largely by themselves. Community leader Rosa Rios observed, “The project caught the attention of families that up until now showed no interest in being involved and many of them came out to help with the construction.”

Now that the tanks are complete, Ivania and Rosa, along with the entire community, anxiously await the coming rains (May 2009) that will fill them and end the “season of death”of El Ojoche. “It will help in many ways,” Ivania affirmed. “Families with patio gardens, and students at school who will be able to learn gardening. It will also help us better provide for our animals, which we depend on for food and work.”

The tanks are a tangible manifestation of God’s grace in El Ojoche, where the people’s hearts are filled with renewed faith and hope as they look toward the future. “People see the hand of God evident in projects like this one facilitated by Food for the Hungry,” said Rosa with a smile.