Everyone who has been to Nicaragua with us will also know Ojochal. This is a small community about 10 km outside of San Juan del Sur. Much of the year, the road there is okay. Not great, but at least passable. However, it seems that every October, the river rises and the road is gone. This cuts off not only Ojochal but also Miravalle. People living there who work in  San Juan del Sur have ver ... more

Or maybe you are planning to travel to Nicaragua and would like to visit some of the people we work with or see some of our projects.  Some important information in the event that you are considering this: 

We get many requests! Most people who are interested in seeing our projects in person tend to have very specific requirements. Examples are: 

"

... more

On November 24, 2018, the NCF will be selling Nicaraguan pottery at the Victoria Fair Trade Fair. This is part of a series of fair trade events taking place on Vancouver Island in November. For more information, please contact us! 

Not long ago, a friend of ours went to see some of our work in Nicaragua. He came back with a great idea for a project, one that is both innovative and ambitious! Our agent, Veronica, had pointed out a group of women and children living in very poor conditions along the river. Our friend's idea was to purchase a piece of rural land and build small houses on it for these women and  children. W ... more

Below you will find a link to a documentary on public education in Nicaragua. All Spanish has been translated and English subtitles are used. You will learn a lot about Nicaragua by watching this film! 

https://youtu.be/p7ZUGuhlH7w

The Nicaraguan government has ordered a team from the United Nations Commission for Human Rights to leave. Please see a recent article from BBC below: 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-45380265

News from our agent: 

Right now, there is a great need for scholarships for people from the communities who wish to continue their education. Because of the current high unemployment, many families will be unable to pay for their children to continue past grade 6. She gives an example of a young woman from La Libertad who, in order to continue in high school (Saturday classes), she has to

... more

Tourism, Nicaragua's 3rd largest industry (San Juan del Sur's #1 revenue source) has literally been wiped out overnight. 90% of all travel planned and bookings to Nicaragua were canceled and hotel occupancy rates have fallen below 8%. In the San Juan del Sur area, nearly half of all business have shut their doors either temporarily or permanently. This is not isolated only to the small or weak at

... more

The NCF focuses on long term strategic initiatives designed to promote sustainable economic and social development. But sometimes there is an opportunity to provide immediate help in real time.  Here is a story about a family who helped in the latter way. Andy Cohan,  his wife Julie, and their children Sophia, Isabella and Nicoli were visiting San Juan del Sur. He emailed us to see

... more

Almost every week, we get requests from people looking for volunteer opportunities in Nicaragua. Everyone wants to work directly with the people there! This is a great idea, but our first question is always, How's your Spanish? Anyone who has ever been to Nicaragua will have discovered that learning a little Spanish is a great way to understand the culture and the history of this fascinating count

... more

You have heard of Edward Lorenz's butterfly effect - how a massive storm could be connected to a butterfly flapping its wings halfway around the world. So here is a new one: the Meat Pie effect. Paulette
Antaya and her intrepid group of Ontario retirees have been fundraising for NCF projects for a number of years. When they make their annual trek to Nicaragua they help in the delivery of the NCF
pr

... more

Last month, we wrote that we had helped out the community of Cebadilla by purchasing 600 metres of electrical wire. Here is a photo of some of the community members, with the electrical wire. Our agent, Veronica, told us that on the day they received the wire, many people were crying tears of joy!

Wendy DeGraaf, from Nanaimo, BC, has been in San Juan del Sur for a few weeks now. She has been

... more

and sometimes we do really small ones! Here is a list of what we will be working on this March :

1. The community of Genizaro received a donation of 13 computers for their school. However, they were unable to afford to pay anyone to teach the kids how to use them. The NCF has committed to paying the salary of a young man who can teach both computer skills and English.
2. The community of Cebadilla

... more

Our new classroom is finally done! The ceramic tile floor was the last thing to be installed. It's now painted in  (what else?) turquoise, seen everywhere in Nicaragua. The teachers and students were very happy to be able to hold the end-of-year graduation here.

For those of you who might not be aware of what we've been up to this past year, these pictures are of a new double-sized class

... more

Last week, our family dusted off our Spanish-English dictionaries, left coats and sweaters behind and once again found ourselves in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. This was our fourth trip here and as always, we returned to Canada feeling a little humbled by the experience. Each time we come to Nicaragua, we are reminded that staying positive in the face of adversity takes on a whole new meaning here ... more