Annual Report 2011

The start of 2011 for Superemos was marked by concerted efforts to recover from the flooding of September 2010 so as to return to normal working before the start of the school year here in Nicaragua. Thanks to the kindness of our supporters and the hard work of everyone working on our various community projects we had the site ready in good time to receive students at the start of the 2011 academic calendar. Through 2011 we continued to focus on our core programs – women's education, preventive health care and support for local preschools – as well as developing various related activities.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Among these the most important activities in January was a teacher training activity we organized in Estelí for a group of around 25 teachers in the public school system in rural areas around the municipality of Estelí. We followed up that activity with a second training event for over 30 teachers in the public school system in communities around Condega, about 40km north of Estelí.

The Estelí Women's School started classes at the end of January 2011. We ran our usual women-only night classes and also a Sunday class for women and men students. As usual we achieved very good results in the twice yearly exams supervised by the central Ministry of  Education from Managua. By the end of the year a total of 96 students had passed their baccalaureate of whom 45 were women supported by Superemos scholarships out of over 75 women in all.

We continued to support two preschools on the western outskirts of Estelí, the Sinai preschool in Barrio Nuevo Amanecer and the Estrellitas #2 preschool in Barrio Felipe y Mery Barreda. The Sinai preschool cares for over 35 children throught the day and the Estrellitas #2 preschool also cares for over 30 children but only for three hours a day.

A very important component of our educational work in 2011 was the music education project run by Hannah Curteis and Alfredo Quintero. The program benefited over 50 children in Estelí and over 40 children in Palacagüina, a town about 65km north of Estelí. The programme gained important experience to build on in 2012.

Our training activities through 2011 covered ceramics, computer skills, sewing, baking, metalwork and craft skills benefiting over 80 people, mostly women, over the year. Most of these activities took place in Estelí. The computer training programme operates in both Estelí and in Ocotal where we help over 25 young people and women learn computer skills which are becoming a routine requirement for employment in Nicaragua.

A very important initiative by our supporters in Japan made it possible for us to organize a series of training workshops for local people interested in learning how to make solar panels. After an initial three day workshop with tutors from Japan who provided the materials and equipment, Superemos funded a series of four workshops to reinforce the skills imparted during the initial workshop. The participants successfully produced 8 solar panels and proceeded to liaise with other local organizations to devise a programme to continue producing panels and also to install them for community programmes where connection to the national grid is not feasible.

HEALTH CARE
In January we hosted a successful medical brigade from the University of Florida School of Medicine that visited the department of Matagalpa. Then, in February we received a visit from medical professionals of the Dorchester House Multi Service Center in Boston who worked with us for three weeks giving clinics in local rural communities around Estelí and for families in marginal barrios in Estelí itself. The delegation also spent some time in Matagalpa. As well as the very important help for local communities from this brigade we were also fortunate to get help from our friends Mark Herbert and Julie Grippo to do some infrastructure improvements both at the Superemos project site and at the SINAI preschool we support in Barrio Nuevo Amanecer.

Apart from receiving medical delegations, Superemos helps programme participants with access to low cost medicines and medical attention. Every month we help on average 10-12 patients who are unable to pay for their medicines or for the cost of some or other laboratory test, ultrasound or X-ray. The programme monitors 10 to 15 patients each month who suffer from high blood pressure or diabetes. Psychologist Dr. Ada Luz Corrales provides counselling and support to participants in the Estelí Women's School.

Superemos also runs a preventive health care programme which we expanded in 2011 to cover rural communities Paso Ancho and San Roque in the municipality of Estelí. We continued to provide this programme to the Barrios Nuevo Amanecer  and Felipe y Mery Barreda and to the rural communities San Pedro and El Limón. This programme helps over 350 children a month monitoring them for skin and scalp infections, ensuring they get regular treatment for parasites and focusing also on dental hygiene.

OTHER ACTIVITIES
In 2011 Superemos discontinued the legal advice programme we had run in previous years because we felt we were not being effective enough in reaching out to families and women on low incomes. We have continued on an ad hoc basis through 2011 to support programme participants who have problems  in relation to legal or administrative  matters. On average we assist 6 to 8 women or families a month with advice, guidance and counselling.

Superemos also provides diverse kinds of support to the local community, responding to requests for assistance from the local fire service and the local health centre, as well as various youth and community organizations both in Estelí and further afield. For example, after heavy rains affected the Miraflor natural reserve area north east of Estelí, we were able to help communities there via local volunteer Jane Boyd thanks to support from donors in Europe.

The foundation also contributes significantly to environmental conservation in Estelí providing plants for reforestation along the river and generally acting to protect the area of the river adjacent to Superemos site. We liaise closely with the municipal authorities in relation both to reforestation and also to the control of  illegal dumping of rubbish and irresponsible management of livestock by local cattle farmers.

Our plant nursery provides an important service by providing local people with plants not readily available elsewhere.

Together with the Christine King Multi Service Cooperative the foundation has also helped to pilot an innovative ecological toilet system to reduce contamination from traditional latrines and provide a hygienic alternative in areas without mains sewage. We installed a total of nine of these systems in 2011 and purchased sufficient materials to continue this pilot programme with another 15 installations in 2012

THANKS

We are very grateful to :

Judy Richardson of the Global Education Fund, based in New Mexico, USA. and our friends Morgan Smith and Alan Olds for making the teacher training activities possible.

Teresa Busto and the Ayuntamiento de Falces, Navarra for their support for the Sinai preschool

Cele Meyer and her colleagues in the Central American Fund for Human Development for their support for our education and training programmes, for the health care programme, our advice and counselling programme

Dr. Peter Loewinthan and his colleagues at the Dorchester House Multi Service Center whose staff fund our training and social work activities as well as support for some of our work in the health care programme

Karen King and Helen Ball King of the Christine King Memorial Trust for supporting our education and training work

Lyn Ward Page and her colleagues at the Evanston Congregational Church who help fund our preschool and music education work

Proyectos Sociales Albanisa who fund our computer training and educational work

the Help for Nicaragua Association of Japan who have supported our training work

Hannah Curteis and her friends and family who have helped make possible the music education programme

and many other individuals in many countries who have contributed with all kinds of assistance and support to make our work possible

we are also indebted to the Barr Foundation of Oklahoma for their invaluable help in managing the transfer of donations from North America and Europe to our programmes in Nicaragua