Partnering with Habitar
Left to right: Denis Galeano and Norma Muñoz, who are community leaders in the neighborhood of Grenada; Cony Rosales, HABITAR representative, and Ninette Morales, Executive Director of HABITAR. Photo by Mark Aumann.
For a moment, leave behind your comfortable home, expectations of what life will bring you tomorrow next month, next year. Leave behind your daily conveniences, appliances, smooth roads, bank account, ATM service, credit card, access to credit – in fact, leave behind all banking. Like some of the people we will meet, you have a few coins in your pocket, maybe a córdoba worth $.05 (current exchange rate). You dream of having a steady job so your child can have regular meals, a secure home and go to school. You have been unemployed most of your adult life, lucky to have finished 6th grade. You barely survive by scavenging and reselling items on the street.
You are in the lovely volcano-scattered, lake-rich, lush country of Nicaragua. You have left the center of Managua and are traveling on a four-lane boulevard, then turn on another somewhat-paved city street bordered by small businesses and large breeze-blown bushes. Still in the city limits, the car turns in to an opening between the bushes. You see a dirt road bordered by strings of close-packed patchwork houses constructed of tin, wood, cardboard and plastic scavenged from the dump or roadside. Children play in the street. Adults saunter along, visiting.
The rich potential of the land and of Nicaraguans themselves has been compromised by politics, natural disasters and dire economic conditions. Yet hidden in neighborhoods you will find indomitable spirits fighting the scourge of poverty. We see the spirit immediately as smiling children run to us. Soon, the community leaders, Norma and Denis, greet us. We are now in the barrio of Grenada (a neighborhood of Managua, not to be confused with the colonial city of Granada).
They share some of the history of this barrio: lack of access to improvements like potable water, sanitation, police protection, safety, unleaky roofs. The community had organized itself and chosen four leaders to lobby for improvements. They are very poor people, and the city políticos did not respond to their request for the basic housing. They want safe shelter, food and access to education, not to mention a viable economy.
Three years ago, something great happened to the barrio. HABITAR, a non-government organization whose mission is to holistically improve housing for the very poor, chose Grenada and four other neighborhoods to be part of phase I of Proyecto Amanecer. HABITAR partners with organized neighborhoods in processes of urban reordering, legalization of lots, potable water, drains, infrastructure, health and community equipment.
As we walked the street, Norma told us how Cony, their HABITAR representative, has worked with the Grenada board to guide the planning process. First, an engineering evaluation resulted in the building of a retaining wall to stop the erosion of the banks of the 30-foot deep gully that divides the barrio. Neighbors carried rocks and built the wall structure under the direction of the Habitar team. (Please see the video of the initial project.)
Next, Norma told about other improvements to common areas: a graded playground and the new community center. For the first time, people have a place to gather. We walk through the wooden doors of the beautiful windowed block building. Here, health classes, medical exams, dance lessons, children’s activities, celebrations and other meetings take place. Each neighbor provides a few córdobas a month to the barrio treasury for a security guard.
Our delegation met with community members at the center to hear more about the improvements and plans for the future. In 2007, the first 20 “seed houses,” or casitas, were built for pre-qualified homeowners. They are called this because the homes, which are approximately 300 square feet, are the first of several stages that an owner may build. They are made of colorfully painted concrete walls and zinc roofs over a steel structure, with window and a door. Each family helped construct its home. One homeowner spoke of the pride she feels about her home and her neighborhood.
Microfinance is a big part of this picture. Homeowners received $600 no-interest loans from Habitar, whose funds were donated by several NGOs, including Working Capital for Community Needs (WCCN). Since credit is unattainable for the poor, these loans bridge some of the gap between poverty and a taste of security. Owners experience accountability and pride as they repay their loans.
Norma and Denis are excited about the upcoming phase IV, planned for 2009. HABITAR hopes to build 50 more seed homes in the five barrios. Ten more homes in Grenada will mean so much to the community as a whole as well as the prospective owners. To date, NGOs have pledged $72,000 toward the $120,000 total project. Now needed is $33,000 to front the users’ loans and a balance of $22,500 to complete the 2009 project.
As we say adios, we cannot help but feel a neighborly connection with these courageous leaders. What is our place in the plan? We have seen how gifts to Habitar have spread safety and goodwill. Our dollars can amazingly impact human lives through microfinance loans, but economic statistics cannot express as much long-lasting human impact as seeing this project. How could we quantify the justice of safe housing? How can we know the value of uplifting the human spirit? Even if we cannot put a price tag on justice and peace, we can be assured that our dollars spent for “seed houses” harvests at least a portion of justice.
By Trish Sargent
WCCN Study Tour participant