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Feelings of anticipation, expectancy, and adventure percolated within both of us as we set our sights for Nicaragua in late February 2011. Although this was not our first trip to Central America (we visited our artisans in Honduras in February 2010), this WAS our first adventure in Nicaragua!
Sixteen months earlier, we had placed our first order for pine needle baskets with the women of the Fuente de Pino cooperative, located in the remote mountain communities near El Sauce. Throughout this time period, we had learned ABOUT them. NOW the opportunity had finally arisen for us to meet these industrious and creative women…in THEIR oikos!
We flew into Nicaragua’s capital of Managua, where we were met by our gracious hosts, Kellan Morgan (a transplant from SUNY Geneseo in Upstate New York) and Yacarely Mairena (a Nicaraguan national). They are co-founders of Enlace (http://www.enlaceproject.org/), a business development and training center based in El Sauce.
The hours-long ride on the paved two-lane highway from Managua to El Sauce provided us with the chance to see the volcanic scenery as well as the opportunity for us to get to know each other (since this is the FIRST time we had ever met one another!), our history, our passions and our goals. Over the next few days we would discover that we were in the presence of social entrepreneurs similar to ourselves!
El Sauce, with its tropical climate, is a municipality located in the foothills of the Segovia Mountains in the Department (state) of Leon. Dedicated to agricultural production and livestock, the town of El Sauce is a slow-paced community with a unique blend of pedestrians, bike-taxis, a few trucks and its daily parade of cows. This was our homebase during our visit. (For more information on El Sauce, visit this link to Enlace's site.)
 Our focus however was cultivating relationship with the women artisans of Fuente de Pino. And they are located in the remote communities of Las Minitas and Cerro Colorado in the Segovia Mountains. So piling into a vintage Toyota pickup (with a well-earned 192,000 miles on its odometer!) we set out for Las Minitas on the nearby mountain! As you might imagine, “necessity” dictates how that job is accomplished! In the truck cab there was room for the Franklin, (our driver), Rebecca, and all of the “loose stuff”. Anything heavy and ALL of the remaining passengers fit into the truck bed! NO worries about speeding while ascending and descending the mountains ~ all of this travel was done under 10 mph! The reason???
The deeply rutted dirt “road” that gave new meaning to the term “off road”!
As we slowly climbed our way up the mountain to Las Minitas, each twist and turn delivered breathtaking views of magnificent scenery!
Hours later we arrived at “the end of the road” where it was time to “saddle up those horses” for the next leg of the journey! We were also grateful for the cooler mountain breezes!
Las Minitas does not have a central location. It is a "community" simply defined by the mountain on which these particular families reside. We had made arrangements for us to be the ones travelling to the artisans, visiting each of them in their homes, which is also where they produce their baskets.
Our first visit was with Erlinda and her family. Both Erlinda, who is also the treasurer of the cooperative, and her daughter Yerling create exquisite baskets. Erlinda was gracious in explaining the procedure to us ~ from start to finish.
Our visit to Erlinda's home gave us a wonderful opportunity to experience gracious Nicaraguan hospitality. We met each of the family members, learning first-hand about the significant impact that selling her pine needle baskets has had upon the well-being of her family.
Erlinda's family, like all of the families in these mountain communities, are subsistence farmers. Each year the family plants their crops with the goal of harvesting enough to feed the family throughout the coming year, having seed for the following year, and (hopefully) having a bit extra to sell at the market.
However for the past two years every family has experienced devastating crop failures. First it was too dry and nothing grew, followed by a year of torrential rains that rotted what seeds didn't simply wash away. For these past two years, the sale of Erlinda's baskets made it possible to purchase beans and rice to feed the family as well as seed for the upcoming growing season.
And we discovered an additional reason to get excited about our involvement! KVI's purchases from the women of Fuente de Pino are making a further difference! In the past year or so, Enlace and the Geneseo (NY) Rotary Club have teamed together to bring simple solar panel systems to families living in these mountain communities. A single panel can charge a battery that will power a compact florescent light (CFL) for about 6 hours each night! Imagine the difference this can make in people's lives!!
 As Enlace and the Rotary worked to secure the solar components, Yacarely sought out interested families, provided training in the system, and assisted them in budgeting to pay their portion of the installation. The Rotary funded 60% of the project, with the remainder coming from each family. They paid 50% of their portion "up front" and Enlace gave no-interest loans for the balance, to be paid out of their basket earnings. Since Fall of 2010, because of increased basket sales, a number of the women have been able to purchase solar panels for their homes. When we asked one woman when she received her panel, she proudly announced "February 11th!" (I think it's now on par with a national holiday!) Imagine the change of life rhythm that 1 or 2 light bulbs have in a place where there has never been any source of light other than a smokey fire! Now they can see to work on baskets (or other work) early in the morning or later into the evening! We are honored to play a role in their ability to make such a strategic purchase!
As we continued visiting the other women artisans within this community, we experienced recurring themes: gracious hospitality, pride in the baskets they had crafted, their simple lifestyle, a genuine gratefulness for KVI's involvement in the basket project, and amazement that we would travel such a distance to visit THEM!
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