Project Minnesota/León's roots lie in another another cultural awareness effort, the Center for Global Education at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In the early 1980s, Mary Foster and Bryce Hamilton traveled with the center to several Central American countries, including Nicaragua. At that time the country was struggling with a deep civil war. During the visit they discussed ways to enable Minnesotans and Nicaraguans to get to know one another.
L-R back row: Nancy Trechsel; former León Coordinators Steve Johnson, Elizabeth (Sander) Moreira (& husband Jorge), Doreen (Johnson) Kloehn. L-R front row: Dr. Fisher, DDS, former Coordinator Rosanne Fischer.
An opportunity to build on that conversation soon arose. After returning to Minnesota, Bryce heard Father José María Delgado, a Dominican priest at La Merced Church in León, give a presentation at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in South Minneapolis. Bryce and Father José talked about the simple people-to-people concept. Father José invited Bryce to stay at his parish in Nicaragua for a week to explore such a connection.
When Bryce later returned to León, Father José introduced him to education, government, and business leaders in the city, so Bryce could assess their interest in the idea. Bryce received enthusiastic support from all he met and returned home firmly committed to moving forward with plans to build relationships between the people of León and Minnesota.
Nancy Trechsel and Amita Comacho
Meanwhile Mary Foster had met Nancy Trechsel on a Witness for Peace trip to Nicaragua and invited her to join in the new adventure. Bryce, Mary, and Nancy met regularly and soon included Maynard Jones and Elizabeth Sander in planning sessions. They began contacting global concerns committees at area churches to ask for financial support. Elizabeth, a graduate from Augsburg College in international relations and Spanish, volunteered to be the first coordinator in León in 1984. This was the birth of Project Minnesota/León.
A primary activity was sending three or four groups to León each year to visit self-help projects and meet local officials. For more than 30 years, groups of Minnesotans have enjoyed the hospitality of host families in León neigbhorhoods.
More than 15 coordinators have served in León since the inception of the project. Between 1984 and 1990, 16 Minnesota groups visited Nicaragua, and three Nicaraguan youth groups visited Minnesota. Since 1990, an average of two to four groups have traveled each year between Minnesota and León. Each group has sought to foster cultural exchange and build stronger communities.
Former PML Leon Coordinators: Sarah Shelton Mendoza, Sheila Hougen, Rosanne Fischer, Barb Spencer, Doreen (Johnson) Kloehn, Elizabeth (Sander) Moreira
Project Minnesota/León’s Community Development Work & Volunteer Ideas
Part of Project Minnesota/León’s (PML) mission is to facilitate community development in León, Nicaragua, where we have collaborated on community initiatives and cooperative ventures since our beginnings in 1984. Our methods of working on community development have continuously evolved. PML's current development work includes supporting Xuchialt Art School for youth, as well as our on-going initiatives with San Carlos, a semi-rural community on the outskirts of León. In 2014, when PML began working with San Carlos, our work shifted to focus more on developing human capacity and self-advocacy, and away from infrastructure development. We recently expanded our work to the village of La Gallina, near San Carlos.
At that time, we hired a Nicaraguan professional, Rosa Lira Ulloa, who is an experienced development practitioner. Rosa facilitates a process of change that arises from the residents’ own perspectives and accompanies them as they solve problems. Stakeholder groups in the community work together to (1) identify their needs and resources, (2) organize themselves, and (3) advocate for local solutions to bring about sustainable change. If no local solutions are available, they will consider appealing to outside groups for resources, financial assistance or volunteers. Already, the San Carlos community has achieved a number of results that will have a long-term impact. For example, they have successfully negotiated with utility companies to get electrical and water services restored at their health clinic, and have obtained a commitment from the national health service to regularly staff the clinic with a doctor.
PML has sponsored more typical construction and infrastructure development projects throughout our history, including classroom construction, equipment donation, a maternal/child nutrition program, latrine construction support, and community health center support, including in San Carlos. We continue to financially support some of these projects, and will continue to do so if our community partners request our assistance.
To learn more about our community development work, click here.
Our model for group travel to León is different from many other organizations as we do not seek out volunteers to build things or to offer ideas about how to solve problems. Our focus is educational - we bring groups of Minnesotans to Nicaragua to learn about the country and the culture, thereby shedding light on our own culture. We encourage Minnesotans to visit our projects and hear from community members about how they are facilitating change in their own lives. On initial visits, we offer limited volunteer opportunities like teaching English (which is a very important skill as most Nicaraguans do not speak English and are anxious to learn), or volunteering in the preschool, or in the PML office in León to help with organizational tasks, technology and communications. (April, 2016)
