El Limón, Community for Education

Katie Plemons, Eckerd College delegate

Our delegation stayed in El Limón for six days to help build a road that would sustain the heavy rainy season downpours. The first one we met was Ismael, the community leader. In the community center we learned about this small community six kilometers from Estelí with only 150 people. Of those, fifty-one are students. The people of this quaint community firmly Road crew believe in an educated society and have made sure that everyone under twenty is studying. The community of El Limón has even campaigned to support education by raising funds for school supplies. This past year, they provided backpacks and school supplies for all the students for free.

Although education is very important, it is not the easiest thing to maintain. Most of the people stay within the community and work their farms. They only make about 30-50 cordobas (about $2-3US) a day. Also, most of the students walk a minimum of three miles each way to Esteli everyday in order to attend schools and universities. The community has pushed for a 1st-6th grade school in El Limón; however, with so few students in each grade, a school is unrealistic. The cost to attend university is about $20-$50US a month, not including transportation, food or books. Most families have more than one school-age child, which becomes extremely costly. Yet, education is still tremendously important here.

Paired up, we lived with homestay families. Up to then, we’d been together as a group. Due to our language barriers, speaking with our families was not the easiest thing, and was actually rather awkward and confusing. Some of us speak Spanish better than others, so that was helpful. I stayed with a family that did not actually own the house, but were caretakers for a very rich family from Estelí. Even though our house was slightly fancier, the kitchen was still a dirt floor and there was no electricity anywhere. We did have the only flush toilet in all of El Limón as well as lake access, and tons of animals on the property like horses, cows, pigs, chickens, dogs, and cats.

Most of us had not showered in about 3 days, so bucket showers were welcome. Because the sun sets around 6:30, by 8:00 most people were ready for bed. The next day around 6am we started our first day on the road.

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El Limón, Community for Education

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