LA UVA, NICARAGUA - SOLAR SCHOOL

TRIP DATES: OCTOBER 20-28, 2012

To sign up for this trip, please email info@powertothepeople.org. The trip fee is $1,600 per person which covers all in-country expenses from hotels, food, tips, taxes, entrance fees, travel and snacks. Space is limited.

The community of La Uva (The Grape) is located in an ancient volcanic crater in the central part of Nicaragua. The town of El La Uva and the surrounding villages are home to more than 5,000 people living without electricity and access to basic services like health care, secondary education, and phones lines. The town of La Uva has only one 2-room small school for all of its school children and one teacher that travels from the nearby town of San Lorenzo every week to teach the children. It is common in the rural areas for one teacher to teach multiple grades at the same time, teaching students that can range from 6 to 18 years old all at once.

To get to the elementary school, you must cross a river that can be impassible during the rainy season, the drive down a long dirt road into a the crater. The steep decline into the crater makes it difficult for a public bus or truck with supplies to bring supplies to the community so most people enter and exit the area on foot.

Like many towns in Nicaragua, the community members go to bed around 8pm when the sun goes down because there is no light to see by, no way to read, no way to study, no entertainment or news to watch or listen to. The people of La Uva has asked Power to the People to bring lights and power to their school to help improve access to information, entertainment, communication, and other appliances and tools which will help them live a more healthy, aware, comfortable, and just life. La Uva is the third of three towns in the crater that will receive a solar electric system from Power to the People. The close proximity means all three communities in the crater will have lights at school, can share ideas about how to use electricity to benefit the school, and can work together if any maintenance needs to be done.

In October 2012, Power to the People will be bringing lights and power to the community by installing a 900W photovoltaic system on the elementary school. The system may also include a 225W PV battery charging station, allowing community members to charge car or deep cycle batteries at the school and take them home to have lights and power in their houses.

We hope you can travel with us to install this PV system. Please email info@powertothepeople.org for more information.

A sample trip itinerary includes:

Saturday - Volunteers arrive in Managua throughout the day, meet each other and have dinner at Hotel El Camino Real.
Sunday - Walking tour of Granada, boat tour of Granada islands, hike around rim of Volcano Mombacho. Stay in colonial stylel hotel in Granada.
Monday - Head to La Uva and begi the solar installation. Stay overnight with families in La Uva. Volunteers experience life in rural Nicaragua.
Tuesday - Continue working on solar installation. Stay overnight with families in La Uva.
Wednesday - Finish solar installation. Celebrate with community at the "fiesta de despedida".
Thursday - Leave La Uva and head to the coast to visit the town of San Juan del Sur. Swim in the ocean, enjoy a tropical cocktail, and relax after a successful solar installation.
Friday - Explore a nearby beach town during the day and have fun walking around San Juan del Sur on a friday night.
Saturday - Head back to Managua, explore a local artisan market on the way. Have one last goupr dinner at a nice restaurant in Managua.
Sunday - Volunteers head to the US.

Thank you for your interest and support!

El Caribe elementary school

Volcanic crater where La Uva is located

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS OF THIS PROJECT: