www.hijuela.com

Mission: Food Security, Clean Water, Sustainability, Poverty Alleviation

Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere after Haiti, 30 years and running. It is also the only country in the history of the world that has enjoyed a successful Peace & Reconciliation Initiative in the wake of a civil war. In the years following the 1980s war, National Reconciliation was accompanied by a drastic reduction in hyperinflation in an economic Stabilization Program, government bureaucracy was reduced and army size radically so, individual liberties and the rule of law were restored, privatization and entrepreneurial incentives increased, and the stage was set for the individual pursuit of industry and self-improvement. Regrettably the subsequent years have been a relative disaster due to a loss of national vision vis-a-vis state theft on a grand scale, political power struggles and some manipulation of the faithful (read: Father-Son-&-Holy Ghost, Whoever eats the fastest gets the most). Coping with or transcending poverty has once again fallen solidly into the often empty tool box of regular folk.

Poverty overwhelms even clever minds. Assistance is often financially out of reach or intellectually prohibitive. Access to, or availability of information, funds, technology and materials is often scarce for regular folks coping with the fall-out of multiple global crises, or daily survival.  What is known about the tools for addressing poverty is rarely implemented in an integrated fashion, aid rarely empowers, philanthropy tends to stay home, and the international donor tendency is no longer a bottomless pit. Nicaragua sees very little autochthonous investment. It has been said that people served by donations or a socialist state develop a poor work ethic or welfare mindset, further diminishing their capacity to transcend poverty; but this equation rarely factors in the information gap that handicaps the potential of an industrious mind, giving little impetus for the development of better solutions or say, aesthetics as well as utility. Not everything can be found ordered and comprehensible on the Internet. Furthermore, people with a history of socio-economic instability tend to trade long-term vision for short-term gain. Donation and investment theft is common, and project abandonment often due to a lack of adequate needs-analyses or subsequent supervision, including dissemination of findings.

La Biosfera Retreat is assembling a measure of a one-stop solutions shop to address the conundrum of poverty, largely engaging youth in the pedagogy of development, ever seeking ways to foment its self-realization through innovation, cooperation and stimulated interest in the natural sciences. We are working to provide models, information, assistance, troubleshooting and follow-up. Empowerment and sustainability are objectives that we recognize may take decades to catch on, yet we offer near-term obtainable goals.  La Biosfera's organic, alternative energy, water harvesting, low-cost building and recycle solutions offer ways for willing Nicaraguans to find a way to sustainable sovereignty regardless of personal political affiliation or government burlesque, while contributing to a healthy environment and food queue.