Nicaragua-1 January Assessment Trip in Matagalpa

Meetings, surveying, calculations, and tons of walking consumed our winter days in Matagalpa, Nicaragua. During our second assessment trip, we performed additional hydrology calculations, and met with the mayor of Matagalpha in order to get all the necessary documentation signed. We were also able to meet the two communities and perform a health survey within Lucidia Mantilla and Sor Maria. After a long week of work, we had a community meeting to begin bridge construction plans: both parties agreed on a commencement date of February 6, 2012. Everyone was excited to begin construction, and our team is anxious to return in May.

Nicaragua II returns from successful implementation trip

The Nicaragua-II team recently traveled to Pueblo Nuevo Sur, San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua for 20 days in May 2011. The trip consisted of two phases of travel, and in total, 8 students from the Rice University Chapter and 2 professional mentors from the Houston Professional Chapter comprised the travel team. The goal of the trip was to complete the construction of the roof and the interior of the health clinic, the foundation and walls of which we constructed in May 2010 and March 2011, respectively, and to complete the construction of a rainwater catchment system that would be fastened to the roof of the health clinic.

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Nicaragua-1 Bridge Implementation Trip, Part 2

We got back a couple weeks ago from our Spring Break trip, and we had a great time! We finished the bridge and had a blast with our friends from the El Panama community.  Before the trip, community members had built the approaches leading up to the towers that we built over Winter Break. When we arrived, we strung the cables, finished the approaches, built the crossbeams and laid the decking on the bridge. It was a lot of hard work, but the community was a great help. It took us a week to finish the bridge, and it was great to celebrate the completion of the project at the bridge opening ceremony on the last day!