Good Morning Siuna! Radio Connects Bridges’ Communities

Communication in Nicaragua is not always easy. In many remote areas of the country, there is no phone service, no cell reception, no internet, no television, no newspapers or even a convenient road for transport. Yet the local communities have found means to connect. In the Siuna region, radio is their link to the broader world.

Farm families that live hours outside the “big town” of Siuna, all have transistor radios that are on 24 hours a day. The farmers go out to their fields every day with the radios slung over their shoulders and placed near by as they work the land. The local university, URRICAN, transmits radio programming from a small building on campus that was built by Bridges’ volunteers a decade ago. Local meetings, happenings in various communities, and opportunities for people to talk to one another are all part of this essential daily information sharing.

It is because of radio communication that most of the communities that Bridges has worked with in the greater Siuna region have learned about our programs. Almost three years ago, leaders in the Fonseca community first heard about the Bridges projects in the community of Santa Rosa via the radio. They traveled several hours to the Bridges office in Siuna to meet the staff, seek information and apply.

Fonseca became a Bridges community partner in 2008 receiving latrines, smoke reducing stoves, water filters, mosquito nets and high school scholarships for their children. In 2010 they also built a brand new elementary school that 60 children attend daily. And in March 2011, North American volunteers worked with them to dig ditches for piping and drill a well that will provide water directly to 20 family homes, the school and the chapel. Next year the community is going to add classrooms onto their old school and construct a footbridge so that the children will be able to attend even during the rainy season.

“We learned from Bridges that we can do more by working together,” stated Juan Gonzelez, leader of the Fonseca Community. But if it wasn’t for the Siuna radio, the families of Fonseca may never have learned about Bridges to Community and their lives may not have changed.