Women Join Together to Improve Their Community

“So many of the children were coughing and we had no medicines to treat them. We wanted to do something- to take action, so we began our cooperative in 2006.” related Nancy and Santo of the Nindiri Women’s Colectivo, Sol de Vida.

Six women in the community of Papayal in Nindiri originally met and came up with two goals for their women’s cooperative. They wanted an additional source of income to help support their families and most importantly, better health for their children.

The process of building their cooperative took many steps over several years. At first they found a knowledgeable woman who helped to teach them about natural medicines. Through word of mouth, eventually three communities (about thirty women) became involved with the cooperative but they had a number of obstacles to overcome. They had no money to buy the seeds for the plants or the materials to package them. They needed more training and support to get their organic products developed and marketed. And most importantly, they needed a place to come together to work.

Then Bridges to Community arrived to help. North American volunteers contributed funding and built a community center in Papayal, Nindiri where the women could work and store their supplies. Bridges supplied seeds for the medicinal plants they wanted to grow in the community garden. They gave them training on how to grow and process organic plants; they provided bottles and labels for the finished products; and lastly, they showed them how to make their organization stronger. Three of the collective’s women went to pharmacies in Managua to learn more about the medicines and how to market them.

“Now we have a mature garden, a supply of organic medicines for diabetes, coughs, and other diseases that we sell to our local families. We also have hygienic shampoos and soaps. Our community now has the medicines we need for our children and we are making enough money to help support the work of the women’s cooperative. Our dream is to sell our products to more than our community - even outside the country.”