Nicaragua Project: La Prusia - Community on the Edge
The UConn chapter of EWB has targeted the impoverished shantytown of La Prusia, Nicaragua for its aid efforts, with the aim of improving living conditions for residents through the construction of a permanent road linking La Prusia with the colonial city of Granada.
Nicaragua is recognized as perhaps the second poorest country in the Americas, with 48% of the population living below the poverty line. La Prusia is an intensely poor community of squatters, most of whom survive on less than $1/day and reside in houses built from wooden slats with corrugated metal roofs. Most residents lack access to basic facilities, including indoor plumbing and reliable, potable water supplies.
UConn
EWB became involved in the project in late 2007. The group’s core
focus involves the redesign, stabilization and construction of a
permanent road over the existing unpaved road. The region’s intense
rainy “invierno” season brings torrential floods that chronically
wash out the dirt road, producing ditches and gullies up to 8 feet
deep in some areas, rendering the road impassable to motor vehicles.
Impact on two Communities
Chronically impassable, the road’s condition hampers traffic from the city and prevents residents from traveling to Granada where they would have access to:
Jobs
Hospital care
Markets for their products
Higher education
Trash collection and other services
The citizens of Granada are not immune to the effects of this condition. Separated from the city and desperately poor, La Prusia’s troubles sometimes spill over into Granada, which experiences higher crime near the city’s borders. Granada’s civic leaders and law enforcement officers fully support efforts to improve life in La Prusia and to make permanent road improvements. They believe the road project will help to integrate the shantytown into city life, providing an economic and social lifeline.
The Project
UConn EWB plans to facilitate the redesign, structural stabilization and paving of the road using indigenous construction methods and materials as well as local labor. The standard technique involves three steps. First, a foundation is applied atop the dirt, made from an aggregate containing soil and volcanic rock. Along the margins, roadways are buttressed up and stabilized by quarried stones fitted together. Brick pavers are laid atop the aggregate foundation. Butler said road construction is expensive, mostly due to the high cost of materials and fuel to run the heavy construction equipment.
UConn EWB in La Prusia
Members of the UConn EWB have made two trips to the region to understand to scope of the project, conduct site surveys and meet with key stakeholders in both La Prusia and Granada. The team’s activities to date have included:
Meeting with officials from Casas de la Esperanza, the NGO operating in the area; community leaders; the U.S. Ambassador to Nicaragua; and Granada’s Mayor, Chief Engineer and Public Affairs Officer
Signing an official document outlining the city’s relationship with EWB
Surveying approximately 25% of La Prusia residents to gauge the community’s needs and opinions relative to the road project
Conducting a detailed topographic survey of a 1.8 kilometer section of the road, collecting data that will be fed into a CAD program in Storrs
Collecting on-the-ground data for watershed analyses, to be combined with satellite data of water resources in the region.
Beginning fundraising efforts to gather the estimated $30,000/year needed to stabilize and pave the road
Assembled a Board of Professional Advisors (UConn alumni, representatives of donor companies, faculty members) to counsel the chapter
Sponsors
GEI Consultants, Inc., a geotechnical, water resources, environmental and ecological consulting firm generously sponsored the summer 2010 UConn EWB trip to Nicaragua.
Civil & Environmental Engineering Department – donated new, top-of-the-line surveying and rainfall measuring equipment.
Goals
The team has set ambitious goals toward completion of the La Prusia roadway reconstruction task.
Estimates suggest the task will take five years to complete, at a total cost of approximately $150,000 (including construction materials, equipment fuel and labor, plus travel costs for the EWB contingent).
For 2010 and 2011, UConn EWB seeks to:
Raise $30,000 by January 1, 2011
Draft several roadway design alternatives
Begin construction in 2011
Larger Aid Project
The team is collaborating with a Massachusetts-based nonprofit NGO, Casas de la Esperanza, which operates in La Prusia. The organization, run by volunteers, helps residents build their own houses and develop economically and socially. The group offers direct support, courses and technical education, small business and cooperatives, thereby increasing their expectation of a better future.