NICARAGUA'S HOMES OF HOPE.

• Author: Belt, Guillermo A.
• Position: Housing project of Organization of American States

In October 1998 Central America was struck by what in human and material terms was its most devastating hurricane in the twentieth century. Hurricane Mitch, as this storm was dubbed by the U.S. National Weather Service, vented its fury against some of Nicaragua's poorest and most vulnerable communities, overflowing riverbanks and drowning thousands of Nicaraguans in water and mud, submerging and sweeping away thousands of homes, and destroying countless bridges and roads, thereby vitiating the country's already precarious transportation system. The widespread destruction of crops and farmland fell like a coup de grace over a nation that still displays the gaping wounds wrought by the natural and man-made disasters that have besieged it over the past couple decades.

One month after Mitch, the Organization of American States and the Nicaraguan government signed an agreement to carry out the Program for Solidarity Housing Reconstruction and in December began grappling with the housing crisis in eighteen communities of north-central Nicaragua. The areas targeted were Wiwili, along the banks of the Coco River; Siuna, northeast of the Tuma River; Paiwas, south of Rio Grande de Matagalpa; and communities in Quilili, near the Jicaro River.

The program, made possible by a loan to the Nicaraguan government from the Republic of China, allowed for the construction of 845 housing units, which were offered to every family or individual in the targeted municipal areas who had lost a home. In each area, a housing commission was established, the members being the mayor, the municipal council, and a representative from each affected community. Beneficiaries were selected by the commissions without regard to social, cultural, religious, or political considerations. There were only two requirements: having lost one's home due to Hurricane Mitch and working on the construction of one's own dwelling. Those individuals who, through no fault of their own, were not capable of taking part in construction were permitted to engage a family member (fourteen years or older) or a hired worker to take their place.

The major features of the OAS program clearly reflect a spirit of solidarity. The OAS provided the land, materials, tools, equipment, transportation, skilled labor, training, and technical assistance; while the beneficiaries volunteered their own labor, and the World Food Program provided food for work. The mayors' offices appointed a coordinator for each...