FOG - Glossary

G l o s s a r y

Current Location: Home / Glossary

This is a list of names and terms that are used in our web-site. If there is a word that you encounter that you think should be here, please let us know by emailing us at fog@vcn.bc.ca.

Use the following index to jump towards the entry you want to read:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

Allan Aoyama

Allan is a member of FOG. Click here to read his biography.

Anneli Tolvanen

Anneli is a member of FOG. She has lived in Nicaragua and has been active in community building activities for many years. She was one of the key people involved in the children's library project that we funded in El Bosque. Click here for more information about that project.

America II

America II is a barrio of Managua. We helped with the funding of a community-based school in this barrio in 1998-1999.
The project was directed by Xavier.

Ana Maria Murcia

Ana Maria is a Catholic nun who lives and works in El Recreo. She was born and raised in Costa Rica. As a member of the Congregation of Our Lady of Sion (their web-site is at http://www.sion.org) she has been active in community development in Nicaragua for a long time. She is very special to us. Not only did she give us our initial invitation to Nicaragua (in El Recreo), but she also helped us begin our work in Santa Rosa.

Arco Iris

The Arco Iris project is a project that's being directed by Xavier Muñoz in Reparto Schick.
The project initially aims to improve the education and health of children in the community through a pre-school and a Comedor.
To find out more information about this project, view the web pages we've devoted to Reparto Schick by clicking here.

B

Barrio

Barrio is the Spanish word used to describe a small residencial neighbourhood.

Barrio El Recreo

Please see El Recreo

Berj Bannayan

Berj is a member of FOG. Click here to read his biography.

Bertha

Doña Bertha is a friend of ours in Santa Rosa. She is an incredibly capable woman, directing many community projects, while taking care of her family and running a natural medicine clinic.
To read Ramin's February 1998 report about her, click here.

Bosque

Please see El Bosque.

C

Campesino

Campesino is a Spanish word that refers to a person who lives in the country. That typically implies someone who works the land.
At least in Nicaragua, the word Campesino seems to have lots of dignity and pride associated with it because of the lifestyle associated with it.

Campesino a Campesino

Campesino a Campesino ("From Campesino to Campesino") is a network of projects that are active in several Latin American countries, including Nicaragua.
The focus of the project that is run in Santa Rosa is agriculture and credit.

Cantera

Cantera is a fairly large Nicaraguan NGO. We had a partnership of sorts with Cantera in 1996-1997 when our volunteers would do some computer administration in exchange for credits to be used by community members where they lived in Canteras educational workshops.

Carroll Airey

Carroll is a member of FOG. Click here to read her biography.

Casa Canadiense

Casa Canadiense is a Canadian NGO that has a welcome centre in the heart of Managua, Nicaragua. The Casa centre serves as a welcome and orientation centre for Canadian youth, brigades and study groups of all ages. It acts as a bridge for researchers, media and volunteers seeking a genuine relationship with Nicaraguans.
The Casa also opens its doors, common spaces and offices to Nicaraguans in a variety of ways, one of the most popular being the children's Story Book Library and reading program. The Casa regularly welcomes Women's Groups, Community Organizers and university students to its facilities. As well, the Casa coordinator works in partnership with grassroots groups to promote social justice for children and their families in the barrio.
FOG has been partnered with Casa Canadiense for the support of two projects in Nicaragua: the Arco Iris project in Reparto Schick and the children's library in El Bosque. Casa helps us with our fund-raising activities and also helps us communicate with and transfer funds to our partners in Nicaragua through their Managua office.

CoDevelopment Canada

CoDevelopment Canada is an NGO based in Vancouver, B.C. that works to build North-South partnerships for a socially just world. CoDev has more than 20 partners in Latin America that are linked to unions and community organisations in British Columbia through funding and educational exchange. Examples of their projects include human rights training, women's leadership development, micro-credit programs, and fair trade coffee. For more information, send email to codev@web.net or go to the Faces of Cuba web-site at www.facesofcuba.ca.

Comarca

A comarca is a small residencial community that can consist of a few houses, or be a small town. It is associated with a larger official township.

Comedor

A comedor is typically an eatery of some sort. It can refer to the dining-room in a house, a cafeteria, or, as we typically use it on our web-site, it can refer to the location where a nutrition program is run. Most of the time this means a roofed area where food is prepared and children are fed a nutritious meal, once a day.

Costa Rica

Costa Rica is the Central American country just to the South of Nicaragua. Its only other neighbouring country is Panama, to the South East.

D

Dave Lewis

Dave is a member of FOG. Click here to read his biography.

Departamento

Nicaragua is divided into departamentos. Departamentos are like states and provinces.

Don, Doña

"Don" and it's feminine equivalent "Doña", pronounced "Donya", are Spanish titles given to elders and people of great respect.

E

El Bosque

El Bosque is a little community outside Posoltega. It's a community of people who have survived Hurricane Mitch. The community (still under construction) is semi-rural, in that the houses are quite densely constructed, but are in the middle of agricultural/pastoral land.

El Recreo

Barrio El Recreo (located in Managua) is the first barrio where we supported a community development project. The project in question is called Generando Vida ("Generating life") and is fairly large, including many social, education, and health-related programs. For more information on this project, click here.

El Riguero

El Riguero is a barrio of Managua. We helped with the funding of a community-based night-school that had a focus on single mothers and street youth in this barrio in 1998-1999.
The project was directed by Xavier.

F

FSLN - Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional

The FSLN is one of two main political parties in Nicaragua (the PLC - the Liberals - being the other party). The FSLN began as a revolutionary group that played a role in the 1979 downfall of the dictatorship that had ruled Nicaragua for 46 years.
The FSLN was in power until 1990.

G

Generando Vida

Generando Vida is the name of a collection of programs and projects that are run by a community group in Barrio El Recreo.

Gabriela

Doña Gabriela was the Director of the Juan XXIII project in Santa Rosa during the time that Ramin volunteered there. She was also the person who fed Ramin during his one year stay there. She now continues to work with the Juan XXIII project, mostly as an instructor in their sewing classes.
Click here to read Ramin's writings about her in a field report from December 1997.

Gretchen Ferguson

Gretchen is a member of FOG. Click here to read her biography.

Guatemala

Guatemala is the Central American country just to the South of Mexico and to the North of El Salvador and Honduras.
Several of FOG's volunteers have gone to the Pop Wuj Spanish school in Guatemala to learn Spanish before going to Nicaragua.
For more information on Guatemala you may want to visit the web-page reached by clicking here.

H

Hombres Contra Violencia

Hombres Contra Violencia means Men Against Violence. It is a group of men who specialise in gender issues, violence, conflict resolution, etc. They give educational seminars and in 1999 ran a national awareness campaign. Their educational workshops are very popular.

Honduras

Honduras is the Central American country just to the North of Nicaragua. To its West is El Salvador, to the North Guatemala, and to the East is the Atlantic Ocean.
In November 1998, Honduras took the brunt of the damage caused by Hurricane Mitch.
For more information on Honduras you may want to visit the web-page reached by clicking here.

Hurricane Mitch

Hurricane Mitch was the big hurricane that swept across Honduras and Nicaragua in October, 1998. For our reports on this disaster, click here.

I

IMF

The International Monetary Fund. According to their web-site, they are an international organization of 182 member countries, established to promote international monetary cooperation, exchange stability, and orderly exchange arrangements; to foster economic growth and high levels of employment; and to provide temporary financial assistance to countries under adequate safeguards to help ease balance of payments adjustment.
The policies and actions of the IMF have been criticized of doing more damage than good, and of mainly furthering the interests of the U.S.
The IMF gives loans to developing countries, often with conditions attached; for example, that the country must spend a certain amount on infra-structural development, or that the country must implement certain economic policies.

J

Juan XXIII

El instituto Juan XXIII ("the John XXIII institute") is a Jesuit NGO that has been active in Nicaragua for many years.
When talking of the Juan XXIII project in Santa Rosa we are referring to a project that was created by the Juan XXIII institute that is run by a group of Santa Rosans. It's primary objective has been to run various credit programs.

K

L

León

Leon is the second largest city in Nicaragua. It is located in an area that is very hot and dry for half of the year. There is also the departamento of León. A departamento is like a state or a province. The city of León is in the departamento of the same name.

M

Managua

Managua is the capital city of Nicaragua. It is by far the largest city in the country. It is located just to the south of Lake Managua. It was more or less flattened by the Earthquake of 1972, and because of the half-hearted reconstruction that followed, you can still see the effects of that earthquake today.

Manzana

A Manzana is a traditional unit of land area in Central America. The manzana is the area of a square 100 varas on a side; it thus varies according to the length of the vara. In Nicaragua, a vara is about the same as a yard.

Martha Rivera

Martha is the Director of the MEC office in El Bosque. We began working with Martha and MEC in early 2000 when we funded the children's library project that was proposed to us by Martha. Click here for more information about that project.

MEC

MEC (The Maria Elena Cuadra Movement of Working and Unemployed Women) is a national Nicaraguan women's organization started in 1994 to help women address issues of gender inequality at home and in the workplace. They have about 7 offices nationally, with the head office in Managua, and about 10,000 grassroots members. They do training for women in gender, human rights, workers rights, leadership, reproductive health. They also run micro-credit programs for self-employment development, housing upgrading and education. They are well-recognized by international organizations, being supported by Oxfam, CoDevelopment Canada, TUG, and Spanish solidarity organizations. In 1998 they won the Canadian Council for International Cooperation (CCIC) Award for Excellence in International Development.

MOPSE

MOPSE (Movimiento Popular de Salud y Educación Para mi pueblo) is an NGO headed by Xavier Muñoz.

N

Neem

The Neem tree is an amazing tree that has been imported to Nicaragua probably from India. It thrives in dry heat, is very hardy, and has many medicinal and pesticidal applications. See the Neem Foundation's web-site for more information.

NGO

NGO is an acronym for Non Governmental Organisation. In the context we use it on our web-site, it will typically refer to a Non-profit group, a Charity Organisation, or Development group.

Nicaragua

Nicaragua is the Central American country where we have focused our efforts. It is located to the North of Costa Rica and to the South of El Salvador and Honduras.
It is the second poorest nation in the Americas according to the 1999 UNDP (United Nations Development Program) report. Nicaraguans suffered under the Somoza dictatorship that was condoned, if not supported, by the United States for a large part of this century. In 1979, the Somozas were overthrown by popular revolt.
The FSLN (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional), a party based on one of the high-profile rebel groups that was involved in the overthrow of the Somozas, took power after the revolution.
Between 1982 and 1990, Nicaragua's development under its new identity was hampered by the civil war with the U.S. backed Contras. Remember the "Freedom Fighters" that Ronald Reagan always talked about? That's them.
The FSLN won the 1984 free elections but were ousted from power in the elections of 1990, when Violeta Chamorro came to power.
At present, the President of the country is Arnoldo Alemán, the leader of a Neo-liberal party.
For more information on Nicaragua you may want to visit the web-page reached by clicking here.

O

Ortega, Daniel

Daniel Ortega has been the Secretary General of the FSLN since 1991. Before that, he was an active member of the resistance against the Somoza Dictators, and later (1984) was he was elected the President of Nicaragua in popular elections.
He has since been caught up in some very damaging scandals (including allegations of sexual abuse by his step-daughter) and is widely felt to be a hindrance rather than a benefit to his party.

P

Patrimonio Campesino

Patrimonio Campesino is the name that the Juan XXIII project in Santa Rosa picked for itself.
The main Juan XXIII institute wants all the projects that they founded to become self-sustaining and independent. Choosing their own name was one step in that process. Unfortunately, that process was set back somewhat by Hurricane Mitch in 1998.

Piñata

A piñata is a popular latin american custom seen at almost all parties involving children. A doll (often made from papier mache) with a candy-filled ceramic pot inside is dangled from a rope from the ceiling. The children take turns being blindfolded and trying to break the hanging piñata so that the candies pour out. A common variation is to have the piñata on a pulley so that an adult can yank the piñata up and down. The blindfolded child must dance to music for the piñata to be lowered to a level where it can be hit well.

PML/PGL

PML/PGL is actually a pairing of two sister-city projects: PML (Proyecto Minnesota León) and PGL PML (Proyecto Gettysburg León). They share an office in the city of León and are active in the whole departamento of León, including Santa Rosa. Click here to read Ramin's writings on PML/PGL from his March 1998 field report.

Pop Wuj

The Pop Wuj Spanish Language School is a very good school in Guatemala where many of the FOG volunteers have gone to practise Spanish before going to Nicaragua. All of them have had tremendous experiences there and highly recommend it. The school has a web-site at http://members.aol.com/popwuj.

Posoltega

Posoltega is the municipality near the Casitas volcano where, in November 1998, thousands of people were killed and entire communities disappeared in the mudslides caused by Hurricane Mitch.

PRODISA

PRODISA is an NGO based in Santa Rosa. It was created by IBIS, a Danish NGO, in 1998. There seems to be substantial financial support behind this project.

Q

R

Ramin Kamal

Ramin is a member of FOG. Click here to read his biography.

Rancho

A rancho is typically a fairly large area that is covered by a thatched roof. It's often used as a place to hold large meetings and workshops.

Recreo

Please see El Recreo

Reparto Schick

Reparto Schick is a barrio of Managua. Reparto Schick is the popular name in place of the longer official name: "Barrio Enrique Gutierrez Schick". There are actually four "stages" of Reparto Schick. Essentially, there are four neighboorhoods that are called Reparto Schick Primera Etapa, Reparto Schick Segunda Etapa, Reparto Schick Tercera Etapa, and of course, Reparto Schick Cuarta Etapa.
In 1999, we began supporting a new educational and nutrional project in this barrio.
Click here for more details.

Riguero

Please see El Riguero.

Rob Bell

Rob is one of the founders of FOG. Click here to read his biography.

S

Sandinista

A Sandinista is a supporter or member of the FSLN. The term "Sandinistas" can be used to refer to the FSLN in general.

Santa Rosa

Santa Rosa is the second community where we had a volunteer presence. It's a small mining and farming town about three hours North of Managua and two hours to the East of León. Click here to read more about Santa Rosa.

Sarah Kamal

Sarah is a member of FOG. Click here to read her biography.

Schick

Please see Reparto Schick.

Stuart O'Grady

Stuart is one of the founders of FOG. Click here to read his biography.

T

U

V

W

WFP

The World Food Program is the United Nations food aid Organization. Several of the comedor programs that we work with in Nicaragua get aid (mostly in the form of basic grains) from the WFP.

X

Xavier Muñoz

Xavier is one of our friends in Nicaragua. He is a member of Hombres Contra Violencia, and has been very active in initiating grass-roots educational projects that have good chances of sustaining themselves.
We are very proud to know him and to support him in his community development projects in El Riguero, America II, and Reparto Schick.

Y

Z

Zona Franca

Nowadays many countries have specially designated Free Zones (Zona Franca in Spanish) where foreign companies negociate special exemptions from taxes and tariffs.
Despite needing the revenues that would be generated from taxes and tariffs that would result from the normal operation of a business, countries such as Nicaragua have little choice but to give exemptions to foreign companies in order to generate some much needed employment in their country.
The Zonas Francas in Nicaragua are typically home to textile factories.

A
Allan Aoyama		Allan is a member of FOG. Click here to read his biography.
Anneli Tolvanen		Anneli is a member of FOG. She has lived in Nicaragua and has been active in community building activities for many years. She was one of the key people involved in the children's library project that we funded in El Bosque. Click here for more information about that project.
America II		America II is a barrio of Managua. We helped with the funding of a community-based school in this barrio in 1998-1999. The project was directed by Xavier.
Ana Maria Murcia		Ana Maria is a Catholic nun who lives and works in El Recreo. She was born and raised in Costa Rica. As a member of the Congregation of Our Lady of Sion (their web-site is at http://www.sion.org) she has been active in community development in Nicaragua for a long time. She is very special to us. Not only did she give us our initial invitation to Nicaragua (in El Recreo), but she also helped us begin our work in Santa Rosa.
Arco Iris		The Arco Iris project is a project that's being directed by Xavier Muñoz in Reparto Schick. The project initially aims to improve the education and health of children in the community through a pre-school and a Comedor. To find out more information about this project, view the web pages we've devoted to Reparto Schick by clicking here.
B
Barrio		Barrio is the Spanish word used to describe a small residencial neighbourhood.
Barrio El Recreo		Please see El Recreo
Berj Bannayan		Berj is a member of FOG. Click here to read his biography.
Bertha		Doña Bertha is a friend of ours in Santa Rosa. She is an incredibly capable woman, directing many community projects, while taking care of her family and running a natural medicine clinic. To read Ramin's February 1998 report about her, click here.
Bosque		Please see El Bosque.
C
Campesino		Campesino is a Spanish word that refers to a person who lives in the country. That typically implies someone who works the land. At least in Nicaragua, the word Campesino seems to have lots of dignity and pride associated with it because of the lifestyle associated with it.
Campesino a Campesino		Campesino a Campesino ("From Campesino to Campesino") is a network of projects that are active in several Latin American countries, including Nicaragua. The focus of the project that is run in Santa Rosa is agriculture and credit.
Cantera		Cantera is a fairly large Nicaraguan NGO. We had a partnership of sorts with Cantera in 1996-1997 when our volunteers would do some computer administration in exchange for credits to be used by community members where they lived in Canteras educational workshops.
Carroll Airey		Carroll is a member of FOG. Click here to read her biography.
Casa Canadiense		Casa Canadiense is a Canadian NGO that has a welcome centre in the heart of Managua, Nicaragua. The Casa centre serves as a welcome and orientation centre for Canadian youth, brigades and study groups of all ages. It acts as a bridge for researchers, media and volunteers seeking a genuine relationship with Nicaraguans. The Casa also opens its doors, common spaces and offices to Nicaraguans in a variety of ways, one of the most popular being the children's Story Book Library and reading program. The Casa regularly welcomes Women's Groups, Community Organizers and university students to its facilities. As well, the Casa coordinator works in partnership with grassroots groups to promote social justice for children and their families in the barrio. FOG has been partnered with Casa Canadiense for the support of two projects in Nicaragua: the Arco Iris project in Reparto Schick and the children's library in El Bosque. Casa helps us with our fund-raising activities and also helps us communicate with and transfer funds to our partners in Nicaragua through their Managua office.
CoDevelopment Canada		CoDevelopment Canada is an NGO based in Vancouver, B.C. that works to build North-South partnerships for a socially just world. CoDev has more than 20 partners in Latin America that are linked to unions and community organisations in British Columbia through funding and educational exchange. Examples of their projects include human rights training, women's leadership development, micro-credit programs, and fair trade coffee. For more information, send email to codev@web.net or go to the Faces of Cuba web-site at www.facesofcuba.ca.
Comarca		A comarca is a small residencial community that can consist of a few houses, or be a small town. It is associated with a larger official township.
Comedor		A comedor is typically an eatery of some sort. It can refer to the dining-room in a house, a cafeteria, or, as we typically use it on our web-site, it can refer to the location where a nutrition program is run. Most of the time this means a roofed area where food is prepared and children are fed a nutritious meal, once a day.
Costa Rica		Costa Rica is the Central American country just to the South of Nicaragua. Its only other neighbouring country is Panama, to the South East.
D
Dave Lewis		Dave is a member of FOG. Click here to read his biography.
Departamento		Nicaragua is divided into departamentos. Departamentos are like states and provinces.
Don, Doña		"Don" and it's feminine equivalent "Doña", pronounced "Donya", are Spanish titles given to elders and people of great respect.
E
El Bosque		El Bosque is a little community outside Posoltega. It's a community of people who have survived Hurricane Mitch. The community (still under construction) is semi-rural, in that the houses are quite densely constructed, but are in the middle of agricultural/pastoral land.
El Recreo		Barrio El Recreo (located in Managua) is the first barrio where we supported a community development project. The project in question is called Generando Vida ("Generating life") and is fairly large, including many social, education, and health-related programs. For more information on this project, click here.
El Riguero		El Riguero is a barrio of Managua. We helped with the funding of a community-based night-school that had a focus on single mothers and street youth in this barrio in 1998-1999. The project was directed by Xavier.
F
FSLN - Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional		The FSLN is one of two main political parties in Nicaragua (the PLC - the Liberals - being the other party). The FSLN began as a revolutionary group that played a role in the 1979 downfall of the dictatorship that had ruled Nicaragua for 46 years. The FSLN was in power until 1990.
G
Generando Vida		Generando Vida is the name of a collection of programs and projects that are run by a community group in Barrio El Recreo.
Gabriela		Doña Gabriela was the Director of the Juan XXIII project in Santa Rosa during the time that Ramin volunteered there. She was also the person who fed Ramin during his one year stay there. She now continues to work with the Juan XXIII project, mostly as an instructor in their sewing classes. Click here to read Ramin's writings about her in a field report from December 1997.
Gretchen Ferguson		Gretchen is a member of FOG. Click here to read her biography.
Guatemala		Guatemala is the Central American country just to the South of Mexico and to the North of El Salvador and Honduras. Several of FOG's volunteers have gone to the Pop Wuj Spanish school in Guatemala to learn Spanish before going to Nicaragua. For more information on Guatemala you may want to visit the web-page reached by clicking here.
H
Hombres Contra Violencia		Hombres Contra Violencia means Men Against Violence. It is a group of men who specialise in gender issues, violence, conflict resolution, etc. They give educational seminars and in 1999 ran a national awareness campaign. Their educational workshops are very popular.
Honduras		Honduras is the Central American country just to the North of Nicaragua. To its West is El Salvador, to the North Guatemala, and to the East is the Atlantic Ocean. In November 1998, Honduras took the brunt of the damage caused by Hurricane Mitch. For more information on Honduras you may want to visit the web-page reached by clicking here.
Hurricane Mitch		Hurricane Mitch was the big hurricane that swept across Honduras and Nicaragua in October, 1998. For our reports on this disaster, click here.
I
IMF		The International Monetary Fund. According to their web-site, they are an international organization of 182 member countries, established to promote international monetary cooperation, exchange stability, and orderly exchange arrangements; to foster economic growth and high levels of employment; and to provide temporary financial assistance to countries under adequate safeguards to help ease balance of payments adjustment. The policies and actions of the IMF have been criticized of doing more damage than good, and of mainly furthering the interests of the U.S. The IMF gives loans to developing countries, often with conditions attached; for example, that the country must spend a certain amount on infra-structural development, or that the country must implement certain economic policies.
J
Juan XXIII		El instituto Juan XXIII ("the John XXIII institute") is a Jesuit NGO that has been active in Nicaragua for many years. When talking of the Juan XXIII project in Santa Rosa we are referring to a project that was created by the Juan XXIII institute that is run by a group of Santa Rosans. It's primary objective has been to run various credit programs.
K
L
León		Leon is the second largest city in Nicaragua. It is located in an area that is very hot and dry for half of the year. There is also the departamento of León. A departamento is like a state or a province. The city of León is in the departamento of the same name.
M
Managua		Managua is the capital city of Nicaragua. It is by far the largest city in the country. It is located just to the south of Lake Managua. It was more or less flattened by the Earthquake of 1972, and because of the half-hearted reconstruction that followed, you can still see the effects of that earthquake today.
Manzana		A Manzana is a traditional unit of land area in Central America. The manzana is the area of a square 100 varas on a side; it thus varies according to the length of the vara. In Nicaragua, a vara is about the same as a yard.
Martha Rivera		Martha is the Director of the MEC office in El Bosque. We began working with Martha and MEC in early 2000 when we funded the children's library project that was proposed to us by Martha. Click here for more information about that project.
MEC		MEC (The Maria Elena Cuadra Movement of Working and Unemployed Women) is a national Nicaraguan women's organization started in 1994 to help women address issues of gender inequality at home and in the workplace. They have about 7 offices nationally, with the head office in Managua, and about 10,000 grassroots members. They do training for women in gender, human rights, workers rights, leadership, reproductive health. They also run micro-credit programs for self-employment development, housing upgrading and education. They are well-recognized by international organizations, being supported by Oxfam, CoDevelopment Canada, TUG, and Spanish solidarity organizations. In 1998 they won the Canadian Council for International Cooperation (CCIC) Award for Excellence in International Development.
MOPSE		MOPSE (Movimiento Popular de Salud y Educación Para mi pueblo) is an NGO headed by Xavier Muñoz.
N
Neem		The Neem tree is an amazing tree that has been imported to Nicaragua probably from India. It thrives in dry heat, is very hardy, and has many medicinal and pesticidal applications. See the Neem Foundation's web-site for more information.
NGO		NGO is an acronym for Non Governmental Organisation. In the context we use it on our web-site, it will typically refer to a Non-profit group, a Charity Organisation, or Development group.
Nicaragua		Nicaragua is the Central American country where we have focused our efforts. It is located to the North of Costa Rica and to the South of El Salvador and Honduras. It is the second poorest nation in the Americas according to the 1999 UNDP (United Nations Development Program) report. Nicaraguans suffered under the Somoza dictatorship that was condoned, if not supported, by the United States for a large part of this century. In 1979, the Somozas were overthrown by popular revolt. The FSLN (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional), a party based on one of the high-profile rebel groups that was involved in the overthrow of the Somozas, took power after the revolution. Between 1982 and 1990, Nicaragua's development under its new identity was hampered by the civil war with the U.S. backed Contras. Remember the "Freedom Fighters" that Ronald Reagan always talked about? That's them. The FSLN won the 1984 free elections but were ousted from power in the elections of 1990, when Violeta Chamorro came to power. At present, the President of the country is Arnoldo Alemán, the leader of a Neo-liberal party. For more information on Nicaragua you may want to visit the web-page reached by clicking here.
O
Ortega, Daniel		Daniel Ortega has been the Secretary General of the FSLN since 1991. Before that, he was an active member of the resistance against the Somoza Dictators, and later (1984) was he was elected the President of Nicaragua in popular elections. He has since been caught up in some very damaging scandals (including allegations of sexual abuse by his step-daughter) and is widely felt to be a hindrance rather than a benefit to his party.
P
Patrimonio Campesino		Patrimonio Campesino is the name that the Juan XXIII project in Santa Rosa picked for itself. The main Juan XXIII institute wants all the projects that they founded to become self-sustaining and independent. Choosing their own name was one step in that process. Unfortunately, that process was set back somewhat by Hurricane Mitch in 1998.
Piñata		A piñata is a popular latin american custom seen at almost all parties involving children. A doll (often made from papier mache) with a candy-filled ceramic pot inside is dangled from a rope from the ceiling. The children take turns being blindfolded and trying to break the hanging piñata so that the candies pour out. A common variation is to have the piñata on a pulley so that an adult can yank the piñata up and down. The blindfolded child must dance to music for the piñata to be lowered to a level where it can be hit well.
PML/PGL		PML/PGL is actually a pairing of two sister-city projects: PML (Proyecto Minnesota León) and PGL PML (Proyecto Gettysburg León). They share an office in the city of León and are active in the whole departamento of León, including Santa Rosa. Click here to read Ramin's writings on PML/PGL from his March 1998 field report.
Pop Wuj		The Pop Wuj Spanish Language School is a very good school in Guatemala where many of the FOG volunteers have gone to practise Spanish before going to Nicaragua. All of them have had tremendous experiences there and highly recommend it. The school has a web-site at http://members.aol.com/popwuj.
Posoltega		Posoltega is the municipality near the Casitas volcano where, in November 1998, thousands of people were killed and entire communities disappeared in the mudslides caused by Hurricane Mitch.
PRODISA		PRODISA is an NGO based in Santa Rosa. It was created by IBIS, a Danish NGO, in 1998. There seems to be substantial financial support behind this project.
Q
R
Ramin Kamal		Ramin is a member of FOG. Click here to read his biography.
Rancho		A rancho is typically a fairly large area that is covered by a thatched roof. It's often used as a place to hold large meetings and workshops.
Recreo		Please see El Recreo
Reparto Schick		Reparto Schick is a barrio of Managua. Reparto Schick is the popular name in place of the longer official name: "Barrio Enrique Gutierrez Schick". There are actually four "stages" of Reparto Schick. Essentially, there are four neighboorhoods that are called Reparto Schick Primera Etapa, Reparto Schick Segunda Etapa, Reparto Schick Tercera Etapa, and of course, Reparto Schick Cuarta Etapa. In 1999, we began supporting a new educational and nutrional project in this barrio. Click here for more details.
Riguero		Please see El Riguero.
Rob Bell		Rob is one of the founders of FOG. Click here to read his biography.
S
Sandinista		A Sandinista is a supporter or member of the FSLN. The term "Sandinistas" can be used to refer to the FSLN in general.
Santa Rosa		Santa Rosa is the second community where we had a volunteer presence. It's a small mining and farming town about three hours North of Managua and two hours to the East of León. Click here to read more about Santa Rosa.
Sarah Kamal		Sarah is a member of FOG. Click here to read her biography.
Schick		Please see Reparto Schick.
Stuart O'Grady		Stuart is one of the founders of FOG. Click here to read his biography.
T
U
V
W
WFP		The World Food Program is the United Nations food aid Organization. Several of the comedor programs that we work with in Nicaragua get aid (mostly in the form of basic grains) from the WFP.
X
Xavier Muñoz		Xavier is one of our friends in Nicaragua. He is a member of Hombres Contra Violencia, and has been very active in initiating grass-roots educational projects that have good chances of sustaining themselves. We are very proud to know him and to support him in his community development projects in El Riguero, America II, and Reparto Schick.
Y
Z
Zona Franca		Nowadays many countries have specially designated Free Zones (Zona Franca in Spanish) where foreign companies negociate special exemptions from taxes and tariffs. Despite needing the revenues that would be generated from taxes and tariffs that would result from the normal operation of a business, countries such as Nicaragua have little choice but to give exemptions to foreign companies in order to generate some much needed employment in their country. The Zonas Francas in Nicaragua are typically home to textile factories.