During Spring Break of 2013, 8 students and team members traveled to Sabana Grande. The team included Meg Hilbert, Emma LeJeune, Joanna Cherches, Hayley Kantor, Kevin Keene, Chris Perrotti, Angel Martinez and Tim Bond from Cornell and Ginger Ortega from UAM in Nicaragua. We arrived in Managua at midday on Sunday March 17th, were met by Lyndsey Chapman of Grupo Fenix, bused to Sabana Grande and met our families. Each person of our team stayed with the family of a different member of las Mujeres Solares de Totogalpa. Our technical exchange began Monday morning. We described our several projects in progress during the last year and Las Mujeres described their projects. We decided to build a portable oven of a new style developed by a carpenter (and the women) who volunteered with the Solar Women for several months, a new solar water distiller with a different heating plate design and a bicycle powered electricity generator which would not require modifying the bike. Members of the Las Mujeres Solares de Totogalpa, Jovenes Pedaleando Hacia El Futuro our team split into three groups to work on the projects.
Click here to see a poster about the trip.