Bridges to community
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Bridges to Community, Inc. is a non-profit cultural exchange organization that takes volunteers to developing countries to work, learn, and reflect. Through the process of living and working with local communities on construction, health and environmental projects, Bridges promotes cross-cultural learning, a deepening awareness of our global interdependence and a commitment to the common good. Bridges to Community has brought more than four thousand North American volunteers to Nicaragua since 1993.
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[edit] Trips
Bridges to Community organizes and facilitates international cross-cultural service trips for volunteers to live and work in materially poor communities. Currently, efforts are being focused on trips to Nicaragua, although previously Bridges has organized trips to Kenya. The goal of a Bridges trip is for its participants to catch an authentic glimpse of how a vast majority of the world's population lives. On a Bridges trip, volunteers are encouraged to think critically and carefully about global interdependence, foreign policies, economic impact, and stereotypes. Though Bridges trips are typically thought of as service trips, volunteers are encouraged to think of service as an experience of "what we can do together" rather than "what we can do for them." Most trips to Nicaragua are 9 days in length, and include an orientation upon arriving in the host country, the experience of living in and working with a local community, and a little sightseeing. Volunteers find themselves sleeping on cots, eating staple foods, using outhouses, and most importantly, creating friendships that will lead to a greater sense of global community. Bridges volunteers are fully exposed to the realities of living in a materially poor country. As noted on the Bridges website, “We believe that it is only through this level of engagement that we can learn from and be in solidarity with our brothers and sisters living in contexts that are radically different from our own.”
[edit] Groups
Since 1993, thousands of volunteers from many different groups have participated in Bridges experiences. In addition to many public trips, groups from businesses, religious groups, colleges, universities, and high schools have traveled to both Nicaragua and Kenya.
[edit] Involvement in Nicaragua
Sites:
Since its start in 1992, Bridges to Community has worked in various sites in Nicaragua, including Acedades, Blue Fields, El Bluff, Guanacastillo/Nindiri*, Masaya*, Nandime, Ometepe, Puerto Cabezas, Santa Lucia, Siuna*, Solingalpa, Teustepe, Tierra Colorada, and Ticuantepe*. Those denoted with asterisks are sites where work is currently being done.
Construction Work:
Bridges’ construction projects are present in all four active sites in Nicaragua. Construction projects include building houses, schools, and community centers. As of 2007, Bridges has constructed over 500 houses in Nicaragua.
[edit] Housing
A Bridges house costs $3,500 to build. Approximately two thirds of the cost of the house is granted to families, and one third is an interest-free loan to the family. All loan repayments are channeled into a Bridges fund that is used to pass the gift forward and finance additional community development projects in that same community or future homes in a different community. All families are required to participate in each phase of the construction process. Their participation is effectively treated as a down payment.
[edit] Medical and Public Health Work
Medical and public health work involves clinic work, home visits, public health education, and working with local practitioners. New initiatives in home health and environmentalism are currently being developed with smoke-free stoves, improved latrines, and filtered water projects. Medical projects are currently active in the Siuna and Ticuantepe sites.
[edit] Staff
Bridges employs both American and Nicaraguan staff.
[edit] Involvement in Kenya
Bridges to Community has worked with The Green Belt Movement in Kenya on environmental, agricultural, medical and cultural immersion projects. Currently, Bridges is still involved with their work there and hope to bring down more trips in 2007.
