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Good Morning Friend of Sheep Not Goats,
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We returned last week from Nicaragua after a brief but successful time there. We're writing because you donated to the project of getting Maria and her daughters into their own home, however we made some changes to the plan and want you to be fully informed about it.
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We've been thinking about an important topic and discussing it with Sheep Not Goats board members: how do we eventually transition away from our work and physical presence (occasional as it is) in Nicaragua? We're getting older. And we want each of our workers, those with whom we are most involved and who depend most on their relationship with our non-profit work, to be secure in terms of having a home they can never lose and an income source that is stable.
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In light of this, we bought a small plot of land and built a house for Alejandra in January. More recently, and as you know, we marked out an area near the front of the farm for Maria, but at the beginning of this last trip we asked ourselves the same question that has perplexed us since we began thinking more about the years ahead: "What are we going to do with the house"?
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We are referring to the house that we built in 2013 with funds donated by Steve's mom. There's no real estate market in Malpaisillo (many homes and businesses are shuttered due to people leaving the country), so attempting to sell the house on the open market would probably lead nowhere.
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So after consulting with the Sheep Not Goats board, we decided to give it to Maria. The papers are signed and Maria, Lizbet, and Miley will be moving in within a couple of months.
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This also made sense to us given that Maria is already in the house 5 days a week working with the Sheep Dreamzzz knitters. Every Friday she meets with all of the farm workers there to pay them, and she keeps our working cash in the house.
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Our board raised an important consideration, and that is Maria's ability to maintain the house, i.e. can she afford to make repairs when needed? It's a good question. One positive thing is that the house is made of concrete blocks, tile, and metal. There's not a lot that can go wrong outside of an occasional plumbing problem and eventual metal roof deterioration. So we made a list of things that we want to repair or in some cases finish before we're out and have already begun. Then we are going to set aside $1000 that Maria can draw upon for repairs when needed. Repairs, not improvements.
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Maria has already agreed that when we (or just one of us) visits we can have our room and bathroom, and that we can keep the pickup truck parked outside. We've made sure she can get to the house down our little road and will fence off her area. She's already comfortable with Daisy and Duke (our all-Rottweiler security team), which is more important than you might imagine. We will continue to provide free electricity from our solar system and free water from our well for as long as we are in a position to influence that. Those are huge benefits to Maria. It will continue to be a close working relationship.
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We feel great about this move, but if for any reason it's outside your comfort zone in terms of how you expected your contribution to be used, please tell us and we will refund your donation without reservation. And feel free to ask questions.
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