Elvin Castellón, Nicaraguan activist and Director of FEDICAMP of Nicaragua, visits Olympia on a national speaking tour about the water crisis in Nicaragua and the plan that FEDICAMP and other grassroots organizations have developed to address the water-related problems they are facing.

At the evening event at Evergreen he will be joined by Rosa Aura Segura, Facunda Zeledón and María Salvadora Gonzalez, visitors from Olympia’s sister community of Santo Tomás, Nicaragua. They will share from their own perspectives how water issues impact Santo Tomas and how it relates to our own community that has had a sister city relationship of solidarity since 1988. Admission to this event is FREE. Donations will be gladly accepted at the event itself to raise money for the FEDICAMP campaign as well as for the Thurston Santo Tomas Sister County Association projects.

In Nicaragua as in the rest of the world, rivers are dying from the deforestation of their banks, water-tables are falling from overuse, lakes are being contaminated by chemicals, and forests torn down. In order to protect and restore the degraded watershed, the Federation for the Integral Development of Peasant Farmers (FEDICAMP) has developed a plan which includes tree nurseries for the reforestation of rivers, streams and springs as well as public areas including schools, parks and communal wells. Reforestation includes fruit trees (mango, avocado, orange and bananas) which are less likely to be harvested as firewood and provide an important source of food. In order to conserve water, FEDICAMP is building cisterns for rain water storage in each household. FEDICAMP is also working to address the large policy issues which threaten the environment. The threat of water privatization is addressed through advocacy efforts at the government level and education and training of the local population.