Escuela Luis Alfonso Velasquez in Laguna de Apoyo

We consider our social commitment to be of the highest priority. As a result, we at Estacion Biologica FUNDECI/GAIA collaborate with the Escuela Luis Alfonso Velasquez to improve the quality of education for the poor children who live in Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve. Most of these children do not come from homes with the advantages of educated or wealthy parents. We help to provide the children with interesting educational experiences, materials and infrastructure. In 2010, we coordinated a repair of the school infrastructure, with a very generous donation from Christine Bruxer and her Canadian junior high school students, and labor provided by the local parents and CPC. 

Our students at the Laguna de Apoyo Spanish School regularly visit the school and interact with the students. We recommend that our visitors bring simple school materials-pencils, composition books, backpacks-to provide for the local children who can not afford their own materials. Here we show photos of our local children in visits from students of the Laguna de Apoyo Spanish School.

Students of Apoyo Spanish School visit the children of our local elementary school. Photo by Belen Camino.

Photo by Belen Camino.

Photo by Belen Camino.

Here a donation of maps of the world is presented to the children and staff of the school, generously provided by our Spanish school students.

Students of Apoyo Spanish School bring donated educational materials to the Luis Alfonso Velasquez School. Photo by Belen Camino.

Photo by Belen Camino.

Please come and visit our local children and bring school supplies to help them receive a good education!

We believe that all children deserve a great education. Thanks to all who have contributed.

Click on the "escudo" to go to http://www.gaianicaragua.org/.

Yo soy de un pueblo sencillo: Luis Enrique Mejia Godoy

Luis Enrique Mejia Godoy composed this tribute to the people of Nicaragua. Born in Somoto and always composing and singing folk music, he brought to Nicaragua an important contribution to the Nueva Cancion movement, in which testimonial music set to accessible, simple musical styles told the stories of the humility and suffering of the people of Nicaragua, in a way which honors and dignifies them. In this song, the mystical connection of corn, the ancestral food of the indigenous people, becomes a source of sustenance and a symbol of resistance to the aggressions of the US government against a people struggling to determine their own destiny. Nicaraguan music has taken a grand direction through his contributions in songs such as this one, which carried the sentiments of suffering and resistance for a generation of people during the Nicaraguan Revolution.

Yo Soy de un Pueblo Sencillo

I am from a small people

little like a sparrow.

With half a century of dreams,

of shame and of courage.

I am from a simple people,

Like the name "Juan",

Like the love I give you,

Like the love you give me.

I'm from a people born

Of rifle and song.

Who, from so much suffering

Have so much to teach.

Brother of so many people

That they have tried to separate.

Because they know that we are small,

But together, we are a volcano.

I am from a people of poets,

Whose verses were written

On walls and on doors

With blood, rage and love.

I am from a proud people

Of a thousand lost battles

I am from a victorious people

Whose wounds still ache.

I am from a recent people,

Whose pain is ancient

Illiterate and now

Half a century in rebellion.

I am from the people that a child

From Niquinohomo dreamt;

I am the people of Sandino

and of Benjamin Zeledon.

I am from a simple people

Fraternal and friendly

Who plants and defends

Its revolution.

Yo soy de un pueblo pequeño

Pequeño como un gorrión

Con medio siglo de sueños

De vergüenza y de valor

Yo soy de un pueblo sencillo

Como la palabra Juan

Como el amor que te entrego

Como el amor que me dan

Yo soy de un pueblo nacido

entre fusil y cantar

Que de tanto haber sufrido

tiene mucho que enseñar

Hermano de tantos pueblos

Que han querido separar

Por que saben que aun pequeños

Juntos somos un volcán

Por que saben que aun pequeños

Juntos somos un volcán

Yo soy de un pueblo que es poeta

Y sus versos escribió

En los muros y en las puertas

Con sangre rabia y amor

Yo soy de un pueblo orgulloso

Con mil batallas perdidas

Soy de un pueblo victorioso

que aun le duelen las heridas.

Yo soy de un pueblo nacido

entre fusil y cantar

Que de tanto haber sufrido

tiene mucho que enseñar

Hermano de tantos pueblos

Que han querido separar

Por que saben que aun pequeños

Juntos somos un volcán

Por que saben que aun pequeños

Juntos somos un volcán

Yo soy de un pueblo reciente

Pero antiguo su dolor

Analfabeta vigente

Medio siglo en rebelión

Yo soy el pueblo que un niño

En Niquinohomo soñó

Soy del pueblo de Sandino

Y Benjamín Zeledón

Yo soy de un pueblo sencillo

Fraterno y amigo

Que siembra y defiende

Su revolución.

Somos Hijos del Maíz: Luis Enrique Mejia Godoy

The US embargo against Nicaragua was part of a strategy to starve the Nicaraguans into submission to the will of the greatest military power in the world. Wheat and flour, principally products of US origin, became "illegal". Nicaraguans rediscovered their connection to maize, through the necessity brought onto them by the scarcity of wheat, as depicted in this song, written and sung by Luis Enrique Mejia Godoy.

Si nos quitan el pan 
nos veremos en la obligación 
de sobrevivir como lo hicieron nuestros abuelos 
con el maíz fermentado

en la sangre 
de los héroes 

The ancestors of the Nicaraguans used corn for a multitude of recipes, many of which are still found in the popular culture today. This song reminds us of the importance of maize in the culture and in the politics of Nicaragua.

Somos hijos del maíz 
constructores de surcos y de sueños 
y aunque somos un país pequeño 
ya contamos con más de mil inviernos 
un millón de manos floreciendo 
en la tarea interminable de sembrar 
de abril a mayo, labrando, sembrando 
tapizcando, desgranando 
almacenando para la guerra y la paz! 

Food should never be used as an instrument of war!

Luis Enrique Mejia Godoy and Mancotal

Luis Enrique Mejia Godoy

Carlos and Luis Enrique Mejia Godoy

Because the land belongs to the people who work it!

Chicha de maíz, chicha pujagua 

chicha raizuda, pelo de maíz 
el atoooool 
Chingue de maíz, nacatamal 
atolillo el rerequeee 

Tamalpizque, totoposte, marquezote, chocolate, 
pinolillo,pinol y tiste, buñuelo, chilote, elote, posole, 
tortilla, guirila, rosquilla, empanada 

Es decir el macizo 
e irreversible alimento del pueblo 
es decir el maciso 
e irreversible alimento del pueblo... 

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Howler monkeys in Estacion Biologica

The population of howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata) in Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve has increased significantly in the past ten years, thanks to increased levels of enforcement, environmental education and conservation activities in the reserve. In particular, the forest found on the north side of the reserve, where Estacion Biologica is located, has improved considerably during this period. Here we present a video taken in the yard of Estacion Biologica, produced by David McKnight, where you can see the monkeys eating fig leaves and unripe olives.

Click here for video.

The staff of FUNDECI/GAIA is monitoring the populations of monkeys in the Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve since 2008. There are two species found in the reserve: the mantled howler monkey, and the white-faced capuchin (Cebus capucinus), which is found in only limited sections of the reserve.

A female mantled howler monkey cares for her baby high in a Cecropia tree in the yard of Estacion Biologica. Photo by Lu Davidson.

Mantled howler monkeys are often seen relaxing during the day. Photo by Lu Davidson.

Would you like to help us protect the monkeys of Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve? Please contact us. We need donations, volunteers, publicity, and good will! Contact us here.

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Bird monitoring in Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve

We study birds at Estacion Biologica. Would you like to be a volunteer bird monitoring participant? We need volunteers to work with us on monitoring bird populations in Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve. Over 225 species of birds have been identified to date in the area. We are conducting field work every month in several locations in the reserve, and we have a large body of data to process, so we can use computer-adept volunteers, too. There is plenty to do for the person who wants to gain experience with birds in Nicaragua. If you would like to participate, please contact us here. More information on the birds of Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve can also be found on our website. 

   

The Turquoise-browed Motmot (Eumomota superciliosa) is frequently observed in our montoring in Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve. Photo by Romain De Jaegere. 

Marlene Kroner inspecting a Blue-tailed Hummingbird (Amazilia cyanura). Photo by Stephan Beekhuis.

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Reforestation in Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve

Planting trees and caring for them is vital to the integral health of Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve as a natural area. This protected area has been ravaged in the past decades, by the extraction of fuelwood and other forest products, plots cleared for agriculture and housing, and fires set by man. Wildlife depend on native forest species for food and shelter. The lake is protected from siltation and trophic changes by the forests in the crater interior which hold the weak volcanic ash soils in place on the steep slopes. We plant trees for both reasons. We at Estacion Biologica FUNDECI/GAIA plant more than one thousand trees in deforested areas in the reserve each year.

In this project, we only plant tree species native to the area, and we collect our seed stocks by hand from inside the reserve. There are more than 440 species of plants native to the reserve in our records, so we are using the results of our research to help guide us in which species to plant and where to get the seeds (and stakes, depending on the propagation type) for reforestation.

The results of a seed collection actity in Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve, Nicaragua. Photo by Jeffrey McCrary.

In contrast to the typical kinds of reforestation projects which are to generate timber or some other product in an extractive system, we are working to restore a natural forest. This means planting lots of different species of trees, many of which do not germinate or grow easily. Much of our work in natural forest restoration has an experimental component to it.

FUNDECI/GAIA staff member Elmer Nicaragua shows off the seeds collected. Photo by Jeffrey McCrary. 

Photo by Jeffrey McCrary.

Volunteer Maria is planting seeds in seedling bags filled with compost. We make our own compost from leaf litter and organic kitchen waste. The white bags in this picture are recycled milk bags. Photo by Jeffrey McCrary.

Photo by Jeffrey McCrary.

The trees are kept in our tree nursery until reaching at least 50 cm height before transplanting into the reforestation area, to give the young trees the greatest chance to survive their first dry season. Photo by Jeffrey McCrary.

This project depends on volunteers for its success. Would you like to learn about our forests and help us preserve our little piece of heaven? Please contact us for more information on volunteering in our reforestation program.

Short-leaf mahogany (Swietenia humilis) is native to the forest of Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve, but the wild stocks of this species were depleted by woodcutters poaching the forest for valuable wood. This tree was just planted in one of the reforestation sites. Photo by Jeffrey McCrary

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