Since the 1980’s, the sister city bond between Nicaragua and Adams County has been strong. There have been delegations of visitors and volunteers between two countries and recurring events such as the annual Salsa On The Square in the fall and the upcoming PGL Garden Party in July on Doubleday Avenue, to be held at the home of one of the sister city founders. Project Gettysburg León (PGL) is part of the social fabric for both places. In Nicaragua, PGL supports an orphanage which provides pre-school education and meals to over sixty children, with more than twenty of them living full-time on the school grounds. We support an arts school, directed by artists who teach painting, sculpture and traditional dance to young people in the city of León and the township of Nagarote. There are no arts classes in the public schools of Nicaragua, which despite advances remains the second poorest country in the western hemisphere. The artists we support have been to Gettysburg many times and have created murals and other public art in both countries, working together with students from Gettysburg College and with young people in Nicaragua. PGL in Nicaragua continues a nutrition and food gardens project at the school for children with disabilities in the urban barrio of Sutiaba and in the rural community of Los Mangles, located in the department of León but more than an hour’s drive from the city, down unpaved roads to a valley below one of Nicaragua’s more active volcanos.
Next to the community of Los Mangles is the community of Las Marías. In truth, they are very much the same place. PGL has begun a water project in this community, which will reactivate a dormant well to provide clean drinking water to over 1,400 people, more than half under age fifteen. The water quality and quantity have been tested extensively. All labor on this project comes from the families who benefit. Las Marías has a water board to oversee the work and to maintain the reactivated well once everything is completed. This work will involve trenching to bury new PVC pipes to carry the water, building a tower for a new tank and installing a new pump along with protective housing. The community purchased the pump themselves and asked PGL for help in buying other materials. We in turn ask the communities of Adams County and Gettysburg for help in completing this project.
The shared sense of a sister community between places like Las Marías and Gettysburg is now one that has lasted across lifetimes and generations. Through all the work done by Project Gettysburg León over many years, the underlying purpose is to be decent people to each other, across boundaries of geography, language and culture. The Las Marías water project is another way in which bonds are made between people and places that might never meet each other in person but will always share a sense of respect and gratitude for coming to know each other. Thank you, as always, for your support.
Gregory Bowles
Greg Bowles is the current director for Project Gettysburg Leon, the sister city program between Gettysburg and the country of Nicaragua that was founded in 1986.
