Our Partners in Villanueva
Along the years we have developed very trustworthy partners in Villanueva who work with us to decide what projects are needed and wanted, and on whom we depend to communicate with the people and carry out the projects after we leave. Our esteemed and appreciated partners are included in these testimonials.
Maura, Pukalani, MauiMaria Dolores Espinosa Huete, the national Ministry of Education’s delegate in the Municipality of Villanueva.
Maura, Pukalani, MauiCarlos Mesa, Director of the high school in Villanueva (Instituto Nacional de Villanueva) and the rural branch high school in La Carreta.
Maura, Pukalani, MauiJuan Gomez Mayor of Villanueva and the municipal council.
Maura, Pukalani, MauiThe doctors of the Villanueva hospital/medical clinic under the direction of Dr. Alma Cadena.
Maura, Pukalani, MauiThe brigadistas, a volunteer group for health and education (Registered Nurses Candida Betanco and Antonia Gomez and community volunteers Juanita Pineda, and Lucas Mercado).
Maura, Pukalani, MauiNeptalia (Tala) Escobar, RN Retired, Director of the Villanueva community clinic.
Maura, Pukalani, MauiDr. Rosa Amalia Reyes, DDS.
Maura, Pukalani, MauiSergio Escorcia, owner of Finca San Ignacio where we are honored to hold our annual day camp for special needs youth.
Maura, Pukalani, MauiTeachers of the schools that we support.
Maura, Pukalani, MauiPastors of the local churches.
Maura, Pukalani, MauiFamilies in the Villanueva community who house and feed our volunteers.
Maura, Pukalani, MauiParents who bring their children with special needs to the day camp. One of the mothers at camp said, “Here (at the day camp) the children are accepted for who they are; they feel self-confident, and that transfers into the classrooms and their homes.”
Maura, Pukalani, MauiWelcome
Somos Ohana Nicaragua is an all volunteer organization called to cooperate with groups or individuals seeking to improve their lives, especially those who are marginalized by socio-economic, political, cultural, or enviornmental conditions.
What We Do
The community of Villanueva, in the northwestern part of Nicaragua, receives us each year as partners. We work with the local teachers, nurses, doctors, farmers, parents of children with special needs, to address a few of the many urgent needs they face each day.
Donations delivered to Casa Materna
During the visit of the Somos Ohana Nicaragua team to Villnueva in July, 2024, many donations of home-crafted baby receiving blankets, wooden toys and personal care items were delivered to the center where women near their time to give birth can stay free and have good medical care by nurses and midwives.
The Nicaraguan government’s Ministry of Health supports these centers throughout the country. Because of recent decades of much better maternal and newborn health care, the incidence of children with handicaps has significantly decreased.
Shown in the photo are (end left) Directing RN Antonia, 3 women in residence waiting to give birth there, (end right) Center’s head nurse Ilda, and (back row) the Somos Ohana team.
Teachers and parents in 5 primary schools enable nutritional supplement
These students at Enmanuel Mongalo Primary school in El Platanal hold up the fruit supplement we supply weekly to pre-school through 3rd grade for 5 primary schools in the Municipality of Villanueva. Our wonderful retired RN Doña Tala handles the money, distributed to teachers who buy the fruit weekly, who then enlist the help of parents. The fruit varies, and if it’s to be served in bowls, parents help prepare it at the schools.
Charlotte “Maura” Flavin – In Memoriam
It is with great sadness we announce the passing of our wonderful friend and our organization’s leader Charlotte “Maura” Flavin on June 21, 2023. She and her husband Daniel Flavin, co-founders of Somos Ohana Nicaragua, started going to Nicaragua in 1998 after the devastating Hurricane Mitch. They worked in cooperation and compassionate solidarity over 23 years with people there who were inspired to help their communities but lacked access to resources. When Maura wasn’t in Nicaragua, she was on the phone talking with the scholarship students, the teachers who recommended them, the nurse who handled transportation help to the cancer patients for getting to their urban treatment centers, the vendors of bicycles for kids with long walking commutes to their regional high school, 2 of which the organization built, the engineer who added the auditorium, new classrooms and fencing to the schools, the doctor who contacted the families with special-needs children for the summer camp, the teachers who coordinated help for school nutrition, and more, much more. Maura was a can-do person, all the way.
The board of Somos Ohana Nicaragua, in concert with Maura’s family and our wonderful volunteers in Nicaragua and Hawaii, will do our best to keep the organization going, always inspired by Maura Flavin’s shining example of a confident, selfless and compassionate leader.
Daniel Flavin – In Memoriam
Somos Ohana Nicaragua co-founder Daniel Flavin passed from this life Aug. 6, 2021, at the age of 89. Dan spent his whole life working in compassionate solidarity with people – those in faith communities, those with material as well as spiritual needs and those who have the inspiration to help their communities but need access to resources of all kinds. Along with his wife and co-founder, Charlotte (“Maura”) Flavin, they worked in solidarity with communities in Peru, New York City, Maui Hawaii, and Nicaragua.
After the disastrous Hurricane Mitch struck Nicaragua in Oct, 1998, Dan and Charlotte began going to that country to help rebuild houses and provide other solidarity. Soon after, they formed a non-profit registered in Hawaii. Somos Ohana Nicaragua was recognized by the IRS in 2006. Since their first trip to the Municipality of Villanueva, Departamento de Chinandega, they have traveled with volunteers from Hawaii and other states from 4-6 weeks yearly through 2019, assisting the teachers, students, health care workers, and children with special needs.
Daniel is survived by his wife and his sons John (of Seattle) and James (of Maui) and their families. Somos Ohana Nicaragua’s Board of Directors, and our network of friends and supporters will miss him greatly.
