Somos Ohana Nicaragua provides economic and therapeutic cooperation for groups or individuals seeking to improve their lives, especially those who are marginalized by socio-economic, political, cultural, or environmental conditions.

Respect: for the individuals with whom we work and serve. We respect their individuality, their abilities, their culture, religious beliefs, and practices.
Honor: each person as a brother or sister. We serve in an effort to fulfill basic human rights, in a spirit of compassion and service to humanity.
Mutuality: our right and duty to help others by sharing our resources, time, and efforts, accompanying them with hope. As we develop understanding of their reality and cultural values, we receive their trust, friendship, and learn from their shared wisdom.
Local Empowerment: fostering participation enables individuals and communities to take responsibility for their own futures.
Integration: being a catalyst in connecting with many supporting resources; coordinating, not duplicating the efforts of others: i.e. other NGOs, the federal & municipal governments, and local volunteers.
Sustainability: putting our efforts and resources into programs with lasting benefits.

Our priorities are: supporting education and health at all levels, of children as well as adults, including those with special needs. We are “cooperantes” (collaborating partners) of the rural communities of the municipality of Villanueva. Each project we agree to is a response to a request by a community (or individual) that has felt a specific need, and they have promised to cooperate with labor, time, or other resources, according to their resources and talents.

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About Us

Since Hurricane Mitch in 1999, Somos Ohana Nicaragua has partnered with several communities in Nicaragua to provide much needed services and educational opportunities.

For over 25 years, with our Nicaraguan partners and our generous donors, we have built 2 secondary schools and 2 pre-schools, renovated or repaired several primary schools, put in water systems, provided physical therapy services, granted bicycles to students with long commutes to high school, provided transportation for cancer patients to urban therapy venues, funded and given college scholarships to several students majoring in education and health careers, and held a summer day camp since 2012 for special needs youth. We continue to support the schools with varying needs, including irrigation for agriculture and a kitchen at the secondary school in the La Carreta area for which our community partners requested an agronomy curriculum and facilities.

We partner with wonderful people in the Villanueva host community who help us all year to administer our programs and host us when our team visits each summer. Somos Ohana Nicaragua is an all-volunteer organization, and all participants fund their own trips to Nicaragua and support our hosts by paying room and board when in country.

Program Photos