PML's History of Impact

Dear PML Friends,

Greetings from León! I am now in the second month of a delicious, one-year repose with my 9-1/2 year old son, Amati. Cool weather made washing clothes easy this morning. As I observed Rojito, our hummingbird friend that sips nectar from our patio flower, I felt profound gratitude for my life and this opportunity.

I think it is time to acknowledge you, PML friends, for your part in enriching lives both here and at home. our tireless work is transforming lives in both very visible and quiet ways. The Primitivista Art School, the community gardens, and the training programs for volunteer nurse midwives and pre-school teachers are among the many projects you support, projects that empower communities.

Often unacknowledged is the less quantifiable, quiet transformation that you ignite within us. Over the past 18 years nearly 2000 people have visited Nicaragua through trips facilitated by PML. Many of you do hear the whispers of important questions that are being asked daily as a result of those visits:

• How does my vote and my voice affect developing countries?
   
• How is it that historically beleaguered Nicaraguan friends are so much less anxious about life despite the uncertainty of the harvest, the increasing water prices, and the six-hour trip by foot to birth a baby?
   
• Phones and email keep us more in touch than ever. Why, then, do many of us feel more isolated than ever?
   
• Who sells Fair Trade Coffee in my community?
   
• Why is it that folks in León aren’t carrying around signs that say “US ... think about why the world hates you?” Could PML have something to do with that?
   
• Where are the US leaders who promote listening and relationship building in international affairs?
   
• Why do some Nicaraguans consider privatization of lights and water “The New Columbus?”

These nutritive questions are crucial to inspiring, creating, and realizing a worthy vision of health, joy, and well-being of future generations everywhere.

¡Que viva, PML! You inspire us to be more of who we desire to be as human beings and world citizens.

Stephanie is living in Nicaragua currently doing volunteer work with PML and introducing her son to his cultural heritage. She wrote this letter especially to share with our supporters. Project Minnesota/León is determined to continue the work we began 18 years ago, work we are confident has made a difference in the lives of many Nicaraguans, and work we hope affects each of us as well. The projects you have supported have given our friends in León reason to believe in themselves and their ability to improve their own lives, to work toward a better future for themselves and for their country. No less important is the dramatic change in awareness of so many Minnesotans who have visited Nicaragua, a better awareness of our interconnectedness and our responsibilities to one another.