León

The old capital of Nicaragua, León is a city with strong cultural and educational roots – its university, for example, founded in 1813, is the oldest in Central America. Nicaragua is, however, beset by many natural disasters - volcanic eruptions, hurricanes and tidal waves – all of which hit the poorest hardest.

León and Oxford have been twinned since 1986 and the association helps charities in the region while also offering educational support in Oxford for visitors from León.

The photographs here document the work of two of these charities: Nuevas esperanzas (NE) and Nicaragua Education Culture & Arts Trust (NECAT), both supported by the Oxford León Association and Trust (OLAT).

NE helps villagers to engage with sustainable development programmes in poor remote rural communities around León, whose water is contaminated by arsenic. The arsenic is naturally occurring in the volcanic rock around the Telica volcano; NE has sourced and piped clean water to these communities. Most of the men are away working to earn money so the women cultivate the crops and have set up bee keeping with advice from NE.