Student Travel
Community Partners
ViviendasLeon maintains relationships with numerous members of the Nicaraguan community to better provide sustainable development to communities and to offer insights into the realities of Nicaraguan life to our program participants.
Daniel Pullido — artist, muralist
Daniel is an artist living and working in Leon. His credits include many mural paintings around Leon and most recently a mosaic installation at the Museum of Myths and Legends. He is the director of Tierra Madre, an art center in the Goyena community and is an art teacher at the Casa Cultural in Leon.
Roger Montoya — President, Sutiava Indigenous Community Board of Directors.
Roger is the President of the Board of Directors of the Indigenous Community of Sutiava. His role is to coordinate with city hall and other national or international institutions that can help or provide aid to the community. He began work for his community when he was 19 years old as a member of the Board of Directors. At this time he learned about his culture and the history of the Sutiava. At 21 he was chosen to be Vice president of the board. Ultimately, he worked as President of the Board of Sutiava from 1987-1993 retiring from his post he moved on to dedicate more time to his family. He returned to his post in 2005.
Pablo Medina Cardoza — President, ASODEL
Pablo began his career studying Law. After graduation he worked as Director of the Regional School for Social Leaders, in the pacific coast region of Nicaragua. In the early 1990´s he began work as the director of a radio station in León, then moved to be the Legal Representative of the Alternative Trade Japan Corporation in Nicaragua. Pablo is currently the Director of a non-profit organization, the Association for Survival and Local Development or ASODEL. This NGO has worked in the communities of Chinandega, Villa Nueva and Somotillo, and have developed a program in disaster preparedness, human development and capacity building.
Dr. Luis Felipe Perez — Attorney
Dr. Perez is an attorney, professor of Law studies and former mayor of Leon from 1980 — 1983 and again from 1988 to 1996. Dr. Perez brings a personal perspective on the political and historical events surrounding the Sandinista Revolution of 1980.
Oswan Fanor Herrera - Politician
Oswan studied Law and Business Administration. He has been a member of the FSLN for years, fighting with them during the revolution. He has worked as a college professor at UCAN, a private college in Leon. He is currently the General Administrator of the Insurance Clinic at the Hospital. He has a daughter Yaoska who is in college and is an Environmental Engineer. His wife Verónica Baca is also an active member of the FSLN and is a homemaker.
Tomas Donaire — Former Mayor of Leon, Architect
Tomás is an architect, businessman and former politician. Early in his career, Tomas worked with the FSLN in Chinandega in the Ministry of Housing. During a time in the 1980's he was mayor of León, and in the 90's he and other ex-revolutionaries formed a new party, the MRS. He is no longer in politics and focuses on his architecture practice.
Sarah Proescher — NGO Director
Ms. Proescher is the Field Director for the Norwalk-Nagarote Sister City Project. She holds an M.A. in International Affairs from the New School for Social Research, and B.A. degrees in Social Thought and Political Economy, and Spanish as well as a certificate in Latin American Studies from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. She has worked as a research assistant and interned at The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) investigating issues surrounding the intersection of gender and disarmament in post-conflict situations. Ms. Proescher spent a year studying in Santiago, Chile and upon completing her degrees worked with a variety of human rights NGOs and indigenous communities affected by displacement in Chiapas, Mexico. Prior to joining the Sister City Project, Ms. Proescher worked for Asociación Tepeyac and Make the Road NY, non-profit immigrant rights organizations in New York City, in the area of labor, education and health access rights with the Latino immigrant community.
Leah Gordon — Physician, UNC Medical Center
Leah holds a Bachelor's degree in international relations and community health from Tuft's University. Before joining the staff at CIDS, she interned at the Harvard School of Public Health, the Women in Public Policy Program, and the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Kennedy School of Government. She has also worked in the office of Massachusetts State Senator Patricia Jehlen researching pending health legislation. Leah is currently the coordinator for University of North Carolina projects and head of the grant development unit at el Centro de Investigacion en Demografia y Salud (CIDS) in Leon, Nicaragua. Her responsibilities as UNC coordinator involve facilitating communication between the US and Nicaraguan teams of physicians and focusing on the "big picture" of current and future UNC-CIDS collaborations and epidemiological studies. She also is coordinating the validation study of a diagnostic questionnaire for functional gastrointestinal diseases.
Carola Delgado — Business owner, singer
Carola has had careers in youth development, restaurant ownership and music. She currently owns her own restaurant and performs as a singer there as well as other venues.
Pedro Chavarria — General contractor
Pedro is a contractor. He has been working with ViviendasLeon for eight years participating in the development of earth based construction projects. He and his wife Ana Rosa Pérez have six children.
Maria Eugenia Muñoz — President, Nueva Vida Board of Directors
Eugenia has been the leader of the Nueva Vida community Board of Directors for nine years. The Board of Directors is responsible for finding and securing assistance from organizations and agencies in Nicaragua. Eugenia is married and has nine children. Three of her oldest boys are in Costa Rica working as contractors while four of her children are girls and are married. The youngest is 10 years old and is studying second grade, the other, Bianca, is 15 years and is in 5th grade. Her husband works as a campesino farmer and is the only source of income for the family.
Concepción (Concho) Quiróz and Alba Rostrán — Members, Nueva Vida Board of Directors
Concepcion and Alba are married and have six children. Alba is a home-maker and Concepcion is a contractor in Leon.
Anabel Donaire Campos — President, Aristides Sanchez Board of Directors
Anabel is 20 years old and is the leader of the community of Aristides Sánchez. She is single and lives with her parents Roosevelt Donaire Machado, a farmer and Vilma Campos Mejía a home-maker. Anabel has 7 siblings. Anabel is currently studying in a high school and wants to be a systems engineer if she can go to college.