German volunteers have been spending several months in Nicaragua every year since 2008 and work on a voluntary basis in the “La Casita del Árbol” library project. After impressive stays, the desire arose to also provide support from Germany.
On November 4, 2012 the time had finally come. Many former volunteers of the “La Casita del Árbol” project had managed to meet in Friolzheim for an information event about the project and the subsequent founding meeting of the Puente Nica.
Today we are 50 members, many of whom have been former volunteers from social projects in Nicaragua that Puente Nica supports.
In 2016, we were joined by the Enrique Schmidt Scholarship initiative, a group of young Nicaraguans studying in Germany. Together, we are now awarding full-time scholarships to high-performing Nicaraguans who would like to study a university career in Nicaragua.
In addition to our annual general assembly in November, we meet several times a year for working meetings in various cities in Germany.
Puente Nica eV works 100% on a voluntary basis and the executive board is supported in the ongoing work by several teams (Team Scholarships, Team Public relations, Team Library on Wheels and Team Exchange).
Puente Nica currently focuses on the following three areas:
- Financial and human resources support for educational and cultural projects in Nicaragua.
- Awarding educational grants to young, talented and socially committed Nicaraguans.
- Promotion of intercultural exchange. We offer young, talented and socially committed Nicaraguans the opportunity to volunteer in Germany and get to know our culture. We also offer interested German volunteers the opportunity to get involved in our projects in Nicaragua.