From Stevens Point to Nicaragua

An international organization launched in 1965, recently shipped desks and mattresses from Stevens Point to Nicaragua.

“The Stevens Point group is one of the largest and most active,” according to Mayor Mike Wiza, who explained how donations and volunteers have helped Wisconsin/Nicaragua Partners (WNP) change lives in both countries.

Over time, the group has shipped donations that have included wheelchairs, books for libraries, clothes, sewing machines, bicycles, as well as used fire and paramedical equipment, ambulances, fire trucks, turnout gear and hoses.

“You have more medical equipment in one of your ambulances than we do in some of our hospitals,” Wiza recalled a Nicaraguan firefighter saying during a visit to Stevens Point.

He was surprised to learn that Nicaragua’s capital Managua, with a population of just over 1 million had less than 10 ambulances, while Portage County with a population of 70,000 is served by five ambulances.

In 2018, Wiza was among local residents who went on a goodwill service mission to Stevens Point’s sister city, Esteli, Nicaragua.

Wiza led a class on how to make fishing lures.

He described some of the conditions he encountered – homes without running water and no electricity.

Wiza said some learning centers did not have exterior walls. When it rained, desks and books were damaged.

Among their projects, WNP raised money to ship corrugated metal to Nicaragua to make walls for learning centers.

WNP’s most recent shipment included 224 metal desks, 64 oak desks and 72 mattresses, all donated by the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

On Friday, Sept. 6, the U.S. Army’s 1157th Transportation Company out of Oshkosh shipped the donated items by cargo plane to Nicaragua.