BAINBRIDGE-OMETEPE SISTER ISLANDS ASSOCIATION

Education: We support students in college with scholarships, and we support learning for special needs students, including blind, deaf, and mobility-challenged people. In its 32nd year, college scholarships helped over 60 students who graduated from Ometepe high schools to study in Nicaraguan universities. Students are selected and monitored by committees in the 9 communities on Ometepe which have high schools and receive stipends of up to $95 a month to assist them with the costs of their university education. Funding is also provided for college seniors and graduate students to complete the additional work required for a degree and certificate in their chosen fields. We fund an interpreter for deaf students, and with her help, we teach sign language to deaf students. We fund technology that helps blind people, and teach them braille and mobility strategies. For all students, but particularly for those challenged by mobility issues, we fund costs for transportation for them to access what is offered. In the field of mental health, we fund the salary of a full-time psychologist to educate, support, and give therapy to combat sexual and domestic violence, and suicide, all of which are significant problems on Ometepe. We also pay for her transportation and other costs associated with her efforts. We also support extra-academic needs (clothing, school supplies) for students to attend a class for those who have had their education delayed to the point where they are too old to be with their peers.

Travel: A major component of our mission is to promote understanding between the two cultures, and travel is a necessary factor in that understanding. Each year we have a delegation of high school students go to Ometepe to live and work in communities there. Also, two staff members from the Ometepe office have visas to allow them to travel to Bainbridge. We also supported the travel costs of an adult from Bainbridge Island who lived on Ometepe for 8 months helping in our office with our programs and with communication back to the board. All of those connections happened in 2024