Nicaraguan Aid

Re “Aid Stalled Yet Again: Hope Dims,” April 5: I just returned from two weeks in Nicaragua translating for a team of health providers and volunteers in Somotillo in the province of Chinandega on the border of Honduras. The situation is critical for thousands of residents there, and the best way to lessen the hunger, illness and misery is to give money to Catholic Charities, Doctors Without Borders, Doctors of the World, the U.N. or the OAS health and food agencies, or go there and help.

Our group of 22 volunteers from Oregon, Idaho, California and Florida secured donations of thousands of dollars of medicines and vitamins, in addition to about $10,000 donated by church groups and individuals.

With the cooperation of the very dedicated, scrupulous Sandinista mayor of Somotillo, our health providers cared for over 2,000 people. The local Catholic nun from the Maryknoll Order, Sister Joan, directed our crew of 10 builders and teenage volunteers to put on a new roof and renovate a school for homeless children and to paint the city hospital.

Our group also took over 100 pounds of seeds for vegetable gardens to Sister Joan for an agricultural school she started and to provide food for the 110 street children she feeds daily at her school.

Our group raised $900 to buy two acres of land to build a high school in a rural area. We plan to return this summer for additional assistance to the people there and welcome the participation of anyone interested in the project.

DOROTHY FORTUNE

Laguna Beach