Rainbow Network partnership to build 500 houses for Nicaraguans

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by Maria Hoover |ret||ret||tab|

Inside Business Editor|ret||ret||tab|

mhoover@sbj.net|ret||ret||tab|

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Area businesspeople are stepping up to bring homeownership to residents of one of the poorest countries in the world. |ret||ret||tab|

Springfield-based Rainbow Network in April announced a partnership with Habitat for Humanity to build 500 homes in the next three years for needy families in Nicaragua.|ret||ret||tab|

"In rural Nicaragua, there are no jobs. People live on a subsistence level, hand-to-mouth," said Rainbow Network U.S. Director Mark Struckhoff. "The average annual income for a family of say, six to eight people in rural Nicaragua, would be less than $400." |ret||ret||tab|

The funding necessary for the 500 houses, estimated at $1.3 million, will come from three sources. Rainbow Network will provide 25 percent, Habitat For Humanity will provide 25 percent, and the Nicaraguan government's Ministry of Housing will provide 50 percent. |ret||ret||tab|

According to Struckhoff, Rainbow Network's role in the partnership is to provide tools and on-site supervision, and to secure land for homes. |ret||ret||tab|

Meek's-The Builder's Choice has provided the hand tools that are needed to get the partnership going. |ret||ret||tab|

"They donated carpenters' squares. I've got 15 of those, 100 trowels, 100 hammers, 10 extension cords, 100-foot extension cords, levels 80 shovels, 15 wheelbarrows and 30 heavy-duty picks," Struckhoff said. Those tools will be shipped to Nicaragua June 8, he said. |ret||ret||tab|

Local Realtor Brenda Cardin, with Coldwell Banker Vanguard Realtors, is chairing a committee to raise money their goal is about $60,000 for the partnership. |ret||ret||tab|

"Some of the land has been donated by the (Nicaraguan) government," Struckhoff said. The Nicaraguan government's Ministry of Housing is helping with building materials, as is Habitat for Humanity. |ret||ret||tab|

A group of volunteers from Columbia is heading to Nicaragua with Rainbow Network in early June.|ret||ret||tab|

"They're leaving to go down and start this first project. I think there are going to be 30 houses at this first site," Struckhoff said. |ret||ret||tab|

The 500 houses will be built in about 15 locations.|ret||ret||tab|

"We're not building a big city. We're building neighborhoods," Struckhoff said. |ret||ret||tab|

The homes built as part of the partnership will be 36 square meters or about 324 square feet.|ret||ret||tab|

"The homes that we're building will have poured concrete floors, and there will be cinderblock walls. They'll have room divisions inside the home corrugated metal roofs, glass windows, a latrine. The property that it sits on will have plenty of room for a family garden and a play area for children. It'll have a vented stove; a fuel-efficient vented stove."|ret||ret||tab|

While that might not sound like much by American standards, the new homes are a big step up for many Nicaraguans. |ret||ret||tab|

"People in Nicaragua are living in dirt-floor shacks. They're living in the kind of conditions it looks like someone just went to dump, to the city dump or whatever, and just got discarded boards and plastic and cardboard and just kind of put together with whatever they could no nails they just kind of stack stuff together and make a house," Struckhoff said. |ret||ret||tab|

The people sleep on pallets, if they're lucky enough to have them. Because many generations often live together, there can be between eight and 12 people living in a single makeshift shelter.|ret||ret||tab|

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Rainbow Network history|ret||ret||tab|

Rainbow Network was founded in 1995 by Keith and Karen Jaspers, who own and operate Jaspers Family Hotels, which has three properties in Branson and one near St. Louis. Rainbow Network provides housing, economic development, education and health care services in 89 communities in Nicaragua. |ret||ret||tab|

Keith Jaspers said there were several reasons they chose to work in Nicaragua. |ret||ret||tab|

"Nicaragua right now is the poorest country in this hemisphere, so the need is very extreme that's (reason) number one. Number two is we wanted to work in an area that we could fly down in a day work for a week or so and then come home and return to our businesses and families. And we can do that easily in Nicaragua," Jaspers said. "Number three is, we wanted to work in an area where the people themselves wanted an opportunity as opposed to a handout. We don't really like giving people charity. We want to be sort of business partners with them. We want to give them opportunities to help themselves." |ret||ret||tab|

With its housing program, Jaspers said, it's similar to how Habitat for Humanity sells its homes. Recipients contribute sweat equity during the building phase, and there are loans that must be repaid. |ret||ret||tab|

For economic development, Jaspers said, Rainbow Network offers micro-enterprise loans, which are used for entrepreneurial purposes and repaid to the organization. |ret||ret||tab|

"Our whole program, everything we do ... thrives on community involvement," Jaspers said. |ret||ret||tab|

For additional information about the housing partnership or Rainbow Network's other efforts, visit www.rain bownetwork.org. |ret||ret||tab|

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