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A Brief History of Nicaragua

Posted on: January 14th, 2012 | 1 Comments

Just the other day, someone asked me "How did Nicaragua get so poor?" It's a common question about most countries. Nearly every country in the world, outside of the 20 or so "developed" nations, has it's own story as to just how this happened. The answer is generally "Corruption." Nicaragua's story is no different; its ending, however, is full of hope.

The name "Nicaragua" comes from the Nahuatl-speaking tribe who originally inhabited the country; their capital city was Nicarao. Later, when the Spanish arrived, the combined the name of the capital with the spanish word for water: "agua." There are ancient footprints that suggest Nicaragua was inhabited as far back as 6000 years ago. It is thought that the three major tribes that existed had migrated from what is now Colombia and Mexico, and well as possibly Paleo-Indians. These tribes had kingdoms marked out, monarchies, and consisted mostly of farmers and weapon-crafters. The Spanish first entered Nicaragua in 1522. Francisco Cordoba entered in 1524 with the intent of colonizing the area, which lead to the city of Granada. Cordoba became the namesake for Nicaraguan money (which is dealt in "cordobas"). After multiple wars with the indigenous population. Nicaragua was considered "complete" by 1529.. As usual at the time, the native Nicaraguans were abused, sold in to slavery, put to work in the farms, and generally treated as less than human.

Nicaragua struggled but became officially independent from Spain in 1821, but suffered through many more dictatorships and foreign rule. Augusto César Sandino is Nicaragua's martyr and hero. He protested US military occupation in 1927 to 1933, and was assassinated when he went to negotiate a cease-fire. He was only 39 years old. Sandino remains to this day a symbol of resistance and national identity. The man who had him assassinated, General Somoza, who had seized power in a coup d'etat, began a brutal dictatorship that passed to his son, and his brother, and lasted 43 years. Somoza was overthrown by a rebel group, then Sandinista guerillas (name taken from Sandino) in 1979. They formed a new government. One of these Sandinistas was Daniel Ortega, who would go on to be a major figure for Nicaragua.

In 1981, Reagan condemned Nicaragua for many reasons, one being supporting Cuba's revolution. He, among other countries, authorized the training of anti-Sandinista guerillas, also called counter-revolutionaries. This was shortened to the term "Contras." The Contras camped out in neighbouring Honduras and Costa Rica. Local anti-sandinistas joined these camps and thus guerilla warfare began, known as the Contra War. The foreign-funded Contras went to war with the Sandinistas throughout the 80s, resulting in deaths all across the country. Nicaragua in shambles from the never-ending corruption: many dead, many more displaced as refugees, uneducated, poor, and scared. There was no health care and no education system to speak of. Human Rights violations were country-wide, from kidnapping, to torture, to the burning of villages and more. These violations made international headlines and the foreign-funding was cut off, forcing the Contras to retreat and eventually disperse by the late 80s.

Nicaragua limped through the 80s and 90s as various politicians, including Daniel Ortega from 1984-1990, tried, with some success but mostly failure and more corruption, to get the country on its feet. Ortega failed to get re-elected in 1990, 1996 and in 2001 but was re-elected in 2006.

Prior to the earthquake in Haiti, in 2003 Nicaragua surpassed Haiti as the poorest nation in Central America. Unemployment was around 50%. In more recent years, Daniel Ortega seems to be taking great strides towards making health care, education, and work more accessible to the masses. For example, unemployment is now just 5%, but underemployment (not enough work to provide for ones self or a family) is still 48%. The main source of work remains agriculture and sweat-shop style labour.

With education and health care more readily available, there is much hope for Nicaragua's future. Tourism, for example, has risen more than 70% in the last ten years. As the country stabilized politically, people began to take notice of the stunning landscape and history in Nicaragua. From soaring volcanos to white sand beaches, and spanish colonial buildings around every turn, it is a country with much to offer. It touches both the Caribbean and the Pacific ocean, with lakes and valleys and jungle in between. It is home to resilient, humble, honest, beautiful people. It is becoming known for its rum, cigars, and world-class surf spots. Exports such as Fairly-Traded coffee beans are beginning to provide stable income and work for farming families.

Nicaragua still has a long way to go. Education is more widely available, but many students cannot afford to go to school when their families need money to make end's meet. Empowerment International, the non-profit our teams will be partnering with, steps in to encourage families that education is the only way to break the poverty cycle. They win over families one at a time, each child in the school a victory.We stand by them in their belief and conviction that ending poverty begins with education. We are so thrilled to send not one, but two teams down to make a difference in the lives of these youth!

Happy New Year!

Posted on: December 31st, 2011 | 1 Comments

Despite only getting up and running in the last quarter of 2011, The Giving Lens couldn't be happier with the response we've gotten. Photographers and photo-enthusiasts alike, you all seem to have enormous hearts for others and a passion to make a difference. While we are so excited about our two teams coming to Nicaragua, we're just as thrilled with all of our fans, followers, "likes" and "+1's". The TGL family has grown exponentially since our launch and it means amazing things are on the horizon. 2012 is shaping up to be an incredible year of adventures, challenges, growth and change. We're going out in to the world to put our money where our mouth is, to have our feet hit the ground in another country, get our hands dirty, and open our hearts. As photographers, we are blessed to see the world differently. We see the world in snapshots, in a single frame and moment. We see the light and shadows, the textures and layers. While others admire a scene, we think in f-stops and fractions of seconds. We redefine what is beautiful every time we open our eyes. Isn't is a wonderful life? With that, we'd like to thank you for a wonderful end to 2011 and an hopeful and inspiring start to 2012! See differently. Be the difference.

TGL Holiday Fundraiser

Posted on: December 8th, 2011 | 1 Comments

The Giving Lens is proud to partner with Empowerment International to bring you the first ever TGL Holiday Fundraiser. EI focuses on using Child Education to combat poverty and by keep kids off the streets and out of gangs in the country of Nicaragua. The Giving Lens has partnered with six professional photographers to give you an opportunity to not only help fight for child education in Nicaragua, but possibly come away with one of six 20 x 30 prints from some of the most beautiful locations on the planet. These prints are valued at over $500 each. The photographers include: Colby Brown Elia Locardi Jay Patel Varina Patel Ken Kaminesky Alexander Safonov For every $10 you donate, you get entered in a chance to take home one of these prints. Please note that an individual can only win one print durring this contest. Your donation is a tax write off and you will receive the proper paperwork. Click HERE to donate... The fundraiser runs from December 8th - 14th, with the winners being announced on December 15th, 2011. Names will be assigned a number based on the order in which the donations came in and then using www.random.org, 6 random numbers will be drawn to decide the winners. We would like to thank SmugMug for sponsoring this Fundraiser. *Prizes can only be shipped US/Canada addresses

Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About: Nicaragua

Posted on: December 5th, 2011 | 0 Comments

- the country's favourite past time is baseball, not football like the majority of central and south america. - the average temperature year round is 30C / 87F - Nicaragua has 25 volcanoes pretty much in a row, starting on Ometepe (close to Costa Rica) and running all the way up to Honduras!

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A Brief History of Nicaragua

Happy New Year!

TGL Holiday Fundraiser

Things You (Probably) Didn’t Know About: Nicaragua