From the President:

Year-end is often a time of reflection on the past year and consideration of plans for the next. We at the Brookline Sister City Project have been doing both. 2011 was a year both of promise and of heightened recognition of the extent of the need in our Sister City, Quezalguaque, Nicaragua. 

Early in the year, three Board members traveled at their personal expense to Quezalguaque to identify priorities and plan future programs with the Mayor and others in the community.  This led to numbers of initiatives:

Hypertension Screening & Health Education
Four graduate students from the Boston University School of Public Health accompanied by two Sister City Board members traveled to Quezalguaque at their own expense.   The graduate students with the support of local health outreach workers performed health screenings on 1,727 people (nearly half the adult population of Quezalguaque).  They also held educational sessions on Dengue fever, a current problem in Quezalguaque, and on the causes and treatment of hypertension.
The Sister City Project funded the salaries of local health outreach workers that teamed with the graduate students and also contributed toward medical and other supplies needed for the screening, educational and follow-up activities.

Education
Under the leadership of our newly formed Educational Committee, the Sister City Project began engaging on a wide range of programs designed to support educational infrastructure, teacher development, and support for a special needs school in Quezalguaque.  The Brookline Education Foundation also awarded a grant to allow three Brookline teachers to travel to Quezalguaque and our Educational Committee leadership is working to pave the way for the Brookline teachers.

Library
Support for the Quezalguaque library, for a mobile library traveling to surrounding communities, and for arts classes held in the library continue.   Usage of these services increased in 2011. 

Health Outpost
Because of health care access concerns and based on a request from the Health Center Director and others in Quezalguaque along with the recommendation of our Health Committee,   we committed to fund the renovation of a health outpost (a satellite of the main health center in Quezalguaque),  located in an underserved area with population growth. 

  
Housing
Funding for new housing construction and particularly for families not able to contribute towards a government sponsored housing subsidy program continued to be among the priority requests from Quezalguaque.

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While we continue to be thankful for the opportunity to contribute in some small way to the Quezalguaque community, we are very mindful of the continuing high rates of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), continuing problems of health care access, housing  and the lack of educational and employment opportunities.  Therefore, we’d like to do even more to be supportive of our Sister City.

Next year marks the 25th anniversary of the Brookline Sister City Project.  Volunteer trips in January and April are planned and 25th Anniversary Celebratory events are being scheduled in Brookline for May, 2012  
We’ll soon be providing more information on the 25th Anniversary events.  In the meantime, please feel free to contact us if you’d like more information about our volunteer work or future plans.

Thank you very much for your past support, your consideration for a renewal contribution   and our very best wishes for the holidays and a peaceful year ahead.

Sincerely,
Richard Segan
President, Brookline-Quezalguaque Sister City Project