Celebrating 30 years of the Reading – San Francisco Libre Twinning

On Wednesday 6 November (7pm), a celebration event will take place at RISC (35-39 London Street, Reading RG1 4PS), part of the Reading International Festival. The event is free and open to everyone to come and hear about the history of the link, the many projects Reading has funded and the achievements of the partnership. There will also be a photographic exhibition showcasing San Francisco Libre and its people, as well as videos, talks, music and refreshments. Further information

Where is San Francisco Libre and what the twinning link achieved?

The municipality of San Francisco Libre (SFL) runs along 50 miles of the northern shoreline of Lake Xolotlán (Lake Managua) across the water from Managua, the capital of Nicaragua. Its 12,000 inhabitants live in one small town and 32 small communities in an area of 756 km2 largely dependent on agriculture and fishing for their livelihoods.

In the past year, a new road has been constructed that links Managua to the second city of León (twinned with Oxford) and this passes through SFL, which may influence future developments. It is also possible that a second international airport for Managua may be built in the far east of the municipality.

The twinning with Reading dating back to 1994 is carried out through the Reading San Francisco Libre Association (RSFLA) and the Nicaraguan NGO called the Association for Restoration and Development in Nicaragua (APREDEN).

San Francisco Libre is also twinned with the German town of Oldenburg and RSFLA works very closely with NV Oldenburg in joint support for San Francisco Libre resulting in excellent three-way friendship and collaboration.

Over the past 30 years, the RSFLA has worked to increase understanding and partnership between the two communities. With the support of the University of Reading, Reading Borough Council and many others, the Association has helped San Francisco Libre by providing ongoing assistance with numerous community projects.

October, 1998: Hurricane Mitch, the deadliest Hurricane in Central American history, struck the region causing cataclysmic flooding in SFL when the Lake rose by four metres.

In SFL five thousand acres of the municipality was flooded, destroying houses, pastures, latrines, crops, bridges and roads. (If this had happened in London all low lying areas of the city near the Thames would have been under water.) In 1998, the Mayor of Reading launched an appeal to assist reconstruction.

The three main ongoing projects supported financially by RSFLA’s trust are:

La Biblioteca library and community centre was built and equipped with the support from RSFLA and run by APREDEN.

It has books, computers, video equipment and an internet connection and provides facilities where young people can meet with friends, prepare school homework or university projects, attend the reading club, participate in arts and crafts, games and sports or receive assistance in learning to read.

The Centre also runs special courses for young people or adults, including clothes making, guitar and keyboard lessons, English language lessons and an IT course, graduates of a recent English course are volunteering to teach younger children English at the centre.

Bursaries to allow young people to attend school

A bursary of about £10 per student per month allows them to attend school instead of having to support their family economically from a young age. The fruits of this project can be seen in the doctors, nurses, teachers and other professionals working locally who benefited from schooling enabled by the bursary programme and had then continued to university.

Currently, the bursary programme supports 106 disadvantaged families in the urban area and outlying communities, with children in both primary and secondary schools.

La Guayabita environmental centre

Deforestation is a great environmental challenge to San Francisco Libre. People earn on average less than $100 a month and resort to cutting down trees for sale as firewood.

A crucial long-term project has been the development of La Guayabita and its nursery of indigenous trees and fruit trees. Sustainable reforestation is enabled by planting trees which support the production of crops such as coffee, cocoa and honey, which offer direct, short-term benefits in addition to the long-term benefits of reforestation.

In 2018, the RSFLA funded the purchase of 4.5 acres of land on the northern side of La Guayabita ecological centre to plant fruit cropping trees (banana, dragon fruit, mango and guava).

Other projects supported by RSFLA have included:-

• Hosting a young person from San Francisco Libre to undertake a carpentry course at Reading College in order to start a carpentry business and train apprentices in San Francisco Libre.

• Funding the purchase of 12,000 shade, fruit and timber trees to help reforest parts of San Francisco Libre.

• Part-funding a new school at Los Tiesos, a new community about 4 km from the main town of San Francisco Libre, resettled as a result of lake inundation.

• A pilot apiculture (bees) group was funded with a donation of £2,000 for equipment and protective clothing to produce organic honey. The group has been successful and has expanded.

Funding from the David Grimes Trust

Many of these projects have been funded by the David Grimes Trust set up in memory of Dr David Grimes, a Reader in Hydrometeorology at the Department of Meteorology of Reading University. David died at the age of 60 from a rare neurodegenerative condition.

David was a strong advocate for social justice and equitable international development active and was a founding member of the Reading-San Francisco Libre Association and a trustee of its charity. The University’s Meteorology Department’s annual ball is a fundraiser for San Francisco Libre.

“Reading’s 30-year partnership with San Francisco Libre has been amazing, with people in both towns gaining from the cultural exchanges. As Reading has been able to contribute to the education, development and ecology of San Francisco Libre. This has only been possible through the fundraising work of volunteers and the generosity of people.” Paul Starkey, chair RSFLA trust

“It’s amazing that Reading has this international connection with a town so far away and that Reading is making an enormous difference to the lives of many people there. The people of San Francisco Libre are proud of their link to Reading and we hope that this exhibition will give the people of Reading an insight into the lives of the inhabitants of our twin town.” Russell Maddicks, exhibition organiser, who visited SFL with his son in 2023.