Bienvenidos a La Isla Melissa y Steven!

La Isla is pleased to introduce our two newest board members Melissa Wojnaroski and Steven Kopstein.

With a background in social work, community organizing, policy and program evaluation, and not-for-profit work, Melissa Wojnaroski is eager to join La Isla Foundation. Currently, she is working in Chapin Hall, a social policy research center at The University of Chicago. Melissa first visited Nicaragua in 2006 with the Foundation for Sustainable Design. She was working towards her Master’s of Social Work from the University of Michigan, conducting field work at Hospital Humberto Alvarado and the Roberto Clemente Health Center in Masaya. During her time in Nicaragua she worked with local social workers to conduct various workshops on family planning, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS prevention, and parenting. Since then, Melissa has made every effort to continue to be involved in various projects and initiatives in Nicaragua. She first became acquainted with La Isla Foundation in November 2011 and is thrilled to have the opportunity with the Foundation. 

Interested in health and nutrition on a personal and political level, Steven Kopstein is excited to become a board member of La Isla Foundation. Steven previously worked as an account executive for United Airlines, and currently works as a residential real estate broker in New York City. He has always had a lifelong passion for helping disadvantaged people whenever possible. For example, while showing an apartment in Washington DC, he noticed young children home alone all day in squalor. He organized a fund to send the children to preschool at the local YMCA and continued to act as a big brother for many years thereafter. Steven has a special connection to Nicaragua, through extensive travel around Latin America, as well as developing a connection with the culture through his Nicaraguan partner. He currently writes the newsletter for La Isla Foundation and is excited to contribute his energy. 

We strive to be transparent. We want you to know what is happening at La Isla Foundation, how your donations are helping the cause, and what progress we are making. Recently, one of our employees admitted to misappropriating funds. The misappropriated funds were not a significant amount, but we do not and will not tolerate that type of behavior. All of the funds were replaced; there was no net loss. He was immediately let go. Overall, we were shocked and disappointed, more than anything.

Luckily, we were able to hire Eyner, who was already part of the team heading the Salsa School, as the Dance School and Office Administrator. We’re continuing to move forward, focused on the mission at hand: eradicate the chronic kidney disease epidemic in Nicaragua and Latin America. We couldn’t do it without your support, and we hope to see you move forward with us.

Yours, 
Michelle, Darryl, Susana, Colin, Viola, Eyner, Meghan (& Jason) 

We’re about a week away from our Chicago Fundraiser. Join La Isla Friends and President and co-Founder Jason Glaser who will be presenting on our current work and answering any and all of your questions. There will be a silent auction, food and drinks. Sangria, empanadas and a milanesa is included with the ticket price. 

Where: Barra Ñ, 2977 N. Elston Ave.  
When: May 18th 5:30pm - 8:30
Tickets: $20 in advance at www.laislafounation.eventbrite.com or $25 at the door
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/275125379235456/ 

See you all there!

This week we started administering our survey in the first of the five communities in Guanacastal Sur. I was surprised at the number of people that were willing to open up, let foreigners into their house and share rather personal information. As a foreigner I expected people to be closed off and not want to talk with us. But for the most part the people we’ve encountered have been very warm and open. This has been in large part to the amazing help we’ve received from leaders in the community. It’s clear that this survey may not have received the same support without the help of Don Juan, his wife Doña Eugenia, and the fearless Doña Ampara.

Some of the families I’ve encountered have been lucky enough not to have someone in their family suffer from chronic kidney disease. For others the future is more bleak. Yesterday I spoke with a man in his 40’s and his wife. He has advanced stage renal failure and may not have much longer. They have seven children, most of whom are under the age of 10 years old. Perhaps in a matter of months or even weeks he will be gone. She’ll be left alone with her seven children, and will be forced to find work. As we sat there in the interview I kept thinking that I wish I had been a doctor. I wish I had been there to give him medications, even if they couldn’t cure him. I wish I could have done something more than just asking them questions.

I think sometimes with research it’s hard to see value in what you’re doing. It seems easier to give medications or treatment. But this won’t help future generations. Giving him medication won’t prevent his sons or daughters from facing a similar fate.

It is my hope that with this survey, and with future research, that we can protect his children from CKD.

-Katie, Public Health Intern

Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), the point of no return through successive loss of renal function, affects 13% of adults in the United States. However, outside of Chichigalpa, Nicaragua, in the rural community of La Isla, where I work, 75% of men suffer from CKD. It is a public health crisis: thousands of people are dying from Chronic Kidney Disease in northwestern Nicaragua and no one knows why.
 
Some believe that it is caused by inhuman working conditions and excessive use of pesticides in the sugarcane fields, others chronic dehydration due to the exhaustive labor.
What we know for sure is that CKD along the Pacific border of Central America does not appear to correspond to the epidemiological patterns we see in developed countries. In effort to further our understanding of CKD and those affected, particularly those in the Community of La Isla, we have begun an “Encuesta” titled Healthy Households and Risk Factors associated with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in Guanacastal Sur.

This survey is intended to understand the economic and health conditions of those within the community. This data will serve to draw correlations of why there is a high prevalence of CKD and help us target our future proposed intervention.
 
After beginning to surveying this community, it is obvious to me that its inhabitants are impoverished. The average salary averages close to $2 a day. Health ailments are common; adequate nutrition and basic sanitation are not. Many do not have a latrine or a well. A workday often involves eight backbreaking hours in the field with no protection from the heat, sun, and exposure to dangerous agrochemicals. Cooking on an open-fire or a primitive cook-stove fueled by solid materials is the norm. Trash, similarly, is burned. Men, women, and children are living with CKD. Although it’s incredibly difficult to speak with individuals currently living with a disease that has no cure, I know this research is a step in the right direction.

-Vanessa, Public Health Intern

Huffington Post: Mystery Disease In Central America Kills Thousands

Press coverage on La Isla Foundation and the Chronic Kidney Failure happening in Central America.

Mystery Disease In Central America Kills Thousands

Jason Glaser - La Isla Speaking Tour

Join in on one of La Isla’s many speaking events over the next few weeks…..

Aquinas College - January 27th, 2012  at 9:30 to 11 a.m - Grand Rapids, MI

http://www.aquinas.edu/

Cooley College - January 31st, 2012 at 12 Noon  - Grand Rapids, MI

http://www.cooley.edu/

Calvin College - January 30th, 2012 at 3:30 p.m. - Grand Rapids, MI

DeVos Communication Center, Room 170, opposite side of the Beltline from the main campus; parking out front 
 
Fundraiser at Pyramid Scheme - January 31st, 2012 - Grand Rapids, MI

Join the event on Facebook or more details here.

Northern High School - February 1st , 2012  -  Grand Rapids, MI

http://fhps.us/northernhs/ 

University of Michigan - February 8th, 2012 at 6 to 8 p.m. - Ann Arbor, MI

President - Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers - 2300 Hayward Street - Herbert H. Dow, Room 1005

University of Illinois of Chicago - February 10th, 2012  - 12:00 to 1:30 p.m.  - Chicago, IL 

UIC School of Public Health - Global Health Student Interest Group - SPHPI 932

LA ISLA IN THE NEWS

IPS - JAN 2012 - El Salvador: Pesticides Fill Graveyards in Rural Villages

Sitting in the shade under a tree at a careful distance, Francisco Sosa watches his son prepare the land for planting by spraying the weeds with an herbicide from a tank carried on his back.

The 60-year-old Salvadoran farmer would like to help his son Saúl, 25, but on doctor’s orders, he can’t. Like many other peasant farmers in this rural community in the southeast of El Salvador, he suffers from chronic renal insufficiency.

“The doctors told me not to spray poison anymore, that it could complicate my illness further,” Sosa told IPS on his farm in Nueva Esperanza, a rural community of around 500 people that was settled in the 1990s in the Bajo Lempa region in the province of Usulután on El Salvador’s Pacific coast. [Read More]

ProPublica + SLATE - DEC 2011 - Dubious Medicine, Dirty Underwear, and Gas Drillers

Thousands of Sugar Cane Workers Die as Wealthy Nations Stall on Solutions

Center for Public Integrity
Kidney failure has become a near epidemic among sugarcane workers in Central America. Since 2005, at least 2,800 men have died each year. Researchers suspect a toxin may be a trigger. But nobody knows for sure, in part because governments and international aid agencies have failed to investigate. 

Contributed by @ericuman

NTN Television - DEC 2011 - Enfermedad renal crónica está acabando con la vida de los hombres en Centro América

Investigadores tratan de establecer las causas de una enfermedad renal crónica que está afectando a gran cantidad de hombres en Centro América, ha llamado la atención de epidemiólogos alrededor del mundo, por que no se conoce su origen. [Video]

Confidencial - DEC 2011 - Miles de cañeros mueren por Enfermedad Renal

LA ISLA, Nicaragua —Maudiel Martínez tiene 19 años de edad y una tímida sonrisa, una maraña de pelo negro y rizado y un cuerpo delgado y muscular debido a sus años de trabajo en los cultivos de caña de azúcar. Durante la mayor parte de su adolescencia fue un joven saludable y fuerte que pasaba sus días talando las altas cañas con su machete. [Read More]

LA ISLA IN THE NEWS - Reuters - Dec 23 2011

Dec. 23 - An unexplained kidney disease epidemic hits Nicaragua’s impoverished sugar-growing town of La Islas with locals blaming pollution. Deborah Lutterbeck reports.

A Cycle of Death: Inside Nicaragua’s Sugar Cane Fields

Thursday, 12 January 2012

Written by Jason Glaser

The video here focuses on the community of La Isla de Viudas (The Isle of Widows) outside of Chichigalpa, Nicaragua, but it is a powerful introduction to a much larger global issue. Sadly, the stories shared are in no way isolated or limited to this area. Throughout the sugarcane industry in Central America child labor is rampant, widows from this disease far too common and young workers will likely not escape their fate, many will perish as their fathers have.

None of the usual causes of CKD have been linked to this new form of the disease and no adequate treatment exists for those affected making it a death sentence. Worldwide cases of CKD often correspond with hypertension and diabetes; however, research concludes that no correlation between these traditional causes has been made in this context.

Getting sick often means losing your job as companies attempt to distance themselves from responsibility by testing and then firing sick workers. With the need for labor still present workers enlist with subcontractors.  When they are finally too sick to work their sons illegally work in their place. Despite the legal age being 18 for this type of work, in Nicaragua boys as young as sixteen are now coming down with the disease, their hope for a better life dashed.
This cycle of death ends futures and stymies any hope for meaningful development in the region.  Read more…

Recommended links

• http://upsidedownworld.org/main/international-archives-60/3355-thousands-of-sugar-cane-workers-die-as-wealthy-nations-stall-on-solutions
• http://www.theworld.org/2011/12/kidney-disease-epidemic/
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16007129
• http://youtu.be/x9UZ1hbfPPw

Jason Glaser is the president of La Isla Foundation and can be contacted at laislafoundation(at)gmail.com. Tom Laffay is the director of Tierra Unida Films based in Leon, Nicaragua and can be contacted attierraunidafilms(at)gmail.com.

You’re Invited!

You’re Invited: A Benefit for La Isla Foundation

January 31 2012

WHEN:  TUESDAY, January 31, 2012 — 7:30 – 10:00 P.M.

WHAT:  LEARN ABOUT THE WORK OF LA ISLA FOUNDATION

WHERE: THE PYRAMID SCHEME (68 Commerce SW) Grand Rapid’s hottest new entertainment venue -  www.pyramidschemebar.com

  Bonus: Tuesday is 1/2 off drinks night

FEATURING A SILENT AUCTION:

• Unique Travel Opportunities
• Sports Memorabilia and Game Packages
• Small Producer California Wines (including rare “cult Cabs”)
• Original Artwork
• Gift Certificates for your favorite things
• One on One Skype Spanish Lessons
• and much more…

ENTERTAINMENT:  Jerry Donovan and Matt Lauria, local comedians who will be performing at LaughFest 2012.

SUGGESTED DONATION:*  $25/family and $10/individual at the door

*Keep that New Year’s resolution! Donation includes Zumba Class at 5:30P with Tara at The Pyramid Scheme

Join the event on Facebook.

WHAT IS LA ISLA FOUNDATION:  While filming a documentary in Nicaragua, Jason Glaser learned of a sugarcane farming community called La Isla de las Viudas (Isle of the Widows) which suffers from an epidemic of fatal chronic kidney disease (CKD) among its male working population.  Global demand for sugarcane for biofuel production has ignored this deadly epidemic affecting sugarcane producing regions worldwide.   Established in 2008, La Isla Foundation has spearheaded epidemiological research while raising awareness about CKD, recently resulting in an important research grant and also attention from the U.S. State Dept.  The Foundation supports the La Isla community with improved health care, education, and living conditions.  Recently NPR and the BBC aired programs largely facilitated by La Isla staff.

Preventable epidemics need to be understood and stopped, wherever they occur. In a global market, we need to be aware about how our food and fuel are produced. With increasing world hunger, we should encourage the use of fertile lands for food. When the World Bank subsidizes multinational corporations for biofuel production, Bank requirements for social and environmental safety standards should be upheld. We should support the good works of our community’s sons and daughters, wherever they may be.

La Isla Foundation is a 501 (c) 3 not for profit charitable organization.  Contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

For more information go to:  www.laislafoundation.org

Join the event on Facebook.

Thousands of sugar cane workers die as wealthy nations stall on solutions

To our donors and supporters,

La Isla Foundation acted as fixers for the following story:

Thousands of sugar cane workers die as wealthy nations stall on solutions

The article will appear in radio form on BBC’s The World Service and PRI’s The World.

Please read this article in full. Among the key take aways and other points of interest around this issue are the following:

• Pellas Group, the parent company of Nicaragua’s largest sugar mill has known since 2001 that this disease was work related yet they’ve blamed it on everything from volcanoes, to alcohol to hypertension.
• The big motivator for cane expansion in Central America is indeed biofuels and the US government has had a direct stake in it for geopolitical reasons.
• The CDC showed an incredible lack of vision and compassion while basically ignoring the epidemic and denying it proper recognition at the WHO in order to push through their own narrow agenda.
• It is clear that the State Department knows far too little about the actual epidemic because they get their information from the Pellas Group, Ponteleon (2nd largest Nicaraguan producer and largest in the region) and the Nicaraguan Sugar Producers Association. Creating a echo chamber of narrow interests and greed.
• The World Bank issued more than $100 million in loans to Nicaragua’s sugar industry during the height of the epidemic without formal consideration of the kidney disease among its workers.
• One-fourth of the sugar is consumed in the U.S. Those with the resources to solve the mystery — the U.S. and other wealthy nations and international development agencies — largely have resisted pleas to investigate.
• The ethanol produced by Grupo Pellas goes to Rotterdam
•  La Isla Foundation has helped get new funding to research the cause of the epidemic in the last month but we need more support!

La Isla Foundation Becomes Member of Grassroots Journeys - Community Based Tourism in Nicaragua

La Isla Foundation is not only a NGO/NPO created to facilitate finding the cause of a Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) epidemic affecting sugarcane workers  in Chichigalpa, Nicaragua. BUT we also offer Community Based Tourism.

We are now proudly part of Grassroots Journeys and our new page on their site can be found here.

What La Isla Foundation offers:

We offer trips to visit the La Isla community, cultural & historical trips in and around Leon, and educational, adventure tours around the occidental Nicaragua providing insights into eco-friendly habitations and farming while experiencing volcanoes, cloud forests, and the Pacific coastline.

We also offer a Spanish School, home stays, and the opportunity for students to complete field studies and volunteers to work in 13 different positions.

What is Community Based Tourism?

Community based tourism (CBT) has existed in some form or another for a long time, but it is receiving increasing attention as many travellers attempt to become more ethical and responsible. In development circles, it is often heralded as an attractive alternative economic income generator, which can supplement a community’s traditional activities. However, others are sceptical, viewing it as a potential destructive force which can cause the degeneration of traditional ways of life and the materialisation of culture, or in poorly administered cases, the ‘prostitution’ of culture.

Who is Grassroots Journeys?

• Grassroots Journeys features communities, small companies entirely owned by communities, non-profit organisations that support CBT, as well as responsible travel companies which work with CBT.
• All initiatives must directly benefit communities, either through the distribution of income to stakeholders, or through the establishment of development trusts or funds, with money spent on development projects throughout the community.
• All initiatives should demonstrate an active or future plan for operating in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner.

Hey NYC, Join Us!! - Nov 17- 8p

La Isla Foundation NYC Fundraiser

WHERE: The Counting Room (44 Berry Street Brooklyn, NY 11211) is a wonderful space located just off the Bedford L train in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The bar and kitchen will be open, and hopefully we will have a few things to give away in appreciation. We are still working out small details and will update soon, but please mark this down on your calender!

RSVP here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=260755460636951

So what does La Isla community look like? And what do our volunteer’s do in the community?

Here’s a snapshot of a typical Tuesday in the community using footage from one of our past volunteer’s Chris.

From chatting with community members to teaching arts and crafts at kids club, volunteers are able to meet and help the families directly affected by CKD.