AMISTAD Construction Brigade

Community Resource Directory

AMISTAD Construction Brigade

802 Monroe

AnnArbor, MI 48104

761-7960

                                                 Statement of Purpose

The AMISTAD Construction Brigade is a project of HAP-NICA and thus is oriented to the same general goals given under the HAP-NICA listing, but because of the nature of its task, AMISTAD has its own organizational structure and the following additional specific goals:

Raising $20-30,000 for the purchase of tools and materials.

Increasing community awareness of the realities of Nicaragua and how the U.S. is involved there.

Establishing ties between Ann Arbor and Managua as a local peace initiative.

Sending a broadly-based community group to Managua to construct a soil-testing laboratory for the National University of Nicaragua. The Italian government has donated the equipment for the lab, and a Canadian chapter of HAP-NICA is planning to send a team of technicians to train the Nicaraguans. Experienced electricians, carpenters, plumbers, and masons will be needed for the brigade, as well as skilled and unskilled construction workers. The brigade will go to Nicaragua in mid-October, 1986 for 6 to 8 weeks.

AMISTAD is both the Spanish word for friendship as well as the acronym for Ann-Arbor Managua Initiative for Soil Testing and Development. The purpose of the AMISTAD Construction Brigade is not only to provide Nicaragua with the tools for self-sufficiency but also to increase understanding and solidarity between the peoples of the U.S. and Nicaragua.

This lab will do nutrient analysis of soils to help farmers make their land more productive and enable them to use fertilizers more effectively. AMISTAD sees the soil-testing lab as crucial to the goal of self-sufficiency since so much of the Nicaraguan economy is agriculture based. For any development of this revolutionary economy, advanced tools such as the lab are necessary. It is with these goals in mind that AMISTAD is eagerly seeking out active members in the Ann Arbor community.

                                                   Meetings and Membership

AMISTAD meets on Sunday evenings, 7:30 PM at the Michigan Union. We have approximately 30 to 40 members, both U of M students and permanent community members,  Steering Committee plus recruiting, publicity and fundraising committees .

                                             Community Services and Coming Events

A slideshow on agriculture in revolutionary Nicaragua with a speaker is available for presentation to community groups. There will be a Musical Benefit for AMISTAD by Ann Arbor musicians Hugh McGuiness and Jim Kirk at East Quad's Halfway Inn on April 18 at 8 PM.