Since 2012, Indiana University Department of Family Medicine faculty, residents and students have participated in a clinical and cultural immersion program in Suchitoto, El Salvador. This program offers US healthcare providers the opportunity to develop cross cultural competency and language training. In return, these students, faculty and residents work beside Salvadoran healthcare workers, learning the expertise necessary to work with underserved populations. In February, June and September, Indiana University delegates observe and serve in the Suchitoto Hospital, local clinics and with...
CRC Suchitoto, our partner in El Salvador, received four computers as a donation from DePauw University. The computers were completely refurbished and loaded with Spanish language software. They will be used by CRC and the community radio station in Suchitoto. Thank you to DePauw and Professor Doug Harms for obtaining and refurbishing the computers. If you want to support our communities in El Salvador and Nicaragua, you can do your donation and/or contact Jim Mulholland info@cocoda.org 317-503-5852 ...
Seventeen students from Centre College, Kentucky visited Santa Marta, Cabañas and Masatepeque in Suchitoto in a course of study and service learning. During sixteen days, Centre College students were part of the two communities, living in homestays and working side by side while learning the culture, the history and lifestyles of the local people. In Santa Marta, the students visited CoCoSI (a HIV/AIDS prevention organization), Sueños de Madera (a woodworking cooperative) and the Organic Farming Cooperative of the Santa Marta community. At each...
In 2015, CoCoDA introduced the idea of composting latrines in several communities in Nicaragua. An alternative to traditional latrines, composting latrines both protect the watershed and provide the opportunity to use the waste for fertilizer for agriculture. Initially, CoCoDA established six composting latrine demonstration sites in four different communities to introduce the approach and provide training. After visiting the sites to evaluate how the communities were using the composting latrines, CoCoDA assisted in the construction of latrines in houses with the...
Nicaragua Composting Latrine Project In March of 2018, delegations from Indiana University and West Virginia University completed the final two composting latrine demonstration sites in our six site initiative. We now have six demonstration composting latrines in four communities – Zacataloza, Cacao, La Sabanita, and Aguas Calientes. These composting latrines are being used by school children as well as community members and utilized to teach the advantages of composting latrines. In December of 2018, staff will evaluate the training regimen, maintenance and...
CoCoDA is commited to the education of youth in rural Central American communities by supporting their efforts to continue their studies in primary, high school and university. We do this by building schools, supporting teachers and providing scholarships. In 2019, the scholarship program in Zacataloza, Nicaragua continued to provide seven deserving scholars the opportunity to continue their secondary education as well as facilitate the attendance of one community member to a university nursing program. These young people, selected and monitored by...
During September, as part of the Indiana University School of Medicine ENLACE program, four fourth-year medical students traveled to El Salvador for a family medicine rotation at the Health Center, La Mora Clinic, National Hospital, and Suchitoto Association of Midwives. They worked alongside Salvadoran doctors and the midwives three days each week. They also learned about the similarities and differences between the cultures and healthcare systems. They visited historical and cultural sites to learn about Salvadoran history and immersed themselves in...
In the past ten years, CoCoDA has partnered with other organizations to support the Youth Leadership Education Campaign (YLC). This program helps between 30-35 youth attend college each year from the Santa Marta and Suchitoto regions. While tuition is only $50 a year in El Salvador, living in San Salvador is very expensive. The YLC program provides two rent free student houses. This is not a loan program. As part of this scholarship program, these students commit to return to their...
The La Mora clinic has long been an example of a local controlled clinic offering accessible, quality healthcare to the working poor. In 2014, La Mora clinic served nearly 12,000 people. CoCoDA works with partners like Resurrection Catholic Parish in Canton, MI to provide financial support to the clinic in the form of salaries, medications and equipment. La Mora is also one of the clinical sites for students and faculty from the Indiana University Department of Family Medicine. In collaboration with...
In February of 2019, after years of fundraising, CoCoDA provided our partners ADES with a $75,000 grant to purchase a large home in San Salvador to serve as a dormitory for the Youth Leadership Campaign (YLC). After years of paying rent, the program now has a permanent home within walking distance from the University of El Salvador. For many years, CoCoDA has been supporting the Youth Leadership Campaign (YLC) in El Salvador. This unique program provides room and board for about...