Creating ripples that become waves

I was born in Cuba and witnessed how, after the Cuban Revolution of 1959, my family lost property, status, and ultimately our country. We were cast onto U.S. shores as immigrants (refugees) forced to begin again.
As life slowly improved, we moved to Puerto Rico. During most of those years, my sibling and I were often on scholarship. In educating all their children and putting us through college, my parents repeated a simple message: “You can lose your country, your possessions, everything - but no one can take away your education.”

Fast forward many years to my first surf trip to Nicaragua. I arrived with a marketing degree and a surfboard, in a country where I felt like a rich kid indulging myself in the pursuit of “pointless” waves.
In Nicaragua (second only to Haiti as the poorest country in Latin America) I realized I wanted to do more than just catch waves. In a way, I wanted to start creating ripples that could become waves for those whom fate had not treated as kindly.

Serendipitously, through a surfing friend, I learned about Grupo Fénix in Totogalpa/Sabana Grande. After a homestay and a week-long seminar on solar energy, I became involved and began contributing to their scholarship program, support I continue to this day.

My concern with charities has always been getting the most “bang for my buck.”

There are many good charities, but when CEOs earn exorbitant salaries, you can’t help but wonder how much is lost to bureaucracy and how much actually reaches the people you hope to help.
What has always impressed me about Grupo Fénix - and more recently FNE International - is the absence of anything flashy. No logo-covered vans waiting to greet me. Transportation has always been local: a 4.5-hour bus ride to Totogalpa with blaring ranchera music, or riding in the back of a pickup truck with Michael Cipoletti along a rutted dirt road to a remote finca to inaugurate a water tank on the slopes of the Telica volcano.

The funds I’ve contributed, past and present, support real, tangible work: school expansions, scholarships, housing, cleft palate surgeries, clinics, and medical and economic support for people with disabilities.
My recent October trip to the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua with FNE and Grupo Fénix was both poignant and heartwarming. From reviewing school expansion plans for Haitian immigrants in La Romana—where little kids stood up in class to give me un abrazo (a hug!), to speaking on the phone with a young girl I once supported through a scholarship, who is now a police officer. It doesn’t take much.

At one of my last scholarship gatherings outside León, Nicaragua, children ranging from early elementary to their teens shared essays about their strengths, weaknesses, and dreams.

One moment in particular stood out. A bright, innocent girl, full of potential, read aloud that her greatest weakness was simply “being poor.”

After nearly a month, I left Nicaragua hopeful, with the strong impression that both FNE International and Grupo Fénix are truly making a difference, and that with continued support, they will keep doing so.