“Pangea Proxima successfully connects Fundacion Tierra and Canadian Vision Care”

   During Pangea Proxima’s first week in Nicaragua, Trevor Stine (Pangea Proxima’s owner and lead consultant) met with Fundacion Tierra in San Juan del Sur and set the premise for what might be a long-term working relationship between the organization and Canadian Vision Care to benefit the rural people of Nicaragua living in conditions of poverty with free optical examinations and prescription glasses for years to come.

     This relationship actually goes back 8 years, when Trevor met Fabio Mora (a Costa Rican optometrist from the San Jose, CR area) in a small rural village near Tikal in El Remate, El Peten, Guatemala, while volunteering together. Trevor acted as a translator for a group of Canadian doctors who were giving free treatments and Fabio was the lone Central American doctor in the group. After that experience, Trevor and Fabio remained close friends.

   During Pangea Proxima’s current trip to Central America, Fabio asked Trevor to make some connections for his optometrist volunteer group while working in Nicaragua. Fabio’s group had previously volunteered in rural areas of Costa Rica, Guatemala and Jamaica, but never in Nicaragua.
 

A promotion for the Canadian Vision Care 2012 two-week trip to Costa Rica, where Pangea Proxima will assist the program by translating for the group of optometrists.

   Upon the first week of arriving to Nicaragua, Trevor visited the office of Fundacion Tierra in San Juan del Sur and met with Antonia Mendoza, the executive director, to discuss a possible collaboration. Within 24 hours, he coincidentally met Maria Auxiladora Aburto, who was one of the co-founders of Fundacion Tierra (unknowing to Trevor) through a mutual friend. Maria and Trevor had many interests in common including sustainable development and helping others live up to their potential to lead healthy and productive lives. Within two days, a “formal” meeting was set with Maria and Antonia and during that time, Trevor informed them of his desire to connect Fundacion Tierra to Fabio and Canadian Vision Care, so that future collaborations between their organizations could be achieved. 

   Currently the groundwork is being laid for a week-long volunteer effort this fall (2012) which will take place in poverty stricken areas of rural Southwestern Nicaragua. These areas are along the border and outside of the tourists normal trail route, therefore they do not see the dollars from the economic boom currently taking place over the past five years in areas such as San Juan del Sur and Granada.  
    

   During the week-long volunteer effort a combination of Costa Rican and Canadian eye doctors will administer up to 250+ free eye exams a day while giving free pairs of glasses to those with poor vision. 

To learn more about Fundacion Tierra please visit www.fundaciontierra.org. 

To learn more about Canadian Vision Care please visit www.canadianvisioncare.com.