Ciudad Sandino is just outside the capital city of Managua. In 1968 there was a flood and many people who lived along the lakeshore in Managua lost their homes. The government moved them out to disused cotton fields belonging to the dictator Somoza, and sold them plots of land. In 1972 the earthquake that devastated Managua left more than a quarter of a million people homeless, and thousands of them were re-located to the same cotton fields which became known as OPEN 3 or Permanent National Emergency Operation Three. The people of OPEN 3 had to make regular payments on their land and if they missed any one payment they had to start paying all over again. During the insurrection to overthrow Somoza, OPEN 3 was a safe haven for Sandinista revolutionaries, and when Somoza was finally ousted in 1979, the place was renamed Ciudad Sandino, or Sandino City. It has continued to grow with each new natural disaster, as the government moves newly displaced people – the poorest in Managua – to the edges of Ciudad Sandino. The most recent disaster was Hurricane Mitch in 1998, when 12,000 refugees were moved to Ciudad Sandino, forming the new barrio of Nueva Vida.
In 2001, Ciudad Sandino became its own municipality, whereas previously it had been under Managua's jurisdiction. Becoming independent has had its benefits, but brought many problems, the largest being lack of money. Ciudad Sandino has a tax base of only $2.30 a year per person. Its infrastructure was designed to accommodate 40,000 people and yet it is estimated that 150,000 people live there currently. Ciudad Sandino is the most densely populated area in Nicaragua with 7,700 people per square mile (comparable with Detroit, Michigan, USA, but Ciudad Sandino’s buildings are not multi-story). It’s also the poorest urban area in Nicaragua with an estimated 80% of the population lacking formal employment.
In 2006 it was reported that only 29% of children who enter first grade were completing sixth grade, the mandatory education required by the government. And that the students who were finishing were doing so in approximately 10.3 years. At the time it was estimated that almost half of all school age children could not read or write.
Since the election of Daniel Ortega in 2006, the initiatives that have been put in place to decrease illiteracy have had some positive impact on the general population, but in the poorest areas of the county, the challenge to enroll and maintain children in school is a constant battle.
These are some of the reasons Bethlehem Lutheran Church has chosen to support
LifeLink's ministry in Ciudad Sandino.
