Nicaragua Trip Leaders
Felicity Butler first came to Nicaragua in 2000 as part of an overseas training program initiated by VSO. (Voluntary Services Overseas). She was one of 47 undergraduate students from the U.K. given the opportunity to select any "developing" country, any project that they wanted to work with and from there organize a years paid work experience. Felicity chose Nicaragua and worked in a women's collective, Grupo Venancia, that works to challenge all forms of violence against women and at the same time to empower women to demand and make changes in both their personal and public spaces. While working in the Nicaraguan department of Matagalpa, coffee prices sank to their historic low and a severe economic crisis was felt in all of Nicaragua. Deeply affected by this crisis, Felicity began to increase her understanding of the coffee economy and her commitment to Fair Trade coffee. She now works with CECOCAFEN (The Organization of Northern Coffee Cooperatives, a northern Nicaraguan cooperative of coffee growers) as coordinator of a community-based agro-ecotourism project.