Amigos de San Juan - Help Feed a Village in Need

The indigenous pottery village of San Juan de Oriente, Nicaragua is suffering from extreme poverty and now the dangerous results of a rising death count due to the imbedded Covid-19 virus.

“Amigos de San Juan” is a group effort to distribute staple food items to families throughout the village. 

Amigos de San Juan Delivering Rice and Bean to the Community

Friends, like you, give donations in order to support our “amigos” in the village who organize and distribute these basic food needs to families throughout the struggling community.

This gofundme initiative is documented and supported by the first run effort funded by me Paul Devoti and my mother Robin Devoti. 

Before I open up the complete story behind this effort I would like to articulate the specifics about our project proposal.

Looking for a passive solution with the help of 4 friends in the village we decided that the most direct and effective way to make a difference across the community was to provide that basic food staple of rice and beans which is the foundational food for every family in the pueblo.


We priced out how much it would cost to feed 100 families by suppling them with 2 pounds each of rice and beans. 

Pricing out the costs of buying two 100 lbs bags of each item (rice and beans) along with the logistics, bagging, distribution and printing of a insert with information for the community, we were able to provide 100 families a 2 to 3 day supply of rice and beans for $280.

Given that first run and the exciting results we can accurately calculate this basic rule:

$14 - feeds 5 families

$28 - feeds 10 families

$140 - feeds 50 families

$280 - feeds 100 families!

The background leading to “Amigos de San Juan”

I went to San Juan de Oriente, Nicaragua in 1995 as a Peace Corps Volunteer.

The village maintained their cultural heritage by the pottery tradition that almost every family in the pueblo participate in one way or another.

San Juan de Oriente has a undocumented Nicoyan Indian Heritage

My fascination with their history and their pottery art led me to import their work back to the United States upon my return.

That importation of the cultural pottery turned into an actually invitation for artists from the pueblo to come and stay with me in North Carolina in order to represent their culture, pueblo and artwork.

Juan Boza Gutierrez was the first village artisan to participate in that cultural exchange in September of 2001, just days before 9/11.

That artist exchange has remained in place up to today there have been 50 successful artisan trips.

I now have a home in the village, and feel completely at home there.  Sharing in the pottery tradition and all the successes and struggles that happen in every day life in the village are real to me.

Being here in North Carolina I started to hear the anxiety and the rumors of Covid-19 becoming more prevalent in the hospitals and around the communities in Nicaragua. 

A major problem confronting the Nicaraguan people has been the governments complete lack of acknowledgement, and therefore complete lack of preparation for Covid-19.

The dead started to be taken out of hospitals and homes and discretely buried in the middle of the night as reported numbers for the virus remained ridiculously low.

The pueblo knows, and therefore I know, that people in the village, and other villages, in the markets and by the dozens in hospitals are dying.

On May 17th the situation hit close to home when my artisan friend Juan lost his father in the village to a “respiratory aliment”.

It was a difficult conversation to have with Juan and the circumstances were further difficult to accept as Juan, his brother, and sister had all left the country in 2018 when the Nicaraguan economy collapsed around government crack downs against its own people.

Juan is in Spain and has no way, without any flights to Nicaragua, to be with his family. His 3 children remain in the village while he and his wife left to find work and provide for the family.

We were able to deliver Rice & Beans to Juan's son in San Juan de Oriente

Juan mentioned that his Father didn’t go to the hospital while he was ill because they were over run, there wasn’t any acknowledgement of the issue and the care for this “respiratory issue” is virtually non existent.

Juan’s father Elias died at home with his mother Casta taking care of him.

Casta, the first of 10 children in her family, took care of all the Gutierrez children when her parents died couple months apart when she was 16 years old.

She became a central figure in the village a business women and leader of the finest artisan family of the community.

Casta Mercedes Gutierrez died of respiratory failure 8 days after her husband Elias in San Juan de Oriente on May 24th.

I have never had a harder conversation in my life than the one I had with Juan in the middle of that night.  He in Spain, me in North Carolina and the village that we love isolated and not accessible to grieve, or hug or cry.

Amigos de San Juan is an effort to make a difference given all the current  circumstance that is baring down on the community.

It is very important for me to acknowledge all the families, communities and countries that are being dramatically and tragically effected by this pandemic. 

San Juan de Oriente, Nicaragua is not the only place where deep rooted effects, fear and economic hardships are happening.

This indigenous community is a place I intimately know and care about, so it is here that I choose to plant my flag in order to make a difference.

That difference has manifested into the “Amigos de San Juan” food project and now this gofundme effort.

The collaboration of some friends in the village has been essential in organizing and executing this initiative.  You can see them in the videos and pics.

Our Amigos in San Juan de Oriente than make our efforts Happen...Gracias!

Darwin runs one of the village general stores and purchases the rice and beans. 

He told me on Monday May 25th, the day after Casta died, that the truck came from the north arrives on Tuesdays in order to secure 100 pound sacs of rice and beans.

The next day we had 200 pounds of each and then separated them into 2 pound distributions.

We decided to include a little note along with the distribution.  Mari, who took these pictures and edited the video, printed a note that offered the village our well wishes, suggested social distancing and hand washing, and memorialized both Juan’s Mother and Father.

Norwin and Yarolth utilized their mototaxi’s to distribute the food items around a chosen neighborhood of the pueblo. 

We had to wait one day due to heavy storms, but the next day our friends distributed the food and the message to 100 village families.  It was a beautiful thing.

We can do it again, we can do it efficiently and we can make a major difference in his little community in need!

$14 - 5 families

$28 - 10 families

$140 - 50 families

$280 - 100 families

We got really good feedback from the first run.

One thing I observed and didn’t feel great about were how many plastic bags we were using to make the distributions.

We therefore have adjusted the plan of distribution going forward: 

Norwin and Yarolth will drive their mototaxis around a selected  neighborhood with the 100lbs sacs inside where people can come out with their pan or bowl to get their 2 pound portion……no plastic!

I have set the goal for this funding campaign at $2800.  That will let us recreate the test run 10 times and effect 1000 families.

There will be updates, video accounts and pictures documenting the progress.

You may be intrigued and interested to see how this village creates some of the finest cultural pottery in the world.

It is worth becoming a “Amigo de San Juan”

I believe it is worth funding this effort.  Join us!

Darwin buys our rice and beans to make "Gallo Pinto" the village specialty



Village artisans make world class pottery sculptures.....Please support us!