For this week’s Member Monday, meet Yarisleidy! Read more to learn about Yarisleidy, her love of the environment, and experience working with Comunidad Connect.

When did you start working for CC?

I started working for CC in 2011. At that time I was working with schools on a recycling program.

Meeting with a community member in Los Robles who will receive a new concrete floor and improved stove.

Describe your role.

I plan and create budgets, direct initiatives, and monitor progress for a variety of community development projects. We started with a recycling project in San Juan del Sur, and after that we started the Nica Agua program that I took the lead on. This year, I am also in charge of overseeing community projects that volunteers participate in, environmental education, communication with our scholarship program – Becas del Carrizal – and other school activities. Now, I’m in charge of the planning, monitoring, and coordination of improved technology projects – stoves, ovens, floors.

What is your favorite part about working with CC?

I love coordinating with my colleagues on projects. It’s easy to communicate and coordinate whichever activity or group we’re working with because everyone is involved in the planning process. There is always support and communication.

What got you interested in working in clean water?

At the start, I was working with environmental projects because in they were working a lot on this topic in the schools. In my classes and my thesis focused on environmental education projects and ecological culture. So, I already liked this topic and I always would volunteer with environmental projects, like clean-up activities on the Pacific coast. When I heard about the opportunity of working with Comunidad Connect as an administrative assistant for environmental projects, I decided to apply. After working on a few projects as an assistant, I became interested in the Nica Agua program and I supported some of its activities. I was sent to the Atlantic coast for a period of time, where I learned more about Nica Agua and I started to see ways in which we could improve the program, make it more sustainable with modifications, and better documented. So working in the Atlantic coast is what helped me most to focus on clean water projects and think about the program’s design.

What is your favorite place to visit in Nicaragua?

I’m still getting to know so many parts of Nicaragua, but for me I would say the coast and the ocean is my favorite place (Yarisleidy is from San Juan del Sur, in southern Nicaragua).

What is your favorite holiday in Nicaragua?

Fiestas Patrias! I used to love the activities we did in school to celebrate.

What is your spirit animal?

Yarisleidy loves the ocean and the night sky!

A wolf, because they are strong leaders, they’re independent, and they have a bit of mystery about them. Each one has a specific role in a clan, but they all work as a group. I also love the moon and the night.

Dogs are one of Yarisleidy’s favorite animals, especially Memo!

What hobbies or talents do you have that most people don’t know about?

It’s not quite a hobby or talent, but I’m vegetarian. It’s not very common to be vegetarian in Nicaragua, but one of the things I believe is that we need to have coherence with what we do, what we say, and what we feel. For that reason, five years ago I decided to have this coherence that I had always been talking about with respect to my lifestyle and choices of how I interact with the world. Another fun fact is that tulips are my favorite flowers, but they don’t exist in Nicaragua!

Thanks Yarisleidy! Check in next week for our next Member (& Memo) Monday! 

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