Radio Tower Proposal

 

A. Introduction to Our Family

B. What We Do in Nicaragua

C. What it means to have Communication in Nicaragua

D. What Communication We Use

C. Costs for a Tower

 

Dear Friend,

I am a Seventh-day Adventist volunteer missionary working in

Nicaragua with my wife, a registered nurse, and our two small

Children are 5 and 6 years old. We have been in the north-eastern part

of Nicaragua for the last 5 years, working with the indigenous

people, the Miskito Indians. We have learned the local Miskito

language fluently. This side of Nicaragua is the forgotten side of

Nicaragua, consisting of mostly subsistence farmers living in swampy

areas. It is also forgotten by the Nicaraguan government. There is

very little health care, extremely poor roads, and not much

infrastructure development. In Nicaragua the Seventh-day Adventist

church has a small but strong base and many mission groups frequent

Nicaragua, concentrating on the other side of the country.  This

side is not on the track for government programs, international

projects, mainstream Adventist missions, or tourists. We are just one

family, but the Lord has provided a way for us to make inroads to the   hearts and villages all over this part of Nicaragua.

Our small airplane is saving lives of the people in remote villages that lack good transportation. We fly in 40 minutes to villages that take more than a day of travel by boat or walking. We fly out critically ill patients that after would die if we weren't here. We offer these services free of charge, supported by donations from individual Seventh-day Adventist church members to supply the gasoline for the airplane.

Wings of Hope, a humanitarian aid organization, helps with

the airplane expenses also. We are a 501(c)(3) organization, Wings

Over Nicaragua Mission, and we work closely with the established

Seventh-day Adventist church, although we are completely volunteer.

We also fly church pastors and lay pastors into some of these remote

communities for evangelism seminars. When we are not flying for

emergency evacuation, we try to do preventative health by holding

mobile clinics in remote villages to keep emergencies from happening.

We sometimes fly dentists in for 1 day dental clinics, which is also a pressing need.

The structure that holds the fabric of our work together, is

communication. Americans take for granted e-mail, text messages, cell

phones, telephones, and even snail-mail. Here the villages have none

of that, they rely on solar panels to charge a battery that runs

their small radio to communicate with the outside world. This fragile

link is the only way they have of communicating with us and telling

us when there is an emergency. With Willis's help (a friend in TN) in the last few

months, we have put up a network of several radio's that reach some

of these communities, starting with a base station for us at our

house where we keep the airplane. Already, this has directly saved at

least 2 people's lives, and it works very nicely. Now we have two

more runways opening up just over 60 miles away, both of them through

some hills. Our current antenna's are in trees as high as we can get

them, around 50 feet. These trees are the largest, tallest ones we can

reach close to our house and the antenna's ar  e as high in the trees as we can get them. In a gentle wind it really blows them around. We have already had an antenna break off one time from the movement.

If we had a solid tower reaching a little higher, maybe 60 to 100

feet, we could more easily reach the remote villages. Since we are

their lifeline to medical care it is crucial we have a good base

system so that we can hear them when they call and be able to

respond. Our communication to America is with a ham radio, which also

uses an antenna. We have a hospital radio that links us directly to

the closest hospital where we usually bring the emergencies.  Our

main 2-meter radios link us to some other communities, and will be

our sole communication with the two newest runways. I also use the

2-meter radio in the airplane while flying for communication back to

my wife at the base and to relay messages via the hospital radio.

None of the villages we serve have any phone or cellular service so

radio is the only reliable means of communication. Another

possibility with a tower is to get Internet from the nearest town,

which would be a wonderful encouragement for us. Our children

  could visit with their grandparents on video, and have regular

Internet phone service to America, making communication home much

easier. We have no cell or phone service of any kind here so Internet

would open many possibilities for us. As you can see, a tower would

be quite useful for several different antennas.

Better radio communication will save lives here as the Lord expands

our operations on this Atlantic coast of Nicaragua. Any help you feel

is appropriate I am positive the Lord will bless.

In a 3rd world country it is often hard to tell the exact costs of

construction. Unfortunately, all the specialized products are in

Managua, on the other side of the country, 30 hours drive away over

4x4 road, sometimes impassable in the rainy season. It is possible we

could fabricate the antenna ourselves from steel we could purchase in

the nearest major town 3 hours drive away. If not, we would have to

get it across the country in the capital of Managua. For some things

like support cable, clamps, and bolts we would need to purchased in

Managua. Coax cable to get radio antennas to the top of a tower would

need to come from America. If we did get the necessary funding to get

the tower built, there are always radios that need placed in the

villages with new runways. They need solar panels, batteries, and

antennas in each village. Whatever help is available will be put to

very good use.

I sincerely thank you for your time and attention to this matter.

God Bless,

Clint Hanley, Volunteer, Pilot

Wings Over Nicaragua Mission

www.wingsovernicaragua.org

 

Estimate Cost for Tower Project:

 

10 sections of tower, made and delivered:                                                         $5500.00

 

Cable for guide wires (1000 feet):                                                                     $900.00

 

Clamps, turnbuckles, etc.                                                                                  $450.00

 

Cement for supports, $15 per bag/ 35 bags needed:                                          $525.00

 

Rebar                                                                                                               $250.00

 

Wages for local workers ($4.00 per day + lunch)                                              $200.00

 

Coax cable (120 ft):                                                                                          $350.00

 

Solar Light for top:                                                                                            $   90.00

 

GinPole kit for installing tower sections:                                                              $  300.00

 

Total:                                                                                                                $8565.00

 

The only labor cost will be for local people. This adds to the local economy. They are paid by the day, and not by the hour. We try to pay what is the going wage for the area, so we don’t influence the local economy in a bad way. Mine and anyone that might come down to help erect the tower will be voluntary labor.

You can find our income for the last 3 years on our web site

 

Any money we receive for the mission should be sent to-Donation Address:

Wings Over Nicaragua Mission
185 Harris Road
Goldendale, WA 98620

 

 

When we spend money for the mission we send the donor a receipt and then as the money is spent you will receive a detailed explanation with local receipts of the way the money was spent.