Sheffield has been twinned with Estelí since 1984. The Sheffield Estelí Society is part of a network of four European cities also twinned with Estelí which are: Saint Feliu in Catalunia, Delft in Holland and Bielefeld in Germany. We raise money through local events and activities including the annual Two Peaks Bike ride, which raises approximately £1000 each year, and we raise awareness of the twinning and the rich resources for collaboration which exist between our two cities.
We are committed to supporting education projects and in 2003 co-financed the building of Estelí Library with our European and Estelí colleagues and now support the “Libro Volador” with Luz Verde Estelí, a mobile literacy project which takes books and teaching resources to rural areas. We are also passionate about working with young people and youth in creative ways and we support a large scale Youth and Citizenship project managed by Casa del Tercer Mundo in Estelí and collaborating with Funarte, a creative arts and child development organisation based there. In addition we are good friends with “Los Angelitos” and “Sones Segovianos”, two social music projects in Estelí. These music projects offer music education and social development opportunities to children who would normally not be able to access it. In the past we have also supported health projects such as Casa Materna, a clinic which gives healthcare to women before, during and after giving birth particularly to those from rural areas and environmental initiatives, particularly around clean water and reconstruction following Hurricane Mitch.
In addition to collaborating with partners in Estelí we also liaise with Sheffield groups and organisations to strengthen links in our own community. We work closely with students from Sheffield and their project Students for Estelí. The students involved send a group to Estelí each summer on english teaching programmes with their sister University, FAREM Estelí.
Overall our main aim is to promote information sharing and twinning opportunities between Sheffield and Estelí to enable us to learn from one another and share some of the things which make our two cities so special. If you are interested in getting involved please get in touch!
The Sheffield Estelí Society is a group of Sheffield residents who seek to raise awareness of the connections between our city and Estelí in northern Nicaragua. We fundraise for large project collaborations with Estelí such as health care and reconstruction projects and we fundraise for small local initiatives such as community library access and music education in the barrios of Estelí. We also connect people in both cities through creative links between musicians, dancers and artists.